3 Ways to Die in Early Modern Europe

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

History

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2023

⏱️ 37 minutes

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Summary

Life in the 16th and 17th centuries was brutal - the development of warfare technology made conflicts catastrophic for civilians as well as soldiers, there were regular epidemics, and famines both man-made and natural.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb meets Professor Ole Peter Grell, who co-wrote The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Religion, War, Famine and Death in Reformation Europe with Dr. Andrew Cunningham. Today's discussion focuses on just three of the four horsemen: the red horse of war, the black horse of famine, and the pale horse of death and disease.

This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	May I have your attention please you can now book your train tickets on Uber and get
0:08.0	10% back in credits to spend on your next Uber ride so you don't have to walk home in the brain again.
0:16.5	Trains now on Uber. T's and C's apply. Check the Uber app. Little things, like taking a shortcut through the park on your way to work each day can make a big difference to your
0:36.6	mental health. Find your little big thing
0:47.0	little big thing at every mind matters. In our world today there are major wars being fought. We have recently gone through a global pandemic and there are still
1:05.3	places shamefully where people go hungry and starve. I imagine however that most
1:11.0	of you listening are not facing these realities on a daily basis,
1:15.8	and I believe that the study of history has the capacity to sharpen our critical faculties and
1:22.0	to enlarge our empathy.
1:24.0	Today on not just the Tudors, we are thinking about the brutal realities of life in the 16th and 17th centuries,
1:31.0	the almost total war, and the development of means of warfare that made war
1:37.2	catastrophic for civilians as well as soldiers. We're considering not just one pandemic, but multiple epidemics that recur with ruthless
1:46.9	regularity.
1:49.0	And we're thinking about both man-made and natural famine. It's a wonder that anyone survived the period at all.
1:57.4	To introduce us to these grim facts is Professor Ul Peter Grell, his book co-written witheter Grell. His book, co-written with Andrew Cunningham,
2:05.6	the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, religion, war, famine and death in Reformation Europe,
2:10.6	has long been a touchstone of mine and I highly highly recommend it.
2:14.7	It considers the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Today our discussion focuses on
2:20.3	just three of them, the red horse of war, the black horse of famine, and the pale horse of death and disease.
2:27.0	But the fourth horseman, the threat of apocalypse that hung so heavy over the lives of the Tudors and their contemporaries was ever
2:35.1	their companion. After 15 years at University of Cambridge, Professor Grell became
2:40.9	professor of early modern history at the Open University.
	...

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