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50th International Congress of Medieval StudiesWestern Michigan UniversityKalamazoo, MI -- May 14-17, 2015In recognition that diseases are manifestations of their environment, this session seeks papers that place medieval diseases within their environmental context. Just as a seed must be placed in good soil to grow, infectious disease requires a permissive environment to develop into an epidemic (or epizootic) and an ideal environment to bloom into a pandemic or panzootic. I am open to all manner of studies and disciplines that address these issues.Examples of acceptable topics:Historic impacts of epidemics and/or epizooticsEndemic disease in medieval environmentsEnvironmental causes of disease such as malnutrition or industrial pollution related diseaseHealth effects of human-animal interactionsArchaeological assessments of human health and diseaseLandscape alterations intended to improve human or animal healthEcology of the built environmentAbstracts of no more than 300 words and the Participant Information Form should be sent to Michelle Ziegler at ZieglerM@slu.edu by September 15. Pre-submission queries are welcome.The Participant Information Form and additional information be found at http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress/submissions/index.html.