Medieval scholars say 536 CE was the worst year to be alive.

History Facts ^ | 12/09/2024

[SeekAndFind]

If you’re ever despairing about the state of the world, you can — at least, according to some scholars — be thankful it’s not the year 536 CE. To be fair, it’s medieval scholars, not 21st-century ones, who called 536 CE the worst year to be alive. But hear them out, because it sounds pretty bad. That year, a massive volcano erupted, historians believe, filling the air with volcanic ash. Of course, the majority of people affected by the disaster had no idea what was happening — they just knew it was very suddenly very dark for a very long time. The sun didn’t shine in Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia for 18 whole months — or as the Byzantine historian Procopius put it, “The sun gave forth its light without brightness, like the moon, during the whole year.”

That summer, temperatures dropped more than 30 degrees in parts of Europe and Asia (it even snowed in China), so crops failed, leading to widespread famine, starvation, and economic stagnation. Many people who were literate wrote about this at the time — the sun disappeared overnight, after all — but academics didn’t take the accounts seriously until the late 20th century. In 1983, a volcanic eruption was theorized to be the source of the darkness, and researchers examining tree rings in Ireland in the 1990s noted a severe temperature drop occurred in the sixth century. In 2018, researchers published a study pointing to a volcano as the likely culprit after analyzing ice cores drilled from glaciers.

Historian Michael McCormick told Science that 536 CE wasn’t just the worst year up until then, but “the beginning of one of the worst periods to be alive.” The climate still hadn’t recovered five years later when the first bubonic plague broke out, wiping out up to half the population of the Eastern Roman Empire. Two more eruptions in the 540s certainly didn’t help matters, either. The Late Antique Little Ice Age, as the period is known, lasted more than a century, clearing up between 660 CE and 680 CE, depending on the location.

[x]

You can think of it as “Common Era” or “Christian Era.” BC is BCE.

“Anno Domini,” “The Year of the [or Our] Lord” was thought to be too explicitly Christian for the modern multicultural world.

The popular spoken usage is probably still AD and BC, but in print you are increasingly likely to see BC and BCE.

[NorthMountain]

Now that we have the AD thing out of the way ...

In 2018, researchers published a study pointing to a volcano as the likely culprit after analyzing ice cores drilled from glaciers.

In modern times, big volcanoes have affected global weather for a brief (few months) time. Throw enough crap in the air, and solar downwelling radiation does get reduced. It's an observable effect.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

CE" came from atheists and communists who thought "AD" gave Christ too much free publicity.

Isn't "CE" an abbreviation for "Christian era"? How is that more satisfying for atheists and Communists?

[Tom Tetroxide]

536 AD: The Year That The Sun Disappeared | Catastrophe | Real History
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbwyR5jLSUQ

[StAntKnee]

No, that was the fourth our fifth worst year. Or even the twelfth, if you account biden and obama’s terms.

[laplata]

I’ll continue to use BC and AD.

[EvilCapitalist]

Sounds like a good story.

[Tom Tetroxide]

Common Era
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Era

[BobL]

Living in any year with a “CE” at the end has to suck.

[x]

Forty years ago people were worried that sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere was causing acid rain and killing the trees and ponds.

Now some people are proposing purposely injecting sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere to cool the planet down, as happened after volcanos released ash, dust, and sulfur-dioxide into the atmosphere.

[iamgalt]

I ignore any source that uses “CE” and “BCE”. It tells it is run by woke a-holes.

[joe fonebone]

What is CE?

[odawg]

“But where did the use of CE come from and is it the more popular usage nowadays?”

BCE, CE, Before the Common Era; Common Era

Modern effort to get around the BC AD calculations, which documents the birth of Christ and that might offend non-Christians. The modern calendar is probably next because the birth of Christ is still highlighted anyway.

[Mathews]

It’s no longer BC and AD. It’s BCE and CE so as not to offend the atheists and non-Christians.

[Gideon7]

Whenever I see “CE” or “BCE” I read “Christian Era” or “Before Christian Era”.

[NorthMountain]

The SO2/Acid Rain thing wasn’t entirely illegitimate.

Deliberately injecting SO2 into the atmosphere is dumb ... especially when done to worship at the altar of “Climate Change”.

[NorthMountain]

Whenever I see “CE” or “BCE”, I think “the author is an idiot”.

[kelly4c]

The sun darkened....was 536 the year of the time of the end and the preterists are right?

[SunkenCiv]

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• Scientists Reveal Ancient Cataclysm That Plunged The World Into Darkness 1,500 Years Ago [04/12/2023]
• Justinianic Plague was nothing like flu and may have hit England before Constantinople [11/27/2021]
• Why 536 was 'the worst year to be alive' [11/16/2018]
• Black Death may have scuppered Roman Empire [01/28/2014]
• Why Halley's Comet May Be Linked to Famine 1,500 Years Ago [12/20/2013]
• Plague Helped Bring Down Roman Empire [05/12/2013]
• Black Death Genetic Code "Built" [10/13/2011]
• Cause of the big plague epidemic of Middle Ages identified [10/20/2010]
• Giant Meteorites Slammed Earth Around A.D. 500? [02/05/2010]
• Comet smashes triggered ancient famine [ March 536 AD ] [01/08/2009]
• Living In The 'Bowels Of The Earth' [06/04/2008]
• Plague Victims Discovered After 1500 Years (Justinian) [04/10/2008]
• Ancient Global Dimming Linked to Volcanic Eruption (The Dark Ages) [03/19/2008]
• An Empire's Epidemic (Justinian Plague) [09/18/2006]
• Tale Of (King) Arthur Points To Comet Catastrophe [04/21/2006]
• Bubonic Plague Traced To Ancient Egypt (Black Death) [03/11/2004]
• Astronomers unravel a mystery of the Dark Ages [02/03/2004]
• The Dark Ages: Were They Darker Than We Imagined? [06/08/2003]
• WERE THE DARK AGES REALLY DARK? [12/10/2002]
• The Dark Ages: Were They Darker Than We Imagined? [09/24/2002]
• Did Asteroids And Comets Turn The Tides Of Civilization? [07/11/2002]

[SunkenCiv]

The related topics list is just above.