The Great Frost of 1709

January 6, 1709

The coldest winter in five hundred European years froze the Venetian lagoon, split oaks in Sweden, and killed half the olive trees of Provence. French peasants starved; bread riots stalked Paris. Some historians argue the Grand Hiver hastened the Sun King's collapse as surely as any English regiment. Rivers from the Rhine to the Ebro froze solid, and Baltic ports did not thaw until May.