With his "Buch der Natur" canon Konrad von Megenberg (1309-1374) created the first natural history encyclopedia in German. It was to become one of the most widely-read and influential vernacular works of the late Middle Ages. The present study traces its textual history and its dissemination by providing characterizations of the various versions of the text, describing and analyzing the many and variegated paths by which the text was handed down to subsequent generations and documenting this history of its influence. One thing that becomes apparent is that the interest of the largely aristocratic and bourgeois lay recipients centred less around the allegorical interpretations of natural phenomena than around the factual information contained in the book and the way this could be turned to practical account in everyday life.

Autorentext
Gerold Hayer, geboren 1945, studierte Germanistik, Geschichte und Philosophie an der Universität Salzburg, 1972 Dr. phil., 1973 wiss. Mitarbeiter an Forschungsprojekten, 1981 Universitäts-Assistent, seit ist er 1992 Univ.-Doz. für Ältere deutsche Sprache und Literatur und ao. Univ.-Prof. am Institut/Fachbereich für Germanistik an der Universität Salzburg. Seine Forschungsschwerpunkte sind: Spätmittelalterliche pragmatische Literatur, Text- und Überlieferungsgeschichte, Bibliotheksgeschichte.