The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

This book offers an exciting interpretation of early modern European history (1490â1648). Cunningham and Grell's point of departure and a prism through which events of the period are interpreted is DÃrer's famous woodcut of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. This image came to characterise the outlook and expectations of most early modern Europeans who experienced a dramatic rise in population leading to repeated episodes of war epidemics and famine. These were seen as indicating the imminent end of the world. The book is lavishly illustrated with fascinating contemporary images which like many texts of the period are preoccupied with Apocalypticism and eschatological expectations. Lucidly written and carefully organised it brings together religious social military and medical history in one survey giving a unique insight into why the early modern world linked all the crises of the age to the Day of Judgement. Language: English