March 1, 2024

Excising Superstition from Knowledge: August of Saxony’s Book of Healing Charms

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Abstract

This article examines how privacy allowed agents to explore unsanctioned or controversial kinds of knowledge, as exemplified by August of Saxony’s handwritten book of healing charms (1585). By looking at how Elector August of Saxony (1526–86) selected and eliminated elements of charms for all kinds of afflictions, this article analyzes how popular knowledge could be transformed in private to fit the personal beliefs and scholarly convictions of privileged practitioners. This analysis enables an understanding of how popular knowledge was transformed and translated by people in power in times of religious and political turmoil.

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Cite This Study

Natacha Klein Käfer (Fri,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/68e76bccb6db6435876e1a0f https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1086/729575

Discussion

Journals

KNOW A Journal on the Formation of Knowledge

Institutions

University of Copenhagen

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