Today, not only scientists, but also housewives are enthusiastically discussing what will happen if, God forbid, a huge meteorite falls to the Earth or a super-powerful volcanic eruption begins. They argue about the consequences, they try to predict them. But who knows exactly what will actually happen, and will there be at all? Meanwhile, turning to the history of mankind, it turns out, we can quite reliably learn about how it was in the past.
It is known that the first centuries of our era were very favorable for agriculture. The climate was so warm that grapes even grew in the UK! But at the end of the 4th century, a cold snap began, the influence of which was felt in Europe until the 8th century, with the average temperature being the lowest in the last 2000 years. However, special attention of scientists is attracted by the catastrophe of 535-536, as a result of which years without years came to Europe and the "time of the darkened sun" came.
It is believed that the cause of these changes was a volcanic eruption, significantly more powerful than the famous eruption of Krakatoa, when millions of tons of volcanic ash were thrown into the planet's atmosphere. As the researchers note, this is very similar to the effect of a nuclear winter, coinciding with a general cooling. However, the eruption of local, northern volcanoes, for example, the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which recently disturbed Europe, or its powerful neighbor, the Katla volcano, is not excluded. Katla is several times larger than the famous Eyjafjallajokudl, today it has a diameter of 10 kilometers and, according to available signs, is waking up again.
The Byzantine writer of the 6th century Pro-Copies of Caesarea in the book "War with the Vandals" wrote about the disaster of 535-536 as follows: "And this year the greatest miracle happened: all year the sun emitted light like the moon, without rays, as if it had strength, ceasing, as before, to shine purely and brightly. From the time it began, neither war, nor a pestilence, nor any other disaster bringing death has ceased among people. Then it was the tenth year of Justinian's reign.
Another author of that time, Cassiodorus, wrote: “The air was thickened by snow and cold, and the weak rays of the sun could not dilute it. It only became denser, blocking the path of the sun's heat …
“The sun went dark and remained dark for 18 months. Every day it shone for only four hours, and this light was no more than a weak shadow, - reported Bishop John of Ephesus and added: - Everyone said that the sun will never regain its former radiance.
To appease the gods
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Of course, what so frightened the inhabitants of the Mediterranean could, even more forcefully, manifest itself in other places, for example, in Scandinavia, especially if such a catastrophe occurred in Iceland. And so, in addition to the results of dendrochronology and glaciology, archaeological evidence of this disaster was found, albeit an indirect one. A large number of treasures were discovered here, dating back to the first third of the 6th century, which sometimes contained up to 12 kg of gold. It can be assumed that all these treasures did not appear by chance, but represented ritual sacrifices, which, in turn, makes us think about what could have caused them on such a massive scale?
However, there is nothing surprising in their large number. In the Mediterranean, in such cases, litany prayers were read, and the pagan Scandinavians preferred something more material - they tried to appease the dying sun with gold! But even it turned out to be unable to give the expected effect: darkness and cold, as well as crop failures that followed, hunger and epidemics lasted at least 18 months! Indeed, the medieval Irish chronicles Annals of Ulster and Annals of Inisfallen report a grain harvest failure in 536, 537 and 539, as well as a “great death” (most likely an epidemic) that befell the country in 540, which is confirmed by samples ice extracted from age-old strata in Greenland and other Antarctic islands.
Great disastrous migration of peoples
There was only one way to be saved in these conditions, namely, by moving to a place where there were more resources. Immediately after 535, such migration processes in Europe began almost everywhere. Angles, Saxons, Jutes began to massively migrate to the British Isles, the Frisians from northern France moved to what is now Friesland and further south. On the other hand, the Heruls, a tribe related to the Goths from Eastern Europe, moved north and settled throughout Sweden, where they became the dominant military community, living in robbery and sea robbery. It was then that the Yarl kings appeared here, going on their ships for war booty. This type of culture became dominant in Scandinavia, from here the famous Vikings - "children of the bays" subsequently began their raids. Why this happened, we do not know exactly, but what,that the volcanic eruption is also to blame for this resettlement - no doubt!
Legends and myths confirm
The catastrophic volcanic eruption of 535 was reflected in the mythology of the Scandinavians. Description of the Great Winter”Fimbulwinter is very similar to the message of Cassiodorus. “Snow is falling from all sides, the frosts are cruel and the winds are fierce, and there is no sun at all. Three such winters go in succession (so in the text!), Without summer "- these were the events of this - the Giant winter", immediately after which Ragnarok was supposed to begin - the death of the gods ™, the end of the world. According to the prophecy, on the day of Ragnarok, the monstrous wolf Fenrir will swallow the Sun, plunging the world into darkness, and the sea will overflow its shores when the world serpent Ermungand will emerge from the depths. They will be joined by the fiery giant Surt with a flaming sword that will burn the earth, and the ruler of the afterlife Hel, and the insidious fire god Loki, along with frost giants - Khrimtus and Etuns.
The ship of the dead Naglfar arrives from Helheim. It is not difficult to imagine that the image of the monstrous wolf Fenrir could have been inspired by a huge black cloud of ash ejected from the mouth of a volcano. Well, romantic fantasy gave her the appearance of a wolf, an animal, as you know, not only predatory, but also very intelligent. It is significant that the description of the “Great Winter” here, like that of Cassiodorus, is associated with wars going on all over the world. At the same time, the brothers kill each other out of self-interest, and there is no mercy for either the father or the son in the slaughter and incest. " This could happen only under the conditions of the collapse of all the usual conditions of life, when it really seemed to people that the end of time is coming."
By hen warriors became more priests
However, perhaps the main consequence of this event for the inhabitants of Scandinavia was a change in their worldview and the emergence of a completely new culture, with new views on life, morality and traditions. Before that, with the cyclical change of the seasons, the priests' appeals to the gods were perceived as an essential thing. The priests were respected, because it was their actions that guaranteed order, which seemed to everyone to be unshakable. And suddenly everything turned upside down! Neither prayers nor rich sacrifices had any effect, and, no doubt, the authority of the priesthood under these conditions suffered greatly. But the authority of the soldiers, on the contrary, only strengthened, because now it was possible to survive only with a sword in hand, by force obtaining material goods for themselves and their children.
This is why there was no priesthood found in Viking culture. The warriors were convinced by experience of the ineffectiveness of their methods of spelling weather and circumstances, so the priests were pushed into the background, assigning them the role of only healers and healers. For a Viking, it was enough just to die with a sword in hand to be guaranteed to get to the gods in Valhalla, and he did not need any help from the priests in this.
Oleg SHEVCHENKO
"Secrets of the XX century" №40 2012
