Kay Peter Jankrift

Bio: Kay Peter Jankrift is an academic researcher from Robert Bosch Stiftung. The author has contributed to research in topics: Plague (disease) & European union. The author has an hindex of 4, co-authored 8 publications receiving 32 citations.

Krankheit und Heilkunde im Mittelalter

Abstract: Ob Kaiser oder Papst, Kaufmann, Bauer oder gar Arzt, ob Frau oder Mann, jung oder alt – Krankheit und Tod kann niemand entgehen. Wie gingen die Menschen des Mittelalters mit diesen zentralen Konstanten menschlicher Existenz um, welche Auswirkungen hatten z. B. Seuchen auf die Gesellschaften, welche Folgen der plotzliche Tod eines Herrschers? Auf der Basis interdisziplinarer Forschungen gibt Kay Peter Jankrift einen konzisen Uberblick: Einleitend skizziert er, welche besonderen Informationen die verschiedenen Quellengattungen bieten. Die theoretischen Grundlagen der mittelalterlichen Medizin, wesentliche Entwicklungslinien abendlandischer Heilkunde, die Bedrohungen, die fur mittelalterliche Gesellschaften von Krankheiten wie Pest oder Lepra ausgingen sowie das Verhaltnis von Arzten und Patienten zueinander stehen im Mittelpunkt der folgenden Kapitel. Abschliesend handelt er vom zeitgenossischen Umgang mit dem Tod. Zusatzliche Attraktivitat erhalt die Darstellung dadurch, dass hier einige bisher nicht gedruckte Quellenauszuge erstmals ediert sind.

The language of plague and its regional perspectives: the case of medieval Germany.

Abstract: “In the year of our Lord 1350 the greatest mortality of mankind, called the epidemia, ruled in the world so that the number of living men was insufficient to bury the others,” noted the chronicler Florence of Wevelinghoven in the middle of the fourteenth century.1 An eyewitness of the Black Death, he later became bishop of Munster in Westphalia (1364–78) and bishop of Utrecht (1378–93).2 The Westphalian cleric was only one among many to describe in these or in very similar words the unimaginable mortality caused by the Black Death. Contemporary records from all over Europe tell the same story: the disease appeared everywhere in the world and depopulated the cities, leaving too few survivors to bury the countless dead.3 It is this image of a “worldwide” pandemic of the Black Death, together with, to a lesser extent, descriptions of the subsequent outbreaks of plague by contemporaries, which has dominated the historian's view of medieval epidemics until today. But what one may call the language of plague, the language of the sources, comprises universal and particular aspects at the same time. As European society is not uniform (despite all attempts of the administration of the European Union) and has never been so in the past, one has to ask how far did the different geographical and cultural backgrounds of chroniclers and medical practitioners influence the language of plague? Are there any differences in the attitudes towards the disease and in the ways of dealing with medieval epidemics, even if the same words are used? Did an Italian really have exactly the same view of plague as a Spaniard, an Englishman or a German? What finally inspired me to ask these questions within the context of plague were several examples of such differences in sources of the period concerning another medical problem, the disease (or rather the diseases) contemporaries used to identify as leprosy.

Climatic Extremes, Recurrent Crises and Witch Hunts: Strategies of European Societies in Coping with Exogenous Shocks in the Late Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries:

Abstract: In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, continental Europe north of the Alps was afflicted by a 13-year cycle of frequent cold and rainy summers which was the result of a series of volcanic explosions in the tropics. The inclement weather led to recurrent subsistence crises and to multiple floods in the Alps following from extensive glacier advances. This article discusses the relationship between ‘climate’ and ‘history’ from the example of this unique period. The vulnerability of food production in Europe to climatic hazard is assessed from an impact model. The result shows that the period 1560 to 1630 is most prominently marked by a high level of climatic stress. Likewise, this study demonstrates how authorities in Val Aosta (Italy) responded to annually recurrent floods in the 1590s triggered by the advancing Ruitor glacier. Finally, by confirming the thesis advanced by Wolfgang Behringer relating extensive witch hunts during that period to climatic change and recurrent subsistence crise...

Historical Disaster Research. State of Research, Concepts, Methods and Case Studies

Abstract: Historische Katastrophenforschung. For schungsstand, Begriffe, Konzepte und Fallbeispiele?. Disas ters have always accompanied human history. Historical re search on disasters is, however, a recent trend. After a short review of the engagement with disasters in Europe since an tiquity, an outline is given of research approaches, concepts, methods and theories from social sciences and cultural stud ies, along with recent historical research of primarily natural disasters. The present volume presents the research ap proach and papers of the DFG's network of young academ ics "Historical disaster research with a view to comparative cultural study" (Historische Erforschung von Katastrophen in kulturvergleichender Perspektive), situating them in the history of this field of investigation. It deals with the find ings, opportunities and future lines of research into histori cal disasters with a view to developing a cross-disciplinary and comparative cultural approach.