A Trial of Witches: A Seventeenth Century Witchcraft Prosecution

by Ivan Bunn, Gilbert Geis

Overview

In 1662, Amy Denny and Rose Cullender were accused of witchcraft, and, in one of the most important of such cases in England, stood trial and were hanged in Bury St Edmunds. A Trial of Witches is a complete account of this sensational trial and an analysis of the court procedures, and the larger social, cultural and political concerns of the period.
In a critique of the official process, the book details how the erroneous conclusions of the trial were achieved. The authors consider the key participants in the case, including the judge and medical witness, their institutional importance, their part in the fate of the women and their future careers.
Through detailed research of primary sources, the authors explore the important implications of this case for the understanding of hysteria, group mentality, social forces and the witchcraft phenomenon as a whole.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781134696321
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/04/2005
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Ivan Bunn, Gilbert Geis

Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgements Part I - The Case 1. Witchcrafts Here Resemble Witchcrafts There 2. The Toad in the Blanket 3. The Swouning Sisters 4. Lice of Extraordinary Bigness Part II - What Might It Mean? 5. Wrinkled Face, Furrowed Brow, and Gobber Tooth 6. Does Assue action Minorate Atrocities? 7. Devotionair and Moralist 8. An Age of So Much Knowledge and Confidence Part III - Post Mortem 9. A Matter of Adicopere Appendix A A Tryal of Witches

Editorial Reviews

'In addition to its value as a historic record, this book offers a tragic lesson in the extraordinary willingness of people to rely uncritically on tainted information and do awful things.' - Publishers Weekly, December 1997

From the Publisher