1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:06,960 Speaker 1: Heart Radio Welcome Back. I'm your host Eves, and you're 3 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:09,760 Speaker 1: tuned into This Day in History Class, a show that 4 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:15,360 Speaker 1: takes history and squeezes it into bite size stories. Today 5 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 1: is January. The day was January thirteen sixty two. A 6 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 1: massive southwesterly Atlantic gale, known as St. Marcellus's Flood or 7 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 1: the Grota Mandraca hit the British Isles, the Netherlands, Northern 8 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 1: Germany and Denmark. It resulted in at least twenty six 9 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 1: thousand deaths. The event is also known as the second St. 10 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:51,640 Speaker 1: Marcella's Flood, since a similar disaster happened on January six 11 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: and twelve, nineteen. St. Marcellus's Flood took place during what 12 00:00:56,840 --> 00:01:01,280 Speaker 1: some climatologists now called the Little Ice A. This period 13 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 1: wasn't an actual Ice Age. The term, coined by geologists 14 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:09,399 Speaker 1: Fe Matt, refers to a climate interval after the Medieval 15 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 1: warm period, when mean annual temperatures declined and the weather 16 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:18,960 Speaker 1: was unstable. The climatologists and historians disagree on the exact 17 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: span of the period. By many definitions, the so called 18 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,640 Speaker 1: Little Ice Age lasted from the fourteenth century to the 19 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:30,319 Speaker 1: mid nineteenth century. Around the twelfth century, a series of 20 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:34,319 Speaker 1: large storm surges started occurring in the North Sea. By 21 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: this time, though Europeans were already familiar with storm surges 22 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:44,440 Speaker 1: caused by the gales of extratropical cyclones. An extratropical cyclone 23 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 1: is one that forms in the middle or high latitudes. 24 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: These cyclones are driven by temperature contrast in the atmosphere, 25 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: where two air masses meet and create a front. Though 26 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: tropical cyclones create higher storm surges and get a lot 27 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:05,400 Speaker 1: of attention in extratropical cyclones cover larger geographical areas. These 28 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:08,640 Speaker 1: storms led to the loss of valuable land and forced 29 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 1: communities to relocate. Europeans could not predict when the next 30 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:16,600 Speaker 1: flood would happen, but they did build coastal defenses to 31 00:02:16,639 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: protect against big storms and reclaimed land from the sea 32 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 1: using innovative techniques. The low countries, including the Netherlands, Western Germany, Denmark, 33 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:31,280 Speaker 1: Belgium and northern France were particularly vulnerable to storm surges 34 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:35,680 Speaker 1: and destruction. The first St. Marcellus flood that occurred in 35 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:40,400 Speaker 1: twelve nineteen drowned and estimated thirty six thousand people, mostly 36 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 1: in West Friesland and Groningen, which are now locations in 37 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: the Netherlands. In twelve eighty seven St. Lucius Flood killed 38 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: more than fifty thousand people in the Netherlands and northern Germany. 39 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:55,960 Speaker 1: This storm over the North Sea destroyed sand dunes and 40 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: natural clay barriers that separated a lake in the northwest 41 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:03,120 Speaker 1: of the Netherlands from the sea, that turned the lake 42 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: into a bay that became known as the Desider's A 43 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 1: or Southern Sea. Villages were wiped out in Harlingen, a 44 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:14,160 Speaker 1: town that was landlocked, became a seaport. England was also 45 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: affected by the storm surge. The second St. Marcella's Flood 46 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: was also devastating. It hit large parts of northwestern Europe. 47 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:27,959 Speaker 1: On January thirteen sixty two, a southwesterly Atlantic gale swept 48 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:32,400 Speaker 1: across the British Isles, the Netherlands, Northern Germany and Denmark. 49 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 1: High tides combined with a storm to flood large parts 50 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 1: of the Low Countries. Wronghole support on the island of 51 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 1: Strand in the Duchy of Slissby reportedly completely sunk into 52 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:48,640 Speaker 1: the sea. The city attained a sort of mythical status, 53 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: with debate later rising over whether it ever even existed. 54 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 1: The port of ravenser Odd in England was largely wiped out. 55 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:00,280 Speaker 1: The storm further opened the Desider's A to the sea, 56 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:05,360 Speaker 1: and around sixty parishes in Denmark were reportedly destroyed. The 57 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 1: storm changed the shape of the Danish, German and Dutch coastlines. 58 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: The death toll of the flood has been estimated at 59 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:16,039 Speaker 1: at least twenty five thousand people and up to one thousand, 60 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:21,320 Speaker 1: though the exact number is disputed. January is the feast 61 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:25,160 Speaker 1: day of St. Marcellus, hence the name St. Marceluss Flood. 62 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:29,680 Speaker 1: The storm also became known as grown up Mandraca, which 63 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:33,479 Speaker 1: means great drowning of men in Low Saxon. In the 64 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 1: centuries after the storm, thanks were rebuilt and land was 65 00:04:36,839 --> 00:04:40,400 Speaker 1: reclaimed from the sea, but massive storm surges continued to 66 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:43,960 Speaker 1: hit the region and reshape the land. I'm Eve chef 67 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 1: Cote and hopefully you know a little more about history 68 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:50,480 Speaker 1: today than you did yesterday. Keep up with us on Twitter, 69 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:55,479 Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram, at T D I h C podcast, 70 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 1: or if you are so inclined, you can send us 71 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 1: a message at this day at I heart media dot com. 72 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. We'll see you again tomorrow with another episode. 73 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:15,360 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the iHeart 74 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 75 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:18,520 Speaker 1: favorite shows.