Most of northern Europe has been going through an unusually long dry warm spell for the last few weeks and months, and everywhere I go at the moment I see brown, scorched grass and withering or dead vegetation. I've never seen the local stream run so low; sometimes it's a torrent, currently it's a trickle. The same weather conditions occurred in 1326, the last summer of Edward II's reign. Here's a post about it.
The earliest reference I know of to the heat of 1326 is in Edward II's chamber account: on 12 June, while he was at the archbishop of Canterbury's manor of Sturry in Kent, he gave a gift of linen cloth to the eight archers who formed his bodyguard because they had "run fast and well" alongside him in the hot weather. This implies that the hot dry weather had begun well before 12 June. The French Chronicle of London confirms this, saying that shortly before the Nativity of St John the Baptist, that is, 24 June, the weather was so hot and dry that fires burst out spontaneously in various places (as has happened this year, on Saddleworth Moor near Manchester). It talks of the "great dryness" throughout all the country. There was a severe shortage of water in many or most areas, and the River Thames ran so low that it was flooded by seawater and the ale made from the water tasted vile. In late July 1326, Edward II ordered a man near Walton-on-Thames to bring him fresh water from a well, surely another indication of the heat and dryness.
The annalist of St Paul's Cathedral also comments on the "great drought" throughout all England in 1326, and confirms the French Chronicle of London's statement that the Thames was flooded by seawater. People who owned animals had to lead them three or four leagues (i.e. three or four hours' walk) to find water for them. Fountains, rivers, streams, ponds and wells completely dried up, including Newport Pond in Essex, which was a league in circumference, and all the fish in the pond died. Edward II would have been lucky, therefore, if anyone had been able to find fresh water for him out of a well in late July. The dryness, the annalist says, continued well into the autumn of 1326.
The earliest reference I know of to the heat of 1326 is in Edward II's chamber account: on 12 June, while he was at the archbishop of Canterbury's manor of Sturry in Kent, he gave a gift of linen cloth to the eight archers who formed his bodyguard because they had "run fast and well" alongside him in the hot weather. This implies that the hot dry weather had begun well before 12 June. The French Chronicle of London confirms this, saying that shortly before the Nativity of St John the Baptist, that is, 24 June, the weather was so hot and dry that fires burst out spontaneously in various places (as has happened this year, on Saddleworth Moor near Manchester). It talks of the "great dryness" throughout all the country. There was a severe shortage of water in many or most areas, and the River Thames ran so low that it was flooded by seawater and the ale made from the water tasted vile. In late July 1326, Edward II ordered a man near Walton-on-Thames to bring him fresh water from a well, surely another indication of the heat and dryness.
The annalist of St Paul's Cathedral also comments on the "great drought" throughout all England in 1326, and confirms the French Chronicle of London's statement that the Thames was flooded by seawater. People who owned animals had to lead them three or four leagues (i.e. three or four hours' walk) to find water for them. Fountains, rivers, streams, ponds and wells completely dried up, including Newport Pond in Essex, which was a league in circumference, and all the fish in the pond died. Edward II would have been lucky, therefore, if anyone had been able to find fresh water for him out of a well in late July. The dryness, the annalist says, continued well into the autumn of 1326.
I don't know when the weather broke, but the queen's invasion force arrived in England on 24 September 1326, and given that the St Paul's annalist states that the dry weather continued well into autumn, it seems highly likely that the country was still suffering from a severe lack of water at the time. Two chroniclers (the St Paul's annalist and the Anonimalle) say that when Edward II and Hugh Despenser the Younger were captured in South Wales on Sunday 16 November 1326, there was a great thunderstorm that lasted nearly all day. This seems like the pathetic fallacy or dramatic licence, except that two very different writers give the same tale. At least by mid-November 1326, then, the long period of dry weather had finally broken.
Sources
Society of Antiquaries of London Manuscript 122, pp. 66, 78
Annales Paulini 1307-1340, in W. Stubbs, ed., Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II, vol. 1 (1882), pp. 312-13
Croniques de London, ed. G. J. Aungier (1844), p. 50
Sources
Society of Antiquaries of London Manuscript 122, pp. 66, 78
Annales Paulini 1307-1340, in W. Stubbs, ed., Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II, vol. 1 (1882), pp. 312-13
Croniques de London, ed. G. J. Aungier (1844), p. 50
5 comments:
This is very fascinating. Could the success of Isabella's invasion be connected to this?: as she and her smallish troop invaded the weather favored swift movement of armed force and escort. And as the barons joined in they still had the hard dry roads to move about.
Once Edward and Hugh were captured the weather finally broke and fresh water came down from heavens and by this the Heaven aka the God himself blessed the invasion and Isabella with the restoration of normal weather. If it happened so then the population would have seen all this in context and perhaps that was why there were so little protests or anything after the king was toppled from his throne.
Yes, purely speculative but very interesting timeline IF it went down like that: big drought, Isabella arrives and takes over (at least publicly) and voila: the rains come back.
This is very fascinating. Could the success of Isabella's invasion be connected to this?: as she and her smallish troop invaded the weather favored swift movement of armed force and escort. And as the barons joined in they still had the hard dry roads to move about.
Once Edward and Hugh were captured the weather finally broke and fresh water came down from heavens and by this the Heaven aka the God himself blessed the invasion and Isabella with the restoration of normal weather. If it happened so then the population would have seen all this in context and perhaps that was why there were so little protests or anything after the king was toppled from his throne.
Yes, purely speculative but very interesting timeline IF it went down like that: big drought, Isabella arrives and takes over (at least publicly) and voila: the rains come back.
I agree with you Sami, the people were very superstitious in that era. 'Portents of doom'etc.' Didn't Halley's Comet in 1066 indicate to the population that something awful was about to happen? I thought that was one reasoning for the defeat at Hastings.
Yes, the events in the sky were connected very often as Heavenly indicators as many people believed that Heaven is above up in the sky somewhere. Even those who saw them as some kind of natural events believed that the hand of God was behind them so...
http://www.medievalhistories.com/what-impact-did-climate-have-upon-medieval-history/
Not so antique! In March 1983, the newly elected Australian Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, was given credit for breaking the drought, following some horrific bushfires
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