Monstrous Births and Visual Culture in Sixteenth-Century Germany

Presents an exmination of printed representations of monstrous births in German-speaking Europe from the end of the fifteenth century and through the sixteenth century, beginning with a seminal series of broadsheets from the late 1490s by humanist Sebastian Brant, and including prints by Albrecht Durer and Hans Burgkmair. Chapter 1 Introduction: Wonders and Monsters in Early Modern Europe; Chapter 1a From Monstrous Races to Monstrous Births: Sebastian Brant and the Intersection of Humanism, Print Culture and Monstrous Births around 1500; Chapter 2 Visual Culture and Monstrous Births before the Reformation: Albrecht Dürer, Hans Burgkmair and Conjoined Twins; Chapter 3 Reformation Visual Culture and Monstrous Births: Luther's Monk Calf and Melanchthon's Papal Ass; Chapter 4 Wonder Books and Protestants: Jakob Rueff, Konrad Lycosthenes and Job Fincel; Chapter 5 Catholic Print Culture and Monstrous Births: Johann Nas and Anti-Lutheran Polemic; Chapter 6 'Many Heads, Mouths and Tongues': Monstrous Births in the Later Sixteenth Century;