From the Brink of the Apocalypse

Confronting Famine, War, Plague and Death in the Later Middle Ages

John Aberth

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781134724871
• Edition: 2
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

Praise for the first edition:

"Aberth wears his very considerable and up-to-date scholarship lightly and his study of a series of complex and somber calamites is made remarkably vivid." -- Barrie Dobson, Honorary Professor of History, University of York

The later Middle Ages was a period of unparalleled chaos and misery -in the form of war, famine, plague, and death. At times it must have seemed like the end of the world was truly at hand. And yet, as John Aberth reveals in this lively work, late medieval Europeans' cultural assumptions uniquely equipped them to face up postively to the huge problems that they faced.

Relying on rich literary, historical and material sources, the book brings this period and its beliefs and attitudes vividly to life. Taking his themes from the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, John Aberth describes how the lives of ordinary people were transformed by a series of crises, including the Great Famine, the Black Death and the Hundred Years War. Yet he also shows how prayers, chronicles, poetry, and especially commemorative art reveal an optimistic people, whose belief in the apocalypse somehow gave them the ability to transcend the woes they faced on this earth.

This second edition is brought fully up to date with recent scholarship, and the scope of the book is broadened to include many more examples from mainland Europe. The new edition features fully revised sections on famine, war, and plague, as well as a new epitaph. The book draws some bold new conclusions and raises important questions, which will be fascinating reading for all students and general readers with an interest in medieval history.

Index

Abano, Pietro d’, physician 111–12

Abel, William, historian 200

Abinger, Hampshire: church of 124

abortifacients 14

abortion 14–15, 189, 246; medieval methods of 14

Abraham, biblical figure of 160

Abraham, physician and accused witch 189

Abruzzi, Italy 226

absolutism 55, 73

Abuget, accused Jew 157

“accidents of the soul” see plague, prevention of

Adam, biblical figure of 132, 227

Adolphus, Gustavus, king of Sweden 51

Aduard Abbey, Netherlands 22

Africa 7, 79

afterlife, medieval expectations about 128, 252, 271–2, 274; modern expectations about 271 see also Last Judgment

Agatha, Blessed Virgin of Catania 126

Agen, France 30

Agincourt, France, battle of 47–8, 51, 77, 251

Agout, Raymond d’, seneschal to Joanna, countess of Provence 172

Agramont, Jacme d’, physician 76, 114–15, 117, 119, 167, 182–3, 185, 209, 249

Agricultural Revolution 14

agriculture, as a cause of famine 8–10, 14

Ahab, king of Israel 29

AIDS 79, 86–7, 109, 199

Aiguebelle, Savoy, France 93, 172

Alaric, Visigothic chieftain 33

Albert II, duke of Austria 158, 162, 174, 184

Albert the Great 112

Albi, Languedoc, France 93, 201

Albich, Sigmund, physician 98, 100–2, 117, 119, 167

Albornoz, Gil de, Cardinal 76

Albucasis, physician and surgeon 105

alchemy 169

Alcibiades 79

Alexander the Great 165, 245

Alexandria, Egypt 81

Aljubarrota, Portugal, battle of 48

All Saints: church of (Bristol, Gloucestershire) 126, 210, 235; church of (Cambridge, England) 124; church of (Maidstone, Kent) 266; feast of 237

All Souls College, Oxford 251–2

Almagest, by Ptolemy 128

Almería, Spain 39, 86, 101–2

A...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• CONTENTS
• List of illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Chronology
• Maps
• Note to the second edition
• Prologue
• Famine
• War
• Plague
• Death
• Epitaph
• Tables
• Bibliography
• Index