Drought, water shortages and crop failures: how does the medieval warm period compare with today?

By Alex Brown, Associate Professor of Medieval History, Durham University

A heatwave lasting four months, followed by water shortages and crop failures. This is England in the 13th century, not the 21st.

What is often called the Medieval warm period saw elevated temperatures in many parts of the world between the 10th and 13th centuries.

These warmer temperatures were caused in part by an increase in solar irradiance. This is the amount of solar energy reaching Earth, which effects global…

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