The miraculous kings

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The miraculous kings (in the French original Les Rois thaumaturges ) from 1924 is the work of the French historian Marc Bloch . It addresses the almost 800 year old idea that the kings of France and England could cure scrofula - a tuberculous disease of the lymph nodes - by touch (laying on of hands).

content

In a wide-ranging overview from antiquity to the 19th century, Bloch examines the mental and social conditions, historical backgrounds and different forms of belief in the healing powers of kings and reveals their historical and political significance. For almost 800 years, various rulers boasted that they had this healing power.

Ultimately, Bloch does not ask how the healing was possible, but rather why people could so steadfastly believe in the supposed miracle for centuries.

background

As a professor at the University of Strasbourg , Bloch published this book in 1924 on a subject that had hardly been dealt with until then. The fact that the self-proclaimed “proud republican” Bloch wrote a book about the monarchy amazed his colleagues.

The book has become a classic in historical anthropology and one of the most important works of modern history.

The full title is Les Rois thaumaturges. Étude sur le caractère surnaturel attribué à la puissance royale particulièrement en France et en Angleterre (The miraculous kings. Study of the supernatural character attributed to royal power, particularly in France and England).

See also

literature

  • Marc Bloch: The miraculous kings. Beck, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-406-44053-3 (first German translation of the classic mentality history Les rois thaumaturges from 1924; review )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The miraculous kings. In: Interlingua. Stäheli Books, accessed on April 15, 2020 (Swiss Standard German).
  2. ↑ Zielina, Katrin: The miraculous kings - The historical picture of Marc Bloch and the school of the "Annales" . GRIN Verlag GmbH, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-638-88275-0 (OCLC = 724707355 [accessed April 15, 2020]).
  3. ↑ Patrick Bahners: The miraculous kings. In: Deutschlandfunk. February 21, 1999, accessed April 15, 2020 (German).