Monstrous Births and Visual Culture in Sixteenth-Century Germany (Religious Cultures in the Early Modern World)

Dramatically physically deformed children and animals were a source of fascination and fear - though seldom pity - in early modern Europe. Notorious cases include the 1495 conjoined twins of Worms, the Monk Calf of 1523, and a seven-headed baby born in Eusrisgo in 1573. This study is an examination of printed representations of monstrous births in German-speaking Europe from the end of the fifteenth century and through the sixteenth century, beginning with a seminal series of broadsheets from the late 1490s by humanist Sebastian Brant, and including prints by Albrecht Durer and Hans Burgkmair.In the sixteenth century these births were of particular importance in German-speaking areas that were caught up in the religious conflicts of the Reformation and early Counter-Reformation. While interest flared periodically in France, the Netherlands, and Italy, the most sustained and voluminous publications emerged from German regions. During this period intellectual and theological debates, popular belief and visual culture reflected a preoccupation with phenomena that were simultaneously natural and unnatural, including showers of blood, comets and other strange apparitions in the sky, and - the topic of this study - monstrous births. Dramatically physically deformed children and animals were a source of fascination and fear - though seldom pity - in early modern Europe. Notorious cases include the 1495 conjoined twins of Worms, the Monk Calf of 1523, and a seven-headed baby born in Eusrisgo in 1573. This study is an examination of printed representations of monstrous births in German-speaking Europe from the end of the fifteenth century and through the sixteenth century, beginning with a seminal series of broadsheets from the late 1490s by humanist Sebastian Brant, and including prints by Albrecht Durer and Hans Burgkmair. In the sixteenth century these births were of particular importance in German-speaking areas that were caught up in the religious conflicts of the Reformation and early Counter-Reformation. While interest flared periodically in France, the Netherlands, and Italy, the most sustained and voluminous publications emerged from German regions. During this period intellectual and theological debates, popular belief and visual culture reflected a preoccupation with phenomena that were simultaneously natural and unnatural, including showers of blood, comets and other strange apparitions in the sky, and – the topic of this study – monstrous births Contents ......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 8 List of Figures......Page 10 Introduction......Page 14 1. From Monstrous Races to Monstrous Births......Page 26 2. Visual Culture and Monstrous Births Before the Reformation......Page 50 3. Reformation Visual Culture and Monstrous Births......Page 72 4. Wonder Books and Protestants......Page 94 5. Catholic Print Culture and Monstrous Births......Page 118 6. 'Many Heads, Mouths and Tongues'......Page 144 Notes......Page 160 Works Cited......Page 198 Index......Page 214