Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, Volume 4: The Period of the Witch Trials

by Bengt Ankarloo (Editor), Stuart Clark (Editor)

Overview

Each volume in the series Witchcraft and Magic in Europe combines the traditional approaches of political, legal, and social historians with a critical synthesis of cultural anthropology, historical psychology, and gender studies. The series, complete in six volumes, provides a modern, scholarly survey of the supernatural beliefs of Europeans from ancient times to the present day.

Most European prosecutions for the crime of witchcraft occurred between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, with the peak coming in the hundred years after 1560. This volume brings together the large amount of recent scholarship on witchcraft of this period and provides a novel analysis of the trials by considering the legal systems involved. Witch hunts, methods of torture, and the scientific interest in magic spells and demonology as an intellectual pursuit are also covered in detail.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780812217872
Publisher:	University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication date:	12/23/2002
Series:	Witchcraft and Magic in Europe Series
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	228,647
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Bengt Ankarloo is Professor of History at Lund University, Sweden. Stuart Clark is Professor of History at the University of Wales, Swansea.

Table of Contents

Witch Trials in Continental Europe, 1560-1660
—William Monter
The Great Persecutions in Northern Europe, 1450-1700
—Bengt Ankarloo
Witchcraft in Early Modern Culture
—Stuart Clark

Editorial Reviews

"An encyclopedic catalog of research from medieval fertility cults to Nazi paganism, and an original, delicate reading of what all these 'facts' and figures might mean."

Historian

"Although intended mainly for scholars, there is much to interest the common reader."

New Yorker

"An excellent overview of early modern witchcraft and magic."

Religious Studies Review

"Masterful. . . . A fine series that incorporates the best of modern scholarship. . . . There is something here for almost everybody."

Bibliotheque d'Humanisme et Renaissance

"A modern scholarly survey of a wide variety of beliefs and practices from ancient times to the present."

Theology Digest

Although intended mainly for scholars, there is much to interest the common reader.

New Yorker

"An encyclopedic catalog of research from medieval fertility cults to Nazi paganism, and an original, delicate reading of what all these 'facts' and figures might mean."—Historian

"An excellent overview of early modern witchcraft and magic."—Religious Studies Review

Praise for the series:
"An exceptional historical and social analysis of a subject of enduring interest."—Library Journal

"Although intended mainly for scholars, there is much to interest the common reader."—New Yorker

"A modern scholarly survey of a wide variety of beliefs and practices from ancient times to the present."—Theology Digest

"Masterful. . . . A fine series that incorporates the best of modern scholarship. . . . There is something here for almost everybody."—Bibliotheque d'Humanisme et Renaissance

From the Publisher