The Mystery Eruption of the 15th Century The Quest for an Elusive Harbinger of Doom

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video it was on the sixth day of the sixth  month of the 66th year of the 15th century   a.d the devout citizens of florence  were shaken by the fiery sermon of the   franciscan friar michelle carcano preaching in  the cathedral of santa maria del flore the friar   thundered from his pulpit about the calamities  which had scourged the italian land the raids   of the turks an unknown plague torrential reigns  and famine he warned his congregation that these   were all signs of a divine judgment which was to  come any day the omen was clear an alignment of   jupiter and mars which has happened only twice  before when moses had received the divine law   on mount sinai and when jesus christ had become  incarnate in the virgin mary florentines as well   as inhabitants of most of europe china and the  aztec empire had indeed been living and dying   through decades of unpredictable weather patterns  endless winters and failing crops the judgment day   obviously did not arrive but easy times these  certainly were not jupiter and mars though   were not to blame rather an earthier cataclysm  a still mysterious gigantic volcanic event   taking place somewhere in the pacific this is the  story of the mystery eruption of the 15th century on many occasions around the midpoint of  the 15th century inhabitants of our wondrous   planet observed signs importance never observed  before on the 14th of september 1465 melanie's   noblewoman ipolita maria sforza entered the city  of naples with her entourage to marry king alfonso   every bride-to-be knows that she must bring  to her wedding something old something new   something borrowed something blue epilita really  outdid herself as local chroniclers reported that   on that day the sun turned blue from noon until  the evening the sun was of blue color and hardly   shone within fog and haze and this endured for  ten days accompanied by silence and calm of the   air without any breeze similar phenomena were  recorded in germany around the same date in the   westphalian town of zost the sun in the sky was so  blue and the air so yellow that nobody knew what   that might be the sun's ring and its light were  blue and for some time red and white while the sun   over constance southern germany sometimes changed  colors yellow then red surrounded by circles like   a rainbow sightings of similar anomalies predated  the late summer of 1465. in 1464 a chronicle from   the island of imbross in the aegean noted unusual  signs in the sky the midday sun took the color   of dark copper as if covered by a dense gloomy  cloud aztec sources from the same year describe   how it rained summer fires which destroyed  old trees and prevented farmers from sowing   thousands of miles away a mysterious fog fell  over beijing while central and southeastern   china were scourged by a rain of black rice  falling from the sky elsewhere in the world   worried citizens and especially farmers took  notice of a strange persistent hovering fog   it blocked the light and heat from the sun blew or  otherwise causing unpredictable weather patterns   and harvest failures to modernize this global  level event shares eerie similarities with   the year without a summer of 1816 which  followed the 1815 eruption of mount tambora   in indonesia now we've already got a video  on that cataclysmic chain of events so we'll   not go into details here if you want to learn  more well you can watch that video what matters   to us is that something similar happened four  centuries earlier but who or what was the culprit   research into the elusive eruption of the 1400s  began with a series of archaeological expeditions   in the south pacific in the 1950s researchers  visiting the island of tonga and venatu collected   stories about a now disappeared land mass which  linked it to the nearby epi this land was known   as kuwait and it was the home of the gian volcano  according to local law an inhabitant of kuwait was   tricked into sleeping with his own mother  understandably he flew into a supernatural rage of   such proportions to cause an eruption now edible  legends aside the story perpetuated the memory of   a series of earthquakes topped by a volcanic event  which destroyed kuwait causing it to sink into   the ocean from then on epi and tonga became two  separate islands the survivors of the explosions   fled by boats to the nearby islands only to die  later of unknown causes the last living kuwain   a young man called titon goa lissaki settled in  tonga and passed the story down the generations   for centuries onwards as is often the case with  legends and folklore researchers suspected there   was a kernel of truth to the story of the young  tongoen to begin with half a mile deep beneath   the ocean halfway between epi and tonga there is  in fact a caldera or underwater crater the next   step was to ascertain if and when a cataclysm  of such magnitude had actually happened fast   forward to the 1980s and geological expeditions  investigating polar ice cores found spikes in   acidity dating back to the 15th century analysis  of ice core acidity is a common method used to   study ancient volcanic eruptions as these tend  to disperse enormous quantities of sulfuric acid   into the atmosphere sediment and emissions from  eruptions later resettle at ground level later to   be covered by layer upon layer of polar ice the  comparative analysis of these layers can help   identify the date and even magnitude of the  explosion this is how researchers estimated   that the 15th century blast may have been more  violent than the tambora event an eruption which   unleashed destructive energy equivalent to  2.2 million atomic bombs so we have the what   an alleged eruption in kuwait then we have the  wen a previously unknown volcano going off in   the 15th century another archaeological expedition  uncovered the alleged remains of titon goa liciki   the survivor by using carbon dating technology  they found that he must have died sometime between   the 14th and 15th century it would be easy to  jump to conclusions then in the 1400s a volcano   exploded in the south pacific destroying away the  gas and ashes spewed into the atmosphere creating   a permanent fog or haze which affects most of  the globe this haze blocks out the sun giving it   a blue or dark copper appearance somewhere else  ashes rain down on earth appearing as grains of   black rice more worryingly the layer of  volcanic emissions blocks most of the sun's heat   causing harvests to fail but the scientific  community is skeptical by nature there were   still too many question marks hanging in the  air what was the exact year of the event was   kuwait really the guilty party and did the  mystery eruption actually even take place   in the early 1990s a team of french geologists  led by professor michelle morzier visited the   kauai caldera and in may of 1993 they published  their findings they estimated that the eruption   had released enough magma to fill up the empire  state building 37 million times over and the   solid debris was shot 30 miles into the sky the  team also found remains of trees devastated by   the eruption and put them through a radiocarbon  test according to their findings the event took   place between 1420 and 1430 but another researcher  publishing in december of the same year did not   agree dr kevin pang of nasa's jet propulsion  laboratory firmly dated the kuwait explosion   to the year 1453 he reached this conclusion by  piecing together a number of convincing clues   mostly related to unusual weather patterns and  historical records of crop failures for example   china was hit by copious snowfalls lasting as  long as 40 days contemporary chronicles state   that the yellow sea froze up to 13 miles from the  shore as a result tens of thousands of people died   of frostbite and starvation in sweden grain crops  failed leaving grain stalls and bellies woefully   empty an even worse famine struck the aztec  empire tree ring records show that the year 1454   was characterized by an extended drought it's no  coincidence that aztec codices mentioned that year   as one of the famine of one rabbit according  to the aztec calendar one rabbit is the first   year of the recurring 52-year cycle and according  to folklore this year always comes with a curse   resulting in catastrophe and famine pang  found clues linking the kuwait explosion to   another horseman of the apocalypse war on the  22nd of may 1453 defenders of the great siege   of constantinople were astounded by the sight of  a great fire raging in the sky a divine sign of   impending doom maybe a turkish tactic according to  pang it was merely an optical illusion it had been   caused by the rays of the setting sun reflecting  on the ashes spewed by kuwait into the atmosphere   ten years later an expedition from mata university  in new zealand chipped in environmental scientist   caroline mammoth was specifically looking  for signs of a cataclysmic blast capable of   changing weather patterns worldwide well nemeth's  findings were anticlimactic to say the least the   team analyzed the existing caldera and concluded  that the original volcano must have been no more   than a thousand meters high this was about a  quarter of tambora and too small to generate an   eruptive column capable of global impact nemeth  and team did find evidence of pyroclastic flows   around the mid-1400s but these did not match the  scenario of one single massive blast if anything   these flows told the story of a series of small  localized eruptions which may have happened mostly   underwater again no chance that kuwait may  have turned the sun blue in naples or starved   the farmers internet shipment i expect these  findings dampened the efforts of many hollywood   scriptwriters known for the accurate research  poured into their historical fiction works   there it was a fantastical story based on  a loud bang which turned out to be no more   than a whiff but despair not for further studies  produced a picture for rather more apocalyptic   scenarios two independent research teams led  by professor christopher plummer and professor   jihong koldai delivered a double whammy of further  evidence in 2012 and 2013 they analyzed ice cores   from a site in antarctica known as lore dome  here they found confirmation of sulfur spikes   occurring in the 15th century therefore  proving again that a cataclysmic explosion   did happen furthermore they provided another  estimate for the year of the explosion 1458. but don't fixate too much on that date as it  carries a margin of error plus or minus seven   years dr martin bought from the university  of leipzig in his 2017 paper the day the sun   turned blue points out that plummer and cold  eye may have had their date slightly off 1458   plus seven takes us to 1465. the year in which  the wedding of king alfonso was made memorable  

by a bluer shade of sun so what if the previous  hypothesis by dr pang and the fire in the sky   observed a constantinople book dismissed  this notion stating that chroniclers may have   exaggerated reports to confirm the fulfillment of  ancient prophecies on the fall of the byzantine   empire dr borg proceeded to compile a series of  occurrences taking place in the 1460s and 1470s   leading him to suggest that the kauai explosion  took place in 1464 and had lasting consequences   so let's have a look at the evidence we've  already covered the blue sun of september   1465. further sightings were reported by  heidelberg historian mathias von kam nat who   wrote that during the rule of frederick the first  of the palatonate 1452-1475 the sun has been seen   blue many times a day and a cross was spotted in  the moon as well as many more miracles in the sky   besides prodigious event citizens of europe had  to contend with the consequences of climate change   in a few words 1465 was the original year  without a summer this annis horribilis kicked   off in january with heavy rainfalls causing  the arno river to flood florence in march and   april severe precipitation fell upon mercia in the  normally dry southeast of spain may in ireland was   abnormally frosty and snowy early summer in italy  and france was cool and rainy which led to poor   harvests of fruit and most importantly grain this  represented the staple diet for the majority of   europeans in the late medieval period small crops  of wheat barley and rye would cause shortages   inflation and at the end of the chain famine the  death of grain was indeed worryingly according to   contemporary sources mostly italian a chronicler  in lombardy noted how grain prices had tripled   between august 1464 and may 1465 due to scarcity  and the people could not afford bread anymore   the famine was compounded by a general economic  crisis which had reduced the earnings of craftsmen   traders and merchants an edict by the government  of bologna dated 29th of july bans grain exports   indicating that the city's food reserves were  almost totally spent northern france suffered   a different issue there the harvest was abundant  but the grain was largely moldy due to inclement   weather the effects therefore were the same the  lack of summer also devastated one of europe's key   economic sectors the production of wine in autumn  of 1465 as europe chronicle lamented that the   grapes were so hard that vine workers shied away  from gorging on them around the same time casks of   wine produced around metz paris and thuringia were  dumped on mass due to their sour quality but the   effects of the chilly weather did not abate at the  end of summer they continued for several months   even years in the autumn of 65 lakes zurich and  constance in switzerland froze solid the ice was   so thick that people could dance on the lakes and  even cross them with horses weeks even months of   snowfalls were suddenly interrupted by an apparent  hiking temperatures the resulting thawing caused   another season of widespread flooding citizens of  florence barely had cleared the mud and snow from   the previous months when the sea was flooded again  in january 1466. the same fate befell marlborough   castle in poland's fortress of the teutonic order  the sellers overflowed with water and i imagine   those mighty nights had to ditch sword and shield  to toil away with mop and bucket exactly one year   later the same pattern of rain followed by melting  snow in and dating yorkshire and presumably most   of northern england freezing rain fell upon  northern france for weeks without break in the   spring of 1467. later on the 29th of september  germans and italians both observed an unusual   comet believing it was a messenger of further  tragedy to come they weren't wrong rain continued   to pour down over those lands until the end of  the year and well into 1468 many german sources   recorded how the autumn of 1468 was so wet that  corpses started surfacing in the cemeteries due to   the rising ground water whilst barely any source  recalls people dying directly of hunger europeans   suffered greatly from a direct consequence of  starvation epidemic disease in july several   clergymen in glatz modern day classical poland  were recorded as dying of an unknown pestilence   this may have been the same disease which the  following month ravaged switzerland and the   ousseas region in autumn the disease characterized  by fever and chest pain reach northern italy it   seems like the epidemic subsided during the winter  only to reappear in may of 1466 in mets northern   france here church authorities imported a piece  of the holy cross which reached the city in august   apparently it worked and the plague abated but  not in poland there the epidemic was so severe   that no person was fit or alive enough to tend  the fields cities towns and villages were left   deserted the unknown illness returned to northern  italy in early 1468. desperate city authorities  

looking for answers to the scourge resorted to  imprisoning doctors to them this was the only   possible explanation medical professionals had  been voluntarily poisoning citizens to steal their   goods the pestilence did not spare the eternal  city or rather the countryside around rome food   growers were too ill to bring their produce to  market leaving romans to die of hunger by june the   epidemic had spread to hamburg lubeck and cologne  in october thousands of deaths were recorded in   strauss and on germany's baltic coast the disease  crossed the sea in 1469 landing in sweden where   it stayed until 1471. following a different  path the mysterious plague knocked on the door   of the ottoman empire constantinople cyprus and  other areas endured wave after wave until 1472. dr barr's research is currently  the latest comprehensive inquiry   on the mysterious eruption and we personally find  the evidence to be quite compelling but the author   himself notes that his findings are by no means  conclusive unusual weather patterns and outbreaks   of unidentified diseases took place earlier than  1464 his estimated date at the quay explosion for   example heavy snowfalls out of season damage crops  and disrupted travel as early as 1461. devastating   famines crippled livelihoods in venice england and  france in the first months of 1464. the pestilence  

had already emptied cities north and south of  the alps in 1461 before sweeping germany in 1463.   understandably the scientific community is not 100  convinced yet of what exactly happened and when so   allow me now to piece together all cited research  into a single interpretation of events it seems   likely that the koi volcano was extraordinarily  active from 1420 to 1465 with evidence of several   eruptions some of these were not large enough  to warrant worldwide effects while at least one   of them resulted in a climate altering event of  global proportions pinpointing the exact date may   not be possible not yet at least but we could  venture the hypothesis that the effects lasted   for years even decades as the multitude of  different reports seemed to suggest in other   words if tambora gave us the year without summer  kuwait was responsible for the years without a   summer but we're not an expert and if you are  well as the comment section below for our part   we can only conclude with a grim reflection that  what we have learned from studying such events   is how interconnected and fragile human society  is and how dependent it is on the sudden violent   whims of nature poem philosopher giacomo leopardi  lived in the shadow of the year without summer of   1816 and he best summarized this concept in  his dialogue between nature and an icelander   in this short parable an icelander whose life  had been made miserable by the harshness of the   elements and natural disasters finally comes face  to face with the personification of nature herself   appearing as a gigantic woman as he laments  his woes and asks the reasons for her hostility   nature states her indifference to the plight of  man thinkers thou then that the world was made for   thee it is time thou knewest that in my designs  operations and decrees i never gave a thought to   the happiness or unhappiness of man if i cause you  to suffer i am unaware of the fact what i do is   in no sense done for your enjoyment or benefit as  you seem to think if i by chance exterminated your   species i should not know it so i really hope you  found today's video interesting if you did please   do hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to  subscribe and as always thank you for watching you

2022-02-21

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