I'm not sure which is the best section to put this in, but I'm reading Brian Fagan's fascinating book The Little Ice Age which discusses both the extraordinarily warm climate of the years 800-1200 in Northern Europe (in particular) as well as the subsequent period known as the "little Ice Age" and the effects of both of these climatic events on history, culture and society during the medieval period (it goes all the way to 1850, so it covers substantially more ground than just the medieval world.)
It's really well-written and absolutely fascinating (there are asides about things like how English wines were prized on the Continent, as well as longer essays about the decline of the Norse settlements in Greenland because of increasing cold weather and the encroachments of pack ice into the sea routes from Norway and Iceland.)
It's really well-written and absolutely fascinating (there are asides about things like how English wines were prized on the Continent, as well as longer essays about the decline of the Norse settlements in Greenland because of increasing cold weather and the encroachments of pack ice into the sea routes from Norway and Iceland.)