RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
A1 Stůj, Pavel
T1 Pitiless Mothers and Cruel Fathers. Infanticide as a Tool of Religious Propaganda in Early Modern Popular Prints
JF Historica Olomucensia
YR 2017
VO 52
IS 1
SP 87
OP 112
DO 10.5507/ho.2017.004
UL https://historica.upol.cz/artkey/hol-201701-0004.php
AB The article is focused on the phenomena of early modern infanticide on the basis of the analysis of three popular prints belonging to the genre of broadsheet literature. Broadsheet literature (single-sheet prints, pamphlets and broadside ballads) as well as prescriptive texts were not only closely connected with critique of improper mothers and fathers but also participated in escalation of arguments among churches. A propagandistic purpose of broadsheets covering infanticide is quite logical, not only because broadsheets dealing with the subject of violence were sold well, but at the same time, for their specific reception which included a public representation and repeated publication of similar issues. Whereas the oldest print, Ein erschrockenlich grausam unerhört Mord (1556), is seemingly confessionally ambivalent text, from the context of individual versions, there is an apparent protestant critique of a bad farmer as the most significant character of an early modern household. Other analysed broadsheets, A Pittilesse Mother (1616), or Pravdivá zpráva (1695), represent quite offensive texts; the first print criticizes a pernicious influence of the Catholic Church on a Presbyterian family and the second ballad attacks disharmony in marriage together with a wide range of sins. A comparison of these shock horror stories shows some interesting associations, penetration of issues as well as totally opposite meaning in various areas.