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Suicide by Proxy in Early Modern Germany

Crime, Sin and Salvation

  • Book
  • © 2023

Overview

Authors:
  1. Kathy Stuart

    1. University of California, Davis, Davis, USA

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  • Offers an original contribution in the field of early modern history of crime, violence and religion
  • Emphasizes the porous boundaries of the early modern self
  • Investigates the local religious contexts and disciplining techniques that shaped the suicidal choices of people

Part of the book series: World Histories of Crime, Culture and Violence (WHCCV)

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xx
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  2. Introduction

    • Kathy Stuart
    Pages 1-35

  3. Liturgies of Suicide by Proxy

    • Kathy Stuart
    Pages 37-89

  4. “Fear God and the Court, while there is still Time.” Crime and Zealous Prosecution in Early Modern Hamburg

    • Kathy Stuart
    Pages 91-137

  5. “The Unbelievably Frequent Examples of such Murders Committed solely out of Weariness with Life.” Hamburg, 1668–1810

    • Kathy Stuart
    Pages 139-208

  6. Mary with the Axe: The Cult of the Injured Icon in Baroque Vienna

    • Kathy Stuart
    Pages 209-262

  7. The Injured Crucifix: The Emperor’s Conscience and Prisoners’ Defiance

    • Kathy Stuart
    Pages 263-328

  8. Crime and Justice in a Sacred Landscape: Vienna, 1668–1786

    • Kathy Stuart
    Pages 329-393

  9. Conclusion: The Decline of Suicide by Proxy and its Historical Effacement

    • Kathy Stuart
    Pages 395-406

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 407-466
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Keywords

About this book

Suicide by Proxy became a major societal problem after 1650. Suicidal people committed capital crimes with the explicit goal of “earning” their executions, as a short-cut to their salvation. Desiring to die repentantly at the hands of divinely-instituted government, perpetrators hoped to escape eternal damnation that befell direct suicides. Kathy Stuart shows how this crime emerged as an unintended consequence of aggressive social disciplining campaigns by confessional states. Paradoxically, suicide by proxy exposed the limits of early modern state power, as governments struggled unsuccessfully to suppress the tactic. Some perpetrators committed arson or blasphemy, or confessed to long-past crimes, usually infanticide, or bestiality. Most frequently, however, they murdered young children, believing that their innocent victims would also enter paradise. The crime had cross-confessional appeal, as illustrated in case studies of Lutheran Hamburg and Catholic Vienna.



Reviews

“With this excellent study, research on suicide by proxy is taken a step further to constitute a field of research on its own. The cross-confessional approach between Lutheran Hamburg and Catholic Vienna, enables the author to show that this largely forgotten historical phenomenon was a fluid and malleable practice adopted by perpetrators according to their local cultural and confessional context.” (Jonas Liliequist, Umeå University, Sweden)

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of California, Davis, Davis, USA

    Kathy Stuart

About the author

Kathy Stuart is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Davis, USA.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Suicide by Proxy in Early Modern Germany

  • Book Subtitle: Crime, Sin and Salvation

  • Authors: Kathy Stuart

  • Series Title: World Histories of Crime, Culture and Violence

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25244-0

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-25243-3Published: 25 July 2023

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-25246-4Published: 02 February 2024

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-25244-0Published: 24 July 2023

  • Series ISSN: 2730-9630

  • Series E-ISSN: 2730-9649

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XX, 466

  • Number of Illustrations: 48 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: History of Early Modern Europe, History of Germany and Central Europe, Crime and Society

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