Class bingo serendipity6/5/2023 ![]() ![]() Self portrait of Matthew Paris from the original manuscript of his Historia Anglorum (London, British Library, MS Royal 14.C.VII, folio 6r). No mention of ash or haze for either year.įrom reading this account I believe the famine was caused by a combination of ill-governance, civil war and three years of very bad weather. Then we get the report of the north wind blowing at the beginning of the year – April, May and June (Years officially started in April in those days) and the famine really kicks in until help comes from Earl Richard in Germany. The beginning of 1257 saw more bad weather – from February to May England was so disturbed by wind and rain that it resembled a muddy marsh. The crops of 1256 failed because of incessant rain. Richard, Earl of Cornwall, had gone off in a vain attempt to become king of Germany and taken vast resources with him. By Whitsuntide hail the size of apples was falling – you get the picture of his weather reporting.Ĭoming to the years 1256 – 1258 he writes that the civil war had continued and the Welsh had laid waste to areas of England. The following year saw violent storms, seas rising for 2 days and storms washing away whole cities. I should mention that his chronicle begins in 1236 where there is mention of such a deluge of rain never seen before followed by constant drought and unendurable heat for 4 months. I waded through the whole of Matthew Paris for the years 12 and found it hard going. This includes many references to strange weather events, gossip and travellers’ tales, as well as political commentary on the king, his barons and so on. ![]() His chronicle is used as a source for the period as he wrote about everything that came his way. Paris was a monk/cleric at St Alban’s Abbey, near London, in the 13th century. It’s full title is ‘Matthew Paris’s English History: From the year 1235 to 1273, Volume III’ (link below). The chronicle that was quoted by Bill McGuire is by Matthew Paris. There was no mention of weird weather for this year in this chronicle. It should also be remembered that Simon de Montfort and the King were at one another’s throats so there was a lot of social unrest and disruption which, as we know from the famines in Africa, add to the problems of poor harvests. It also shows that Germany was not affected. ”This shows that the people thought London was a safe place to go. “In this year, there was a failure of the crops upon which failure, a famine ensued, to such a degree that the people from the villages resorted to the City for food and there, upon the famine waxing still greater, many thousand persons perished many more too would have died of hunger, had not corn just then arrived from Almaine. In the ‘Chronicles of the Mayors and Sheriffs of London: 1188-1274’ near the end of the doings of the year (1258) it states: I soon discovered that there may be another reason for the deaths of so many people. ![]()
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