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Book Synopsis
An exploration of why women were singled out as witches in 15th-century in Germany. Sigrid Brauner examines the connections between three central developments in early modern Germany: a shift in gender roles for women; the rise of a new urban ideal of femininity; and the witch hunts that swept across Europe from 1435 to 1750. In mediaeval discourse on witchcraft, Brauner argues, men and women were assumed to become witches in roughly equal numbers. But starting with the notorious ""Malleus Maleficarum"" (1487), witchcraft was reinterpreted as a gender-specific crime: its authors argued contentiously that most witches were women and linked the crime of witchcraft to women's voracious sexual appetites. The work raises questions about the genesis of the modern social problems of race, gender and class oppression, and locates their roots in the early modern period.

Fearless Wives and Frightened Shrews: The

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    A Paperback / softback by Sigrid Brauner, Robert H. Brown, Robert H. Brown

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      View other formats and editions of Fearless Wives and Frightened Shrews: The by Sigrid Brauner

      Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
      Publication Date: Publication Date: 30/06/2001
      ISBN13: 9781558492974, 978-1558492974
      ISBN10: 1558492976
      Also in:
      Gender studies: women and girls Witchcraft / Witches

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      An exploration of why women were singled out as witches in 15th-century in Germany. Sigrid Brauner examines the connections between three central developments in early modern Germany: a shift in gender roles for women; the rise of a new urban ideal of femininity; and the witch hunts that swept across Europe from 1435 to 1750. In mediaeval discourse on witchcraft, Brauner argues, men and women were assumed to become witches in roughly equal numbers. But starting with the notorious ""Malleus Maleficarum"" (1487), witchcraft was reinterpreted as a gender-specific crime: its authors argued contentiously that most witches were women and linked the crime of witchcraft to women's voracious sexual appetites. The work raises questions about the genesis of the modern social problems of race, gender and class oppression, and locates their roots in the early modern period.

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