Serpents and Dragons in Early Modern German Religious Culture

我的论文探讨了蛇作为一种文化现象在十六世纪和十七世纪德国不断变化的宗教格局中的意义。蛇和龙(同时代人可以互换使用的术语)是普遍的象征，存在于全球各地的文化神话中的传说中。在早期现代德国，一个特别富有蛇形信仰的地方，新教改革者借用了基于蛇的叙事，比如圣乔治的故事，揭示了他们是如何想象自己的原始民族主义宗教身份的。这个项目的第一部分探索了蛇在早期现代德国文化中的形式，包括它的中世纪起源，以及对宗教改革前基督徒的意义。它通过黑尔登布歇(英雄书)、修道院手稿以及中世纪的艺术和建筑等文本，利用中世纪晚期和现代德国的民间传说。第二部分考察了改革者如何利用蛇来创造他们的宗教身份，评估宗教改革材料，如1522年、1523年和1534年版本的马丁·路德9月遗嘱的图像，使用广泛的文化分析框架，而不是更常用的狭隘神学视角。这将证明蛇不仅仅是圣经中邪恶的象征；由于它们在德国文化心理中的根深蒂固，它们体现了许多其他思想，使它们成为新教徒使用的一种多层次的修辞手段。我还将研究蛇的新教教化如何导致巫术审判中先前良性的民间信仰的妖魔化；特别是在图林根州、萨克森州和巴伐利亚州北部的新教地区。论文的最后部分考察了改革之外的蛇：16世纪后新教和天主教信仰如何分化，以及科学对话将如何改变17世纪蛇的形象。我会比较新教和天主教关于自然科学和人文主义的著作，包括皮埃尔·博阿斯托的作品，以及关于龙的存在的自然主义辩论等跨国对话，这最终会削弱德国神话蛇的文化力量。我刚刚开始在伯明翰大学攻读博士学位，在那里我获得了硕士学位。我在获得历史学本科学位和早期现代史硕士学位时，分别获得了第一和优秀的学位论文，这些论文都与早期现代欧洲教皇的代表有关。这些研究需要广泛的那个时期的知识，并磨练了我在翻译拉丁语和古德语资料方面的经验。

My thesis explores the significance of the serpent as a cultural phenomenon in the changing religious landscape of sixteenth and seventeenth century Germany. Serpents and dragons (terms used interchangeably by contemporaries) are universal symbols, found in legends that permeate cultural mythologies across the globe. The appropriation of serpent-based narratives like that of St. George by Protestant reformers in early modern Germany, a place particularly rich in serpentine beliefs, reveals much of how they imagined their proto-nationalistic religious identity.The first part of this project explores the forms the serpent took in early modern German culture, including its medieval origins, and meaning for pre-Reformation Christians. It draws upon the folklore of late medieval and early modern Germany through texts like Heldenbucher (Hero-books), monastic manuscripts, and medieval art and architecture.The second section examines how reformers utilised serpents to create their religious identity, evaluating Reformation materials like the images that accompanied the 1522, 1523, and 1534 editions of Martin Luther's September testament with a wide cultural analytic framework, rather than the narrow theological lens more commonly applied. This will demonstrate how serpents were more than just biblical symbols of evil; they embodied a host of other ideas due to their entrenchment in the German cultural psyche, making their employment by Protestants a multi-layered rhetorical device. I will also examine how the Protestantisation of serpents led to the demonization of previously benign folkloric beliefs in witch trials; particularly in the Protestant regions of Thuringia, Saxony, and Northern Bavaria.The final part of the thesis examines serpents beyond the Reformation: how Protestant and Catholic belief diverged after the sixteenth century, and how scientific dialogue would transform the image of the serpent over the seventeenth century. I will compare Protestant and Catholic writings on natural science and humanism, including works by Pierre Boaistuau, and transnational dialogues like the naturalist debate on the existence of dragons, which would ultimately diminish the cultural power of the German mythical serpents.I have just started my PhD at the University of Birmingham where I was awarded a scholarship for my MA. The dissertations I undertook for my Undergraduate degree in History and my Master's degree in Early Modern History, for which I received a first and a distinction respectively, were concerned with representations of the papacy in early modern Europe. These studies required extensive knowledge of the period, and honed my experience in translating Latin and Old German sources.