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oapen-20.500.12657-284252021-11-12T16:08:07Z Executing Magic in the Modern Era Davies, Owen Matteoni, Francesca Medical history magical history executions afterlife eighteenth century nineteenth century twentieth century Capital punishment Gallows Gibbeting Hanging bic Book Industry Communication::H Humanities::HB History 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. 2018-09-24 23:55 2020-03-18 13:36:15 2020-04-01T12:22:37Z 2020-04-01T12:22:37Z 2017 book 1001533 OCN: 1076629229 9783319595191 http://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/28425 eng Palgrave Historical Studies in the Criminal Corpse and its Afterlife application/pdf n/a Bookshelf_NBK464467.pdf Springer Nature Palgrave Macmillan 10.1007/978-3-319-59519-1 10.1007/978-3-319-59519-1 6c6992af-b843-4f46-859c-f6e9998e40d5 d859fbd3-d884-4090-a0ec-baf821c9abfd 9783319595191 Wellcome Palgrave Macmillan 122 Basingstoke Wellcome Trust Wellcome open access
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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.
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