Fimbul-winter in the year 536 CE?

This was the year humanity could have perished, leaving the planet intact!

I shall rewrite the text later with references, events, etc. - suffice a few bullet points at this stage, as this event has a strong bearing on the history in the post migration era, the so-called dark ages.

- Chronicles from Europe and Asia describe how the sun was blanked out. Consistent reports mention the sun's power as equivalent to that found during an eclipse. I remember the eclipse in 2001 and was surprised how cold it felt.

- The moon could hardly bee seen and the stars disappeared.

- The Scandinavian soil is replete with gold-offerings. Hmmm - perhaps it worked after all?

The sun did return, didn't it? Maybe the Catholic church should create a sainthood for Odin and Thor?

Adding a couple of veterans to the 5136 other saints shouldn't be a big problem - and if anything deserves a sainthood it must be bringing the the power of the sun back!

- The 'nuclear winter' of 535-36 caused panic, hunger, upheaval - and change.

The immediate effect (of whatever caused this situation) lasted 1-2 years, but it is likely to have had a 10 year impact.

- Volcano or Meteor impact? I shall come back to that shortly - but look at these pictures for a start - taken from the web-site http://www.ees1.lanl.gov/Wohletz/Krakatau.htm.

Here's an interesting poem - Darkness - by Lord Byron, written 1816. The eerie likeness to a 'Nuclear Winter' has been misused by many of those, who see a mystery in the most banal events, from UFOs to Marilyn Monroe's death. Yes - banal is the word, as the most likely explanation also carries the highest probability for an explanation:

Darkness

I had a dream, which was not all a dream.

The bright sun was extinguish'd,

and the stars did wander darkling in the eternal space,

rayless, and pathless,

and the icy earth swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;

Morn came and went--

and came, and brought no day,

And men forgot their passions in the dread

of this their desolation;

and all hearts Were chill'd into a selfish prayer for light:

And they did live by watchfires--and the thrones,

the palaces of crowned kings--the huts,

the habitations of all things which dwell,

were burnt for beacons; cities were consumed,

And men were gathered round their blazing homes

to look once more into each other's face;

Happy were those who dwelt within the eye Of the volcanos,

and their mountain-torch:

A fearful hope was all the world contain'd;

Forests were set on fire--but hour by hour

they fell and faded--and the crackling trunks

extinguish'd with a crash--

and all was black.

......

The poem is longer - but this gives an impression.

'Nuclear Winter' forecast?

Rubbish.

1816 was the year the volcano Tambora exploded, creating a year without a summer.

It was a massive cataclysm, a model for the even more powerful 535 CE Krakatoa event.

Lord Byron experienced the effects.

That simple