Nuns’ composite amulet: Protects against plague & sorcery.

[Amulet] / [Nuns]. [“Breverl” in metal case]. S.l. [German lands]: s.n., s.a. [19th century]. [7.1 x 5.7 cm the case, 17.4 x 14.1 cm unfolded, with other sheets unfolding yet wider], metal case with punched Sacred Names of Mary and Jesus, medal of Pius IX attached on ring. Inside are folding items consisting of printed and other natural and manmade amuletic material affixed to a red backing sheet (see description below). Some wear and oxidation to the case. Some abrasion and trimming of printed material, folding and creasing with minor separation at a few folds, mends and stains, some of the central amuletic items and vegetal material loose. 
 
 
Rare 19th- century composite amulet known as a “Breverl” a term referring to the apotropaic “Breve” (“letter” or “brief”) around which such items were constructed. Breverln typically were made by nuns in German-speaking lands and were intended for distribution to pilgrims. The workmanship of this example could be characterized as unusually, even charmingly vernacular or as simply incompetent.
 
Ellen Ettlinger neatly summarizes this category of object: “A very popular compound amulet is the so-called Breverl, which was usually made in a convent. If complete, the Breverl contains in a case: (1) a folded prayer-sheet, (2) a folded woodcut or engraving showing nine patron saints, (3) a small print and invocation either of the Three Magi or of St. Agatha, (4) a collection of miniature devotional objects pasted on a stiff cardboard, and (5) a largish folded woodcut or engraving of the Pestkreuz (a cross giving protection against the plague), surrounded by various patron saints and magico-religious texts. Originally a plague amulet, the Breverl became in the course of time a panacea owing to its composite character. The opening of its case, whether of metal, silk, velvet, embroidery or paper, was believed to destroy its protective virtues. The Breverl was carried on the person, and usually suspended from a string round the neck” (Ettlinger, pp. 110-11).
 
The brass case here is punched with the Sacred Names of Mary & Jesus. It was formerly closed by pins or rivets. A soldered wire loop allowed the owner to wear the piece around the neck on a string or ribbon. Attached to the loop is a medal of Pius IX (r. 1846-78), which perhaps was added after the Breverl was produced (the item otherwise is consistent with early 19th-century manufacture).
 
Folded inside the case are printed and other amuletic materials affixed to a red paper backing sheet. Pasted to the outside of the backing sheet is a print depicting a Pietà or Vesperbild, which is the image one sees on the folded sheet when the case is first opened.
 
The first unfolding of the backing sheet reveals a group of nine devotional etchings depicting Marian pilgrimage icons (e.g., Maria Hilf & Maria Zell), the Veronica, and Simon Stock receiving the scapular.
 
Concealed beneath the middle print are objects affixed to a backing of tar or paste, including plant material (grains, dried flowers, seeds) and scraps of fabric and printed paper (some of these items are now loose).
 
Concealed beneath the Veronica (Holy Face) print is a partially preserved printed slip depicting St. Agatha and with a Latin prayer protecting the bearer from injury by fire.
 
Concealed beneath the middle-left Marian print is a folding engraving of the two-barred cross (Pestkreuz) inscribed with the first letters of a series of Latin-language blessings associated with Saints Zacharias and Benedict (the Zachariassegen & Benediktussegen) and said to protect “against spells, plague, fire and storms.” At the foot of the cross are saints Sebastian and Roch. 
 
The Breverl offered here does not have the typical folded prayer sheet, either by design or because it was lost at some point.
 
The most notable feature of the piece is its very low register of production: The draftsmanship is abysmal, the technique of etching/drypoint is highly amateurish, the lettering seems to have been added by someone of questionable literacy, and even the ink seems to have been badly prepared, given that it has rubbed off in places (especially on the Pestkreuz.)
 
 
*E. Ettlinger, “The Hildburgh Collection of Austrian and Bavarian Amulets in the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum,” Folklore, vol. 76, no. 2 (1965), pp. 104-17; D. Skemer, “Magic Writ: Textual Amulets Worn on the Body for Protection,” in Annette Kehnel, et al., eds., Schriftträger-Textträger: Zur materialen Präsenz des Geschriebenen in frühen Gesellschaften, pp. 127-50; Roland Halbritter, “Südtiroler Breverln – Amulette zwischen Magie und Glaube,” in Der Schlern: Monatszeitschrift für Südtiroler Landeskunde, vol. 72, no. 1 (1998), pp. 39-64; Christoph Kürzeder, Als die Dinge heilig waren. Gelebte Frömmigkeit im Zeitalter des Barock, pp. 144-50.