The Environmental Causes of the Plague and their Terminology in the German Pestbücher of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
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Chiara Benati
Abstract
In his treatise on the treatment of the plague (Liber pestilentialis de venenis epidimie. Das bůch der vergift der pestilentz das da genant ist der gemein sterbent der Trüsen Blatren, Strassburg: Grüninger 1500), the Strassburg surgeon Hieronymus Brunschwig lists a series of possible causes for the outbreak of the plague, some of which clearly remind us of the present-day environmental discourse on pollution and climatic change: the poisoning of the soil, the air, and the water determined by the negative influence of the stars, and the appearance of unusual climatic conditions, as well as sudden and significant weather changes. These concepts are not Brunschwig’s own but derive from a long tradition of German and many other texts dealing with the plague, its causes and treatment (Pestbücher), and they can be specifically traced back to the work of previous authors, such as for example Konrad of Megenberg (1309-1374), one of the more forward-thinking authors in this field. In this study, some of the most significant of these treatises from the fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries will be taken into consideration with respect to their description of the “environmental” causes of the plague and to the terminology used to indicate them, in order to outline the late medieval and early modern conception of the relationship between human health and environment, as well as its linguistic representation in the German language.
Abstract
In his treatise on the treatment of the plague (Liber pestilentialis de venenis epidimie. Das bůch der vergift der pestilentz das da genant ist der gemein sterbent der Trüsen Blatren, Strassburg: Grüninger 1500), the Strassburg surgeon Hieronymus Brunschwig lists a series of possible causes for the outbreak of the plague, some of which clearly remind us of the present-day environmental discourse on pollution and climatic change: the poisoning of the soil, the air, and the water determined by the negative influence of the stars, and the appearance of unusual climatic conditions, as well as sudden and significant weather changes. These concepts are not Brunschwig’s own but derive from a long tradition of German and many other texts dealing with the plague, its causes and treatment (Pestbücher), and they can be specifically traced back to the work of previous authors, such as for example Konrad of Megenberg (1309-1374), one of the more forward-thinking authors in this field. In this study, some of the most significant of these treatises from the fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries will be taken into consideration with respect to their description of the “environmental” causes of the plague and to the terminology used to indicate them, in order to outline the late medieval and early modern conception of the relationship between human health and environment, as well as its linguistic representation in the German language.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
- Nature and Human Society in the Pre-Modern World 29
- Unnatural Humans: The Misbegotten Monsters of Beowulf 97
- Natural Environment in the Old English Orosius: Ohthere’s Travel Accounts in Norway 135
- When Is a Good Time? Health Advice and the Months of the Year 153
- Humans Serving Nature: Beekeeping and Bee Products in Piero de Crescenzi’s Ruralia commoda 169
- Medieval Epistemology and the Perception of Nature: From the Physiologus to John of Garland and the Niederrheinische Orientbericht. Bestiaries and the ‘Book of Nature’ 189
- Waste, Excess, and Profligacy as Critiques of Authority in Fourteenth-Century English Literature 217
- “A New Flood Was Released from the Heavens”: The Literary Responses to the Disaster of 1333 253
- The Environmental Causes of the Plague and their Terminology in the German Pestbücher of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries 301
- Island, Grove, Bark, and Pith: Nature Metaphors in Teresa de Cartagena 331
- Nature, Art, and Human Perception in Giulio Romano’s Room of the Giants at the Palazzo del Te, Mantua (1532–1535) 353
- Human Body, Natural Causes, and Aging of the World in Czech-Language Sources of the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period 383
- Perception of Air Quality in the Czech Lands of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries 415
- Johann Arndt’s Book of Nature: Medieval Ideas During the German Reformation 435
- Imitation vs. Allegorization: Martin Opitz’s Influential Proposal Concerning Poetic Reflections on Nature 459
- François Bernier and Nature in Kashmir: Belonging in Paradise? 485
- Cosmology and Pre-Modern Anthropology 505
- Praising Perchta as the Embodiment of Nature’s Cycles: Worship and Demonization of Perchta and Holda in Medieval and Early Modern Culture 549
- List of Illustrations 581
- Biographies of the Contributors 583
- Index 589
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
- Nature and Human Society in the Pre-Modern World 29
- Unnatural Humans: The Misbegotten Monsters of Beowulf 97
- Natural Environment in the Old English Orosius: Ohthere’s Travel Accounts in Norway 135
- When Is a Good Time? Health Advice and the Months of the Year 153
- Humans Serving Nature: Beekeeping and Bee Products in Piero de Crescenzi’s Ruralia commoda 169
- Medieval Epistemology and the Perception of Nature: From the Physiologus to John of Garland and the Niederrheinische Orientbericht. Bestiaries and the ‘Book of Nature’ 189
- Waste, Excess, and Profligacy as Critiques of Authority in Fourteenth-Century English Literature 217
- “A New Flood Was Released from the Heavens”: The Literary Responses to the Disaster of 1333 253
- The Environmental Causes of the Plague and their Terminology in the German Pestbücher of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries 301
- Island, Grove, Bark, and Pith: Nature Metaphors in Teresa de Cartagena 331
- Nature, Art, and Human Perception in Giulio Romano’s Room of the Giants at the Palazzo del Te, Mantua (1532–1535) 353
- Human Body, Natural Causes, and Aging of the World in Czech-Language Sources of the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period 383
- Perception of Air Quality in the Czech Lands of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries 415
- Johann Arndt’s Book of Nature: Medieval Ideas During the German Reformation 435
- Imitation vs. Allegorization: Martin Opitz’s Influential Proposal Concerning Poetic Reflections on Nature 459
- François Bernier and Nature in Kashmir: Belonging in Paradise? 485
- Cosmology and Pre-Modern Anthropology 505
- Praising Perchta as the Embodiment of Nature’s Cycles: Worship and Demonization of Perchta and Holda in Medieval and Early Modern Culture 549
- List of Illustrations 581
- Biographies of the Contributors 583
- Index 589
