Fighting Plague and Heresy in Early Modern Bavaria

Kryzsko Commons, Oak Rooms E&F

Dr. Heinrich will speak about his recent research project dedicated to understanding the links between efforts to fight the plague and fight heresy within one early modern state, ducal Bavaria. He will present work from a forthcoming article on the topic. It examines how physicians, clerics, and political leaders worked together between 1520 and 1650 to devise the first public health policies for plague in Bavaria, as well as tackle the other perceived threat to health, the heresies of the Protestant Reformation. This study reveals much about the nature of early modern politics and how the first public plague mandates were colored by concerns about the soul amid an atmosphere of religious tension.