Chroniclers reported storms so fierce that they “hath not been seene, nor heard of in this age of the World”.
The researchers found that the winters grew so cold that birds would drop, frozen from the skies, while rivers such as the Thames froze over, allowing “frost fairs” to be held.
In 1600, heavy snows and frosts well into the spring caused wheat crop failures, sparking food hoarding across the country until Elizabeth I was forced to step in to ban food exports and punish traders who “racke things up to unreasonable prices”.
A diary from the Shann family in Methley, Yorkshire, detailed horrendous snow storms which continued for seven weeks between February and March 1615, leaving drifts that were “40 fathoms” (240ft) high and obscured nearby hills.
“This Snowe was driven into such monstrous driftes that it covered manie howses quit over, and the people that dwelt in them could not get out,” the family wrote, describing how all the rivers froze and most of the birds died.
The diary described how locals were forced to burn chairs and bed frames to stay warm.
How the modern day can learn from the past
Prof Bassnett added: “A lot of the response to climate change today seems to be, ‘Well, how do we control this?’ And one of the interesting things I’m finding in this early research is that there was much less of an interest in controlling weather and much more of an acceptance of having to work with it and be flexible and adjust.
“Maybe we can learn from the past and see what we can integrate today in terms of our own thinking and grappling with our future.”
Previously, biologists have studied tree rings to learn about the climate and weather of the period.
However, Liz Sutherland, a geography and cartography specialist at Western University, said: “Tree rings don’t tell you how fast the wind was blowing and they don’t give you context. They don’t tell you about how it felt to be in that extreme weather.
“I think there’s something to be said about combining the two sciences and seeing how that might impact people’s understanding of the climate at that time.”
