Duke William’s 1066 campaign, the historical climatology

Abstract

ABSTRACT A number of studies have examined historical climatological trends back to the Middle Ages. However, few have investigated these trends near important historical sites such as medieval battlefields. Most studies on medieval battles and battlefields focus almost exclusively on interpreting the written records from a literary standpoint and on knowledge of the site on which the battle took place, with rarely much consideration for other perspectives. While the written records are important, only focusing on them limits understanding and ignores the environment itself. A historical climatological perspective would contribute to the study of medieval warfare by exploring relevant long-term climatic proxies as well as mapping weather conditions around the time of the campaign and battle. As an example, this study will investigate the weather during Duke William’s voyage to England in 1066. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications of these techniques for applying weather analyses to other historical events.