Erik Heinrichs
Professor Heinrichs is a historian of medieval and early modern Europe. He studied at Harvard University (PhD and AM) and Marquette University (BA), as well as for 3 semesters at the Leopold-Franzens University of Innsbruck, Austria.
He has held 2 Fulbright scholarships for research: one for Austria (2000-1) and one for Germany (2005-6), where he was affiliated with the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.
He was also a post-doctoral fellow at the Herzog August Bibliothek (Wolfenbütel) and the Leibniz Institute for European History (Mainz). Prior to this, he worked as a high school history teacher and museum historical interpreter.
At Winona State, he teaches a wide variety of courses in European and World History such as:
- Western Civilizations between the Big Bang and the French Revolution
- History of Medicine, Drugs, and Life Sciences
- the Middle Ages, Reformation, the Second Plague Pandemic (1330-1800)
- the Age of Exploration, Empires, and Piracy in the Early Modern World
His research focuses on medical and cultural responses to plagues in late medieval and early modern Europe. His 2018 book examines the innovative plague advice that German physicians crafted during the Renaissance, Reformation, and the first flourishing of vernacular print.
So far, he has not attempted to recreate one of the early modern plague cures uncovered during his research, but looks forward to doing so someday as a class activity.
Professor Heinrichs is a Midwesterner, born and raised in a region called Michiana, before ranging further afield to Wisconsin, Minnesota, Austria, Germany, and Boston. Today his range is the Upper Mississippi River Valley, especially Winona and its surrounding bluff lands.
View Dr. Heinrichs’ CV (PDF).