These sentences from the first page of Thornton Wilder's famous novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey describe the feelings of many people in early modern times towards epidemics or natural catastrophes. It does not matter for us that the novel takes place in South America in 1714, because misfortunes and perils like diseases, city fires, and last but not least natural hazards were quite common for the majority of people in Europe too. Until the eighteenth century these phenomena were often interpreted as divine retribution for earthly sin. Only prayer and penitence were seen as acceptable coping strategies, as this was the only way of finding reconciliation with God.

However, there is evidence that these perceptions changed as a result of the Enlightenment – which ‘was in part heir to the great “scientific revolution” of the previous century but [was] also a sign of a new cosmopolitanism’ – and scientific progress during the eighteenth century. Demystification of the ‘wrath of God’ resulted. Nonetheless, we cannot tell how quickly the majority of the population was able to adopt this paradigm shift. Yet with the almost complete disappearance of metaphysical ideals, new adaptation strategies had to be found – last but not least, by the early modern state. In German-speaking countries it was the task of the cameralists to discover practical solutions.

This essay therefore examines an economic phenomenon not automatically associated with cameralism: insurance. At first sight this may seem surprising, as insurance is a key element of modern life. However, insurance concepts were already of importance in the early modern period, because – as Keith Thomas rightly pointed out – ‘nothing yields greater testimony to the new spirit of self-help than the growth of insurance’.