This collection attempts to set preeminent German Renaissance artist Albrecht DÜ rer (1471-1528) in the cultural context of the early sixteenth century. It offers analyses of and suggests relationships between DÜ rer's work and aspects of his culture that have not received much attention in previous scholarship. These include views of nature and attitudes to collecting, patriotism and morality, witchcraft and the rituals of courtship, the power of visual images and the role of censorship.

This volume brings together some of the most exciting new scholarship on these themes, and thus pays tribute to the ground-breaking work of Charles Zika. Seventeen interdisciplinary essays offer new insights into the materiality and belief systems of early modern religious cultures as found in artworks, books, fragmentary texts and even in Protestant 'relics'. Some contributions reassess communal and individual responses to cases of possession, others focus on witchcraft and manifestations of the disordered natural world. Canonical figures and events, from Martin Luther to the Salem witch...