SCEMS | EMDG | Emma Yeo

Sheffield Centre for Early Modern Studies

Reconciling faith and fear in early modern England: Coping with adverse weather in the diary of Thomas Chaytor

<p>Between 1612 and 1617, prominent northern gentry farmer and administrator Thomas Chaytor kept a diary. Filled with rich detail about everyday life for the Chaytor family and their social connections, the diary also provides an account of the severe weather conditions and poor harvests in Durham during the mid-1610s. Chaytor&#x27;s farm and primary residence was a few miles south of Durham city at Butterby, an area highly susceptible to river flooding. </p><p>This paper explores Chaytor&#x27;s comments on unusual weather and poor harvests in two ways. Firstly, it suggests that his detailed diary entries regarding the weather serve as a coping strategy to reconcile his anxieties with his belief in God&#x27;s providence. Secondly, I consider the diary evidence in the wider context of both climactic instability during the Little Ice Age and the devastating famines experienced by north-east England between the 1580s and 1620s. By examining the causes of Chaytor&#x27;s anxiety, which lie beyond the weather alone, this paper demonstrates the complex inter-relationship of culture, crisis and climate in early modern England.</p>

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SCEMS | EMDG | Emma Yeo

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SCEMS | EMDG | Emma Yeo

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