In 1709, the English natural theologian William Derham wrote in Philosophical Transactions that the apocalyptic winter of 1708-9, which he called the Great Frost, “was greater (if not more universal also) than any other within the Memory of Man.” Derham’s observation was confirmed with the data collected by the modern-day climatologists who declared the winter of 1708-9 as the coldest European winter during the past 500 years (Science, vol. 303, no. 5663 (2004), pp. 1499-1503). The harsh winter conditions and the subsequent famine killed thousands, ruined economies, triggered revolts, and caused vast immigration both in and out of Europe. Although the “Great Frost” did not affect life in the Ottoman Empire as it did in most of the European states, there is a remarkable increase in the number of Ottoman imperial edicts in 1709 (re)announcing the prohibition of grain exports to Europe and (re)stating that those found guilty of breaching these orders would be harshly punished. The Ottoman authorities allowed the exports of grain in the summer of 1709, only after getting positive reports from the provinces on the level of stocks in the grain cellars and recurring requests of the European ambassadors. These documents are not only helpful for us to understand the Ottoman response to a great environmental crisis but also how the Ottomans employed its centuries-long grain export prohibition practice as a useful tool in the European theater of diplomacy in the early modern period.