The Little Ice Age between science and art
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.60923/issn.2281-4485/24527Keywords:
Maunder minimum, Historical climatology, Winter landscapes, Frost fairs, Glacier AdvanceAbstract
The Little Ice Age was a period of global cooling placed between the 14th and 19th centuries, associated with the advance of glaciers in major mountain ranges and the freezing of lakes, rivers and seas, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. This period, preceded by the Medieval Climatic Optimum and followed by the 21st-century global warming, was mainly influenced by a combination of natural events: decreased solar activity, increased volcanic activity, and a decreased in thermohaline circulation. The analysis reported here is based on scientific studies, while the historical reconstruction is based on documentary evidences, in particular on paintings of winter landscapes made by Flemish, Dutch, and Italian artists, particularly active in the 17th century.
References
BARONIO C. (posthumous by E. Spondano) (1680) Annalium Ecclesiasticorum Eminentiss. Cardinalis Cesaris Baronii Continuatio ab anno MCXCVII quo is desiit ad finem MDCLVI. Tomus II. Bartoli, Ticino.
BECKMAN J.E., MAHONEY T.J. (1998) The Maunder minimum and climate change: Have historical record aided current research? Library and Information Services in Astro-nomy III, ASP Conference Series, 153:212-217. ISBN: 1-886733-73-2
BEHRINGER W. (2013) Storia culturale del clima: Dall’Era glaciale al Riscaldamento Globale (original title: Kulturgeschichte des Klimas. Von der Eiszeit bis zur Globalen Erwärmung). Bollati Boringhieri, Torino. ISBN: 978-8833928197
BROECKER W.S. (2000) Was a change in thermohaline circulation responsible for the Little Ice Age? PNAS, 97:1339-1342. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC34299/
BORCHI E., MACII R. (2011) La Neve a Firenze (1874-2010). Pagnini Editore, Firenze. 54. ISBN: 978-8882513825
BURCKLEM L., GRISSINO-MEYER H.D. (2003) Stradi-vari, violins, tree rings, and the Maunder Minimum: A hypo-thesis. Dendrochronologia, 21:41-45. https://doi.org/10.1078/1125-7865-00033
CAMUFFO D., BERTOLIN C., CRAIEVICH A., GRANZIERO R., ENZI S. (2017) When the Lagoon was frozen over in Venice from A.D. 604 to 2012: Evidence from written documentary sources, visual arts and instru-mental readings. Méditerranée-Revue Géographique des pays Méditerranéens. https://doi.org/10.4000/mediterranee.7983
CANTÙ V. (1985) Alla ricerca di documenti sul clima passato: le compilazioni di padre Boffito e le osservazioni sei-settecentesche di Vallombrosa. Accademie e Biblioteche d’Italia, 53:103-110.
CHU K.O-C. (1972) A preliminary study of climate fluctuations in China over the past five thousand years. Acta Archaeologica Sinica, 1:25 (in Chinese).
COMANDINI A. (1940-1942) L’Italia nei cento anni del secolo XIX (1801-1900) giorno per giorno illustrata. Antonio Vallardi Editore, Milano.
COWIE J. (2007) Climate Change: Biological and Human Aspects. Cambridge University Press. 164. ISBN 978-0-521-69619-7.
CROWLEY T.J. (2000) Causes of climate changes over the past 1000 years. Science, 289 (5477):270-277. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.289.5477.270
DAVIS G. (1814) Frostiana: or A History of the River Thames, in a Frozen State; with an Account of the Late Severe Frost and the Wonderful Effects of Frost, Snow, Ice, and Cold in England, and in Different Parts of the World; interspersed with Various Amusing Anecdotes. To which is added, the Art of Skating. Printed and Published on the Ice of the River Thames, February 5, 1814, London.
DOBRAS W. (1992) Seegfrörne: die spannende Geschichte der Seegfrörnen von 875 bis heute. 2. Veränderte Auflage. Konstanz, Stadler (in German).
EWAN E., NUGENT J. (2008) Finding the family in Medieval and early modern Scotland, Ashgate Publishing, 15:3. , Routledge, London. ISBN 9780754660491
FIANDRINI B. (1796) Annali Ravennati, Ravenna, Ms. Classense Mob. 3. 4. C, t. I.
FISCHER H., WERNER M., WAGENBACH D., SCHWA-GER M., THORSTEINNSON T., WILHELMS F., KIP-FSTUHL J. (1998) Little ice age clearly recorded in northern Greenland ice cores. Geophysical Research Letters, 25:1749-1752. https://doi.org/10.1029/98GL01177
FAGAN B. (2001) The Little Ice Age: How climate made History, 1300–1850. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02272-4
FIELD J., LAPE P.V. (2010) Paleoclimates and the emergence of fortifications in the tropical Pacific islands. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 29:113–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2009.11.001
HARNING D.J., GEIRSDÓTTIR Á., MILLER G.H., ANDERSON L. (2016) Episodic expansion of Drangajö-kull, Vestfirdir, Iceland. Over the last 3 ka culminating in its maximum dimension during the Little Ice Age. Quaternary Science Reviews, 152:118–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.10.001
HOLZHAUSER H. (2010) Zur geschichte des Gornergletschers. Ein puzzle aus historischen dokumenten und fossilen hõlzern aus dem gletschervorfeld. Geographica Bernensia, Bern. ISBN: 978-3905835151
IAFRATE L. (2008) Fede e scienza: Un incontro proficuo. Origini e sviluppo della Meteorologia fino agli Inizi del ‘900, Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum, Roma. (Scienza e Fede, Saggi: 4). ISBN: 978-8889174524
IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2001) Third Assessment Report. IPCC, Geneve.
KREUTZ K.G. (1997) Bipolar changes in atmospheric circulation during the Little Ice Age. Science, 277(5330): 1294–1296. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.277.5330.1294
KUPPERMAN K.O. (1982) Climate and Mastery of the Wilderness in Seventeenth-Century New England. In: Hall, D.D., Allen, D.G., Smith, P.C.F. (Eds.) and The Colonial Society of Massachusetts (Associate Ed.), Seventeenth- Century New England. Publication of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. University Press of Virginia.
LACHIVER M. (1991) Les Années de Misère: La famine au Temps du Grand Roi. Fayard, Paris.
LAMB H.H. (1995) Climate, History and the Modern World. Second Edition. Routledge, London. ISBN: 0-415-127343
LAMB H.H. (2013) Weather, Climate and Human Affairs – A Book of Essays and Other Papers. Routledge revivals. London. ISBN: 978-1136639616
LE COURIER DE L’ESCAUT (1789) Du Jeudi 19 Janvier 1789, Correspondance de Naple e de Rome. Gallica BnF, Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
LE PETITE JOURNAL (1916) Supplément Illustrè,. Dimanche 9 Janvier 1916. Numero 1.707.
LE ROY LADURIE E (1967) Histoire du climat depuis l'an mil. 379 pp. Éditions Flammarion, Paris.
LE ROY LADURIE E. (2010) Trente-trois questions sur l’histoire du climat – Du Moyen Age à nos jours. Fayard/Pluriel, Paris. ISBN: 978-2818500019
LOCKWOOD M., OWENS M., HAWKINS E., JONES G.J., USOSKIN I. (2017) Frost Fairs, Sunspot and the Little Ice Age. Astronomy and Geophysics, 58:2.17-2.23. https://doi.org/10.1093/astrogeo/atx057
LOMBROSO L., QUATTROCCHI S. (2008) L’Osservato-rio di Modena: 180 anni di misure meteoclimatiche. Società Meteorologica Subalpina e Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena, Bussoleno. ISBN: 978-8890302329
LORREY A., FAUCHEREAU N., STANTON C., PEAR-CE P. (2013) The Little Ice Age climate of New Zealand reconstructed from South Alps cirque glaciers: A synoptic type of approach. Climate Dynamics, 42:3039-3060. https://doi:org/10.1007/s00382-013-1876-8
LUTERBACHER J., DIETRICH D., XOPLAKI E., GROSJEAN M., WANNER H. (2004) European seasonal and annual temperature variability, trends, and extremes since 1500. Science, 303(5663):1499–1503. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1093877
MALTE-BRUN V.A. (1855) Annales des Voyages. De la Géographie, de l’Histoire et de l’Archéologie: Avec Cartes et Planches. Arthus Bertrand Editeur, Paris.
MANLEY G. (1975) 1684 : The coldest winter in the English instrumental record. Weather, 66:133-136. https://doi.org/10.1002/wea.789
MANN M.E. (2002) Little Ice Age. In MacCracken, M.C., Perry, J.S. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Global Environmental Change, The Earth System: Physical and Chemical Dimensions of Global Environmental Change. Vol. 1. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Chichester. ISBN: 978-0471977964
MASI M., MARIANI L., GEORGIADIS T. (2010) No slogan: L’eco ottimismo ai tempi del catastrofismo. Sangel Edizioni, Cortona. ISBN: 978-8890427138
MATTHES F.E. (1939) Report of Committee on Glaciers, April 1939. Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, 20:518–523. https://doi.org/10.1029/TR020i004p00518
MEICHLE F. (1963) Seegfrörne und Eisprozession in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart (Schriften des Vereins zur Geschichte des Bodensees und seiner Umgebung, 81:145–170 (in German).
MEIER D. (2010) Mareggiate e perdita di terre sulle coste del mare del nord nel Medioevo. In Matheus, M., Piccinni, G., Pinto, G., Varanini, G.M. (Eds.), Le Calamità Ambientali nel Tardo Medioevo Europeo: Realtà, Percezioni, Reazioni. Centro Studi sulla Civiltà del Tardo Medioevo. San Miniato. Firenze University Press. Collana di Studi e Ricerche, 12:. 462. https://doi.org/10.36253/978-88-8453-503-0
MILLER G.H., GEIRSDÓTTIR Á., ZHONG Y., LAR-SEN D.J., OTTO-BLIESNER B.L., HOLLAND M.M., BAILEY D.A., REFSNIDER K.A., LEHMAN S.J., SOUT-HON J.R., ANDERSON C., BJÖRNSSON H., THOR-DARSON T. (2012) Abrupt onset of the Little Ice Age triggered by volcanism and sustained by sea-ice/ocean feedbacks. Geophysical Research Letters, 39:L02708. https://doi.org/10.1029/2011GL050168.
MONAHAN W.G. (1993) Years of sorrows: The Great Famine of 1709 in Lyon. Ohio State university Press, Columbus. 246 pp. ISBN: 9780814206089
MONTERIN U. (1937) Il clima sulle Alpi ha mutato in epoca storica? CNR, Comitato Nazionale per la Geografia, Bologna, 54 pp..
MUNGITORE A. (1872) Diario Palermitano (Biblioteca storica e letteraria di Sicilia), Palermo.
OERLEMANS J. (2005) Extracting a climate signal from 169 glacier records. Science, 308(5722):675-677. https://doi,org/10.1126/science.1107046
PÀSTENA B. (1990). Trattato di Viticoltura Italiana. Terza Edizione. Edizioni Agricole, Bologna. ISBN: 978-882063124
PINNA M. (1984) La storia del clima: Variazioni climatiche e rapporto clima – uomo in età postglaciale (Memorie della Società Geografica Italiana, 36). Società Geografica Italiana, Roma, 261 pp..
RHODES R.H., BERTLER N.A.N., BAKER J.A., STEEN-LARSEN H.C., SNEED S.B., MORGENSTERN U., JOH-NSEN S.J. (2012) Little Ice Age climate and oceanic condi-tions of the Ross Sea, Antarctica from a costal ice core record. Climate of the Past, 8:1223-1238. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-1223-2012
RICCARDI V. (2012) Centri e Periferie – La Storia di un Sistema Globale – 1602-1905. Volume 2. Zanichelli, Bologna. ISBN: 978-8808144539
RICORDANZE, libro delle memorie dell’Abbazia di Vallombrosa (Memories. Book of memories of the Abbay of Vallombrosa). Chronicle registers kept by the Vallombrosan
monks to record significant events, management of the assets, and daily life of the monastery over the centuries. Historical Archive of the Abbey of Vallombrosa. Available at the library of the Abbay.
ROBOCK A. (1979) The “Little Ice Age”: Northern He-misphere average observations and model calculations. Science, 206 (4425):1402-1404. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.206.4425.1402
SCIOLLA G.C. (2006) Cielo, terra e acque: Il paesaggio nella pittura fiamminga e olandese tra Cinquecento e Seicento. Catalogo della Mostra tenuta al Museo Archeologico Regionale di Aosta – 2006-2007. Elede Editrice, Torino.
SHAULL-THOMPSON R. (2019) “Frost Fairs”, the Little Ice Age and Climate Change. Scientific American, May 7, 2019.
SHEPPARD T. (1912) The Lost Towns of the Yorkshire Coast. London: Brown & Sons.
TAI H.-C., LI G.-C., HUANG S.-J., CHAN J.C.C. (2016) Chemical distinctions between Stradivari’s maple and modern tonewood. PNAS, 114:27-32. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1611253114
TILLOCK A. (1820) History of the Weather. The Philosophical Magazine and Journal, 55: 151-160.
USOSKIN I.G. (2008) A history of solar activity over millennia. Living Reviews in Solar Physics, 20:2. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41116-023-00036-z
VILLALBA R. (1994) Tree-ring and glacial evidence for the medieval warm epoch and the little ice age in southern South America. Climatic Change, 26:183–197. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01092413
WINCKLER S. (2000) Environmental catastrophe in the Pacific Islands around A.D. 1300. Geoarchaelogy, 15:715-740. https://doi.org/10.1191%2F095968300666087656
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Luigi Iafrate, Giuseppe Corti
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
