Suicide by Proxy in Early Modern Germany

Suicide by Proxy became a major societal problem after 1650. Suicidal people committed capital crimes with the explicit goal of earning their executions, as a short-cut to their salvation. Desiring to die repentantly at the hands of divinely-instituted government, perpetrators hoped to escape eternal damnation that befell direct suicides. Kathy Stuart shows how this crime emerged as an unintended consequence of aggressive social disciplining campaigns by confessional states. Paradoxically, suicide by proxy exposed the limits of early modern state power, as governments struggled unsuccessfully to suppress the tactic. Some perpetrators committed arson or blasphemy, or confessed to long-past crimes, usually infanticide, or bestiality. Most frequently, however, they murdered young children, believing that their innocent victims would also enter paradise. The crime had cross-confessional appeal, as illustrated in case studies of Lutheran Hamburg and Catholic Vienna.

Offers an original contribution in the field of early modern history of crime, violence and religion Emphasizes the porous boundaries of the early modern self Investigates the local religious contexts and disciplining techniques that shaped the suicidal choices of people

Auteur

Kathy Stuart is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Davis, USA.

Résumé

"Kathy Stuart has written an excellent study of suicide by proxy, a term she uses to refer to people who committed crimes, usually the killing of young children, with the intention of being executed. ... Stuart's most important contribution is her linking suicides by proxy to social discipline, which, historians agree, greatly increased among both Protestants and Catholics during the Reformation era. ... Stuart has ... produced an excellent piece of scholarship." (Jeffrey R. Watt, Austrian History Yearbook, March 11, 2024)

Contenu

1. Introduction.- 2. Liturgies of Suicide by Proxy.- 3. Fear God and the Court, while there is still Time. Crime and Zealous Prosecution in Early Modern Hamburg.- 4. The Unbelievably Frequent Examples of such Murders Committed solely out of Weariness with Life. Hamburg, 1668-1810.- 5. Mary with the Axe. The Cult of the Injured Icon in Baroque Vienna.- 6. The Injured Crucifix: The Emperor's Conscience and Prisoners' Defiance.- 7. Crime and Justice in a Sacred Landscape. Vienna, 1668-1786.- 8. Conclusion: The Decline of Suicide by Proxy and its Historical Effacement.