Human response to climate change - The Global Climate System: Patterns, Processes, and Teleconnections - page 263

Table 8.2 Examples of adaptations and inventions, fourteenth century
Earliest known weather diary in Europe, England, 1337 (Walter Merle,
Merton College)
Introduction of the heavy plow
Increase in industrial mechanization
Ratio of grain yield to seed improves
Recognition of the soil enhancement benefits of legumes and manure
Development and use of the windmill
Replacement of oxen by horses for haulage
Mill power replaces hand threshing
Blast furnace developed
Artillery barrel developed
Spindle wheel developed
Mechanical clocks in operation by 1350
Slow expansion of philosophy independent of the church
Slow increase in academic freedom
University of Prague founded, 1348
University of Krakow founded, 1364
Oxford University founded, 1379
Information from Brown ( 2001 ).
of severe hardship for the majority of the population in Europe, but was also
a century of major advancements in knowledge and technology. Nationalism
dominated the political structure of Europe, global exploration and colonization
was a significant feature, and conflict was a major component of life. Copernicus,
Newton, Galileo, Kepler, and others made great advancements in science and
mathematics, as academia became an important component of society. But the
general population suffered from lack of education and an ever-growing gap
between the richer royalty and gentry, and the poverty-stricken peasant on the
land. Adaptations to climate variability and change were better than in the
fourteenth century in some parts of Europe, such as England, but in countries
such as France were significantly delayed by government disinterest and lack of
technological development.
Climate change and variability
Figures 8.1 and 8.5 demonstrate that temperatures during the seventeenth century
were highly variable, and reached their lowest levels during the 1690s. Table 8.3
summarizes some of the major climatic, environmental, and societal events that
occurred. Analysis by Lamb ( 1977 ), Grove ( 1988 ), Wanner et al.( 1995 ), Bokwa
et al.( 2001 ) and others established that this very cold period was dominated by
extreme winter and spring temperatures. Luterbacher ( 2001 )statesthatspringsin