It’s thought that the Norse abandoned Greenland in the early 15thC. So as Henry V was fighting at Agincourt the Norse were thinking about evacuating Greenland. Why?

The most popular theory has been, not surprisingly, it got too cold (in what was known to scientists, geologists, anthropologists and historians as the Little Ice Age). But, a recent report in “Science Advances” suggests it was because of drought!

The Norse settled on Greenland in 985 (in what they called the Eastern Settlement) and thrived by clearing the land of shrubs and planting grass as pasture for their livestock. The population peaked at around 2000 but collapsed 400 years later. The extreme cold was particularly harsh in the North Atlantic which was thought to have made agricultural life untenable there. However, it appears that studies relied on ice core data from a location over 1000km to the north of the settlements and also at 2km higher in elevation. That is, the interpretation of data had not come from the site itself. 

It’s now thought that whilst temperatures barely changed over the course of the Norse settlement it did become steadily drier over time. Even in good years the farmers had to use stored fodder for overwintering and the animals were so weak that they had to be carried to the fields once snow had melted. The consequences then of drought upon the health of the livestock may have been key in decisions about sustainability of the settlement. 

This has been an article also found in Medieval World – Culture and Conflict May-Jun 2022