The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America

by Brian P. Levack (Editor)

The essays in this Handbook, written by leading scholars working in the rapidly developing field of witchcraft studies, explore the historical literature regarding witch beliefs and witch trials in Europe and colonial America between the early fifteenth and early eighteenth centuries. During these years witches were thought to be evil people who used magical power to inflict physical harm or misfortune on their neighbours. Witches were also believed to have made pacts with the devil and sometimes to have worshipped him at nocturnal assemblies known as sabbaths. These beliefs provided the basis for defining witchcraft as a secular and ecclesiastical crime and prosecuting tens of thousands of women and men for this offence. The trials resulted in as many as fifty thousand executions.

These essays study the rise and fall of witchcraft prosecutions in the various kingdoms and territories of Europe and in English, Spanish, and Portuguese colonies in the Americas. They also relate these prosecutions to the Catholic and Protestant reformations, the introduction of new forms of criminal procedure, medical and scientific thought, the process of state-building, profound social and economic change, early modern patterns of gender relations, and the wave of demonic possessions that occurred in Europe at the same time. The essays survey the current state of knowledge in the field, explore the academic controversies that have arisen regarding witch beliefs and witch trials, propose new ways of studying the subject, and identify areas for future research.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Witchcraft, Religion, European History, Witches, Sociology

646 pages, Hardcover

First published March 21, 2013

About the author

Brian Levack is John E. Green Regents Professor in History and Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. The winner of several teaching awards, Levack offers a wide variety of courses on early modern British and European history, legal history, and the history of witchcraft. For eight years he served as the chair of his department. His books include The Civil Lawyers in England, 1603-1641: A Political Study(1973), The Formation of the British State: England, Scotland and the Union, 1603-1707(1987); The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe (3rd edition, 2006), which has been translated into eight languages; and Witch-Hunting in Scotland: Law, Politics, and Religion(2008). His newest book is The Devil Within: Possessions and Exorcism in the Christian West.

Reviews

[DS25 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collezione di articoli di varia natura. Fatti molto, molto bene quelli focalizzati su un territorio. Alcuni sperimentali, coi testi a volte decisamente radicali.

[Patricia Furstenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America is an indispensable and deeply scholarly work that maps the full complexity of witchcraft beliefs, trials, and cultural anxieties across continents.
What sets this collection apart is its breadth, not only tracing prosecutions through Western Europe and the New World, but also delving into lesser-explored regions like the Hungarian Kingdom and Transylvania. The chapters on these eastern territories are particularly compelling, revealing how political fragmentation, ethnic diversity, and frontier fears shaped a unique landscape of suspicion and persecution.
Rich in analysis yet grounded in vivid historical detail, I found this volume essential. This is a read for anyone seeking a panoramic understanding of early modern witchcraft and the societies that conjured it on an accessible level.

[Lena Donan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Na to, že je to odborná kniha, resp. zhluk odborných príspevkov, tak je to napísané prístupne, s mnohými pohľadmi a náhľadmi a užitočne. Aspoň tie príspevky, ktoré som prečítala také boli.