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Jean-Pierre Devroey’s 2019 volume La Nature et le roi. Environnement, pouvoir et société à l’âge de Charlemagne (740-820), offers a real lesson in historical method while also embodying the first developments of environmental history in the field of medieval studies. Although the author acknowledges that his research is rooted in current debates and concerns about global warming, the real strength of his work is its plea for an environmental history free from all natural determinism. This article takes a closer look at what characterizes Devroey’s methodology, in particular with regard to connections between climatic or biological events and crop crises. It also points to convergences with recent works in the history of law, archaeogeography, and geoarchaeology, which are beginning to sketch the outlines of broader syntheses yet to be written.