Internet resources

In a recent comment to one of my posts, Edward asks :

'Hello Niels,

do you remember the names of the books you referenced? Also, do you know where I could order them on line? I do read German therefore that would be no problem.

Here in the US we have difficulties finding decent European material for vampyre research because everything is oriented toward entertainment and serious research is relatively limited. I would appreciate if you could provide me with some websites or resources to find European texts.'

Edward, if you go through the contents of this blog you will find a number of links to resources and material that will be useful. However, I think it's time to make some sort of compilation of these resources, so although not an exhaustive list, here you will find links to a number of books, videos, audio files, web sites and more that is available online.

There are a few other web sites dedicated to the subject of vampires that do contain material of interest, see e.g. Dunkle Kulturgeschichte and Shroudeater. A relatively recent addition is the blog Diary of an Amateur Vampirologist.

The German Wikipedia contains some useful entries, including links to a collection of source material. This is actually a really good place to start, so I will refrain from listing these texts here. Other sources can be found at various library resources like the French Gallica, which includes Calmet's book on revenants and vampires. Zedler's Universal-Lexicon is a favourite, see e.g. the entry about Vampyren oder Blutsauger.

The Kakanien Revisited web site contains a comprehensive bibliography: Forschungsliteratur: Vampirismus. Kommentierte interdisziplinäre Auswahlbibliografie, and a number of papers (Sexualität Macht Tod: Prolegomena zu einer Literaturgeschichte des Vampirismus by Clemens Ruthner, Der Vampir, ein Fremder? Ethnische Minderheiten im Vampirglauben Südosteuropas by Peter Mario Kreuter, "Trag mich nach Südamerika". Schauplätze der osteuropäischen Vampirliteratur des 19. Jahrhunderts und ihre Konnotationen by Christoph Augustynowicz, and Süd/Osteuropäer als Vampire: Draculas Karriere vom blutrünstigen Tyrannen zum mythischen Blutsauger. Prolegomena zu einer Literaturgeschichte des Vampirismus II by Clemens Ruthner).

The Historicum web pages on the witch hunt also contain some useful resources, including a paper by Sabine Seidel on Hexen(vorstellungen) und Magie in Südosteuropa.

A couple of other papers available online that are worth reading are Jutta Nowosadtko's Der „Vampyrus Serviensis“ und sein Habitat: Impressionen von der österreichischen Militärgrenze and Constantin Rauer's Von der Aufklärung des Vampirismus zum Vampirismus der Aufklärung: Eine West-Östliche Debatte zwischen Einst und Heute.

I have also referred to some videos and audio files where a few people talk about vampires, including the above mentioned Jutta Nowosadtko on Vampire! Ein südosteuropäischer Beitrag zur internationalen Kulturgeschichte, the German historian Peter Mario Kreuter and Christian Reiter from the University of Vienna.

Most of the important books in German can be a bit hard to find, but you should be able to easily find a copy of Dieter Sturm and Klaus Völker's anthology Von denen Vampiren oder Menschensaugern on German Amazon or Ebay at a reasonable price.

Überall etwas von denen Blut-Saugern

In his critical review of the contemporary vampire debate, Michael Ranft writes that at the Easter fair in Leipzig in 1732 there were books on bloodsuckers in every book shop ('...wenn man an der letztwichenen Leipziger Oster-Messe in einen Buchladen gieng, man überall etwas von denen Blut-Saugern zu Gesichte bekam.' P. 179 in Traktat von dem Kauen und Schmatzen der Todten from 1734).

That is certainly not the case in 2008. In fact, the photo below shows the closest I got to a collection of books on 'blood suckers' in any book store in Leipzig. And in 1732, no one would have connected vampires with bats, as it wasn't until a few decades later that Count de Buffon wrote of the vampire bat ('We shall call it Vampire, because it sucks the blood of men and other animals when asleep, without occasioning pain sufficient to waken them.') in his Histoire naturelle. Love at first bite (as it says on the bat) would hardly be a term used in the connection with the revenants and masticating dead that Ranft was writing about.

From Germany to Denmark via Norway

The German translation of Claude Lecouteux' book on the medieval revenants, Geschichte der Gespenster und Wiedergänger im Mittelalter, has unfortunately been hard to get for a while (it was published in 1987). I have been used to using a library copy, but a few months back I finally purchased my own copy. I actually got it from a second hand book store in Norway, and when I received it I was surprised to find that it contains an Ex libris Lutz Röhrich, because Lutz Röhrich actually wrote a foreword to the book. So the copy I now own must have been Röhrich's own copy. Presumably, it was sold after Röhrich's death in 2006, and somehow ended up in Norway before I bought it. So now it's located here in Denmark.

Lutz Röhrich (1922-2006) was a German folklorist who has published a number of books on e.g. fairy and folk tales.

I find that it is a very interesting ex libris. Unfortunately, I have no idea why Röhrich would choose this pessimistic motif. He was a German soldier during WWII and got seriously wounded, so that might have affected his world view. But I really don't know. If anyone does, I would like to hear from you.

I have previously written about another exlibris.

The Vampire Princess

I have been notified that the documentary Die Vampir Prinzessin was shown this evening on the German ZDF channel. I think, it's also occasionally shown on the UK History Channel, so there is a chance that it will be aired on channels around the globe.

I have written a few posts about this 'bogus documentary' as I called it in my review. Some of the bonus features on the DVD, however, are worth investigating.

On the ZDF web site we get the so-called 'true' story of contemporary doctors who were afraid of the effect of vampires (in German only), cf. my above mentioned review:

'Eleonore verlangte oftmals nach Dr. Franz von Gerstorff. Gerstorff war Leibarzt von Kaiser Karl VI. und Leiter zahlreicher Untersuchungskommissionen für Vampir-Erscheinungen: "Wien, 30.4. Durch eine heute früh hier angelangte Estaffette habe ich die Nachricht erhalten, dass Ihre Durchlaucht die Fürstin sich zu Krumau unpässlich befinde, weswegen ich jetzt gleich die Veranstaltung mache, damit der Kaiserliche Leib-Medicus Herr Doktor von Gerstorff sich zu Ihro Durchlaucht Herrin begeben wolle."

Kurz vor ihrem Tode: Eleonore wirkt mehr und mehr wie ein Vampir.Von Gerstorff war, wie viele Ärzte seiner Zeit, überzeugt von der Ansteckungsmöglichkeit durch Vampire. Eleonore bot genau jenes Erscheinungsbild, das man damals der Vampirkrankheit zuordnete: ausgezehrt, blutleer, verwirrt. Wenn die Ärzte davon ausgingen, dass die Fürstin eine Vampirerkrankung hatte, dann hätte die Obduktion auch den Zweck erfüllen können, einen Vampir unschädlich zu machen. Doch eine Pfählung durch das Team ist kaum vorstellbar. Man hat möglicherweise den wissenschaftlichen Weg gewählt, um das Gleiche zu bewirken.'

Like I have said many times before: Hardly any doctor in the 18th century believed in vampires!

I still find it very hard to understand why the people who made this documentary want us to believe the contrary to be true.

Blogging on history

It can be interesting to see who is linking to this blog. One reference is made on the web site of a symposium on digital media in historical research, Digitale Medien in der Geschichtswissenschaft in Vienna next month. I can't help feeling a bit overwhelmed that this blog ('Weblog zur Geschichte des Vampirismus in der Habsburgermonarchie, von Niels K. Petersen') is mentioned in the company of blogs by various professional researchers!

Geyer's good thoughts

One of the sources for the apparently unpublished book on vampires by Otto von Graben zum Stein is a curious collection of 'good thoughts in idle hours on travels', Müßiger Reise-Stunden Gute Gedancken by Johann Daniel Geyer published in Dresden in 1735. The 'good thoughts' usually concern medical matters, at least in a broad sense, and as we know, vampires were of particular interest to those involved in that science and practice. So among considerations on diseases and cures, there are thoughts on bear-people of Lithuania and vampires or 'Todten Menschen-Saugern' as he calls them on the title page of the 44 page discourse concerning 'Vampieren'.

For a modern reader like myself this is certainly a very curious text mixing medicine, theology, and references to classical authors and church fathers. The terminology of the good doctor definitely is unlike anything you will hear a modern doctor say. In short, I must confess that I will have to study the text in more detail to say more about Geyer's considerations.

A forgotten vampire case

I have been a bit quiet here lately, as I have been busy doing other things. But now I finally get around to mentioning that Nicolaus Equiamicus recently posted a forgotten vampire case from 1725, i.e. the same year as the Kisiljevo vampire case.

In early April of 1725 Johannes Ràcz de Mehàdia who was in charge of a district in Hungary, exhumed and examined the corpse of a dead person who while alive had been suspected of being a sorcerer. He found the corpse uncorrupted and with blood under its head. As the body had been buried for three months, he concluded that it must be that of a blood sucker (Bluthsauger). With the permission the Imperial Oberinspektor, Baron von Rebenstich, he dealt with the body in the accustomed manner, probably as is well known from the other vampire cases.

Quotes from the sources can be found via the above link.

A musical werewolf

I recently purchased a triple CD set of English folk music called The Beginner's Guide to English Folk, as I would like to know a bit more about this genre that I'm not particularly familiar with. So it was quite interesting to find that one of the songs is actually a song called The Werewolf that appears to be some kind of 'cult' classic. Written by Michael Hurley and recorded by Barry Dransfield on a self-titled album in 1972, it was only digitally released a few years ago. You can listen to an excerpt on iTunes, where you can also find Michael Hurley's original.

The Leipzig Vampire Debate

Returning from a visit to the reading room where I studied contemporary reviews of a couple of books on vampires from the 1730s, I find that Nicolaus Equiamicus has posted a text on the Leipzig vampire debate, which also includes a bibliography of books of note from that debate. As usual, it is only available in German.

Otto von Graben zum Stein

Nicolaus Equiamicus has been in search of information concerning a 1732 book on vampires that is mentioned in many bibliographies, but without luck. However, his search for Otto, Grafens zum Stein unverlohrnes Licht und Recht derer Todten unter den Lebendigen, oder gründlicher Beweis der Erscheinung der Todten unter den Lebendigen, und was jene vor ein Recht in der obern Welt über diese noch haben können, untersucht in Ereignung der vorfallenden Vampyren, oder so genannten Blut = Saugern im Königreich Servien und andern Orten in diesen und vorigen Zeiten has now resulted in an interesting piece in his blog, Dunkle Kulturgeschichte.

Here, Equiamicus outlines some of the information about Otto von Graben zum Stein that he has found. The Royal Prussian court prohibited the publication of his books in 1731, and that's why his book on vampires probably never got printed. At least, Equiamicus has been unable to find a copy. But there is still the possibility that the manuscript survives, and our fellow blogger seems determined to find it, so we wish him good luck!

In any case, more information on that curious fellow Otto von Graben zum Stein is welcome. I have actually mentioned him in one of my older posts, and Equiamicus informs us that there is now a German Wikipedia entry about Otto von Graben zum Stein.