The Historical Climatology of Late Medieval England

Abstract

The Late Middle Ages were a time of crisis. The heaviest blows were concentrated in the fourteenth century which saw the blossom of the High Middle Ages wither: the Great Famine 1315–1317 was followed by the Great Pestilence 1348–1349. Population numbers declined rapidly, and England’s demographic development became mortality driven. At the same time Europe’s climate experienced major shifts. The Medieval Climate Anomaly with its warm conditions was coming to an end in the later thirteenth century and a transition phase to the Little Ice Age followed. Much has been written about the Late Middle Ages and the scourge of mortality crises in the form of famine and plague that induced the late medieval economic, social and cultural crisis. However, until recently, the influence of weather and climate often featured as a mere supplement to such appraisals, even though historians were aware of the changing climate. It is the intention of this book to demonstrate with the help of newly reconstructed regional climate parameters, that far from being a footnote to the events, climate had a governing effect upon life and death.