I am watching a program on The History Channel which talks about The Little Ice Age; right now they are talking of the accompanying heavy rains that washed away fields and led to widespread famine. From 1371 to 1391 there were 111 famines in Europe; the Black Death found this environment fertile for its spread and the population was reduced by one third. The story of Hansel and Gretel had its roots in these famines.

People blamed their neighboring areas and many were killed for witchcraft. The Pope blamed the foul weather on witches. Some say 50,000 weather-affecting witches were burned at the stake.

And now, global warming? Careful, don’t wear a pointy hat.

As we near the end of the hour, I am learning that The Little Ice Age was 500 years long and in the middle of that span was a 70 years really cold spell caused by a lessening of the number of sunspots sending radiation to earth. During that 70 years, glaciers greatly advanced consuming villages.

A new plant, the potato, was introduced into Europe but the French refused to adopt it; while England and Ireland and the Netherlands ameliorated their famines, the French grew more hungry and restive and the show makes a connection between this and the French Revolution. (See, I guess the peasants wouldn’t eat potato bread.)

A book written in 2002 about this topic is  The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History – 1300-1850.

So what caused the warm period before the icing age? Ah, that is probably another show.