Konrad von Megenberg

Albrecht Classen (University of Arizona)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

Born 1309
Died 1374
Activity c. 1334-c. 1374

Places

Born in Germany
Active in Germany

Activities

Primary

Scholar
Writer / Author

Resources

Megenberg's Works

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The development of the natural sciences throughout the Middle Ages was dependent for a very long time on the contributions to that field already in antiquity (e.g., Pliny the Elder, 23–79 C.E.), on the fundamental allegorizing treatise known as the

Physiologus

(2nd c. C.E.), then on the encyclopedia tradition launched famously by Isidore of Seville (ca. 560–636). In the course of time, the interest focused increasingly on a more physical discussion of the material dimension, leaving the allegorical element eventually aside. This finds a most impressive example in Konrad von Megenberg’s

Book of Nature

which he began ca. 1348 and completed ca. fifteen years later, as he says in the epilog, though the first version he appears to have finished already in 1350. Although the author still…

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2025 words

Citation: Classen, Albrecht. "Konrad von Megenberg". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 April 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=15052, accessed 27 November 2024.]