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

Save to Bookshelf

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…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

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 23 November 2024.]