Skip to main content

IMC 2021: Sessions

Session 1115: Before the Anthropocene, II: Medieval Concepts of Interdependent Human-Nature Relations

Wednesday 7 July 2021, 11.15-12.45

Organiser:Martin Bauch, Leibniz-Institut für Geschichte und Kultur des östlichen Europa, Leipzig
Moderator/Chair:Annabell Engel, Leibniz-Institut für Geschichte und Kultur des östlichen Europa, Leipzig
Paper 1115-aNature and 'Governance': Extreme Natural Events and the Implementation of New Ideas in the Carolingian Age
(Language: English)
Stephan Franko Ebert, Institut für Geschichte, Technische Universität Darmstadt
Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Political Thought, Politics and Diplomacy, Religious Life
Paper 1115-bRainfall and Flooding in Early Medieval Italy: Narrative Tropes and Natural Climate Proxies
(Language: English)
Annamaria Pazienza, Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università Ca' Foscari, Venezia
Index terms: Daily Life, Economics - General, Historiography - Medieval, Technology
Abstract

The distinction between the course of nature and the course of history is a modern one. Medieval societies all over the world were already able to think reflexively on their impact on environment. Indeed, they assumed that human behavior influenced natural conditions, particularly weather, mediated by religious concepts that crossed into the spheres of politics and economy. Both European and non-European societies accepted that 'bad' human actions would backlash in inclement weather while 'good' behavior would lead to benevolent conditions. This relationship has been interpreted by historians rather simplistically as a 'retributive theology', while it held much greater social implications.