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

Klein Käfer, Natacha LU (2024) In KNOW: A Journal on the Formation of Knowledge 8(1-2). p.103-130
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.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
KNOW: A Journal on the Formation of Knowledge
volume
8
issue
1-2
pages
28 pages
publisher
University of Chicago Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85200667150
ISSN
2473-599X
DOI
10.1086/729575
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c31ddd1a-a82d-4f93-9080-2211cf02a899
date added to LUP
2026-06-11 11:46:31
date last changed
2026-07-01 12:38:51
@article{c31ddd1a-a82d-4f93-9080-2211cf02a899,
  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.}},
  author       = {{Klein Käfer, Natacha}},
  issn         = {{2473-599X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1-2}},
  pages        = {{103--130}},
  publisher    = {{University of Chicago Press}},
  series       = {{KNOW: A Journal on the Formation of Knowledge}},
  title        = {{Excising Superstition from Knowledge : August of Saxony’s Book of Healing Charms}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/729575}},
  doi          = {{10.1086/729575}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}