The physical environment

About this same time, for more than two months in January, February, and part of March, the deluges of rain were so great that nobody could remember anything comparable. For about the Feast of Saint Scholastica [10 February], at the time of the new moon, the sea was so swollen by the torrents of the rivers rushing into it, that all the rivers, especially those falling into the sea, made the fords impassable, having overflowed their usual banks. Bridges were hidden, mills and their ponds were destroyed, cultivated lands and reed meadows were overrun. Among other unusual things, the River Thames overflowed its usual bounds, and entered the great palace at Westminster, spreading out and covering the area, so that some people were able to sail in small vessels even in the middle of the hall, and some went to their chambers mounted on horses…