Creation of the Kilt: Update on "Little Ice Age"

[Ian.MacAllan]

For some time now I have believed that an important contribution to the Scottish transition from brat and leine to great kilt was the medieval "Little Ice Age". The principal arguments against this belief have been:

!. The global temperature change was quite small: perhaps 1° C.
2. Though there is general agreement among historians on when this phenomenon ended (mid 19th century) there is not general agreement on when it began; some authorities place it as early as the 11th century and others as late as the 16th. Still others deny that it ever happened.

The BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16797075) has just reported recent research on this issue.


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[Bugbear]

Thanks for the link; i've been interested in this subject, but not in relation to kilts. It's an interesting thought.

[hallmarktex]

I saw a program (also produced by the BBC) a few years back where they said that in the late 1200s to early 1300s, the climate in the British Isles changed enough that grapes could no longer be grown. Thus wine disappeared from the Britain's diet and was replaced by ale (made from grain of course). After that it was Southern Europe that became known for wine making.

I would think that a climatic shift significant enough to cause both an ecological and cultural change of that significance would be enough to conclude that the 'little ice age' had begun in earnest.

[hunterblue]

as a person who has done Renaissance fairs for 20 + years and played a Scot at them for 15 of those. I have done historic research on the kilt. The first reports of the great kilt being worn starts about the mid 1500's. They were mostly the bed rolls being worn inted of rolled up and carried, or brats that were worn all the way around. I know that the mini ice age was in efect at this time as well. What gets me is when some one askes what tartan I'm wearing. For at this time there were no specific clan tartans.

[Barb T]

Just a quick thought from a geoscientist. Although a change in global temp of 1 degree C doesn't sound like much, the difference that it can make can be profound. The difference between global mean temps now and those at the height of the last ice advance during the last major Ice Age was only a couple of degrees C. In threshold regions (e.g, the Arctic and subArctic), this can mean the difference between ice cover or lack of ice cover and can profoundly change ocean circulation patterns, which can have a surprisingly dramatic (and, as we are now learning, sudden) influence on climates in northern areas such as the British Isles.