The Epidemics of the Middle Ages: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Epidemics of the Middle Ages, credited to Justus Hecker; John Caius, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Epidemics of the Middle Ages by Justus Hecker; John Caius. (Translated by Benjamin G. Babington.) Read by Kazbek Justus Friedrich Carl Hecker (1795-1850) was a German physician and medical writer, whose research focused on the history of epidemics, in a broad sense of the term that included pandemics like the Black Death as well as the group of social phenomena known as dancing mania. The Epidemics of the Middle Ages comprises three of his works -- The Black Death, The Dancing Mania, and The Sweating Sickness -- translated by the English epidemiologist Benjamin Guy Babington. Despite what the name of the book may suggest, the events it describes are not limited to the Middle Ages. The Black Death recounts the history of the bubonic plague in Europe, with particular attention to its cultural ramifications, such as the Flagellant movement and persecution of the Jews. The Dancing Mania describes mysterious social phenomena that occurred mainly in Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries, in which groups of people engaged in apparently uncontrollable dancing. The nature of the dancing mania continues to be a subject of debate, and Hecker's book remains one of its most comprehensive descriptions. The Sweating Sickness was a series of epidemics that struck England and later continental Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. Hecker's account pays particular attention to its impact on political history. Hecker's books were written before the germ theory of disease became widely accepted. While his accounts of epidemics are based on critical examination of historical evidence, modern readers are likely to disagree not only with his epidemiological theories, but also with his assessments of the evidence itself. These disagreements can provide a striking illustration of how the prevailing views of one's time may affect one's judgements about credibility of primary sources. The audiobook includes appendices which contain source materials, including (for The Sweating Sickness) a 1552 treatise by the English physician John Caius and (for The Dancing Mania) examples of music as well as short texts in Latin, German, and the early modern German dialect of Cologne.(Summary by Kazbek)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Epidemics of the Middle Ages
• Author credits: Justus Hecker; John Caius
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 36
• Listed recording duration: 14:57:35

Catalogue topics

• social history
• medical history
• epidemics
• history of disease

Opening tracks: first 24 of 36

1. 01 - General Preface — 8:10
2. 02 - Hecker's Address to the Physicians of Germany — 20:11
3. 03 - The Black Death. Translator's Preface — 8:43
4. 04 - The Black Death. Preface — 4:14
5. 05 - The Black Death. Chapter I, General Observations — 3:37
6. 06 - The Black Death. Chapter II, The Disease — 22:03
7. 07 - The Black Death. Chapter III, Causes--Spread — 25:32
8. 08 - The Black Death. Chapter IV, Mortality — 24:47
9. 09 - The Black Death. Chapter V, Moral Effects — 43:03
10. 10 - The Black Death. Chapter VI, Physicians — 42:07
11. 11 - The Black Death. Appendix I, The Ancient Song of the Flagellants — 6:06
12. 12 - The Black Death. Appendix II, Examination of the Jews accused of poisoning the wells — 14:55
13. 13 - The Dancing Mania. Translator's Preface — 6:57
14. 14 - The Dancing Mania. Preface — 2:05
15. 15 - The Dancing Mania. Chapter I, Dancing Mania in Germany and the Netherlands — 45:42
16. 16 - The Dancing Mania. Chapter II, Dancing Mania in Italy — 53:02
17. 17 - The Dancing Mania. Chapter III, Dancing Mania in Abyssinia — 14:38
18. 18 - The Dancing Mania. Chapter IV, Sympathy — 34:57
19. 19 - The Dancing Mania. Appendix I, [LATIN] Extract from "Vita Gregorii XI," &c. — 4:51
20. 20 - The Dancing Mania. Appendix II, [LATIN] From "Chronicon Magnum," &c. — 5:26
21. 21 - The Dancing Mania. Appendix III, [GERMAN] From "Die Limburger Chronik," &c. — 3:04
22. 22 - The Dancing Mania. Appendix IV, [KÖLSCH] From "die Chronica van Coellen," &c. — 3:09
23. 23 - The Dancing Mania. Appendix V, From "an Account of Convulsive Diseases in Scotland," &c. — 35:18
24. 24 - The Dancing Mania. Appendix VI, Music for the Dance of the Tarantati, &c. — 4:27

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