Community, Urban Health and Environment in the Late Medieval Low Countries

Janna Coomans' research challenges the myth of medieval cities as apathetic towards filth and disease by exploring the dense urban network of the Low Countries. She reveals how cities developed a range of practices to protect themselves and fight disease, negotiating challenges to collective health in the face of social, political, and environmental change. Coomans' study offers new comparative insights and bolsters our understanding of the importance of population health and the physical world in governing medieval cities.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 350 pages
Publication date: 06 July 2023
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Janna Coomans challenges the notion that medieval cities were indifferent to filth and disease by delving into the intricate urban network of the Low Countries. Through a combination of new archival research and a bio-political and spatial-material approach, Coomans untangles the development of various practices employed by cities to safeguard themselves and combat disease. Urban societies navigated complex challenges to their collective health in the face of social, political, and environmental transformations, reshaping notions of civic responsibilities and the pursuit of the common good. Tasks were allocated to diverse groups, including town governments, neighbors, and guilds, impacting a wide array of areas such as water, fire, food, pigs, prostitution, and plague. By examining these comprehensive efforts in their entirety, Coomans provides fresh comparative insights and reinforces our understanding of the significance of population health and the physical world, encompassing infrastructures, flora, and fauna, in governing medieval cities.

ISBN-13: 9781108927161