Document Type

Contribution to Book

Source Publication

Männlichkeiten in der Frühmoderne: Körper, Gesundheit und Krankheit (1500-1850)

Publication Date

2020

Editor

Martin Dinges, Pierre Pfütsch

Publisher

Franz Steiner Verlag

City

Stuttgart

Volume

76

ISBN

9783515126465

First Page

379

Last Page

401

Department

History

Description

This essay is part of a larger project examining martial magic – that is, masculine spells aimed at enlisting supernatural powers to become better fighters – as it was practiced by men in Germany between about 1500 and 1900. Here the focus is specifically on men who attempted to make themselves invulnerable using martial spells and blessings. Like many early modern magical practices, martial magic had religious overtones and often involved the abuse of sacred objects; at the same time, it drew heavily on ideas from the field of medicine.

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