This book presents a social and cultural history of 'dishonourable people' (unehrliche Leute), an outcast group in early modern Germany. Executioners, skinners, grave-diggers, shepherds, barber-surgeons, millers, linen-weavers, sow-gelders, latrine-cleaners, and bailiffs were among the 'dishonourable' by virtue of their trades. This dishonour was either hereditary, often through several generations, or it arose from ritual pollution whereby honourable citizens could become dishonourable by coming into casual contact with members of the outcast group. The dishonourable milieu of the city of Augsburg from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries is reconstructed to show the extent to which dishonour determined the life-chances and self-identity of dishonourable people. The book then investigates how honourable estates interacted with dishonourable people, and how the pollution anxieties of early modern Germans structured social and political relations within honourable society.

Winner of the Hans Rosenberg Biennial Book prize for 2000

'This is a splendid book, carefully honed over several years, beautifully written, and a delight to read.'

David Warren Sabean Source: Journal of Social History

'Rarely has an anthropologically informed study been joined with such careful attention to local judicial records.This is an excellent book.'

H. C. Erik Midelfort Source: The American Historical Review

'… Kathy Stuart has written an important and original book that deserves to be read by a wide circle of scholars.'

R. Po-chia Hsia Source: Central European History

'This award-winning monograph represents a major contribution to our understanding of marginal groups and artisanal culture through its functional analysis of the mechanisms of prejudice.'

David Lederer Source: German History