The Ever-present, Yet Imperceptible Threat: Poisoning at Early Modern Courts
Lecture by Molly Taylor-Poleskey (Middle Tennessee State University)
26.04.2021 16:15 – 18:00
On the Saturday before Easter in 1687, Prince Ludwig of Brandenburg ate an orange and drank some coffee. Shortly thereafter, he complained of stomach pains and had trouble sleeping. A week later, he was dead. The death of the otherwise healthy twenty-year old prince sparked rumors of poisoning, which fueled tensions related to international diplomacy, dynastic politics, and confessional divides. Poisoning was an ever-present threat at early modern courts against which no amount of physical might or vigilance could protect. The early modern “culture of poisoning” offers a telling juxtaposition to the power that food at court normally projected. Fears of poisoning at the court of Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg-Prussia, expose the interconnections between seventeenth-century political culture, quotidian habits, and the production of medical knowledge.
Date
Monday, April 26, 2021, 4:15 pm
zoom meeting
To sign up for this event please contact:
Alexander.Zons@lmu.de