Epidemics as windows into society

Chapter 1 suggests that while epidemics have played a significant role in a diverse historiography that emphasises transitions, divergences, or changes in economies and societies, epidemics have featured little in the major historical discussions about developments in the preindustrial Low Countries. Several reasons account for this—significant political and economic developments occurring well before the Black Death, international demand for products rather than domestic population developments perceived to be more important for the rise of the Dutch Republic, and the dominance in the past 25 years of institutionalist explanations for economic development. The wider book approach is introduced. Overall, this book brings together around five centuries’ worth of existing and new evidence on epidemic characteristics, and their consequences for societal resistance, wealth redistribution, and women's welfare from both the rural and urbanised Low Countries, to challenge conventional narratives about epidemics as agents of dramatic change.