Gender in Early Modern German History

Description

Why did parents prosecute their children as witches? Why did a sixteenth-century midwife entice a burgher woman to pretend that she was giving birth to puppies? How did the life of a transsexual woman in early eighteenth-century Hamburg come to its end? This volume presents a range of startling case-studies from German society between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment which make us think in new ways about the meanings of gender and identity in the past and which relates, above all, to the lived experiences of men and women, whose lives and choices mattered. The book argues for approaches to early modern history which point to the complexity of peoples' attitudes, in terms of contemporary experiences of the physical, both emotional and imaginary; of shifting symbolisations of evil, sexual symbolisms, of perceived boundaries between the 'real' and the 'fantastical', family structures and spiritual worlds.

Ulinka Rublack is Lecturer in History, University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of St John's College.

"...[a] multifaceted anthology of solid scholarship, intriguing new historical approaches, and extensive historiography. The editor, together with her ten collaborators, has achieved a scholarly work of wide geographical and chronological scope...This anthology should not only be read by scholars and students of the early modern German period but by early modern Europeanists in general." Renaissance Quarterly "It can only be hoped that this volume will alert those interested in gender and early modern studies to the exciting work being undertaken in the German context." H-GERMAN "Offers a challenging sampling of recent scholarship in German gender history... Recommended." Choice "An extraordinary book that takes monsters and the mundane in stride and is not dry as dust scholarship but infused with life and insight." Bibliotheque d'humanisme et Renaissance "Remarkable for uniqueness and depth..." History