An Environmental History of the Middle Ages

This is the first survey of attitudes towards the environment in the Middle Ages, which was a critical and formative time for Western approaches to our natural surroundings. This was a time of fundamentally competing perspectives on the environment, with the belief that natural resources were put on earth for man's exploitation "at war" with the view that saw humankind as a steward of God's creation. Taking the entire medieval period from 500 to 1500 across the whole of Europe, from England and Spain across to the Baltic and Eastern Europe and focusing on the key areas of air, water, earth, wood and animals, John Aberth sheds new light on the medieval mindset which will be essential reading for all those interested in the Middle Ages.

“"This environmental history shows that our struggles with climate change, environmental pollution, deforestation, pandemics, and many other aspects of nature are not new. Thanks to this timely book, our future decisions can be informed by what people learned over 1000 years ago."- Joyce E. Salisbury,University of Wisconsin Green Bay, USA "Independent scholar Aberth is a Vermont farmer with a doctorate in medieval history, and he provides information that would enrich any survey course on the European Middle Ages... Recommended. All levels/libraries." - A.C. Reeves, emeritus, Ohio University,CHOICE magazine "Anyone interested in medieval Europe's environmental history must cheer the publication of John Aberth's newest book... It is as tool for historical understanding of environments and particularly their impact on medieval written culture." -Paola Squatriti, University of Michigan, The Historian”

"This environmental history shows that our struggles with climate change, environmental pollution, deforestation, pandemics, and many other aspects of nature are not new. Thanks to this timely book, our future decisions can be informed by what people learned over 1000 years ago." - Joyce E. Salisbury, University of Wisconsin Green Bay, USA

"Independent scholar Aberth is a Vermont farmer with a doctorate in medieval history, and he provides information that would enrich any survey course on the European Middle Ages... Recommended. All levels/libraries." - A.C. Reeves, emeritus, Ohio University, CHOICE magazine

"Anyone interested in medieval Europe's environmental history must cheer the publication of John Aberth's newest book... It is as tool for historical understanding of environments and particularly their impact on medieval written culture." -Paola Squatriti, University of Michigan, The Historian

Independent scholar Aberth is a Vermont farmer with a doctorate in medieval history, and he provides information that would enrich any survey course on the European Middle Ages. He writes about academic theories of disease, and thus provides insight into medieval science based on both theory and an experiential understanding of nature. Medieval thinkers wanted explanations for such events as the great famine of 1315-22 and the cycle of plague that began with the Black Death. Most of the examples Aberth provides come from England, supplemented by research from the Continent. The author writes of medieval thinking about the ecology of air, water, the earth, forests, and animals. The subtitle is truly appropriate. The book demonstrates that the medieval approach to nature was not merely a battle for conquest and domination, as with, for example, the systems developed for managing woodlands. The text is supported by endnotes and illustrations. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries.

CHOICE by A. C. Reeves, emeritus, Ohio University

Aberth, John

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