When the Lord burns with wrath Czech sermons on catastrophes from the late humanist period and the Little Ice Age

Between 1550 and 1620, nearly twenty sermons and treatises on natural disasters were published, mostly in Prague. Their authors, Utraquist priests, responded to contemporary catastrophic events – plague epidemics, earthquakes, storms, floods, fires, famine, war, and locust infestations – as well as celestial phenomena and monstrous births. Reflecting the intellectual landscape of the time, these sermons also incorporated scientific findings, micro-stories, and songs or prayers. All sermons interpreted catastrophes as divine messages: expressions of God’s wrath, signs of the approaching Judgment Day, but also manifestations of God’s fatherly care and love. This paper explores the representation of catastrophes and the oscillation of preachers between established literary topoi and individual authorial experience. Additionally, I examine the role of climatic stress and the broader social crisis of the period in as reflected in what is known as Wunderzeichen literature and consider how the society responded to these challenges.