For European peasants winter was an especially difficult time, but some winters are more difficult than others. In the fifteenth century, a series of particularly bad winters struck throughout the 1430s, causing famine, exacerbating disease, and changing culture.The Bleak Midwinter of the 1430s
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The simple and obvious answer is, people were far more rugged and resilient back then. They had to be.
I remember as a child looking at my grandfather in awe. He was an old man. Obviously. But, his ability to easily handle harsh conditions. Manual labor. His attitude towards hard work under harsh conditions was amazing to me. My dad had many of those traits himself but, not to the degree my grandfather had.
It occurred to me, even as a boy, that we are getting much softer over the generations as we “progress” in providing ourselves through technology more and more comforts.
My grandfather was the catalyst for those thoughts. He simply amazed me with his rugged persona and his work ethic. He seemed almost like Superman to me in comparison to what I was used to seeing on a daily basis.
One of the types of jackets they used was called a gambeson. It is a jacket with a high collar and it went down as far as the ankles. It is a two layer jacket that you would stuff with insulating materials.
The materials used would depend on what you can afford and your station. A poor person might use a combination of feathers and hay and a wealthier person might be able to afford down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRvIB_0xrKY , for example.
You do what you have to do.
Not sure these old bones of mine could anymore.
Merry Christmas, Civ! I enjoy your work!
[Every winter was a test of survival in pre-industrial times in cold climates, but one winter lasted 3 years.]
Why 536 was ‘the worst year to be alive’
Glacier cores reveal Icelandic volcano that plunged Europe into darkness
https://www.science.org/content/article/why-536-was-worst-year-be-alive
Ask medieval historian Michael McCormick what year was the worst to be alive, and he’s got an answer: “536.” Not 1349, when the Black Death wiped out half of Europe. Not 1918, when the flu killed 50 million to 100 million people, mostly young adults. But 536. In Europe, “It was the beginning of one of the worst periods to be alive, if not the worst year,” says McCormick, a historian and archaeologist who chairs the Harvard University Initiative for the Science of the Human Past.
A mysterious fog plunged Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia into darkness, day and night—for 18 months. “For the sun gave forth its light without brightness, like the moon, during the whole year,” wrote Byzantine historian Procopius. Temperatures in the summer of 536 fell 1.5°C to 2.5°C, initiating the coldest decade in the past 2300 years. Snow fell that summer in China; crops failed; people starved. The Irish chronicles record “a failure of bread from the years 536–539.” Then, in 541, bubonic plague struck the Roman port of Pelusium, in Egypt. What came to be called the Plague of Justinian spread rapidly, wiping out one-third to one-half of the population of the eastern Roman Empire and hastening its collapse, McCormick says.
Historians have long known that the middle of the sixth century was a dark hour in what used to be called the Dark Ages, but the source of the mysterious clouds has long been a puzzle. Now, an ultraprecise analysis of ice from a Swiss glacier by a team led by McCormick and glaciologist Paul Mayewski at the Climate Change Institute of The University of Maine (UM) in Orono has fingered a culprit.
The Mystery Of 536 AD: The Worst Climate Disaster In History
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKUz5Vjq9-s&ab_channel=Timeline-WorldHistoryDocumentaries
Imagine the sun only as bright as the moon for a few years.
In ancient times, people struggled to store up food against famine, but AD 536 was the worst test ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKUz5Vjq9-s&ab_channel=Timeline-WorldHistoryDocumentaries
536 AD - Worst Year in History
This was educational beyond belief and I truly enjoyed the list of ways that people were able to withstand winter during the middle ages. I wonder however,the degree of importance in the question, “How did they keep themselves entertained?” It would seem to me that “entertainment” is a relatively superfluous consideration when compared to life or death. Strange that social media has become “life or death” in importance in these final days. Man has reduced his reason for existing to the self-important drivel he feels compelled to write to complete strangers. Why?
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I woild imagine that i stead of electric blankets, that They heated up rocks or water bottles to put in their beds to heat the beds before bedtime likely. Lots of folks did that in the old days in America. And that was back before they had wall.and ceiling insulation. I was caretaker on old bison ranch that was uninsured, and the wind was brutal in that area. We stayed warm in winter with a wood furnace and by working hard, and turning in early. We didn’t have time to be cold lol. Keeping up with the wood for the furnace was a full time job in itself almost. More ings though were brutal, but we’d warm up fast enough just taking care of the feeding and watering of animals. Had to carry 5 gallon pails,of water to,the trough from the house as the water to the barn was shut off in winter because of freezing. Again, too busy to be cold. New day, same old grind.
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Surviving Winter in the Middle Ages
Many 3 dog nights
“Hard times create strong men,
strong men create good times,
good times create weak men,
and weak men create hard times.”
" The onset of the Little Ice Age, between 1300 until about 1870 meant that the long, dark winters of the Late Middle Ages were colder and more dangerous.
With starvation and death from illness always threatening to strike, winter was a frightening time.
Welcome to Medieval Madness.
The onset of the Little Ice Age, between 1300 until about 1870
meant that the long, dark winters of the Late Middle Ages were colder and more dangerous.
With starvation and death from illness always threatening to strike, winter was a frightening time.
Welcome to Medieval Madness."
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S.C. Timely article! I bought another small propane heater 3 days ago in anticipation of the eventual power outage! Hoping I do not need it anytime soon.
Bkmk
