"The Problem of Feeding Paris"

With hindsight, Paris was the third biggest city in Europe with no way of importing food by sea. Our river Seine could take river barges, but not ships. With poor transportation infrastructure it became extremely difficult to feed the whole of Paris. The bread prices were soaring and that provoked food riots amongst commoners. You do have to bear in mind that bread constituted the staple part of most urban diets, so sharp price hikes were felt quickly and protested against loudly. I knew that the king and his counsel did nothing to alleviate this situation but sit pretty while spending even more, but I had been too wrapped up in Maximilien's political agenda of overthrowing the king that I did not even think to find a solution for the more pressing problems.