This doubtless was a fair specimen of the inscribed amulets, worn by German peasants in the fifteenth century.
Even nowadays the names of the three magi are often to be seen, as talismanic symbols, upon the doors and walls of dwellings in certain Roman Catholic countries; a fact noted by the present writer, while sojourning in the Austrian Tyrol a few years ago.
FOOTNOTES:
[20:1] M. F. Blumler, A History of Amulets.
[22:1] The Century Dictionary.
[23:1] Johann Heinrich Zedler, Grosses Universal Lexicon, art. "Talismans." Leipzig und Halle, 1744.
