Introduction: thinking about medieval Europeans in their natural world; 1. Long no wilderness; 2. Intersecting instabilities: culture and nature at medieval beginnings (c.400–900); 3. Humankind and God's creation in medieval minds; 4. Medieval land use and the formation of traditional European landscapes; 5. Medieval use, management, and sustainability of local ecosystems 1: primary biological production sectors; 6. Medieval use, management, and sustainability of local ecosystems 2: interactions with the non-living environment; 7. 'This belongs to me …'; 8. Suffering the uncomprehended: disease as a natural agent; 9. An inconstant planet, seen and unseen, under foot and overhead; 10. A slow end of medieval environmental relations; Afterword.
A pioneering study of how medieval Europeans used and changed their environment, integrating social, economic and environmental history approaches.
Richard Hoffmann is Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar at the Department of History, York University, Canada. As a pioneer in the environmental history of pre-industrial Europe, he is widely known for his contributions to medieval studies, environmental studies and historic fisheries.
'Contains the wisdom, and embodies the experience, gained from a
career spent presenting this most interdisciplinary of subjects to
classes of humanities students shy of science and nervous of
numbers. The result is an accessible, readable and
thought-provoking book with which any historian, environmental or
otherwise, ought to be able to engage.' Bruce M. S. Campbell, The
English Historical Review
'… [Richard Hoffman] has provided a rich overview of medieval daily
life and thought with regard to the natural environment. He does
not only focus on the interaction between nature and humans, but
also contextualizes his findings in a larger framework of economic
and social history, and the histories of law and mentalities. The
book will serve as a readable introduction for students and
scholars of medieval history, as well as enable specialists in
environmental history to build on his work … an essential book and
a work to use as a reference for all medievalists and environmental
historians.' Christian Rohr, Speculum
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