Between 1347 and 1352 an unknown and deadly disease, only much later known as the Black Death, swept across Europe, leaving an estimated 30-50 % of the population dead. Contemporaries held various views as to what was the final, ultimate cause of this disaster. Many, probably most, thought it was Gods punishment for the sins of humankind, others thought it was basically a natural phenomenon caused by a fateful constellation of the heavenly bodies. Recurrent plague epidemics racked Europe from 1347 to the early 18th century. Populations were repeatedly struck with more or less disastrous consequences but every time people recovered and resumed their activities. Their experiences made them try various measures to protect themselves and prevent outbreaks or at least to minimize the consequences. In short they were Living with The Black Death. This book deals with plague, particularly in Northern Europe, in various aspects: epidemiology, pattern of dispersion, demography, social consequences, religious impact and representation in pictorial art and written sources.

Monasteries were important cultural centers in the Middle Ages. In monasteries, classical authors were copied and studied, new music and new sermons were composed, and new standards from abroad were introduced and spread throughout an ever larger Europe. Monks and nuns created European networks, connecting them to individuals with whom they shared particular interests in theology and learning, but they also had a keen eye for the importance of cultivating connections to local magnates and kings. In the long 13th century, new orders like the mendicants emerged, and monastic life as a whole flourished. Sustained experimentation, the adaptation of new intellectual inspirations, and the adjustment of organizational structures were major characteristics of this life. There was a balance between contemplating the transcendent and securing the material foundation that allowed the individual monk or nun to disappear into the Divine. Monastic communities were powerful centers for innovation that decisively influenced secular life and shaped European history. The contributions in this festschrift are offered in honor of Professor Brian Patrick McGuire, a recognized authority on the Cistercians, and in acknowledgment of his significant contribution to the study of European monastic culture.

The economic and political roles of towns in the Nordic late Middle Ages - with Lubeck as the major hub in an extensive network - have long been recognized and studied, be it in histories of nations, the Hanse, or individual towns. In such accounts, however, the regional web of urban culture has not always been given its due. And, as most manifestations of urban culture were anchored in the social and business corporations generally designated as guilds, these provided the natural point of departure for an attempt to appreciate this dynamic segment of northern Europe's cultural history. In this collection, leading specialists in Nordic urban history examine towns from the whole region, as distant and different from one another, such as Tallinn, Bergen, Lubeck, Oslo, and Stockholm, among others. The contributions discuss central and significant topics, including means of communication, social identities, pageantry and feasting, and the religious role of guilds. The book's Introduction locates these studies, individually and collectively, in relation to recent developments in the exploration of a late-medieval field whose potential is increasingly appreciated.