H.C. Erik Midelfort's Books

A History of Madness in Sixteenth-Century Germany

By: H. C. Erik Midelfort

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A History of Madness in Sixteenth-Century Germany

By: H. C. Erik Midelfort

This magisterial work explores how Renaissance Germans understood and experienced madness. It focuses on the insanity of the world in general but also on specific disorders; examines the thinking on madness of theologians, jurists, and physicians; and analyzes the vernacular ideas that propelled sufferers to seek help in pilgrimage or newly founded hospitals for the helplessly disordered. In the process, the author uses the history of madness as a lens to illuminate the history of the Renaissance, the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, the history of poverty and social welfare, and the history of princely courts, state building, and the civilizing process. Rather than try to fit historical experience into modern psychiatric categories, this book reconstructs the images and metaphors through which Renaissance Germans themselves understood and experienced mental illness and deviance, ranging from such bizarre conditions as St. Vituss dance and demonic possession to such medical crises as melancholy and mania. By examining the records of shrines and hospitals, where the mad went for relief, we hear the voices of the mad themselves. For many religious Germans, sin was a form of madness and the sinful world was thoroughly insane. This book compares the thought of Martin Luther and the medical-religious reformer Paracelsus, who both believed that madness was a basic category of human experience. For them and others, the sixteenth century was an age of increasing demonic presence; the demon-possessed seemed to be everywhere. For Renaissance physicians, however, the problem was finding the correct ancient Greek concepts to describe mental illness. In medical terms, the late sixteenth century was the age of melancholy. For jurists, the customary insanity defense did not clarify whether melancholy persons were responsible for their actions, and they frequently solicited the advice of physicians. Sixteenth-century Germany was also an age of folly, with fools filling a major role in German art and literature and present at every prince and princelings court. The author analyzes what Renaissance Germans meant by folly and examines the lives and social contexts of several court fools.

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460

Publisher

Stanford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0804741697

ISBN 13

9780804741699

Ideas and Cultural Margins in Early Modern Germany

Essays in Honor of H.C. Erik Midelfort

By: Marjorie Elizabeth Plummer,Robin Barnes

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Ideas and Cultural Margins in Early Modern Germany

Essays in Honor of H.C. Erik Midelfort

By: Marjorie Elizabeth Plummer,Robin Barnes

Exploring the methodologies of cultural transmission in early modern Germany, influenced by the scholarship of H.C. Erik Midelfort, this volume brings together a broad range of essays from leading European and North American scholars. By examining the ways in which people expected ideas to influence others, where influenced themselves, and the unexpected ways that ideas could permeate through society, the volume as a whole adds significant features to our conceptual map of life in early modern Europe.

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Page Count

392

Publisher

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

0754665682

ISBN 13

9780754665687

A History of Madness in Sixteenth-Century Germany

By: H. C. Erik Midelfort

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A History of Madness in Sixteenth-Century Germany

By: H. C. Erik Midelfort

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460

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Stanford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0804741697

ISBN 13

9780804741699

Witchcraft, Madness, Society, and Religion in Early Modern Germany

A Ship of Fools

By: H.C. Erik Midelfort

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Witchcraft, Madness, Society, and Religion in Early Modern Germany

A Ship of Fools

By: H.C. Erik Midelfort

H.C. Erik Midelfort has carved out a reputation for innovative work on early modern German history, with a particular focus on the social history of ideas and religion. This collection pulls together some of his best work on the related subjects of witchcraft, the history of madness and psychology, demonology, exorcism, and the social history of religious change in early modern Europe. Several of the pieces reprinted here constitute reviews of recent scholarly literature on their topics, while others offer sharp departures from conventional wisdom. A critique of Michel Foucault’s view of the history of madness proved both stimulating but irritating to Foucault’s most faithful readers, so it is reprinted here along with a short retrospective comment by the author. Another focus of this collection is the social history of the Holy Roman Empire, where towns, peasants, and noble families developed different perceptions of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations and of the options the religious revolutions of the sixteenth century offered. Finally, this collection also brings together articles which show how Freudian psychoanalysis and academic sociology have filtered and interpreted the history of early modern Germany.

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Page Count

324

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Published Date

ISBN 10

1040234054

ISBN 13

9781040234051

Exorcism and Enlightenment

Johann Joseph Gassner and the Demons of Eighteenth-century Germany

By: H. C. Erik Midelfort

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Exorcism and Enlightenment

Johann Joseph Gassner and the Demons of Eighteenth-century Germany

By: H. C. Erik Midelfort

In the late eighteenth century, Catholic priest Johann Joseph Gassner (1727-1779) discovered that he had extraordinary powers of exorcism. Deciding that demons were responsible for most human ailments, he healed thousands, rich and poor, Protestant and Catholic. In this book H.C. Erik Midelfort delves deeply into records of the time to explore Gassner's remarkable exorcising campaign, chronicle the official efforts to curb him, and reconstruct the sufferings of the afflicted. Gassner's activities triggered a Catholic religious revival as well as a noisy skeptical reaction. In response to those who doubted that he was really casting out demons, Gassner marshaled hundreds of eyewitness reports that seemed to prove his exorcisms really worked. Midelfort describes the enormous public controversy that resulted, and he demonstrates that the Gassner episode yields important insights into the German Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment, the limitations of eighteenth-century debate, and the ongoing role of magic and belief in an age of scientific enlightenment.

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233

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300130139

ISBN 13

9780300130133

JURIES AND JUDGES VERSUS THE LAW

Virginia's Provincial Legal Perspective, 1783-1828

By: H. C. Erik Midelfort,Frederick Thornton Miller

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JURIES AND JUDGES VERSUS THE LAW

Virginia's Provincial Legal Perspective, 1783-1828

By: H. C. Erik Midelfort,Frederick Thornton Miller

An appellate court system based on the idea of an unwritten constitution and common-law traditions prevailed, limiting and decentralizing power and protecting the rights and interests of states and of local communities.

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Page Count

198

Publisher

University of Virginia Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813914868

ISBN 13

9780813914862

Exorcism and Enlightenment

Johann Joseph Gassner and the Demons of Eighteenth-century Germany

By: H. C. Erik Midelfort

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Exorcism and Enlightenment

Johann Joseph Gassner and the Demons of Eighteenth-century Germany

By: H. C. Erik Midelfort

Explores Catholic priest Johann Joseph Gassner's extraordinary exorcising campaign during the late eighteenth century when he healed thousands by banishing the demons he believed were responsible for most human ailments.

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Page Count

219

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300106696

ISBN 13

9780300106695

JURIES AND JUDGES VERSUS THE LAW

Virginia's Provincial Legal Perspective, 1783-1828

By: H. C. Erik Midelfort,Frederick Thornton Miller

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JURIES AND JUDGES VERSUS THE LAW

Virginia's Provincial Legal Perspective, 1783-1828

By: H. C. Erik Midelfort,Frederick Thornton Miller

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Page Count

198

Publisher

University of Virginia Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813914868

ISBN 13

9780813914862

Book's by H.C. Erik Midelfort

A History of Madness in Sixteenth-Century Germany

A History of Madness in Sixteenth-Century Germany

Ideas and Cultural Margins in Early Modern Germany

Ideas and Cultural Margins in Early Modern Germany

A History of Madness in Sixteenth-Century Germany

A History of Madness in Sixteenth-Century Germany

Witchcraft, Madness, Society, and Religion in Early Modern Germany

Witchcraft, Madness, Society, and Religion in Early Modern Germany

Exorcism and Enlightenment

Exorcism and Enlightenment

JURIES AND JUDGES VERSUS THE LAW

JURIES AND JUDGES VERSUS THE LAW

Exorcism and Enlightenment

Exorcism and Enlightenment

JURIES AND JUDGES VERSUS THE LAW

JURIES AND JUDGES VERSUS THE LAW

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