Laugh the Flood (and Stress) Away: Tracing Humour as a Coping Strategy after the Christmas Flood of 1717

Abstract

Using the Christmas Flood of 1717 as a case study, this study examines the possibility to trace humour as a coping strategy in the early modern period. Drawing on several categories of humour, it can be traced in A.E. Crous' Opregt en Nauwkeurig Historis-Verhaal (1719). Although humour is likely not the primary goal of the printed publication, it is an extra tool which can facilitate multiple functions at once, like relieving stress and anxiety or indirectly criticizing authorities.