The Medieval Warm Period (Medieval Climate Anomaly)
- Date
- c. 950–1250 CE
- Category
- Environment & climate
- Region
- North Atlantic and Europe (regional, not global)
- Era
- Post-Classical / Medieval
- Significance
The Medieval Warm Period, also called the Medieval Climate Anomaly or Medieval Climate Optimum, was an interval of relatively warm climate lasting from roughly 950 to 1250 CE, most pronounced in the North Atlantic region and parts of Europe.
Researchers attribute it to a combination of increased solar activity, a relative lull in large volcanic eruptions, and changes in ocean and atmospheric circulation rather than to greenhouse forcing. Climate proxy records show that peak warmth occurred at different times in different regions, so the anomaly was not a globally synchronous or uniform event, a point emphasised by the 2019 PAGES 2k consortium reconstruction. In the North Atlantic the milder conditions enabled Norse expansion, including the settlement of Greenland around 985, while warmer summers across Europe supported agricultural expansion, glacial retreat, and population growth. The subsequent transition to the colder, stormier Little Ice Age after about 1250 contributed to the decline and eventual abandonment of the Greenland colonies and to widespread agricultural stress. The period is frequently invoked in debates about natural climate variability and the distinctiveness of modern global warming.
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Empires active in c. 950–1250 CE
- Samanid Empire819 CE – 999 CE
- Abbasid Caliphate750 CE – 1258 CE
- Byzantine Empire330 CE – 1453 CE
- Kanem-Bornu Empire700 CE – 1900 CE
- Pala Empire750 CE – 1161 CE
- Srivijaya650 CE – 1288 CE
Related environment & climate events
- Eldgjá Eruption in Iceland939-940 CE
- The 1257 Samalas Eruption (Mount Rinjani, Lombok)1257 CE
- Volcanic Winter of 536 and Onset of the Late Antique Little Ice Age536–537 CE
- The Great Famine devastates northern Europe1315–1317 CE
- Kuwae Eruption (Vanuatu)c. 1452 CE
- 1556 Shaanxi EarthquakeJanuary 23, 1556
Further reading
The wider story
A New Green History of the World
The classic accessible account of how environment and climate have shaped human history.
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