Read here. Map here. France's Burgundy region farmers, famous for their wines, also had the foresight to record grape harvest data going back to the ending of the Medieval Warming Period. Using that evidence, researchers constructed a temperature record revealing a very slight cooling since the hot temperatures of the Medieval Warming.
Clearly, this unique record reveals that modern era temperatures are in no manner "unprecedented," especially when compared to the warmth of the lengthy period that stretches from 1370 through the 1600's. There is an exceptional modern year, though. During summer of 2003 (very last data point on chart), France experienced the late summer extreme, freak heat wave that was later found to have a non-global warming basis. (click on image to enlarge)
"In this respect, the Chuine et al. temperature history forcefully rebuts the hockeystick-derived claim of the world's climate alarmists that air temperatures of the last two decades of the 20th century were unprecedented over the past millennium and possibly over the past two millennia (Mann and Jones, 2003)...great importance of the Chuine et al. findings is that if it was warmer than it is now during parts of the 1300s, 1400s and 1600s, when there was far less CO2 in the air than there is currently (perhaps as much as 100 ppm less), it is reasonable to believe that whatever was responsible for the warmth of those earlier times may be responsible for much of the warmth of the present era (or perhaps even all of it)"
More historical charts here. Other climate history postings here. Modern temperature charts.