
Executing Magic in the Modern Era
Criminal Bodies and the Gallows in Popular Medicine
Palgrave Macmillan (Publisher)
Published on 4. August 2018
Book
Paperback/Softback
VII, 118 pages
978-3-319-86643-7 (ISBN)
Description
This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license
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 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.
More details
Series
Edition
Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2017
Language
English
Place of publication
Cham
Switzerland
Publishing group
Springer International Publishing
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
VII, 118 p.
Dimensions
Height: 21 cm
Width: 14.8 cm
Weight
178 gr
ISBN-13
978-3-319-86643-7 (9783319866437)
DOI
10.1007/978-3-319-59519-1
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Owen Davies | Francesca Matteoni
Executing Magic in the Modern Era
Criminal Bodies and the Gallows in Popular Medicine
Book
07/2017
Palgrave Macmillan
€29.96
Shipment within 10-15 days
Persons
Owen Davies is Professor at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. He has published widely on the history of witchcraft, magic, ghosts, and popular medicine.
Francesca Matteoni worked on 'Strand 4: The Dead Sustaining Life' of the Wellcome Trust funded project, 'Harnessing the Power of the Criminal Corpse'. She has also published in Italian and English on early-modern blood beliefs, familiars, and the use of criminal body parts.
Francesca Matteoni worked on 'Strand 4: The Dead Sustaining Life' of the Wellcome Trust funded project, 'Harnessing the Power of the Criminal Corpse'. She has also published in Italian and English on early-modern blood beliefs, familiars, and the use of criminal body parts.
Content
1. Introduction.- 2. Criminal Bodies.- 3. The Corpse Gives Life.- 4. The Places and Tools of Execution.- 5. Lingering Influences.- Index.