Suicide by Proxy in Early Modern Germany

Kathy Stuart is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Davis, USA.

1. Introduction.- 2. Liturgies of Suicide by Proxy.- 3. "Fear God and the Court, while there is still Time." Crime and Zealous Prosecution in Early Modern Hamburg.- 4. "The Unbelievably Frequent Examples of such Murders Committed solely out of Weariness with Life." Hamburg, 1668-1810.- 5. Mary with the Axe. The Cult of the Injured Icon in Baroque Vienna.- 6. The Injured Crucifix: The Emperor's Conscience and Prisoners' Defiance.- 7. Crime and Justice in a Sacred Landscape. Vienna, 1668-1786.- 8. Conclusion: The Decline of Suicide by Proxy and its Historical Effacement.

"Kathy Stuart has written an excellent study of suicide by proxy, a term she uses to refer to people who committed crimes, usually the killing of young children, with the intention of being executed. ... Stuart's most important contribution is her linking suicides by proxy to social discipline, which, historians agree, greatly increased among both Protestants and Catholics during the Reformation era. ... Stuart has ... produced an excellent piece of scholarship." (Jeffrey R. Watt, Austrian History Yearbook, March 11, 2024)