The history of 17th-century Europe is marked by wars, rebellions, and revolutions alongside plague, famine, and natural disasters—and the full measure of death that accompanies them. But the upheavals of this period also played out against the backdrop of the Little Ice Age, a centuries-long period of lower temperatures in Europe and other parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Its impact upon life on the planet is contested, but historians such as Geoffrey Parker have argued that it played a major role in what has sometimes been called “the Global Crisis” of the 17th century.

Historian Ariel Hessayon of the University of London draws on under-explored sources, from ice cores and pollen samples to trees’ growth rings and stalactites, from manuscript accounts and printed treatises to paintings, engravings, and woodcuts, to illuminate the impact of the Little Ice Age on Northern Europe during the 17th century. These natural and human archives enable researchers to assess the extent to which the Little Ice Age contributed to crises during the period, while also looking at the ways in which people living at that time adapted.

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