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Mystics and Witches: Women on the Margins of the Sacred and the Secular

Mystics and Witches: Women on the Margins of the Sacred and the Secular. Dr. Debra Stoudt Professor of German Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. Image of Women. Early Middle Ages – valued as: Healers Prophets High Middle Ages – conflicting views:

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Mystics and Witches: Women on the Margins of the Sacred and the Secular

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  1. Mystics and Witches: Women on the Margins of the Sacred and the Secular Dr. Debra Stoudt Professor of German Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures

  2. Image of Women • Early Middle Ages – valued as: • Healers • Prophets • High Middle Ages – conflicting views: • Veneration of idealized women • Disdain of real women

  3. The Speculum virginum Women’s value in terms of their “harvest”: • Virgins (= nuns) • Widows • Married women http://rhinvolk.de/quellen_speculumvirginum.html

  4. Mystics • An individual pursuing a personal relationship with, and ultimately union with, the Divine (= God) • Goal vs. calling: union with God sought for, but ultimately a gift from God • Visions, auditions, ability to perform miraculous acts • Revelation of experiences to others

  5. Hildegard of Bingen(1098-1179) Benedictine abbess in Bingen (near Frankfurt) • Visionary • Preacher • Composer • Correspondent of emperors and popes • Author of medical texts http://www.cottageshare.com/hildegarde-de-bingen.jpg

  6. Hildegard’s Vision of the Cosmos http://www.migraine-aura.org/site/content/e27891/e27265/e42285/e42442/e42444/e42630/e42635/Hildegard_of_Bingen_en.jpeg http://www.wolfgang-schuhmacher.de/hildegardvonbingenspiritualitaet/hildegardinfo1.htm

  7. Creation and the Last Judgment http://www.thearchetypalconnection.com/images/HildegardeSixDaysCreation.jpg http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gSjQ1iZz6BM/SZh-E3kQraI/AAAAAAAAAN8/G6N5v-9Qy6s/s320/LDO+I,1.jpg

  8. Devotion to Christ http://de.academic.ru/pictures/dewiki/71/Gertrude_de_Helfta.jpg http://www.derweg.org/personen/kirche/images/mechthildvonmagdeburg1.jpg http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41NDB01WP2L._SL160_.jpg

  9. Validation and Approbation http://www.incois.gov.in/Tutor/science+society/lectures/illustrations/lecture13/hildegard.jpg http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~dvess/ids/fap/hildegard.htm

  10. Veneration http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/Fotos/Elisabeth_von_Schoenau.jpg

  11. Cloistered Life http://de.academic.ru/pictures/dewiki/51/300px-Kloster_Eibingen01.JPG http://www.agrarministerkonferenz.de/uploads/Helfta_Teich_087.JPG http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&rlz=1T4ADBR_enUS328&um=1&sa=1&q=maria+medingen+ebner&aq=f&oq=&aqi=&start=0

  12. Orthodoxy http://www.umilta.net/catheri.jpg http://vultus.stblogs.org/Brigitta.jpg http://mw.mcmaster.ca/images/dbase/SilverBox/3001w-NunorBeguineMonk.jpg

  13. Beguines http://www.begijnhofamsterdam.nl/index_engels.html?htmlfiles_gb/historie/historie3.htm~inhoud

  14. Heresy and Witchcraft http://histor.ws/hexen/galerie/d-magie.htm http://personal.rhul.ac.uk/uhle/001/Witches'Sabbath.htm

  15. Witches as Heretics • The Malleus Maleficarum (1486) • femina‘woman’ fe + minus ‘faithless’ http://wpcontent.answers.com/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/Champion_des_dames_Vaudoises.JPG/280px-Champion_des_dames_Vaudoises.JPG

  16. Chronology in German Regions • Heresy trials from 1560 to 1590 • Persecution of witches from 1590 to 1630 http://www.hexen-forum.de/images/hexenverhoer-folter02.jpg http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/ATHEISM/witches.gif

  17. Witches • An individual guilty of maleficia • ‘evil-doing’ • ‘an act of witchcraft performed with the intention of causing damage or injury’ • Participation in rituals, ability to perform diabolical acts • Reported and accused by others

  18. Early Modern Europe • Natural disasters • Religious conflict • Political upheaval • Social change http://www.korcula.net/history/mmarelic/luther_map_lutheranism_in_central_europe.jpg

  19. Why Witch Hunts? • Reaction to disaster • Weapon of confessional conflict • Punishment for those considered different

  20. Women as Witches • Role in: • Society • Family • The Church http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/baldung/phyllis-aristotle-louvre.jpg

  21. Mystics and Witches:Veneration and Demonization http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3241/2861762944_f5cf44d6df.jpg http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/damnedart/index.html

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