Executing Magic in the Modern Era
Criminal Bodies and the Gallows in Popular Medicine
by Owen Davies, Francesca Matteoni
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Book Description
This book explores the magical and medical history of executions from the eighteenth to the early twentieth century by looking at the afterlife potency of criminal corpses, the healing activities of the executioner, and the magic of the gallows site. The use of corpses in medicine and magic has been recorded back into antiquity. The lacerated bodies of Roman gladiators were used as a source of curative blood, for instance. In early modern Europe, a great trade opened up in ancient Egyptian mummies and the fat of executed criminals, plundered as medicinal cure-alls. However, this is the first book to consider the demand for the blood of the executed, the desire for human fat, the resort to the hanged man's hand, and the trade in hanging rope in the modern era. It ends by look at the spiritual afterlife of dead criminals.This open book is licensed under a Creative Commons License (CC BY). You can download Executing Magic in the Modern Era ebook for free in PDF format (1.7 MB).
Book Details
Title
Executing Magic in the Modern Era
Subject
History
Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
Published
2017
Pages
122
Edition
1
Language
English
ISBN13
9783319595184
ISBN10
3319595180
ISBN13 Digital
9783319595191
ISBN10 Digital
3319595199
PDF Size
1.7 MB
License
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