Witches in Sixteenth-Century Germany: The belief in witches, what they were accused of and why 'The witch trials demonstrated fear of the power of women’s sexuality. The female witch was understood to be a product of woman’s excessive carnal lust who were affiliated with fornication and orgies with the Devil. This made them more susceptible… Continue reading Halloween Compilation 2022
Tag: cannibalism
Was Lucas Cranach’s ‘Werewolf’ really a Depiction of a Werewolf?
Keywords: Werewolf, Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), vagrants, criminals, wilderness The single-leaf woodcut by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), commonly entitled Werewolf (c.1510-1512), encapsulated the fears surrounding people who resided in the land of the wolf. The print portrays a disheveled man with torn clothes, shoeless, and unkempt hair on all limbs. He appears to… Continue reading Was Lucas Cranach’s ‘Werewolf’ really a Depiction of a Werewolf?
How did people transform into werewolves: from antiquity to popular culture today
Keywords: Arcadia mythology, Jean Bodin demonology, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Petter Stump (Peter Stumpp, Peter Stump), Gilles Garnier Ancient GreeceOne of the earliest werewolf fables originated from the ancient festival of Zeus in Arcadia, Greece. Participants would choose a piece of meat from a mixture of both animal and human sacrifices. Those who unwittingly chose and ate… Continue reading How did people transform into werewolves: from antiquity to popular culture today
The Execution of Werewolf, Petter Stump: An analysis
Keywords: Petter Stump (Peter Stump, Peter Stumpf, Peter Stumpp), werewolves, witchcraft, broadsheets, demonology Germany was at the centre of the witch persecutions in early modern Europe. At least a third of the estimated individuals accused of witchcraft in Europe were derived from German-speaking lands. This equated to between 30,000 and 45,000 executions within the Germanic… Continue reading The Execution of Werewolf, Petter Stump: An analysis
Imagining the New World: Representations of Cannibalistic Cynocephali in Lorenz Fries’ Uslegung der Mercarthen oder Carta Marina
Keywords: New World, cynocephali, Native Americans, Cannibalism, Lorenz Fries With the discovery of the Americas, there was a natural decline in the interest in monstrous races, as that was superseded by the interest in real marvels of the New World. However, the legacy of the monstrous races persisted to the mid-sixteenth century. After the discovery… Continue reading Imagining the New World: Representations of Cannibalistic Cynocephali in Lorenz Fries’ Uslegung der Mercarthen oder Carta Marina
Dana K Rehn 