Cultural History of Insects in the Renaissance

A Cultural History of Insects in the Renaissance covers the period from 1300 to 1600, examining the profound impact of insects on the flowering of culture. In the early part of this period, the unprecedented number of deaths caused by the Plague – spread in part by fleas – encouraged the later rise of a middle class. Meanwhile, much of the wealth which funded Renaissance politics and patronage came from trade in honey, silk, and insect dyes, notably cochineal, one of the most valuable exports from the New World. And, as perceptions of humans and the natural world changed, interest in insects shifted from the symbolic to the scientific.

The six-volume set of the Cultural History of Insects presents the first comprehensive history from antiquity to today of all forms and aspects of human-insect interaction. The themes covered in each volume are insect knowledge; insects and disease; insects and food; insect products; insects in mythology and religion; insects as symbols; insects in literature and language; and insects in art.