The Hellish Knot: Witches and Demons in Seventeenth Century Somerset

by Andrew Pickering

Compared to other counties in the Restoration era, has a lively record of witchcraft prosecution from the end of the 1650s to the mid-1660s. Furthermore a handful of the most significant writers of demonologies in early modern England lived in Somerset. This book largely comprises complete texts and substantial extracts drawn from the fascinating historical documents available to students of demonology, witchcraft and witch-hunting in Somerset in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In the interests of accessibility these have been carefully edited, 'translated' into modern English, introduced and contextualised, thus creating a unique resource for the study of this most enigmatic of historical narratives. The author, Andrew Pickering, is the Programme Manager for a Plymouth University degree in History, Heritage and Archaeology. This is his third book on the history of English and European witchcraft, witch-hunting and demonology.'A compelling piece of work that assembles an important range of Somerset primary sources; sensitively modernised for clarity, these documents are framed by an informative, context-setting introduction; the whole collection will be really valuable as an aid to teaching and further research' (Dr David Amigoni, Professor of Victorian Literature, University of Keele).

196 pages, Paperback

First published June 16, 2013

Reviews

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the definitive work,this is rather basic stuff reliant upon Glanville and his Sadducismus.