IMC 2017: Sessions

Medievalists are increasingly confronted with climate sciences and related interdisciplinary questions concerning how medieval archives can be capitalised upon to improve our understanding of past climatic changes, and how societies have responded to such changes. Such understandings have arguably never been more important than at present in the context of ongoing anthropogenic climate change. Consequently, this double session provides an introduction to medieval climate histories, demonstrating how materials and methods from climate sciences can be applied together with traditional historical methodologies. The first session concentrates on the contemporary observations of weather, climate and climate related crises. The first paper presents how medieval records can be transformed into estimations of past climate variability. The next two papers demonstrate how climate perspectives can provide an invaluable context for understanding and re-evaluating medieval texts. With the case study of Adso's Miracles of St Mansuetus, the second paper shows that descriptions of famine and drought were not mere topoi but that this hagiography was addressing a contemporary crisis. The last paper discusses the trek of Emperor Henry IV to Canossa (1076/1077) in relation to winter weather described in the contemporary chronicles.