The European Society for Environmental History promotes the study of environmental history in all academic disciplines

ESEH aims to:

• encourage the study of European environmental history in a comparative perspective;
• foster communication among environmental historians across Europe, and with colleagues elsewhere;
• promote the further institutional development of environmental history within secondary and tertiary education;
• promote the research and use of environmental history in academic programmes;
• strengthen the crucial link between environmental history, all policy-making, and the general public.

Although it does not focus exclusively on the Middle Ages, it nevertheless cuts across a wide range of geographical areas and historical periods. The Society is worth a closer scrutiny for anyone interested in the history of medieval climate, environments, landscapes or settlement patterns.

In order to achieve these goals ESEH has developed a range of activities since its inception in 1999. The society publishes

• Environment and History, published by White Horse Press in Cambridge. Recent (2013 – 14) studies published in the journal and with relevance for medieval history has focused upon
  – The Grass Snake and the Basilisk: From Pre-Christian Protective House God to the Antichrist
  – Flooding in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
• ESEH Notepad, which is published quarterly in the journal

Along with the American Society for Environmental History, ESEH co-ordinates H-Environment, an internet discussion forum that keeps subscribers posted about events and issues related to the field.

ESEH also organises biannual conferences at which scholars from all over Europe and the world gather to share their work. Since 2001 ESEH has held six successful conferences in St. Andrews, Prague, Florence, Amsterdam, Turku and Munich. In 2009 ESEH was a member of the consortium hosting the 1st World Conference of Environmental History, 4th to 8th August 2009 in Copenhagen. The 2015 ESEH Conference will be held in Versailles, France. Further information about past and future conferences and the summer schools the Society regularly organizes can be found on the Events page.

Finally ESEH maintains this web site to provide resources and news for scholars and others interested in environmental history.

The Society aims to stimulate dialogue between humanistic scholarship, environmental science and other disciplines. It welcomes members from all disciplines and professions who share its interest in past relationships between human culture and the environment.

The Society invites archaeologists, historians and other scholars to explore the site and learn more about environmental history and the activities of ESEH.

FEATURED PHOTO:

Sheep taking shelter during a flood in Schleswig-Holstein – © Mathias-Königschulte