How did humans and their behaviour affect and change the natural world during the Middle Ages? And what, in turn, was the impact of environmental changes on the minds and identities of humans? In this book historians of literature, art, mentalities, law and natural science suggest answers to these questions, focussing on the most vital elements of Europe's environment: animals, plants, and landscape. In their interdisciplinary approach, wide variety of source material and specific findings, these studies present a multifaceted picture of environmental history and reveal a broad range of attitudes towards the natural world current in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. Moreover these case studies help us to understand various ways in which medieval developments shaped our modern world and minds.

Autorentext

The Editor: Sieglinde Hartmann, Ph.D. 1980, Professor of Medieval German Literature at the University of Würzburg; lectureships at the universities of Paris (Sorbonne) and Graz (Austria); member of the Programming Committee of the International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds; Vice-President of the Oswald von Wolkenstein-Gesellschaft; publications on German, French, Spanish and Italian literature of the Middle Ages; editor-in-chief of the Jahrbuch der Oswald von Wolkenstein Gesellschaft.

Inhalt
Contents: Peter Dinzelbacher: Preface/Vorwort Marc-André Wagner : Le sacrifice du cheval chez les Germains : éléments de comparaison avec les pratiques des Celtes Adelheid Krah: Tiere in den langobardischen und süddeutschen Leges Nigel Harris: Animals and Exile in the Ecbasis cuiusdam captivi Albrecht Classen: The Dog in German Courtly Literature: The Mystical, the Magical, and the Loyal Animal David Salter: 'A Dog's Life': The Experience of Exile in Middle English Romance Malcolm H. Jones: Cats and Cat-skinning in Late Medieval Art and Life Nigel Harris: The Camel in Medieval Literature: Perspectives and Meanings Umberto Albarella: Companions of our Travel: The Archaeological Evidence of Animals in Exile Malcolm H. Jones: Saints and Other Horse-mutilators, or why all Englishmen have Tails Marlu Kühn: Archaeological Evidence for the Use of Plants in the Medieval German Empire in Special Consideration of Gardens and the Possibilities of their Exploitation Gerhard K. Helmstaedter: Artemisia: An Example for Pharmaco-botanical History in Medieval Treatises on Plants Paola Schulze-Belli: From the Garden of Eden to the locus amoenus of Medieval Visionaries Anja Grebe: In the Paradise of Love: Medieval Love Gardens: Topography and Iconography Gabriela Schwarz-Zanetti/D. Fäh/Ph. Kästli/V. Masciadri/R. Schibler: The Churwalden (CH) Earthquake of September 1295 Maria E. Dorninger: The Alps in Middle High German Epic: Aspects of their Description in King Laurin and Virginal Aleks Pluskowski: Who Ruled the Forests? An Interdisciplinary Approach Towards Medieval Hunting Landscapes.