Topic
The Plague in Bohemia and Moravia after 1380
This project examines late medieval plague outbreaks in Bohemia and Moravia that have received less attention so far. In particular, it focuses on forms of coping with contingencies caused or intensified by the epidemic.
Coping with Contingency in the Context of the Plague in Bohemia and Moravia after 1380
For a long time, Bohemia and Moravia were a blind spot in international plague research, as the first wave of the second plague pandemic, the »Black Death« of 1347–1353, seems to have affected these areas less than other regions of Europe. The most severe plague wave in Bohemia and Moravia happened in 1380 and has consequently received great attention in Czech research. However, later plague waves have been largely neglected both by Czech and international research. My dissertation aims to fill this gap by taking a long-term look at plague events after 1380 until the 16th century. A particular focus is placed on how people dealt with the contingencies caused or intensified by the plague in various areas of life. This raises the question of what new challenges arose as a result and how people sought to address these uncertainties. Furthermore, it will be examined whether changes in how the plague was handled can be identified from a longer-term perspective.
The project is funded by the ERC Synergy Grant »A Novel Understanding of Pandemic Disease in Preindustrial Europe (1300-1800): Combining History, Machine Learning and Natural Sciences (EUROpest)«.
