Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England; a Regional and Comparative Study

by Alan Macfarlane

Witchcraft in 16th- and 17th-century England! Witchcraft beliefs and accusations flourished as never before in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. This study of some of the least-explored regions of post-Reformation society investigates the categories of persons that were believed to be witches and considers the motives of their accusers. The author, a highly regarded anthropologist-historian, examines the extent to which witchcraft accusations reflected basic tensions in the structure of pre- industrial thought and society, and directs light on such issues as contemporary attitudes to misfortune and pain, to methods of resolving interpersonal conflicts, to the treatment of social deviants.

Genres: History, Religion, Witches, Witchcraft, Nonfiction, Anthropology

334 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Alan Macfarlane was born in Shillong, India, in 1941 and educated at the Dragon School, Sedbergh School, Oxford and London Universities. He is the author of over twenty books, including The Origins of English Individualism (1978) and Letters to Lily: On How the World Works (2005). He has worked in England, Nepal, Japan and China as both an historian and anthropologist. He was elected to the British Academy in 1986 and is now Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and a Life Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge.

Reviews

[LaLaLa Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very good comprehensive study of the witchcraft trials in England and foreshadows the trials to come in its colonies.