The Plague and the Wolf as Places of Memory

Klaniczay, Gábor

doi:0001-6829

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The Plague and the Wolf as Places of Memory Klaniczay, Gábor

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The Plague and the Wolf as Places of Memory

Acta Poloniae Historica T. 119 (2019), In Honour of Professor Halina Manikowska

Klaniczay, Gábor

Hartzell, James : Ed. ; Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences ; Polish National Historical Committee

Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Plague - 14-18th c. ; wolves - history - 476-1492 - Europe ; Boccaccio, Giovanni (1313-1375) ; Villani, Matteo (?-1363)

The essay compares two cases of very intense panic caused by the destructive forces of nature. The panic caused by the Black Death – a topic Halina Manikowska also dealt with – is presented from the point of view of its frightening memory. The long-term evolution and changes in the then-prevailing attitudes is compared to the lasting fear and panic from the menace of wolves, which also represented a mortal danger in medieval and early modern Europe; they were also feared and had to be fought against for centuries. The nature of the danger from the presence of wolves, and the ways to defend oneself against it, was however very different from the danger related to the plague.

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