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Thursday, May 26. 2011

Medieval Warming

Mrs. BD and I have been taking the William and Mary course in Medieval History (with the delightfully Asperger's-ish Prof. Daileader via The Teaching Company) and we are enjoying it immensely. I do not like to sit unless I am at work, but this course gets me into a chair after work. (We live and thrive on the Teaching Company courses at my cottage, as readers know.)


The Prof says that the wealth of the Middle Ages came from a combination of trade and the renewal of currency in the form of the Italian Florin, the introduction of the heavy plow, the replacement of slavery with serfdom, a doubling of Europe's population - and the Medieval Warm Period which made it possible to grow better crops much further north than in the Dark Ages - and further north than today. Greenland was farmland.


The Warm Period was far warmer than the world today. People benefited. That's why we pray for Global Warming (but also doubt that humankind will be so lucky. With our luck, we'll get the next Ice Age and all be screwed except for Dr. Merc).

Posted by Bird Dog in History, Our Essays, Politics at 12:13 | Comments (16) | Trackbacks (0)

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Then there were vinyards in England and they made wine. There are no vinyards in England today, too cold.
#1 Ray on 2011-05-26 12:27 (Reply)
Didn't the government of Greenland just come out in opposition to efforts to stop global warming?

I can see their legitimate position as being "Bring it on!"
#2 Whitehall on 2011-05-26 12:48 (Reply)
And... the Christian kingdoms had halted the spread of Islam and were slowly retaking Spain.
#3 NJSoldier on 2011-05-26 12:59 (Reply)
I think I learned some of that from reading Dorothy Dunnett novels, actually.
#4 D on 2011-05-26 14:00 (Reply)
With our luck, we'll get the next Ice Age and all be screwed except for Dr. Merc).

If we get Global Warming, Dr. Merc. may find himself six feet under the ocean, if the oceans also rise. But by the time this Global Warming hypothetically occurs, most of us commenting on this blog, Dr. Merc. included, will probably already be six feet under the ground.
#5 Gringo on 2011-05-26 14:28 (Reply)
"If we get Global Warming, Dr. Merc. may find himself six feet under the ocean"

Dr. Merc lives on a boat. :)

The thing I'm most anticipating is Manhattan Island going under. Imagine how beautiful it'll be to gondolier up and down the streets in between the empty skyscrapers. It'll be just like Venice!
#5.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-05-27 07:00 (Reply)
It was globally warm out on the boat today and I've got the sunburn to prove it.
#6 Tom Francis on 2011-05-26 16:38 (Reply)
Funny, I don't recall reading that the seas were six feet higher during the medieval ages. There should be lots of historical and geological evidence of that. Maybe all that excess water was falling off the edge of the flat earth. Its only a round earth that poses the problem of seas rising. Blick.
#7 JP Blickenstaff on 2011-05-26 17:00 (Reply)
QUOTE:
That's why we pray for Global Warming

That's what I say... if they wanted to create the next new scary thing, globalistic warmening ain't it. Bring on the longer growing seasons and shorter shoveling/heating season!

Acid rain, now that was scary! Good thing it was another con job. These alarmists aren't all devious, just gullible. As GK Chesterton (who turns 137 on Sunday) mused about his oft debating opponent GB Shaw, "The truth is, of course, that Mr. Shaw is cruelly hampered by the fact that he cannot tell any lie unless he thinks it is the truth."
#8 Pajak on 2011-05-26 19:52 (Reply)
I always believed that global warming was happening. But I never believed it’s be a catastrophe of biblical proportions worth throwing trillions of dollars at.

As a kid I loved this comic book... about a Tarzan-like guy living in a post-nuclear apocalyptic world with mutant animals like one eyed gorilla lizards and stuff.

Then Chernobyl happened. 25 years later, instead of one eyed gorilla lizards and stuff, that area has some of the highest concentrations of moose, boar, deer, beavers, wolves, badgers, otters and lynx in Europe. Life is resilient. It finds a way.

Now, coastal Floridians may wind up hurting, but you know polar bears are gonna adapt.
#9 Commander Clopfelter on 2011-05-26 22:34 (Reply)
Apparently, the orange groves in California are estimated to be 30% more productive than 150 yrs ago due to the increased CO2. Oddly, this is about the only fact about a pollutant that is not known to the state of California. I guess they miss the good impacts of chemicals.

And with all the horrible CO2 that has been put into the air, we're still only a little over double what plants need to grow (150 ppm) and they'd love it if we got it way up in to the thousands.
#10 JKB on 2011-05-26 22:36 (Reply)
The Warm Period was far warmer than the world today.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Yet nobody bared their navels or butt-cracks.
Imagine!
#11 Ben David on 2011-05-27 04:42 (Reply)
''...I do not like to sit'' --neither me --in fact i can't stand sitting
#12 buddy larsen on 2011-05-27 09:25 (Reply)
Hi buddy... missed you. The Chicken Littles of our world, led by Al Bore, are still bleating about global warming. They want everything to stay just as it was when they were born. As jules crittenden says, "the world warms, the world cools, and nobody quite knows why." We just know that this old world can take care of itself a lot better than the Busybody Brigade can.

Marianne

Ben David ... about that butt-crack thingie. In my youth, we used to call it exhibitionism and you could get arrested for it and spend an afternoon in the cooler. Nowadays, some folks in New York ride the subway just to be entertained by naked folks using the subway poles for dancing. Anything for their fifteen minutes/seconds of fame.
#13 Marianne Matthews on 2011-05-27 13:01 (Reply)
It's also possible that MedWarm contributed to the Muslim and Viking expansions. There is, at least, a coincidence.
#14 Dai Alanye (Link) on 2011-05-28 01:12 (Reply)
Rodney Stark would add that investment was developed in the Middle Ages, and that allowed for mass production as well as increased trade.

Also the "dark ages" were anything but...lots of inventions that led to improved productivity and health.

Much of this had to do w/ the influence of Christianity.
#15 DrTorch on 2011-05-28 14:59 (Reply)

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