Leseprobe

127 O uestions relating to Alltagsgeschichte (the his- tory of everyday life) have long been at the centre of debate concerning the Thirty Years’ War.This perspective has also focused atten- tion on the horrors of the war.1 Among the historical docu- ments that shed light on this aspect of the period, a particularly important role is played by personal records of individuals’ experiences of the war years. An almost incalcu- lable number of such eyewitness accounts have been pre- served, so that the events are illustrated from a wide range of vantage points. These are shaped by the individual social circumstances, location, age and occupation of the person concerned, as well as many other factors. Despite all their differences and the relatively random nature of their survival, these testimonies are especially valuable because they describe the events of the war on the basis of subjective experience. It is precisely through such reports that the negative impact of war, with all its consequences for the indi- vidual, can often best be appreciated. Many contemporary narratives are, it is true, not so much of a literary as of an “accounting” character.2 Never- theless, the frequent embellishment of these reports with personal impressions means that “drawing a distinct bound- ary between chronicle and memoir”3 is impossible.The wide range of written testimonies makes it clear that this is not a homogeneous genre and that the purpose of and motivation behind such texts must therefore be assessed individually in each case. Especially as regards the decades of the seventeenth century dealt with here, it is important to note that war, and life under its influence, was by no means perceived as a fringe phenomenon. On the contrary, war was experienced as an inevitable fact of life, however incisive and however far-reach- ing its consequences. War was a defining constant for more than a generation during this period: numerous areas were repeatedly afflicted by violent armed conflicts, with two thirds of the population being wiped out in some areas.4 Hence, in the mid-seventeenth century, war was omnipresent both as a topic and as a lived experience. In this context, the horrors of war are understood as both textual and pictorial representa- tions that are clearly concerned with the negative conse- quences and concomitant impacts of war. They are thus by no means limited to the representation of acts of war per se. How are the immense violence of the Thirty Years’ War, its long duration and its devastating effects on people’s every- day lives, reflected in their ‘ego-documents’ or Selbstzeugnisse (literally ‘self-testimonies’)? Despite all the differences between the writers, is it possible to identify similar percep- tions between them? What correlations can be found between these written accounts and representations in the visual arts? In view of the great difference between the general perception of war nowadays and at that time,5 it seems jus- tified to consider whether it is actually possible to compre- hend depictions of the horrors of war in the seventeenth century in terms of modern assumptions about warfare and its consequences.6 The very fact “that in those areas in which the Thirty Years’ War raged most fiercely, military action was never a major pictorial theme”,7 would seem to indicate that other criteria were decisive in assessing the horrors of the war. The drastic depiction of war in contemporary written accounts and pictorial images A characteristic feature of numerous ego-documents from the time of the Thirty Years’War is the drastic depiction of violence and death.8 In particular, the brutal treatment of civilians by soldiers and the consequences of the war for the general population are a recurring theme.On the other hand, the depiction of violence by soldiers against other members of the military is not a frequent subject. Rather, acts of war as such are to be found in the large-format paintings of battles, allegorical depictions of war or genre-like combat scenes. This basic observation would seem to suggest that deeds committed by soldiers against the civilian population were regarded as particularly grave and dramatic.Within the context of war, they were considered extraordinary events, which ultimately made them worthy of representation in art. The sources make it clear that the loss of close rela- tives as a result of war was perceived as particularly distress- ing.The written descriptions often reveal intense emotions,9 especially when they concern the fate of children who have lost their lives either in direct connection with military hos- tilities or because of the associated circumstances. In keeping with the religious mindset of the time, frequent references FIG. 1 Stefano della Bella, Death Carrying a Child, from the series Les Cinq Morts , c. 1648, etching, plate h. 17.8 cm, w. 14.7 cm, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. no. 59.570.379(3)