gartner, 90). Statements like this display to us hope that Magdalena and Balthasar had in both God and medicine. In a letter from Balthasar to Magdalena, he says how much Lucca, the city he so often visited for trading goods, has changed. He describes the conditions in the city to be horrible, the weather is poor and there is not enough to eat. “That such a great famine exists throughout the whole of Italy is an obvious punishment from God.” He later goes on to say “May our Lord have mercy on the poor and send soon a gracious improvement! Amen.” (B. Paumgartner, 141). Here again we see how Balthasar understands that the epidemic is a punishment from God for their sins yet He is also the only one that can help them. Magdalena and Balthasar’s attitude towards religion can best be seen in this advertisement from a physician in Nuremberg in 1562. The pamphlet was entitled “ A Brief Introduction on How One Should Behave in Time of Plague. ” This publication discussed the medical as well as spiritual precautions that one should take during this time of sickness. “God graciously wants to save and protect us in this dangerous time of plague both by his holy angels and by his healing gifts of medicine, which he has created for our good according to his divine will and pleasure” (Ozment, 116). This couple along with all of Nuremberg believed this as doctrine. The Lord had punished them with the plague but He had also blessed them with medicine and physicians and a combination of both was the only salvation they had from this merciless plague. ...
