The eruption is known to have put a large amount of sulfur into the atmosphere, and tree ring studies show that 1601 was a cold year, but no one had looked at the agricultural and social impacts.

The year 1601 featured several climate discrepancies, they note. Tree-ring records show that it was the coldest year in six centuries in the Northern Hemisphere - possibly due to the cooling ...

Tudor governments did not really know what to do about the poor, because in many ways they did not understand the causes of poverty. It was widely assumed that many were just lazy and refused to work.