Francesco Renzi, Luís Carlos Amaral, and Joana Gomes, eds. Igrejas, poderes e territórios: Novas perspetivas sobre as relações entre o poder e as Igrejas na Europa medieval (séculos XI-XV). Porto: Edições Afrontamento, pp. 113-164, 2023
St. Elizabeth of Hungary or Thuringia (1207-1231) was one of the most famous personalities of the... more St. Elizabeth of Hungary or Thuringia (1207-1231) was one of the most famous personalities of the thirteenth century: a female counterpart of St. Francis, a princess in the service of the poor, a prestigious relative in the genealogy of several royal and aristocratic dynasties. Her striving for Christian virtuosity made a strong impression on her contemporaries and, combined with her social standing, it rendered her a perfect candidate for papal canonization. That her sanctity was also connected to the fight against heresy has been pointed out more than once in historical scholarship but it has not received any systematic treatment so far, just like the reason for choosing the Dominican church of Perugia as the site of her canonization ceremony. The present article offers a new interpretation of the events that led to her inscription in the catalogue of saints by placing them in the broader context of contemporary anti-heretical campaigns, with a particular emphasis on the role played by the Dominicans in the latter.
Religious Transformations in New Communities of Interpretation in Europe (1350–1570): Bridging the Historiographical Divide, ed. by Élise Boillet and Ian Johnson (Turnhout: Brepols), 2022
HANS SALTZMAN, THE 1510 PLAGUE, AND THE QUARANTINE AT SIBIU. This article discusses two treatises... more HANS SALTZMAN, THE 1510 PLAGUE, AND THE QUARANTINE AT SIBIU. This article discusses two treatises of Hans Saltzman, a medical doctor of Styrian origin, who was employed as a town physician in Sibiu (Nagyszeben), a rich merchant town in Transylvania. Saltzman earned his fame in Hungarian medical history as the one who first proposed the detention of persons coming from infected areas at the time the plague ravaged most of Hungary in 1510. We raise questions about what exact measures Saltzman proposed in his plague treatise printed in Latin in 1510 and in his second similar work published in German in 1521, and if it was likely or at least possible that a quarantine had been implemented in Sibiu in 1510. To critically examine these issues, we place them in the context of Saltzman’s life and studies, as well as the genre and tradition of plague treatises in late medieval Europe, and the various preventive and curative methods that they proposed. We also survey the institutional and personal measures that the municipal government of Sibiu could take to handle contagious diseases. We conclude that even if there is no direct proof that a quarantine was actually implemented in Sibiu, and the town may not have been able to set up the necessary infrastructure that had no precedent in landlocked Central Europe, one can observe a crucial move towards health becoming a public value and the first tentative steps towards a conscious public health policy.
TEXTES ET PRATIQUES RELIGIEUSES DANS L’ESPACE URBAIN DE L’EUROPE MODERNE, sous la dir. de Élise Boillet et Gaël Rideau. Paris: Honoré Champion, 2020, p. 51-72.
If you would like to have an e-print of the published version of this text, please send me a mess... more If you would like to have an e-print of the published version of this text, please send me a message.
In: My Favourite Things: Object Preferences in Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture, ed. Gerhard Jaritz and Ingrid Matschinegg, 87-102. Münster, Vienna, and Zurich: LIT, 2019.
In: The Grand Tour of John of Capistrano in Central and Eastern Europe (1451-1456): Transfer of Ideas and Strategies of Communication in the Late Middle Ages, ed. Paweł Kras and James D. Mixson, 81-97. Warsaw: Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences; Lublin: Wydawnictwo KUL, 2018.
Gli studi francescani: prospettive di ricerca; Atti dell’Incontro di studio in occasione del 30° anniversario dei Seminari di formazione. Spoleto: Centro italiano di studi sull’alto medioevo, 2017
AMERICAN PEPPER, INDIAN CURRY AND HUNGARIAN PAPRIKA: LOCAL AND GLOBAL FIGURATIONS IN THE SOCIAL H... more AMERICAN PEPPER, INDIAN CURRY AND HUNGARIAN PAPRIKA: LOCAL AND GLOBAL FIGURATIONS IN THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF CULINARY TASTE. The overall diffusion of foodstuffs, dishes and cooking styles of foreign origin, which are partially or entirely regarded as exotic, constitutes one of the most conspicuous phenomena of cultural globalization. The multicultural diversification of food supply is intertwined, among other things, with a shift in the sources of immigration and the transformation of modes of social integration typically expected from immigrants, the growth of tourism to the Third World and its presence in the media, the production and trade of exotic ingredients, as well as the phenomenon of “omnivorousness” identifiable in all forms of cultural consumption. Nevertheless, similar global processes have already shaped the foodways of distant but relatively well-connected societies and social groups for centuries. The article examines earlier forms of culinary globalization and attempts to identify their differences from the present one through the analysis of changes in the use of spices, especially hot spices. It describes the characteristics of flavoring food in Middle Ages and its divergence from modern culinary taste as perceivable from the seventeenth century onwards and now undergoing radical changes again; then, concentrating on one single spice, chili pepper, the article reconstructs the processes of its early diffusion and those of its becoming an exotic, as well as a national (multinational) seasoning.
Osservanza francescana e cultura tra Quattrocento e primo Cinquecento: Italia e Ungheria a confronto, ed. Francesca Bartolacci, Roberto Lambertini, 2014
Francesco Renzi, Luís Carlos Amaral, and Joana Gomes, eds. Igrejas, poderes e territórios: Novas perspetivas sobre as relações entre o poder e as Igrejas na Europa medieval (séculos XI-XV). Porto: Edições Afrontamento, pp. 113-164, 2023
St. Elizabeth of Hungary or Thuringia (1207-1231) was one of the most famous personalities of the... more St. Elizabeth of Hungary or Thuringia (1207-1231) was one of the most famous personalities of the thirteenth century: a female counterpart of St. Francis, a princess in the service of the poor, a prestigious relative in the genealogy of several royal and aristocratic dynasties. Her striving for Christian virtuosity made a strong impression on her contemporaries and, combined with her social standing, it rendered her a perfect candidate for papal canonization. That her sanctity was also connected to the fight against heresy has been pointed out more than once in historical scholarship but it has not received any systematic treatment so far, just like the reason for choosing the Dominican church of Perugia as the site of her canonization ceremony. The present article offers a new interpretation of the events that led to her inscription in the catalogue of saints by placing them in the broader context of contemporary anti-heretical campaigns, with a particular emphasis on the role played by the Dominicans in the latter.
Religious Transformations in New Communities of Interpretation in Europe (1350–1570): Bridging the Historiographical Divide, ed. by Élise Boillet and Ian Johnson (Turnhout: Brepols), 2022
HANS SALTZMAN, THE 1510 PLAGUE, AND THE QUARANTINE AT SIBIU. This article discusses two treatises... more HANS SALTZMAN, THE 1510 PLAGUE, AND THE QUARANTINE AT SIBIU. This article discusses two treatises of Hans Saltzman, a medical doctor of Styrian origin, who was employed as a town physician in Sibiu (Nagyszeben), a rich merchant town in Transylvania. Saltzman earned his fame in Hungarian medical history as the one who first proposed the detention of persons coming from infected areas at the time the plague ravaged most of Hungary in 1510. We raise questions about what exact measures Saltzman proposed in his plague treatise printed in Latin in 1510 and in his second similar work published in German in 1521, and if it was likely or at least possible that a quarantine had been implemented in Sibiu in 1510. To critically examine these issues, we place them in the context of Saltzman’s life and studies, as well as the genre and tradition of plague treatises in late medieval Europe, and the various preventive and curative methods that they proposed. We also survey the institutional and personal measures that the municipal government of Sibiu could take to handle contagious diseases. We conclude that even if there is no direct proof that a quarantine was actually implemented in Sibiu, and the town may not have been able to set up the necessary infrastructure that had no precedent in landlocked Central Europe, one can observe a crucial move towards health becoming a public value and the first tentative steps towards a conscious public health policy.
TEXTES ET PRATIQUES RELIGIEUSES DANS L’ESPACE URBAIN DE L’EUROPE MODERNE, sous la dir. de Élise Boillet et Gaël Rideau. Paris: Honoré Champion, 2020, p. 51-72.
If you would like to have an e-print of the published version of this text, please send me a mess... more If you would like to have an e-print of the published version of this text, please send me a message.
In: My Favourite Things: Object Preferences in Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture, ed. Gerhard Jaritz and Ingrid Matschinegg, 87-102. Münster, Vienna, and Zurich: LIT, 2019.
In: The Grand Tour of John of Capistrano in Central and Eastern Europe (1451-1456): Transfer of Ideas and Strategies of Communication in the Late Middle Ages, ed. Paweł Kras and James D. Mixson, 81-97. Warsaw: Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences; Lublin: Wydawnictwo KUL, 2018.
Gli studi francescani: prospettive di ricerca; Atti dell’Incontro di studio in occasione del 30° anniversario dei Seminari di formazione. Spoleto: Centro italiano di studi sull’alto medioevo, 2017
AMERICAN PEPPER, INDIAN CURRY AND HUNGARIAN PAPRIKA: LOCAL AND GLOBAL FIGURATIONS IN THE SOCIAL H... more AMERICAN PEPPER, INDIAN CURRY AND HUNGARIAN PAPRIKA: LOCAL AND GLOBAL FIGURATIONS IN THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF CULINARY TASTE. The overall diffusion of foodstuffs, dishes and cooking styles of foreign origin, which are partially or entirely regarded as exotic, constitutes one of the most conspicuous phenomena of cultural globalization. The multicultural diversification of food supply is intertwined, among other things, with a shift in the sources of immigration and the transformation of modes of social integration typically expected from immigrants, the growth of tourism to the Third World and its presence in the media, the production and trade of exotic ingredients, as well as the phenomenon of “omnivorousness” identifiable in all forms of cultural consumption. Nevertheless, similar global processes have already shaped the foodways of distant but relatively well-connected societies and social groups for centuries. The article examines earlier forms of culinary globalization and attempts to identify their differences from the present one through the analysis of changes in the use of spices, especially hot spices. It describes the characteristics of flavoring food in Middle Ages and its divergence from modern culinary taste as perceivable from the seventeenth century onwards and now undergoing radical changes again; then, concentrating on one single spice, chili pepper, the article reconstructs the processes of its early diffusion and those of its becoming an exotic, as well as a national (multinational) seasoning.
Osservanza francescana e cultura tra Quattrocento e primo Cinquecento: Italia e Ungheria a confronto, ed. Francesca Bartolacci, Roberto Lambertini, 2014
Promoting the Saints: Cults and Their Contexts from Late Antiquity until the Early Modern Period; Essays in Honor of Gábor Klaniczay for his 60th Birthday, ed. Ottó Gecser et al., pp. 261–272, 2010
Jaritz, Gerhard and Katalin Szende, eds. 2016. Medieval East Central Europe in a Comparative Pers... more Jaritz, Gerhard and Katalin Szende, eds. 2016. Medieval East Central Europe in a Comparative Perspective. From Frontier Zones to Lands in Focus. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. 265 pp., illus.
Review: (Hungarian translation of) Patrick J. Geary. The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of... more Review: (Hungarian translation of) Patrick J. Geary. The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.
Review of Veronika Novák. News, power, society: The flow of information in Paris at the end of Mi... more Review of Veronika Novák. News, power, society: The flow of information in Paris at the end of Middle Ages. Budapest: Gondolat, 2007.
HANS SALTZMAN, THE 1510 PLAGUE, AND THE QUARANTINE AT SIBIU. This article discusses two treatises... more HANS SALTZMAN, THE 1510 PLAGUE, AND THE QUARANTINE AT SIBIU. This article discusses two treatises of Hans Saltzman, a medical doctor of Styrian origin, who was employed as a town physician in Sibiu (Nagyszeben), a rich merchant town in Transylvania. Saltzman earned his fame in Hungarian medical history as the one who first proposed the detention of persons coming from infected areas at the time the plague ravaged most of Hungary in 1510. We raise questions about what exact measures Saltzman proposed in his plague treatise printed in Latin in 1510 and in his second similar work published in German in 1521, and if it was likely or at least possible that a quarantine had been implemented in Sibiu in 1510. To critically examine these issues, we place them in the context of Saltzman’s life and studies, as well as the genre and tradition of plague treatises in late medieval Europe, and the various preventive and curative methods that they proposed. We also survey the institutional and personal measures that the municipal government of Sibiu could take to handle contagious diseases. We conclude that even if there is no direct proof that a quarantine was actually implemented in Sibiu, and the town may not have been able to set up the necessary infrastructure that had no precedent in landlocked Central Europe, one can observe a crucial move towards health becoming a public value and the first tentative steps towards a conscious public health policy.
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