Imagining the witch : emotions, gender, and selfhood in early modern Germany
Introduction -- Languages of defence -- Confession, conscience, and selfhood on trial -- Gender and emotions in the visual and intellectual imagination.
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| Format: | E-Book |
| Sprache: | English |
| Veröffentlicht: |
Oxford New York : Oxford University Press,
2018
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| Ausgabe: | First edition |
| Mit dem übergeordneten Werk verknüpfte Titel: | Emotions in history
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| Schlagworte: | Trials (Witchcraft) Witch hunting Witchcraft Witches Gender identity BODY, MIND & SPIRIT ; Witchcraft HISTORY ; Europe ; Germany Emotions Manners and customs History mehr... |
| Umfang: | 1 Online-Ressource |
| Zusammenfassung: | Introduction -- Languages of defence -- Confession, conscience, and selfhood on trial -- Gender and emotions in the visual and intellectual imagination. This book explores levels of personhood through witch trials in early modern Germany. Witchcraft was not a uniquely female crime; a significant minority of those tried for witchcraft in the Holy Roman Empire were men. Concepts of witchcraft also centred on the notion that emotions could have deadly physical consequences. Not all suspicions led to formal accusations, nor did all trials lead to the stake; just over half of those tried for witchcraft in early modern Europe were executed. To understand how early modern people imagined the witch, we must examine how people understood themselves and others; to grasp how the witch could be a member of the community, yet inspire visceral fear. Through an examination of case studies, this book examines how the community, the church, and the law sought to identify the witch, and how ordinary men and women fought to avoid the stake. It further explores witchcraft in this period to establish why witchcraft could be aligned with strong female stereotypes, but also imagined as a crime that could be committed by male or female, young or old. By moving beyond stereotypes of the witch, this book argues that what constituted witchcraft and the 'witch' appears far more contested and unstable than previously thought, and suggests new ways of thinking about early modern selfhood. Indeed, the trial process itself created the conditions for a diverse range of people to give meaning to emotions, gender, and the self in early modern Lutheran Germany |
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| Beschreibung: | Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Beschreibung: | 1 Online-Ressource |
| ISBN: | 9780192524805 0192524801 9780198799085 019879908X |