Reprocessing of Scots Pine data from northern Sweden has produced a new chronology, from which have been derived yearly estimates of mean temperatures for a summer (April-August) season back to the year 500. There is little evidence of a medieval warm epoch and the little Ice Age is short (1570-1650). These events may therefore not have been uniformly experienced across Europe, in contrast to previous opinion. Implications for global warming studies are discussed. Principal components analysis was used on the temperature and growth data.