Brázdil, Rudolf; Bauch, Martin; Dobrovolný, Petr; Melo, Márian: The Potential of Historical Climatology for (Environmental) History in Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, in: Zückert, Martin; Holec, Roman (Hg.), Umweltgeschichte in mitteleuropäischen Kontexten. Leipzig: Leipziger Universitä..., 2024
Brázdil, Rudolf; Bauch, Martin; Dobrovolný, Petr; Melo, Márian: The Potential of Historical Clima... more Brázdil, Rudolf; Bauch, Martin; Dobrovolný, Petr; Melo, Márian: The Potential of Historical Climatology for (Environmental) History in Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, in: Zückert, Martin; Holec, Roman (Hg.), Umweltgeschichte in mitteleuropäischen Kontexten. Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag 2024 (Veröffentlichungen der Deutsch-Tschechischen und Deutsch-Slowakischen Historikerkommission, 26), S. 25-70
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Books by Martin Bauch
Pre-modern critical interactions of nature and society can best be studied during the so-called "Crisis of the 14th Century". While historiography has long ignored the environmental framing of historcial processes and scientists have over-emphasized nature's impact on the course of human history, this volume tries to describe the at times complex modes of the late-medieval relationship of man and nature. The idea of 'teleconnection', borrowed from the geosciences, describes the influence of atmospheric circulation patterns often over long distances. It seems that there were 'teleconnections' in society, too. So this volumes aims to examine man-environment interactions mainly in the 14th century from all over Europe and beyond. It integrates contributions from different disciplines on impact, perception and reaction of environmental change and natural extreme events on late Medieval societies. For humanists from all historical disciplines it offers an approach how to integrate written and even scientific evidence on environmental change in established and new fields of historical research. For scientists it demonstrates the contributions scholars from the humanities can provide for discussion on past environmental changes.
Rezensionen/Reviews:
- Christian Oertel, in: sehepunkte 18 (2018), Nr. 2 [15.02.2018].
- Christa Birkel, in: Hémecht. Revue d’histoire luxémbourgeoise 70/1 (2018), S. 118-121
Rezensionen/Reviews:
- Matthieu Olivier, in: Francia-Recensio 2015/4, 21.12.2015.
- Olaf B. Rader, in: Deutsches Archiv für die Erforschung des Mittelalters 71 (2015), S. 779-780
- Benjamin Müsegades, in: Neues Archiv für Sächsische Geschichte 86 (2015), S. 345-347.
- David C. Mengel, in: Austrian History Yearbook 47 (2016), S. 201-202.
- Eva Schlotheuber, in: sehepunkte 16 (2016), Nr. 6 [15.06.2016].
- Hubertus Seibert, in: H-Soz-Kult, 03.08.2016.
- Michael Lindner, in: MIÖG 124/2 (2016), S. 489-491.
- M. Be., in: Medioevo latino 37 (2016), No. 2694.
- Uwe Tresp, in: ZHF 44/1 (2017), S. 101-103.
- Erwin Frauenknecht, in: Zeitschrift für Württembergische Landesgeschichte 76 (2017), S. 416-418.
- Wolfgang Schmid, in: Rheinische Vierteljahresblätter 81 (2017), S. 312-314.
- Amalie Fößel, in: Historische Zeitschrift 305/3 (2017), S. 823-824.
- Klaus-Frédéric Johannes, in: Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 129/1 (2018), S. 107-108.
- Georg Modestin, in: Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Religions- und Kulturgeschichte 112 (2018), S. 409-410.
- Len Scales, in: The English Historical Review (08 April 2019), cez028, https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cez028
Articles by Martin Bauch
20 (2020-23), S. 7-22
Keywords: Famine – Climate – Hydrometeorological extreme – Society – Socio-economic impact – Late Middle Ages – Central Europe – Czech Lands
reconstructed from documentary evidence and instrumental
records, the summers of 1531–1540 were identified
as the driest summer decade during the 1501–2015 period
in the Czech Lands. Based on documentary data, extended
from the Czech scale to central Europe, dry patterns of various
intensities (represented, for example, by dry spells, low
numbers of precipitation days, very low rivers, and dryingout
of water sources) occurred in 1532, 1534–1536, 1538,
and particularly 1540, broken by wetter or normal patterns in
1531, 1533, 1537, and 1539. Information relevant to summer
droughts extracted from documentary data in central Europe
was confirmed in summer precipitation totals from a multiproxy
reconstruction for Europe by Pauling et al. (2006) and
further by self-calibrated summer Palmer Drought Severity
Index (PDSI) reconstruction from tree ring widths in Old
World Drought Atlas (OWDA) by Cook et al. (2015). The
summer patterns described are consistent with the distribution
of sea level pressure deviations from a modern reference
period. Summer droughts were responsible for numerous
negative impacts, such as bad harvests of certain crops,
reduction and lack of water sources, and frequent forest fires,
while in the wetter summers central Europe was affected by
floods. However, there are no indications of severe impacts of
a multi-country or multi-year effect. Reconstructions based
on documentary data indicate that the summers of 1531–
1540 constitute the driest summer decade in central Europe
for the past five centuries between 1501 and 2010 CE.
modern-day Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Eastern Poland, provide a trove of historical weather information. The long
tradition of Russian climate historical research is rather unknown outside of this region
Pre-modern critical interactions of nature and society can best be studied during the so-called "Crisis of the 14th Century". While historiography has long ignored the environmental framing of historcial processes and scientists have over-emphasized nature's impact on the course of human history, this volume tries to describe the at times complex modes of the late-medieval relationship of man and nature. The idea of 'teleconnection', borrowed from the geosciences, describes the influence of atmospheric circulation patterns often over long distances. It seems that there were 'teleconnections' in society, too. So this volumes aims to examine man-environment interactions mainly in the 14th century from all over Europe and beyond. It integrates contributions from different disciplines on impact, perception and reaction of environmental change and natural extreme events on late Medieval societies. For humanists from all historical disciplines it offers an approach how to integrate written and even scientific evidence on environmental change in established and new fields of historical research. For scientists it demonstrates the contributions scholars from the humanities can provide for discussion on past environmental changes.
Rezensionen/Reviews:
- Christian Oertel, in: sehepunkte 18 (2018), Nr. 2 [15.02.2018].
- Christa Birkel, in: Hémecht. Revue d’histoire luxémbourgeoise 70/1 (2018), S. 118-121
Rezensionen/Reviews:
- Matthieu Olivier, in: Francia-Recensio 2015/4, 21.12.2015.
- Olaf B. Rader, in: Deutsches Archiv für die Erforschung des Mittelalters 71 (2015), S. 779-780
- Benjamin Müsegades, in: Neues Archiv für Sächsische Geschichte 86 (2015), S. 345-347.
- David C. Mengel, in: Austrian History Yearbook 47 (2016), S. 201-202.
- Eva Schlotheuber, in: sehepunkte 16 (2016), Nr. 6 [15.06.2016].
- Hubertus Seibert, in: H-Soz-Kult, 03.08.2016.
- Michael Lindner, in: MIÖG 124/2 (2016), S. 489-491.
- M. Be., in: Medioevo latino 37 (2016), No. 2694.
- Uwe Tresp, in: ZHF 44/1 (2017), S. 101-103.
- Erwin Frauenknecht, in: Zeitschrift für Württembergische Landesgeschichte 76 (2017), S. 416-418.
- Wolfgang Schmid, in: Rheinische Vierteljahresblätter 81 (2017), S. 312-314.
- Amalie Fößel, in: Historische Zeitschrift 305/3 (2017), S. 823-824.
- Klaus-Frédéric Johannes, in: Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 129/1 (2018), S. 107-108.
- Georg Modestin, in: Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Religions- und Kulturgeschichte 112 (2018), S. 409-410.
- Len Scales, in: The English Historical Review (08 April 2019), cez028, https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cez028
20 (2020-23), S. 7-22
Keywords: Famine – Climate – Hydrometeorological extreme – Society – Socio-economic impact – Late Middle Ages – Central Europe – Czech Lands
reconstructed from documentary evidence and instrumental
records, the summers of 1531–1540 were identified
as the driest summer decade during the 1501–2015 period
in the Czech Lands. Based on documentary data, extended
from the Czech scale to central Europe, dry patterns of various
intensities (represented, for example, by dry spells, low
numbers of precipitation days, very low rivers, and dryingout
of water sources) occurred in 1532, 1534–1536, 1538,
and particularly 1540, broken by wetter or normal patterns in
1531, 1533, 1537, and 1539. Information relevant to summer
droughts extracted from documentary data in central Europe
was confirmed in summer precipitation totals from a multiproxy
reconstruction for Europe by Pauling et al. (2006) and
further by self-calibrated summer Palmer Drought Severity
Index (PDSI) reconstruction from tree ring widths in Old
World Drought Atlas (OWDA) by Cook et al. (2015). The
summer patterns described are consistent with the distribution
of sea level pressure deviations from a modern reference
period. Summer droughts were responsible for numerous
negative impacts, such as bad harvests of certain crops,
reduction and lack of water sources, and frequent forest fires,
while in the wetter summers central Europe was affected by
floods. However, there are no indications of severe impacts of
a multi-country or multi-year effect. Reconstructions based
on documentary data indicate that the summers of 1531–
1540 constitute the driest summer decade in central Europe
for the past five centuries between 1501 and 2010 CE.
modern-day Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Eastern Poland, provide a trove of historical weather information. The long
tradition of Russian climate historical research is rather unknown outside of this region
Litzenburger, Laurent, Une ville face au climat: Metz à la fin du Moyen Âge (1400-1530) (Archéologie, espaces, patrimoines), Nancy 2015, in: Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung 44/4 (2017), pp. 749-751.
/2017/02/26996.html
Taking existing drought reconstructions from dendrochronological data, a comparison with dense information retrieved from chronicles and administrative sources shows that especially for the Italian peninsula the picture retrieved from man-made proxy data is far more nuanced. Beyond that, written sources provide a high spatial resolution to reconstruct the territories afflicted by drought, while the temporal resolution is higher than the annual scale available from scientific data.
Furthermore documentary data allows to review in detail the socio-economic impact of multi annual droughts on pre-modern societies. In the case of Siena and early 14th century Italy, this includes not only reduced harvests, dearth and partially famine, but also a remarkable increase in the number of city fires. In addition, the city’s industrial production came to a standstill as water mills went out of work. The necessary remuneration of their owners by the comune added to the fiscal pressure created by grain imports to mitigate the increasing dearth. Most interesting is the long-term context of these events: In the case of Siena, the drought-induced dearth lead to large investments like a newly acquired sea port in late 1304, that should guarantee the city’s access to long-distance grain trade. If the temporal perspective is widened to the 1290s, one can realize that the drought accelerated pre-existing legal and administrative measures that should provide Siena resilience against food scarcities. During the next meteorological crisis in the 1310s, Siena showed considerable less vulnerabilty to food shortages than other comparable Italian cities.
The increasing frequency of extreme natural events and their impact on societies is hard to deny: The first huge pest epidemic, the Black Death of 1347-51, has always attracted the attention of research but the wet and cold years from 1345 onwards are yet to be analysed in detail. The interest in the “Great Famine“ (1315-21), which is believed to have affected above all North-western Europe, has become stronger in the past few years. New fields of investigation are added to the analysis of epidemics and famines: There is emerging research on epizootics and flood events such as St. Mary Magdalene’s Flood of 1342, which led to massive erosion, or the ‘Grote Mandrenke’ storm surge of the year 1362 at the North Sea Coast. At the same time counteractions of the affected societies can be observed. These include the construction of embankments and dikes, grain provision and the organization of municipal health care. On the cognitive level, a newly awakened interest in reception and interpretation of meteorological phenomena by late medieval witnesses is clearly visible and is not limited to interpretations based on astro-meteorology and theology of punishment.
The workshop will focus on the supposed climatic deterioration since 1300, discussing its presumed impact on economy and society, and the possibly related epidemic, cultural and political phenomena. In the context of this conference, the meteorological term ‘teleconnections‘ describes the occurrence of causal correlations between (not only geographically) distant areas: Here, we deal with the direct and indirect impact of meteorologically extreme events on medieval societies between 1280 and 1380. Geographically, the investigation will focus on not only the relatively well explored Northwestern Europe but the equally important areas of Southern and East-Central Europe. Additionally, a global perspective will be opened within the realms of possibility; thus proposals on the Byzantine and Muslim world as well as on South East Asia are very welcome.
Article about the reception of a putative volcanic dust veil across Europe in September 1465 and the hypothesis it might be the infamous Kuwae eruption, long time dated to 1452, now recently to ca. 1457. The contribution aims to reconstruct the possible impact of the eruption in the second half of the 1460s, but makes also clear that it might be wrong to assume all volcanic mega eruptions behaved like Tambora 1815. Finally the article puts forward the assumption (and gives examples) that volcanic events of the kind might be a good starting point for a medieval environmental history with global aspects.
Absence and Presence – The Black Death and Subsequent Plague Waves in 14th/15th c. Eastern Central Europe
We are looking for contributions assessing the reconstruction, the impact, and the memory of the Black Death and subsequent plague waves in Central and Eastern Europe between 1347 and ca. 1500. We plan to publish them as a thematic issue of “Historical Studies on Central Europe” https://ojs.elte.hu/hsce and hence the 6.000-10.000 word articles will undergo a double-blind peer-review process; English proof-reading will be provided by the journal.
Deadline for abstracts (300 words) in English with a short CV (1 page): 15 November 2023;
the Deadline for the finalized contributions will be in spring 2024.
Small paper asking if in the Chapel of the Holy Cross, Karlstejn Castle, there are depicted four of the Magi - and discussion of possible explanations of this, involving St. Erik of Sweden and Prester John. Feel free to join the discussion on the blog!
The online exhibition "Weathered History" of the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO) visualises climate history for the first time using objects from 12,000 years of human history. On display are diverse testimonies from a wide range of countries, from cave paintings to sometimes curious technical inventions such as the 'dandy horse' and weather reports on cigarette packets from Hong Kong. The exhibition, which is available in German and English, was realised in cooperation with the CRIAS working group of the international research network Past Global Changes (PAGES).
Humans have always been confronted with changing environmental conditions and climate changes. Extreme weather events such as droughts, floods and storms or natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions often brought destruction and death. They imprinted themselves on the memory of the survivors and left more or less visible traces in art, science and everyday life. The exhibition "Weathered History" follows some of these traces. Some objects may be surprising witnesses to the memory of weather catastrophes; but they also show how skilfully historical societies adapted to climate changes. The selection of objects is global, but there are remarkable pieces from the German-speaking countries in particular: The oldest drinkable wine in the world, which owes its creation to a millennial summer; a miniature horn made of clay for protection against thunderstorms from Martin Luther's childhood home or the bell that inspired Friedrich Schiller to write his famous poem of the same name.
The online exhibition was curated by GWZO staff members Diana Lucia Feitsch and Dr Martin Bauch, who leads the VW Foundation-funded Freigeist Junior Research Group "The Dantean Anomaly (1309-1321)" at the Institute. The team examines rapid climate change at the beginning of the 14th century and its effects on late medieval Europe. "What is unique about the exhibition is that no one ever tried to present a history of climate change with objects. Every researcher knows the one or the other object, but they have never been brought together. We tried to do that in a selection. I think we have successfully assembled the collective knowledge of a large professional community from the humanities and natural sciences“, says Martin Bauch. The greatest difficulty in realizing the exhibition was the current tense global pandemic situation. "It has been a challenge to clarify publication rights from around the world and get images with a decent resolution in these pandemic times," Diana Lucia Feitsch says, "with archives and libraries closed or hardly available for requests."
On the GWZO's YouTube channel, the two curators provide a more detailed insight into the exhibition "Weathered History", which can now be visited online. For example, they explain their motives for creating this exhibition and present their personal favourite piece. The interview is the first episode of the new in-house GWZO video series "Ostblick", which allows insights into the work at the GWZO even under pandemic conditions. | https://youtu.be/lnjQroBDZtM