Jane Whittle (red.), Servants in Rural Europe 1400-1900

Midwives in early modern Europe ( 1400 - 1800 )

This article examines the status of midwives in the early modern period (1400-1800). More particularly, it examines midwives’ practice, education, skills and competence, social background, public life and image as well as the way they were regarded by their clients, in an era prior to their decline and the increase in medical intervention during childbirth. Due to bulk of information this study...

Political conditions and life expectancy in Europe, 1900-2008.

The rise of life expectancy in Europe has been a very uneven process, both in time and space. This paper aims to identify instances in which major political conditions are likely to have influenced the rise of life expectancy, focusing on formation and dissolution of states and supranational blocs and on differences between political regimes (democratic vs. authoritarian non-communist and commu...

The Long-Run Effects of Climate Change on Conflict: Evidence from 1400-1900∗ (First Draft)

This paper investigates the long-run effects of climate change on conflict. We construct a geo-referenced and digitized database of historical conflicts in Europe, North Africa and the Near East during 1400-1900, which we merge with historical temperature data. The results provide novel evidence of offsetting long-run forces. On the one hand, we find that climate change which occurred more than...

Urban-rural relations in Europe

Ecological imperialism. The biological expansion of Europe, 900–1900

its methodology (no grappling here with Foucault or the social construction ofdisease) and none the worse for that. Its chronological span is complete (chapter I is entitled 'Les Buveurs Antiques'), and though the focus becomes increasingly medical as we approach the present, the attitudes of preachers, moralists, and governments are not neglected. For the Anglo-Saxon reader, it is particularly...