Table Of ContentPopular Religion in Germany and
Central Europe, 1400-1800
THEMES IN FOCUS
Published titles
Jonathan Barry and Christopher Brooks
THE MIDDLING SORT OF PEOPLE: Culture, Society and
Politics in England, 1500-1800
Christopher Durston and Jacqueline Eales
THE CULTURE OF ENGLISH PURITANISM, 1560-1700
Paul Griffiths, Adam Fox and Steve Hindle
THE EXPERIENCE OF AUTHORITY IN EARLY MODERN
ENGLAND
Tim Harris
POPULAR CULTURE IN ENGLAND, c. 1500-1850
Roy Porter and Marie Mulvey Roberts
PLEASURE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
Bob Scribner and Trevor Johnson
POPULAR RELIGION IN GERMANY AND CENTRAL EUROPE,
1400-1800
Forthcoming
Patrick Collinson andJohn Craig
THE REFORMATION IN ENGLISH TOWNS, 1500-1640
Popular Religion in
Germany and Central
Europe, 1400-1800
Edited by
BOB SCRIBNER and TREVOR JOHNSON
~
MACMIllAN
Editorial matter and Introduction © Bob Scribner and Trevor Johnson;
Chapter 1 © Ulinka Rublack; Chapter 2 © Thomas A. Fudge; Chapter 3
© J. M. Minty; Chapter 4 © Eric Wilson; Chapter 5 © Alison Rowlands;
Chapter 6 © C. Scott Dixon; Chapter 7 © J. C. Wolfart; Chapter 8
© Jiirgen Beyer, Chapter 9 © Trevor Johnson, 1996
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
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Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil
claims for damages.
First published 1996 by
MAC~LLANPRESSLTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN 978-0-333-61457-0 ISBN 978-1-349-24836-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-24836-0
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
10987654321
05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 96
Published in the United States of America 19.96 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-12837-1
Contents
List of Illustrations VB
Introduction 1
BOB SCRIBNER
1 Female Spirituality and the InfantJesus in Late
Medieval Dominican Convents 16
ULINKA RUBlACK
2 The 'Crown' and the 'Red Gown': Hussite Popular
Religion ~;8
THOMAS A. FUDGE
3 Judengasse to Christian Quarter: The Phenomenon of
the Converted Synagogue in the Late Medieval and
Early Modern Holy Roman Empire ~,8
J. M. MINTY
4 Institoris at Innsbruck: Heinrich Institoris, the Summis
Desiderantes and the Brixen Witch-Trial of 1485 87
ERIC WILSON
5 Witchcraft and.Popular Religion in Early Modern
Rothenburg ob der Tauber 101
ALISON ROWlANDS
6 Popular Beliefs and the Reformation in
Brandenburg-Ansbach 119
c. SCOTT DIXON
7 Why was Private Confession so Contentious in Early
Seventeenth-Century Lindau? 140
J. C. WOLFART
v
vi Contents
8 A Liibeck Prophet in Local and Lutheran Context 166
JURGEN BEYER
9 Blood, Tears and Xavier-Water: Jesuit Missionaries and
Popular Religion in the Eighteenth-Century Upper
Palatinate 183
TREVOR JOHNSON
Bibliography 203
Notes and !Wfer-ences 208
Notes on Contributors 276
I,ndex 277
List of Illustrations
1 The Dominican mystic Margaretha von Ebner's
infant Jesus doll, carved in Vienna in 1344, now
in the Bavarian convent of Maria-Medingen
(photograph by Gisela Ott) 24
2 Albrecht Altdorfer, 'View of Entrance Hall of
Regensburg Synagogue', etching 1519 (repro-
duced courtesy of Hamburger Kunsthalle,
Kupferstichkabinett) 59
3 Albrecht Altdorfer, 'View of Interior of
Regensburg Synagogue', etching 1519 (reproduced
courtesy of the Museum of Regensburg) 60
4 Topographical reconstruction of Regensburg,
c.1519, showing the destroyed Judengasse and
synagogue (reproduced courtesy of Artemis Verlag,
Zurich) 61
5 Michael Ostendorfer, 'The Old Church of the
Schone Maria, Regensburg', woodcut, c.1520 (re-
produced courtesy of Hacker Books, New York) 62
6 Michael Ostendorfer, 'The New Church of the
Schone Maria, Regensburg', woodcut, c.1520,
after design by Hans Hieber (reproduced courtesy of
Hacker Books, New York) 63
7 Topographical reconstruction of the mid-four
teenth century Nuremberg Judengasse by Karl
Kohn (reproduced courtesy ofVerein fur Geschichte der
Stadt Nurnberg) 67
vii
Vlll List of Illustrations
8 Lorenz Strauch, 'Earliest Panoramic View of the
Hauptmarkt, Nuremberg', oil on panel, c.1599
(reproduced courtesy ofI ndustrie-und Handelskammer,
Nurnberg) 68
9 Topographical reconstruction of Cologne, c.1l80
as determined by Junghanns (reproduced courtesy of
Artemis Verlag, Zurich) 69
10 Topographical reconstruction of medieval
Cologne Judengasse as determined by O.
Doppelfeld, 1958, ink drawing (1980) by G. Grosch
(reproduced courtesy of Kiilnisches Stadtmuseum) 70
11 View of the Town Hall and St Maria in Ieruslame
(Ratskapelle), Cologne, lithograph by A. Wunsch
as published by Weyer, 1827 (reproduced courtesy of
Archiv, Cologne) 71
12 View of St Maria in Ieruslame (Ratskapelle),
Cologne, coloured ink drawing (c.1870) by W.
Grohs (reproduced courtesy of Rheinisches Archiv,
Cologne) 72
Introduction
BOB SCRIBNER
The purpose of this volume is to provide a collection of essays
embodying recent research on popular religion within the
boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire (Germany and Bohemia)
in the later middle ages and early modern period. There has been
a considerable efflorescence of research on the general theme of
'popular religion' over the past decade, although very little has
been published on German topics, whether in English or
German.1 The work presented here represents a sampling of
approaches and subjects that is distinctive in three ways. First, it
reveals the extremely broad range of problems and issues that
may be explored under the heading 'popular religion', encom
passing female spirituality, the role of gender, the psychology of
religious devotion, the creation of religious mythology and forms
of religio-political discourse, attitudes towards the Jews, witchcraft,
popular magic, the nature of Protestant 'popular belief' and the
appropriation of popular religious phenomena by the Catholic
Reformation. Such issues also encompass both the rural and
urban worlds, and deal with intensively private as well as with
overtly public manifestations of belief.
Secondly, these newer perspectives increasingly transcend the
divide between the pre-Reformation and Reformation periods,
showing how necessary it has become to view popular religion
over a longue duree - not only despite the apparently radical break
brought by the Reformation, but in many cases because of it,
since the innovatory potential of the Reformation can only be
discerned by a fuller understanding of the world of religious
belief it sought to replace. We are now more than ever aware that
a picture of dramatic change is misleading, that replacement of
traditional religion was either partial or slow to take effect, so that
it is necessary to explore not only innovations in religious forms,
but also continuities, mutations and adaptations. The same
1
