Synopses & Reviews
Using the prism of DÜrer's woodcut, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Andrew Cunningham and Ole Grell offer a new and exciting interpretation of European history in the period 1490 to 1648. DÜrer's image came to characterize the outlook of most early modern Europeans, who saw repeated episodes of war, epidemics and famine as indicating the imminent end of the world. Lavishly illustrated with fascinating contemporary images, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse brings together religious, social, military and medical history, giving readers a unique insight into the early modern world. Andrew Cunningham is a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science in the University of Cambridge. His most recent book is The Anatomical Renaissance (1997). Ole Peter Grell is a Lecturer in Early Modern History at the Open University, Milton Keynes. Among his recent books are Calvinist Exiles in Tudor and Stuart England (Scolar Press, 1997) and Paracelsus: The Man and His Reputation (Brill Academic Publishers, 1998). Together the authors have published Health Care and Poor Relief in Protestant Europe 1500-1700 (Routledge, 1997) and Health Care and Poor Relief in Counter-Reformation Europe (Routledge, 1999). Since 1998 they have edited the series History of Medicine in Context published by Ashgate.
Review
"...the authors of this new study make a significant contribution to the discussion...Their effort...provides an enlightening and valuable contribution to the study of the role of eschatology in the early modern world that will hold much interest for students of that period." Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
This is an exciting interpretation of early modern European history.
Synopsis
Cunningham and Grell offer a new and exciting interpretation of early modern European history (1490 1648), using the prism of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The book is lavishly illustrated with fascinating contemporary images, giving a unique insight into the early modern world.
Table of Contents
Preface; List of illustrations; 1. Introduction: an apocalyptic age; 2. The White Horse: religion, revelation and reformation; 3. The Red Horse: war, weapons and wounds; 4. The Black Horse: food, f(e)ast and famine; 5. The Pale Horse: disease, disaster and death; 6. Epilogue; Notes; Index.