Early Modern European Witchcraft
'The name Ballvollen related to transnational transference of ideas' This article deals with cultural transference of ideas, exemplified by the name Ballvollen (The Ball Ley), used in seventeenth-century court records of witchcraft trials... more
'The name Ballvollen related to transnational transference of ideas'
This article deals with cultural transference of ideas, exemplified by the name Ballvollen (The Ball Ley), used in seventeenth-century court records of witchcraft trials from Vardø in Finnmark, Northern Norway. The village of Vardø was an important administrative centre in Finnmark, because Vardøhus Castle was located there. Norway and Denmark were in a union at the time, with the king living in Copenhagen. The District Governor in Finnmark, the king’s man, was placed at Vardøhus Castle.
The name Ballvollen appears for the first time in court records in 1621, and is mentioned several times until 1625. It always occurs in the same context, about a field where witches use to meet for gatherings, and where the devil is present. It is not documented used in Vardø neither before nor after this period of time. The article examines the name Ball Ley used in similar source material in Scotland, and in the same context, namely a witches’ gathering on a field. Using information from various sources, it is argued that a direct transfer has taken place via a Scotsman, John Cunningham, who was installed as District Governor at Vardøhus Castle in 1619. He was active during interrogation of alleged witches who were brought before the court in Vardø. Cunnungham knew about the notion of witches meeting at a field together with the devil from the contents of Scottish witchcraft trials. He also knew Danish, having lived in Denmark since 1603. Due to his position, he was able to bring the name Ballvollen into the questioning of accused witches, and thereby into the court records.
This article deals with cultural transference of ideas, exemplified by the name Ballvollen (The Ball Ley), used in seventeenth-century court records of witchcraft trials from Vardø in Finnmark, Northern Norway. The village of Vardø was an important administrative centre in Finnmark, because Vardøhus Castle was located there. Norway and Denmark were in a union at the time, with the king living in Copenhagen. The District Governor in Finnmark, the king’s man, was placed at Vardøhus Castle.
The name Ballvollen appears for the first time in court records in 1621, and is mentioned several times until 1625. It always occurs in the same context, about a field where witches use to meet for gatherings, and where the devil is present. It is not documented used in Vardø neither before nor after this period of time. The article examines the name Ball Ley used in similar source material in Scotland, and in the same context, namely a witches’ gathering on a field. Using information from various sources, it is argued that a direct transfer has taken place via a Scotsman, John Cunningham, who was installed as District Governor at Vardøhus Castle in 1619. He was active during interrogation of alleged witches who were brought before the court in Vardø. Cunnungham knew about the notion of witches meeting at a field together with the devil from the contents of Scottish witchcraft trials. He also knew Danish, having lived in Denmark since 1603. Due to his position, he was able to bring the name Ballvollen into the questioning of accused witches, and thereby into the court records.
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Coming of Age Ritual - For boys, this ritual is usually done after 12 solar cycles or 13 years of age. (Some wait for boys to get their first pubic hair.) For girls, within the first lunar cycle the onset of menses.
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The identification of deviant burials as those of ‘vampires’ is a feature of excavated skeletons from sites across Eastern, Central and Southern Europe as well as the Balkans. Based on a close reading of historic and folkloric sources... more
The identification of deviant burials as those of ‘vampires’ is a feature of excavated skeletons from sites across Eastern, Central and Southern Europe as well as the Balkans. Based on a close reading of historic and folkloric sources researchers have sought to match features of excavated sites with narrative descriptions drawn from vampire legend and myth. This study critically reviews the recent claims based on sites in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Poland and Slovakia. Whilst it is found that there was a widespread belief in vampires across Europe, it is argued that it is difficult to make absolute claims for ‘vampire’ burials on archaeological grounds as in most cases there are alternate and equally compelling interpretations of the data.
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ARCHAEOLOGY, HISTORY, SIXTEENTH CENTURY, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, VAMPIRE, DEVIANT BURIAL, PLAGUE, BLACK DEATH, FOLKLORE, PAGAN, BURIAL, WITCH, BALKANS, EASTERN EUROPE, CENTRAL EUROPE, SOUTHERN EUROPE, BULGARIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, POLAND, GREECE, ITALY, SLOVAKIA, LESBOS, VENICE, APOTROPAIC, VAMPIRIDZHIJA, PERPERIKON, SOZOPOL, PROSTEJOV, CELAKOVICE, DRAWSKO, GLIWICI, SOUTHWELL, KILTEASHEEN, LAZZARETTO NUOVO, NACHTZEHRER, KAMIEN POMORSKI
KEYWORDS
ARCHAEOLOGY, HISTORY, SIXTEENTH CENTURY, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, VAMPIRE, DEVIANT BURIAL, PLAGUE, BLACK DEATH, FOLKLORE, PAGAN, BURIAL, WITCH, BALKANS, EASTERN EUROPE, CENTRAL EUROPE, SOUTHERN EUROPE, BULGARIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, POLAND, GREECE, ITALY, SLOVAKIA, LESBOS, VENICE, APOTROPAIC, VAMPIRIDZHIJA, PERPERIKON, SOZOPOL, PROSTEJOV, CELAKOVICE, DRAWSKO, GLIWICI, SOUTHWELL, KILTEASHEEN, LAZZARETTO NUOVO, NACHTZEHRER, KAMIEN POMORSKI
Research Interests: Religion, Christianity, Mythology And Folklore, History, European History, and 233 moreCultural History, Sociology of Religion, Eastern European Studies, European Studies, Archaeology, Anthropology, Folklore, Mythology, Social Anthropology, Historical Archaeology, Eastern Europe, High Middle Ages, Late Middle Ages, Medieval History, Czech History, Italian (European History), History of Religion, Death, Death Studies, Death (Anthropology), History of Christianity, Popular Culture, Apotropaic Devices, Renaissance Studies, Balkan Studies, Balkan History, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Renaissance, Polish History, Anthropology of the Body, Ritual, Eighteenth Century History, Identity (Culture), Seventeenth Century, Central European history, Eastern European history, Anthropology of Christianity, Pagan Studies, Culture, The Body, Eastern Christianity, Demonology, Medieval Archaeology, Gothic Studies, Culture Studies, History of Plague, Folktales, Folk legends, Czech & Slovak Studies, Paganism, Medieval Europe, Social History, Death and Burial (Archaeology), Supernatural, Ancient myth and religion, Apotropaic Objects, Deviant burial (Archaeology), Magic and the Occult (Anthropology Of Religion), Ritual (Anthropology), Cultural History of Central Europe, Anthropology of Death, Cultural Anthropology, Folk Religion, Occultism, Witchcraft, Religion and Magic, Burial Practices (Archaeology), Balkan archaeology, Archaeology of Ritual and Magic, European Medieval History, Poland, Anthropology of Eastern Europe, Medieval Balkans, Anthropology of the Balkans, Middle Ages and Renaissance, Early Modern European Witchcraft, History of Suicide, Vampire Studies, Bulgarian history, Archaeology of Ritual, Material Culture, Orthodox Christianity, Folklore (Anthropology), Bohemia, Burials, Decapitation, European Archaeology, Myth, Central and Eastern Europe, Black Death, Vampires, Archaeology and Anthropology, Ritual Studies, Balkans, Revenants, Superstitions and Superstitious Belief, South-Eastern Europe, Occult, Archaeology of burials, Supernatural Beings, Archaeological Excavation, Slavic Studies, Pagan/Christian Relations in the Early Middle Ages, Anthropology of Belief, Vampire Narratives, Burial, Cult of the dead, Real vampires and biological causes, Late Medieval History, Bulgarian archaeology, Vampires in folklore, Rituals, Middle Ages, Slavic vampire, Plague Studies, Central European Archaeology, HUMAN SKELETON ARCHAEOLOGY, Czech Archaeology, Late Medieval Bohemia and Central Europe, The medieval supernatural, Archaeology of death and burial, history of Poland, Balkan History and Culture, Gothic, Paganism and Christianism, Burial Customs, Medieval Bulgaria, Anthropology of Bulgaria, Horror, History of Venice, "Deviant" forms of burial, Plague, Archaeology of death, HistoriCAL Arcaheology, Archaeology, Historical Arcaeology, Medieval Archaeology, Slavs pagan studies, Slavs and Balts Mythology and Folklore, Ritual Purity, Christianisation of Central and Eastern Europe in the Early Middle Ages, Medieval Poland, Demonology in early Christianity, Undead, Supernatural Folklore, Necropolis, Deviant burials, Christianization in Medieval Europe, Superstition, Germany and Eastern Europe countries, Venice, archaeology, Archaeological excavations, Superstitions and Rituals, Medieval Demonology, Necromancy, Fear of Death, Supernatural Belief, Ritual Practices, History of Bohemia, South-Eastern European History, Apotropaic signs in iron, Apotropaic symbols, Bohemian history, Decapitation - Beheading, Vampires from Dracula to Twilight, The Occult, Superstition, Slavic Paganism, Balkan History and societies, The Black Death, History of Slovakia, Excavations, Paganism and Christianity, Fear of the Dead, Anthropology of Death & Burial, General research and teaching: history of European magic and alchemy; Hermeticism and Gnosticism; contemporary occultism, Vampires as Cultural Phenomenon, Venetian and Venice Lagoon Archaeology, Czech Medieval History, Anthropology of Religion, Culture and death, Pollution and Purity, History of Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern Europe Renaissance, High Midle Ages in Central Europe, Deviant Burial, The Plague, Research on the Concept of the Undead Revenant, Bubonic Plague in Europe from 750 to 1347, Apotropaic Practices, Witchcraft,Sabbatic Witchcraft,Necromancy, Fear of Undead, Dracula Studies, Theories of the Undead, Undead Studies, Apotropaic Figures, Epidemics (The Black Death), Historical Archaelogy, Decapitación, Vampire Slayers, Demonologyy, Central and Eastern European Studies, Eastern/Central Europe, Deviants In History, Anthropology/folklore, Decapited Skulls, Archeology Slavs, Sozopol, Archaeology of the Island of Lesbos, Cultural Outcasts, Apotropaia, Suicide Burial, Ritual Decapitation, Polish Archaeology, Vampires and Eastern Europe, Medieval Archaeology In Slovakia, Historical Archaeology, Decapitados, RELIGION AND ATTITUDE TOWARD SUICIDE, Rituals and Beliefs In the Balkans, Vampire Burials, Archaeology Vampires, Raising the Dead, Religious Superstition, VAMPIRIDZHIJA, VAMPIRE BURIAL KAMIEN POMORSKI, KILTEASHEEN DEVIANT BURIAL, SOUTHWELL NOTTINGHAMSHIRE DEVIANT BURIAL, GLIWICI POLAND DEVIANT 'VAMPIRE' BURIAL, DRAWSKO POLAND DEVIANT 'VAMPIRE' BURIAL, PERPERIKON BULGARIA DEVIANT 'VAMPIRE' BURIAL, SOZOPOL BULGARIA DEVIANT 'VAMPIRE' BURIAL, Archaeology of Supernatural, Poland and Vampires, Unusual Burial, Dracula Archaeology, Non Christian Burial, and Decapitated Skeletonedit
Submitted to 'Sin and Salvation in Reformation England' (London: Ashgate, due 2015).
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Invited to be the keynote speaker on the 400th anniversary of the inquisitor Heinrich Schultheiß’s coming to Westphalia at the Literary Society of Arnsberg (Germany) , 15 August 2014.
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Eva LARA y Alberto MONTANER (coords.), Señales, Portentos y Demonios: La magia en la literatura y la cultura españolas del Renacimiento, Salamanca, Sociedad de Estudios Medievales y Renacentistas, 2014, 950 pp., 232 ils.— ISBN... more
Eva LARA y Alberto MONTANER (coords.), Señales, Portentos y Demonios: La magia en la literatura y la cultura españolas del Renacimiento, Salamanca, Sociedad de Estudios Medievales y Renacentistas, 2014, 950 pp., 232 ils.— ISBN 978-84-941708-2-9
Research Interests: Spanish Literature, Astrology, Alchemy, Magic, Inquisition, and 90 moreCount Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Witch Hunt Studies, Robert Fludd (Robertus de Fluctibus), History of Astrology, Eclogues, Magic and the Occult (Anthropology Of Religion), Witchcraft, Religion and Magic, La Celestina and celestinesque sequels, Early Modern European Witchcraft, Emblems and Alchemical Symbolism, History of Hermetic Philosophy, Francisco de Vitoria, Early Modern Spanish theater, Lope de Vega, Brujeria, Picatrix, The Spanish Inquisition, Marsilio Ficino, Superstitions and Superstitious Belief, Kabbalah, Christian Kabbalah, Jewish Mysticism, Juan Rulfo, Spanish Golden Age, Renaissance magic and astrology, History of magic, Hermeticism, Occult Esoteric Magick Spirituality, Hermetism and Magick, Divinations systems, FRAY LUIS DE LEON, Diálogo renacentista, Santa Teresa de Ávila, Magic, Witchcraft and Paganism in Literature, Sorcery, Athanasius Kircher, Rudolph II, Medieval and Early Modern historiography, Novela pastoril, Anthropological study of witchcraft and sorcery, Fray Antonio De Guevara, Bernardo de Balbuena, Lope de Aguirre, Magic Circle, Alchemy and hermetics, History of alchemy, Medieval Spanish Epics, Black Magic, Astral Magic, Medieval Astrology and Magic, Superstitions and Rituals, Necromancy, Heretics, Libros/novelas De Caballerías, Libros de caballerías, Alonso Ercilla y Zúñiga, French, Italian, and Spanish Medieval and Early Modern literature and cultural productions. Law and Literature. Religious discourses. Early Modern Iberian Worlds. Early Modern printing culture., Santa Teresa de Jesús, Witchhunts and Inquisition, Aljamiado Texts, Moriscos, Al-Andalus and Islamic Studies, Brujeria Hechicería Heterodoxia Witchcraft Sorcery, Henricus Cornelius Agrippa, Esoteric Freemasonry Occult Alchemy Hermetic Rosicrucian, Johannes Trithemius, Magical Spells, Christian Cabbala, History of Witchcraft and Magic, Gil Vicente, Sefer Raziel, Ghāyat Al-Ḥakīm, Grimoire Tradition, Marqués De Villena, Love Spells, Malleus Maleficarum, Magick in Spanish literature and culture of the Renaissence, Treatises aginst superstition, Juan de la Cueva, Felipe II of Spain, Liber Razielis, Clavicula Salomonis, Libro de San Cipriano, Spell books, Zugarramurdi, Nigromancia, Hechiceria, Martin del Rio, Pedro Ciruelo, Fray Martin de Castañega, Gianbattista Della Porta, Francesco Guazzo, Alonso de Torquemada, Miscelanea renacentista, Libros de suertes, and Morisco Magicedit
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An ethno-historical perspective on the popular magic in Sardinia.
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, Mythology And Folklore, Ethnohistory, Sociology of Religion, and 279 moreParapsychology, Anthropology, Folklore, Mythology, Philosophy Of Religion, Social Anthropology, Ethnoarchaeology, History of Religion, Ethnography, Religion and Politics, Political Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Early Church, Contemporary Spirituality, Spirituality, Folk Medicine, Sardinia (Archaeology), Ritual, Altered States of Consciousness, Law and Religion, Magic, Inquisition, Psychology of Evil, Shamanism, Museum Anthropology, Witch Hunt Studies, Mediterranean Studies, Science and Religion, Symbolism, Ancient Mediterranean Religions, Energy Healing, Symbolic Interaction, Myths and Symbols as carriers of unconscious content, Folktales, Folk legends, Ancient Religion, Ethnology, Mediterranean, Subaltern, Subalternity, Subaltern Agency, Spirituality & Mysticism, Sacred (Religion), European Witch Trials, Prehistoric religion and r ritual a, Religion and ritual in prehistory, Gramsci, Church History, History of the Mediterranean, History of psychical research and parapsychology, Symbolic Anthropology (Anthropology), Megalithic Monuments, Witchcraft (Magic), Supernatural, Gender and religion (Women s Studies), Symbolism (Religion), Spiritualism, Ancient myth and religion, Myth And Ritual Studies, Liturgics, Magic and the Occult (Anthropology Of Religion), Spirit Possession (Anthropology), Ritual (Anthropology), Christian Spirituality, Spirituality & Psychology, Heresy, Witchcraft (Anthropology Of Religion), Magical Practices, Ritual induction of trance, Liminal States: Altered Representation of Space, Spiritual Intelligence, Cultural Anthropology, Witchcraft, Religion and Magic, Ritual Theory, Hegemony, Counter-hegemonic & Subaltern Legal Globalisation, Anthropology of Shamanism, Antonio Gramsci, Problem of Evil, New Age spirituality, Classical Mythology, Comparative mythology, Supernatural Figures (Medieval Studies), Heresy and Inquisition, Subaltern Studies, Ritualism, Early Modern European Witchcraft, Contemporary legends, Theology of Suffering and Evil, Gramsci and Cultural Hegemony, Myth, Rites of Passage, Scientific Parapsychology, The Spanish Inquisition, Religious Studies, Ritual Studies, Myth, Folk Studies, Legends, Christian Heresies, Healing and Religion, Meditation, Parapsychology, Anthropology, Mediumship, Phenomenology, Spiritualism, Paranormal, Supernatural, Folklore, Religion, Sociology, Ethnopolitics, Philosophy of Evil, Postcolonial Theory/Subaltern Studies, megaliths in Italy, Sacred Geometry, Chamanismo, Patrimonio Cultural, Heresy and Orthodoxy, Folk and Fairy Tales, Estudios Subalternos, Hegemonic Masculinity, Sardinian language, Sardinia, Sardinian Nuragic, Rituals, Megalithism, Mitologia, Storia della chiesa, Archaeology / Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, The medieval supernatural, How practices (social language, social literacy and ritualized cultural) aid in maintaining language and ethnic identity, Archaeology of shamanism, Ethnologie, Shamanic Possession, Trance, and Altered Staes of Consciousness, Shamanic Possession, Trance, and Altered States of Consciousness, Witchcraft, Patrimoine, Medieval heresy, Diabolic Possession, Shamanism, Pagan studies, Animism, Sardegna, Hegemonia, Folk magic, Symbols, Shamanism and Shamanic Healing, Ancient Religions, Roman Inquisition, Spirit Possession, Neo-Gramscianism, Megalitismo, Hegemony and Counter-Hegemony, Traditional Witchcraft, Western Magical Tradition, Mitología, teología, historia de las religiones, Religione, Sacralidad, Catholic Church History, Healing with herbs and meditation, Megaliths, Sorcery, Ernesto de Martino, Shamanism/Conflict/Retaliation/Crisis/Supernaturalism, Healing, Stato E Chiesa, Patrimonio, Archeologia Della Sardegna, Anthropological study of witchcraft and sorcery, Chiese rupestri, Cultural Heritage Cultural Memory Cultural Studies Folk legends Folklore Folktales History of Folklore Theory and Method Identity (Culture) Languages Mythology, Supernatural Folklore, MITOLOGÍA COMPARADA, Nuragico, Sardegna romana, Hypnosis, Parapsychology, UFOlogy, European Ethnology, History, Ethnology, Mytologyq Religione, Ritualization, Trance, Chiesa Cristiana, Visualization and altered states, Sacral landscape, Bruxaria Tradicional, Sardinian nuraghes, Stregaheria, Banality of Evil, Megalithic tombs, Museos y Patrimonio, Religiones comparadas, Magia, Techniques for altered states, Supernatural Belief, Consciousness, Altered States, Creativity, Shamanic Practices, Subtle Energy Healing, Sardinian Archaeology, Ritual Practices, Chamanism, Chasse Aux Sorcières, Filosofia della religione, Eresia, Patrimonio cultural inmaterial, Preistoria E Protostoria Sardegna, Megalithic monument, Età nuragica, Inquisición, Histoire de la Sardaigne, Chiesa, Ritualità, Stregoneria, Magia Nera, EGEMONIA, Cultural Hegemony, Ethnologie, Anthropologie, Sociologie, Le diable en transe, Sorcière, Féminin Surnaturel, Anthropologie historique, Ritualisation, History of Ethnology, Astronomical alignment of Megalithic structures, Mitología, Historia De Religiones, Subalternity, The Problem of Evil and the Existence of God (Brief Essay), Ethnology and Ethnography, Altered States of Consciousness, Psychedelics, COSMOLOGY, ECOLOGY, SHAMANISM, TIME-SPACE STRUCTURES AND PROCESS, BEGINNING OF SORCERY AND SHAMANISM, CALENDRIC ROUND, AND RELATION TO CONSTELLATIONS AND SHAMANIC ACTIVITIES., Sacral Topography, Nuraghe, Chiese Sardegna, Bruxaria, Anthropology of Religion, South Asian Diaspora, Diaspora Studies, Afro-Pessimism, African American Studies, Antiblackness In Communities of Color (Primarily South Asian), Intersectionality, Critiques of Post-Colonialism, the Subaltern, and Neo-liberalism, Psychoanalysis, Pueblos Magicos, Storia della Sardegna, History of Sacrality, Anthropologie Sociale Et Culturelle, Religiones, Historia De Las Religiones, Creencias, magia y religión, Chamanes, Sacralization, Nuraghe Archeologia, Civiltà Nuragica, Eretici, Guerison Spirituelle, Cultural Egemony, Stregheria, Chamanisme Ethnologie, Chamanisme, Healing Ceremonies, Chiese Rurali, Sacralisation, Ritualidad, Neo shamanism, Shamanism and Other Archaic Form of Religion, Shamanistic and Ritualistic Modes, Nuragic, Megalithic Culture, Historia Social De La Magia, Ethnologie Du Patrimoine, Patrimoine Mondial (Culturel Et Naturel), Channeling, Sardegna Antica, Inquisition. Moriscos. Lead Books. Granada. Conversion. Religious Polemics, Patrimonio Culturale: Valorizzazione, Culte Guérisseur, Tourist Site Sacralisation, Traditional Shamanism, Neo Ritualization, Parapsycholohgy, Guarigione, Heresiologia, Maghi E Streghe. Storia. 1700, Parapsicologia, Formulas Sacramentais, Magia Y Religion, Sardaigne, Ancient myths and religions, Shaman Practice, Magia Posthuma, Neo-Gramsci, Animismo Stregoneria Sciamanesimo, Eretici Del Cinquecento, Sacral Toponymy, Sardinian Culture, L'image Du Diable, Magico-Religious Practices, Magico-religious medicine, Cultural Forms of Sacralizations, and Eresia '500edit
Correlating cinema to witchcraft, this paper will problematise Laura Mulvey’s thesis of the male gaze. It argues for a feminine gaze where cinema self-conceives through its imitative image. Despite its fantastic conceit, imitative power... more
Correlating cinema to witchcraft, this paper will problematise Laura Mulvey’s thesis of the male gaze. It argues for a feminine gaze where cinema self-conceives through its imitative image. Despite its fantastic conceit, imitative power formed the basis for the very real persecution of witches during the European witch-hunts in the early-modern era. Charges of witchcraft were typically related to a diabolical reproduction of the natural body and included possession of the penis, the dismemberment and devouring of infants and the unborn, the procuring of abortions and miscarriages, and the creation of demonic children. Socio-historical investigations of the witch-hunts have largely ignored the imagistic dimension of witchcraft and its relation to the archaic belief in the maternal imaginary to ‘naturally’ shape or mutate the foetus, or even to conceive without a father. In figuring an artistic and technological correlation of witchcraft to cinema by way of the maternal imaginary, this paper will consider the potential for a feminine gaze.
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Hrsg. Stephanie Nomayo, Schriftenreihe des Städtischen Museums Kitzingen, Band 8, Kitzingen 2014
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aus: Die Hexe im Zauberspiegel fränkischer Kulturgeschichte, Seiten 122 bis 131
Schriftenreihe des Städtischen Museums Kitzingen, Band 8
Schriftenreihe des Städtischen Museums Kitzingen, Band 8
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aus: Die Hexe im Zauberspiegel fränkischer Kulturgeschichte, Seiten: 110 - 121
Schriftenreihe des Städtischen Museums Kitzingen, Band 8
Schriftenreihe des Städtischen Museums Kitzingen, Band 8