Fimbulvetr: When the Medieval World Saw the Sun Go Dark - Medievalists.net

"In the medieval world, strange signs in the sky were rarely ignored. In AD 536, when the sun seemed to lose its light and the climate turned harsh, that catastrophe may have been remembered in the terrifying Norse legend of Fimbulvetr. In our medieval past, the sky was thought to be tightly connected with the landscape. Historical sources show a deep sense of fear caused by celestial phenomena such as comets, meteors, bolides, and even the aurora borealis."

"Lights in the sky were interpreted by Christian intellectuals and historians as ominous signs that were sent by God to mankind to forewarn it of major future calamities concerning both man and land. Drawing upon their knowledge of the Bible, medieval chroniclers interpreted signs from the sky as the words through which history unfolded according to God's plans, but often their words betrayed worries that were probably not too far removed from the emotional reality of the common folk - and with good reason."

"There is at least one fundamental example from Old Norse mythology: Fimbulvetr ("the Mighty Winter"), that is, the major catastrophic event that precedes and introduces Ragnarøkr ("the Twilight of the gods"). Interestingly, scholars have convincingly argued that the story of Fimbulvetr refers to a specific phenomenon that occurred in the sky: the so-called "dust veil" of AD 536. In that year (and in the following years), "a cluster of very large volcanic eruptions triggered exceptional cooling and possibly drought across several parts of the globe""

Medieval communities read unusual lights and phenomena in the sky as meaningful signs tightly connected to the earthly landscape and human fate. Christian intellectuals and chroniclers interpreted celestial displays as divine warnings rooted in biblical knowledge, predicting major calamities affecting people and land. Old Norse tradition contains the Fimbulvetr myth of a catastrophic winter preceding Ragnarøkr, which scholars link to the AD 536 dust veil. A series of very large volcanic eruptions around AD 536 produced exceptional cooling and drought across regions, producing demographic stress and reinforcing fears tied to atmospheric anomalies.

Read at Medievalists.net