Medieval Iceland’s Most Unusual Export: Sulphur
Discover how sulphur became one of medieval Iceland’s most important exports, linking the island to trade, warfare, and industry across Europe.
Climate Extremes May Have Helped Bring Down China’s Tang Dynasty, Study Finds
An interdisciplinary study examining the final century of China’s Tang dynasty argues that repeated droughts and floods may have played a key role in weakening the empire and contributing to its eventual collapse in 907 CE.
Fimbulvetr: When the Medieval World Saw the Sun Go Dark
How a mysterious climate disaster in AD 536 may lie behind the Norse myth of Fimbulvetr, when medieval people believed the sun itself had gone dark.
New Medieval Books: The Floods of the Tiber
In 1530, the River Tiber burst its banks, triggering a major flood in Rome. The following year, a scholar named Luis Gómez wrote about the disaster—placing it alongside earlier floods recorded in the city’s history.
Medieval drought may have aided the Mongol Empire’s push west in the 1230s, study suggests
A new tree-ring study reconstructing summer drought on the East European Plain argues that severe aridity in the 1230s may have helped the Mongol Empire’s westward expansion by shaping mobility and vulnerability across Eurasia
Forgotten Medieval Miracles of the Augustinians Revealed in New Study
New research reveals how Augustinian friars shaped medieval rural life through overlooked miracles—from healing livestock to restoring barren land—challenging long-held assumptions about the order’s history.
Medieval Farmers Created a Biodiversity Boom, Study Finds
A new study reveals that medieval communities around Lake Constance created a biodiversity peak through innovative farming, trade, and land management, offering insights for modern conservation.
Volcanic Eruption Set the Stage for the Black Death, Researchers Find
A major volcanic eruption in 1345 triggered climate shocks, famine, and grain trade routes that helped bring the Black Death into Europe, new research shows.
Coping with earthquakes in the churches of Constantinople, with Mark Roosien
A conversation with Mark Roosien about the earthquakes that struck Constantinople in late antiquity and about how emperors and the people of the City reacted to them in the moment. We focus on the church liturgies that commemorated and tried to make sense of them.
Uncovering Medieval North Frisia: New Research Unit Explores Human Impact on the Wadden Sea
The TORF Research Unit is uncovering the medieval past of North Frisia’s Wadden Sea—revealing drowned settlements like Rungholt, storm surge disasters, and centuries-old human efforts to shape the coastline.
Trees in the Middle Ages: The Good and The Bad
Explore the symbolic world of medieval trees—sacred lindens, deadly yews, and feared walnuts—in faith, folklore, and daily life
Białowieża Forest: Europe’s Last Medieval Woodland?
Is Białowieża Forest truly Europe’s last medieval woodland? A look at royal hunts, historic laws, and wild bison reveals how this ancient forest preserves a living link to the Middle Ages.
Why the First Polish State Collapsed: An Environmental and Political Breakdown
A new study uncovers why Poland’s first kingdom—the Piast state—collapsed so quickly, linking slave trade wealth, ecological intensification, and political fragility. Archaeology, pollen records, and coin hoards reveal the state’s rapid rise—and sudden unraveling.
Icebergs, Iceland, and the Fall of Rome: New Evidence Reveals the Impact of a Medieval Climate Crisis
New research reveals that icebergs from Greenland reached Iceland during the 6th–7th centuries, offering fresh insight into the Late Antique Little Ice Age—and how climate change may have shaped the post-Roman world.
New Medieval Books: The Green Ages
Can we learn from people in the Middle Ages when it comes to living sustainably? This book examines topics such as recycling, microfinance and minimalism to show how the medieval world offers lessons to the modern one.
New Medieval Books: Ben Cao Gang Mu
This extensive collection, translated into English across nine large volumes, serves as a comprehensive encyclopedia of medical and pharmaceutical knowledge. Within its thousands of entries, readers can discover how plants and animals were utilized for medicinal purposes in pre-modern China.
The Green Ages with Annette Kehnel – The Medieval Podcast, Episode 262
New and high-tech solutions for a sustainable future are being proposed on the daily, but what if some of the best ideas actually reside in the past? This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Annette Kehnel about the way medieval communities shared, recycled, and even upcycled.
How Weather Shaped the Vikings’ World
In a world where weather dictated nearly every aspect of life, how did the Northmen’s culture evolve in response to their harsh climate?
New Medieval Books: A Companion to the Environmental History of Byzantium
A collection of 17 essays that cover a wide range of topics, including climate, water management, nature, and even earthquakes in the eastern Mediterranean region during the Middle Ages.
Cleaning Up Renaissance Italy with Jane Stevens Crawshaw
This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Jane Stevens Crawshaw about environmental policies in fourteenth and fifteenth-century Genoa and Venice.
New Medieval Books: Cleaning Up Renaissance Italy
This book examines how Venice and Genoa dealt with environmental issues, including waste management, water supply and street congestion. It also reveals the mindset of the medieval Genoese and Venetians when it came to having a clean and healthy city.
Medieval journal has left us 7,000 weather reports
Historians are very interested in understanding environmental and climate conditions from the past. However, sources that can shed light on this information are hard to find, so being able to access over 20 years of records from a medieval writer is a gold mine of details.
What are volcanoes? A medieval answer
An explanation of volcanoes and why they erupt from a medieval scientist.
Norse in Greenland imported timber from North America, study finds
One of the things that Norse living in Greenland lacked was wood. A new study reveals that while some people could make use of local trees and driftwood, the wealthier people could have wood imported from North America and Europe.