Climate and the crises of the early fourteenth century in north-east Europe?

Huhtamaa, Heli (2020). Climate and the crises of the early fourteenth century in north-east Europe? In: Bauch, Martin; Schenk, Gerrit Jasper (eds.) The Crisis of the 14th Century: Teleconnections between Environmental and Societal Change? Das Mittelalter. Perspektiven mediävistischer Forschung. Beihefte: Vol. 13 (pp. 80-99). Berlin: De Gruyter 10.1515/9783110660784-005

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This article demonstrates how tree-ring material can be applied to historical research using the climate-driven crises of the fourteenth century as a case study. Medieval northeastern Europe is a promising case study for such a purpose, because climate-sensitive tree-ring data are readily available for this period and region. Whereas large areas of western Europe were affected by continuous heavy rains and bitter winters during the 1310s, this dendrochronological evidence suggests that northeastern Europe was not. Favorable climatic conditions prevailed in northeastern Europe in the late 1310s, and, more generally speaking, during the first half of the fourteenth century, as well. The juxtaposition of this new information from tree-ring analyses with the established understanding of the development of the region challenges the view that the crises of the fourteenth century reached the northeasternmost corner of Europe. The case study demonstrates how teleconnections of climate and society, like the crises of the early fourteenth century, can materialize on a societal level very different ways in different locations.

Item Type:

Book Section (Book Chapter)

Division/Institute:

06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of History and Archaeology > Institute of History > Economic, Social and Environmental History
06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of History and Archaeology > Institute of History
10 Strategic Research Centers > Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR)

UniBE Contributor:

Huhtamaa, Heli

Subjects:

500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology
900 History

ISBN:

9783110657630

Series:

Das Mittelalter. Perspektiven mediävistischer Forschung. Beihefte

Publisher:

De Gruyter

Language:

English

Submitter:

Heli Huhtamaa

Date Deposited:

31 May 2021 10:00

Last Modified:

16 Mar 2023 23:25

Publisher DOI:

10.1515/9783110660784-005

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/154866

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/154866

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