Einleitung

Verschränkte Welt. Medien, Modelle und Diskurse mittelalterlicher Meteorologie

Abstract

In the Middle Ages, meteorological phenomena were more than just everyday companions of human life. Wind, rain, lightning, or cloud formations had a decisive bearing on the fate of communities and individuals. ‘Me­teorology’ in the Middle Ages was the systematic attempt to understand the (at times hidden) structures not only behind the weather but also behind a wide range of natural phenomena. These phenomena were seen as the result of an interweaving of visible and invisible cosmological structures, interpreted as signs and analysed in texts, often alongside diagrams and illustrations. Despite a wealth of surviving depictions and scientific approaches, medieval meteorology has often been neglected in research. In this introduction, the mentioned connections are also discussed using the example of the rainbow and sun dogs.