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Francis B. Brévart
Born in Casablanca, Morocco, of a Spanish father and an English mother, Brévart emigrated to Montréal, Canada when he was eleven years old. French being his native tongue – he still remembers some Arabic – he spent the next few years learning English and adapting to a totally new culture and way of life. Never having experienced snow before, he was initially very surprised to see snow flakes instead of white baseballs falling from the sky, as all the story books from his childhood had depicted!
After High School, he attended McGill University in Montréal, where he obtained the degree of Bachelor of Science with a double major in Math and Physics and a minor in German (1966). His fascination for German History and the German language motivated him to explore various areas of German literature, an adventure that culminated in a doctoral dissertation (1975) on Comparative Heroic Literature (Nibelungenlied, Beowulf, Chanson de Roland).
He spent the next six years as an Assistant Professor teaching Middle High German language and literature at the Universities of Munich and Münster before establishing himself at UPenn (1981).
Although hired as a Medievalist, Brévart has also offered language and literature courses at all levels and was instrumental in developing the Business German Program, including courses on German for the Profession, and Business German through Films and Documents.
Brévart's multi-faceted areas of interest and research include, firstly, several articles on the post-classical Middle High German heroic epic known as the Eckenlied, as well as a commentated translation, and a definitive, critical three-volume edition of this work, published in the prestigious series Altdeutsche Textbibliothek.
His investigation of the role of astrology on all aspects of daily life in the Middle Ages produced several articles on Johannes de Sacrobosco's Sphaera mundi, the most popular and most widely used textbooks on astrology and cosmography at European universities from the 13th to the 16th centuries, and three critical, annotated editions of this work in Middle High German translations. The first of these by the mid-14th-century encyclopedist Konrad von Megenberg, the second by an anonymous master from the recently founded Viennese University, the third by the Nürnberg humanist Konrad Heinfogel in 1516.
Brévart's continued involvement in the study of cultural life and the history of ideas in the Middle Ages led to numerous articles, foremost on the popular and widely disseminated German Volkskalender of the fifteenth century. The Volkskalender, somewhat similar to the Farmer’s Almanac, was an indispensable reference work that accompanied and guided its owner in all aspects of everyday life throughout the year. It functioned mainly as a medical consultant, but also provided him with answers to certain existential problems that preoccupied him. It was, in the true sense of the word, a vademecum.
Other articles from the domain of utilitarian literature (Fach- or Gebrauchsliteratur) include such on cookbooks, magic and geomancy, horoscopes, meteorology, and on the education of children, as well as a theoretical article that attempts to define what constitutes medieval "popular literature" (Trivialliteratur).
During the last few years, Brévart’s research interests have shifted toward social history and the investigation of the (precarious) medieval healthcare system, in particular the use of magical medicine in the treatment of patients. The outcome of this vast project was a recent article entitled: "Between Medicine, Magic, and Religion: Wonder Drugs in German Medico-Pharmaceutical Treatises of the Thirteenth to the Sixteenth Centuries" (Speculum 83 [2008]), followed by two other articles, one on the therapeutical use of magical plants:“‘Mother of all Herbs’: The Magical Plant Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris L.) in Medieval German Wonder Drug Literature,” (2009), the other questioning the efficacy of medieval medicine: "Medical Remedies in Medieval Wonder Drug Treatises: How Efficient Were They?” (2011). These writings are paving the way for a book-length manuscript on the topic of medieval wonder drugs. Many aspects of this research are incorporated into Brévart’s popular Freshman Seminar “Erudition and Superstition: Daily Life in the Middle Ages.”
Brévart has two sons: Sebastian, a UPenn graduate, now living in Hawaii, and Timothy, a Senior at Swarthmore College. His hobbies include traveling, canoeing, fishing, going to the beach, writing, and playing the guitar.
