In the book, Magdalena and Balthasar, Steven Ozment reveals and interprets letters written by a husband and wife in the late sixteenth century. The letters entailed daily life occurrences between Magdalena and Balthasar through a sixteen year period. They explained the joy, hardships, and intimate love relationship that Magdalena and Balthasar experienced in a portion of their lives. Their close and personal relationship in which they had between one another clearly explained that remaining in good health, being business partners, and having faith in God were priorities that Magdalena and Balthasar had in their lives.
Magdalena and Balthasar were always aware of all of the ailments and diseases that they were susceptible to. They were unfortunately witnesses to many casualties of friends and relatives. Due to the lifestyle in which they lived, they were not by each other’s side all the time and therefore were in constant worry of one another, praying that the other was in good health condition. Magdalena writes to Balthasar on the 7 of July 1584, in Altdorf, saying, “I have hoped that Almighty God will grant my heartfelt prayer and restore your health there by Christian means, since it has not been his will to do so her
. . .
The cure included a stay at the springs and taking laxatives to purge. They would associate their faith in God with health. Going through the death of their son, little Balthasar, due to enlarged kidneys and liver was painful enough. She writes to Balthasar on the 13 of September 1592, in Nuremberg, “For the last three days, praise God, we have had good weather; since your departure the weather had been constantly rainy… Today at 6:00 it began again to rain. The swelling in my shoulder about which I have so longed complained is now gone, praise and thank God!” Magdalena had always stayed up to date with contemporary medicine and tried to encourage Balthasar to experiment with it. They are not highly institutionalized religious believers, but rather acquaint God with their daily lives. Both believe that God is the only spiritual power.
These three great priorities in Balthasar’s and Magdalena’s life had shaped their lifestyle. One trea!
tment they would do about four times a year was bleeding. She liked to being in charge and having a say on certain issues. Both had to deal with the business every day and always kept one another updated on the business moves and decisions that were made. Magdalena claimed that letting herself bleed had cured the arthritis in her shoulder.
Due to Balthasar’s occupation, he often traveled and was not home as much as he liked to be. Magdalena takes time out of her day to pray when Balthasar is away on business. He depended of Magdalena to help him with his business responsibilities.
Approximate Word count =
1715
Approximate Pages =
7 (250 words per page double spaced)
Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.
| CREDIT CARD |
ONLINE CHECK |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
JOIN BY PHONE
|
|
|
