Philip of Hesse’s Legs: Writing a flesh and blood biography

I walked into the Rüstkammer in Vienna not expecting to see anything of interest and nearly fell over: there was a line of men, all of whom I knew from my work on the Bauernkrieg. The long sexy legs of Philipp of Hesse struck me most, the future bigamist, the man who, in alliance with his father-in-law Duke Georg of Saxony, slew 6,000 peasants at Frankenhausen. Sure enough, his wife Christine wrote to her father Georg about those legs, after Georg warned her to make sure Philipp did not injure them out hunting. Luther’s stoutness, Philipp of Hesse’s legs—these bodily features need to be part of their biographies. But how, and how might we include the physical in social and cultural history?

Lyndal Roper was Regius Professor of History at the University of Oxford. Her most recent book Für die Freiheit. Der Bauernkrieg 1525 (2025) won the Cundill Prize. She has also written a biography of Martin Luther.

Moderation: Professorin Dr. Cornelia Linde