There was fantastic scholarly book by Ulinka Rublack called "The Astronomer and the Witch," and she absolutely got me hooked. One thing I found interesting about the trial of Katharina Kepler was that I myself reading about her in the 21st century was reading as if I might find out, was she a witch or wasn't she?
That was the tension in my mind, and I thought, 'Well, that is so psychologically interesting. RG: The central accusation was that there was a woman in town, and the historical record seems to suggest that she was probably suffering from some sort of neurologic disease.
She was convinced she had been given a bitter drink by Katharina and that she'd been given a poison. Katharina herself seems to feel that one of her wines had soured and it was a mistake. But then, once the idea was out there in the town, it just kind of went everywhere. And so she was accused of passing through doors that were locked.
She was accused of looking at a pig and making that pig lame. She was accused of making a cow sick. And the evidence would be that she walked by that cow every day. And it just sort of opened up all the anxiety that different people in the town had about, frankly, all the terrible things that were happening to them. You know, babies dying, other people dying painful deaths and unexpected deaths, mysterious deaths, the livestock and their livelihood being affected somehow just open this channel and they found a place to send all these anxieties.
AS: So I completely get being just fascinated by the story and the history and wanting to dig into it. But what made you want to then go from doing the research to actually writing a novel, bringing Katharina herself to life? RG: There was something, you know, and it's hard to describe, it feels kind of mystical, but there was something about this woman's story that for me, it transmitted across time and space.
I felt very close to her, even though that's a fantasy and I don't know, it seems like a voice I was interested in. And there are these remarkable moments when you read the trial.
And one thing that's wonderful about Katharina having had this famous son and Germany being in love with keeping very accurate records, is the records of the trial were available.
RG: The way the trial works is women accused of witchcraft would be asked to publicly display how much they regretted the harm they had caused. If they cried in public or showed the judges that they felt remorse, their sentence would be mitigated or pity would be shown to them. Of course, it's a bargain. So they're asking her to cry. And there's also the record of her simply saying, "I've cried so many tears in my life.
I just don't have any left. RG: She wouldn't cry. I almost feel like there was a ray of incurable sincerity there. Under that much duress, I would fake anything I had to do to save myself. RG: It's genuinely so grotesque and horrifying. Part of a series. Free the Nipple! The World's First University? What is Greek Theatre? Was Sappho Really a Women? Close X. Upcoming Lectures. Nature's Numbers: Natural Capital Accounting. Holocaust History Under Siege. The Maths of Beauty and Symmetry.
Free Thinking and the Rule of Law. She died six months later. Johannes never told his friends and colleagues why he had been called away from his scientific work; the stigma of a witchcraft accusation was too great. In he wrote what would eventually be published as Somnium The Dream. Continue or Give a Gift. Daily Planet.
Flight Today. History of Flight.
0コメント