Risikobewusstsein und Risikomanagement gegenüber der Lawinengefahr in hochalpinen Gesellschaften des Mittelalters und der Frühen Neuzeit

Rohr, Christian (2019). Risikobewusstsein und Risikomanagement gegenüber der Lawinengefahr in hochalpinen Gesellschaften des Mittelalters und der Frühen Neuzeit. In: Scheller, Benjamin (ed.) Kulturen des Risikos im Europa des Mittelalters und der Frühen Neuzeit. Schriften des Historischen Kollegs. Kolloquien: Vol. 99 (pp. 175-194). Berlin: De Gruyter

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Avalanches have decisively influenced the living conditions of Alpine societies in the Middle Ages and in Early Modern Times. Within these “risk societies”, several endangered groups can be carved out: Firstly, travellers from outside the Alps, kings as well as pilgrims and merchants, had to surmount the high-Alpine pass routes on their way from France and Germany to Italy and vice versa. In many cases, they reached the Alps in winter, when avalanches and high snow threatened the roads. Local guides shared their local knowledge and provided help to the travellers; hospices gave shelter in case of bad weather. Secondly, workers in high-Alpine mining districts above the tree line had to fear avalanches blocking the mouth of the galleries, and hitting the settlements and the pathways in between respectively. This risk was even enlarged due to the large deforestation connected with the mining industry. Thirdly, powder snow avalanches could reach even settlements erected on relatively secure places. The Alpine societies, however, developed several ways of coping strategies, both reactive and preventive: There are remarkably many reports mentioning the successful rescue of victims hit by avalanches. From the fourteenth century onwards, protective forests were explicitly protected, and from the sixteenth century onwards, also adaptive building techniques were introduced, such as protective walls, splitting chocks and the so-called “Ebenhöch” houses. Memory cultures kept the risk awareness on a high level. Based on examples from the twelfth century until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, this chapter tries to shed light on different types of risk awareness and management.

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