Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Sunday, 4 September 2022

Understanding the Medieval ‘warm period’


Our current concern with understanding and responding to climate change has led to a closer examination of historical evidence for changes and differences in the climate of past centuries.

By something like chance I came across a new short video which reassesses the evidence we do have for the so-called medieval warm period, preceding what is often termed the “Little Ice Age” from around 1400 to the mid-nineteenth century. Despite the odd bit of presentational quirkiness this sets out a cogent case against there being anything more than a localised warmer phase in the North Atlantic region in the middle ages and questions how significant that and the succeeding cooler period were in relation to the present changes.



1 comment:

John R Ramsden said...

This paper may be relevant:

https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.03605

"The Medieval Climate Anomaly, the Oort Minimum and Socio-Political Dynamics in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Byzantine Empire, 10th to 12th Century" 2022-09-08