16th-century Europe, a juxtaposition between incredulous occult superstitions and the driving force of modernity. The peasantry that would eventually become Renaissance society brought the essence of our tribal phase, our oral tradition and our folklore. This leads to some interesting customs; jars full of human hair to ward off witches or a mummified cat sealed in walls for good fortune. Conversely, we begin to observe practices that, while primitive, adhere to empirical logic. The middle ages fall In the pseudoscience era of the four humours; black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood. These humours were the vital elements that sustained human life and, if you had a fresh supply, they could be topped up. One good supply of these valuable resources, be it superstitious or 'scientific', was the executioner who would often sell grim surplus as a sideline. Ques of lepers might eagerly await a beheading to drink the fresh lifeblood right from the source and a scholar may pay a premium for a fresh cadaver to dissect. A severed hand as a supernatural criminal aid is one such trinket.
Derived from the French term; 'main De Gloire', known in Britain as The Hand of Glory, the belief was that the hand of a corpse possessed magical powers. You could bury the appendage under your dwelling for good fortune or even use it as a candle with a hair wick on each finger. This would serve as an unlikely burglary aid, the principal is this: before entering a house a would-be crook takes out the hand of glory and lights the wicks to see how many people are in the residence. If a wick failed to light this indicated that someone is not there or not sleeping. If you found a less discerning executioner or a knacker you could buy a hand of glory for yourself but of course, there were other, more nefarious, means of acquiring parts. Graverobbing was not uncommon, hanging bodies were often cut down and sometimes only partially, if only to steal clothes from or look for "hidden gold" (a rumour often spread by the condemned who didn't want to hang around for long after death).
