Origins of Misfortune: Sympathetic Magic and the Transference of Animality in Thüring von Ringoltingen’s Melusine (1456)

Abstract

Scholars increasingly devote attention to the role of animals and the relationships between humans and animals in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period. Much of this work focuses on the roles animals play in texts, on the function of “animals as human exemplars,” and on the lessons human beings during these periods could learn in light of their evolving understanding of animals. German Volksbücher—oftentimes didactic texts that were aimed at teaching morality and religious mores—were prime vehicles for such exemplary animal figures. Thüring von Ringoltingen’s Melusine has been a frequent focus of such study in light of the titular character’s animality. But magic, too, was of special interest to readers of Volksbücher, and frequently accompanied descriptions of animals in texts, informed their characters, or even motivated their connections to human beings. Through close textual analysis of Thüring’s retelling of the tale, I demonstrate that the intersection of animals and magic, illuminated specifically by James George Frazer’s concept of “sympathetic magic,” explicitly serves the text’s aim of educating Early Modern readers about moral behavior. Thüring’s Melusine thus functions as a cautionary tale that warns against the dangers of human immorality through its exploration of magically transferred animality.