Dear authors,

Both reviewers were very positive about your paper and I agree with them. You present an interesting and important paper. There are a few changes and additions that both the reviewers require. I have also added a short list with changes I propose. I ask that you make these minor revisions before we can accept the paper.

In particular, pay attention to the discussion remarks in the text, which should be removed.

Reviewer 1 mentions the lack of clarity in your text about the frequency of extreme events and of storms in cooler and warmer climates in lines 49 and 50. I agree with you that there is no consensus regarding the increase in storm frequency due to climate change in the latest IPCC assessment report. I also agree with the reviewer that it is necessary to rephrase some lines. At the very beginning of the introduction and in the text in lines 47 to 53, you write that global warming has an impact on the frequency and severity of meteorological hazards and immediately after this you write that during the (colder) LIA the frequency of storms increased. Both of these points are correct but make sure that your line of reasoning is clear and why you talk about one after the other.

I also ask that you provide a slight extension to the abstract in order to make sure that the content of the paper is well-presented there. The same about the conclusion, as Reviewer 1 already mentioned.

In addition, it would be helpful to discuss the graphs in greater depth. For instance, the content of Figure 4 is hardly mentioned in the paper. The very interesting results in Figures 2 and 3 could also be discussed in more depth.

Regarding the maps in Figures 1 and 3, please make sure that the map section and the frame show the same geographical area (the frame includes the Cotentin peninsula, but the map does not).

In lines 224-225, a citation is necessary. The statement in line 300 (“However, at the end of the Middle Ages and during the whole modern period, French kingdom authorities' interference gradually increases”) also needs a citation.

I thank Abdelmounim El M'rini and Hervé Regnauld for their reviews.

With kind regards,

Chantal Camenisch

Dear authors,

Thank you very much for the revised paper. I accept the paper in its present form with few technical corrections:

line 46 – please, add a short information (in parentheses) what period is meant by the term “Little Ice Age” and a very quick specification of the LIA (“cooler period” is very short).

line 107-108, 149 – use LIA instead of Little Ice Age.

conclusion: add in a few lines a summary of your results regarding the storm impact on population and the reduction of vulnerability.

Figure 2: the bar of the 1460s contains a note, which is presumably not considered to be published.

Figure 3: there is something wrong behind “Saint-Maixent”.

Yours sincerely,

Chantal Camenisch