Witchcraft Prosecutions Research Articles

‘Detestable Slaves of the Devil’: Religion as the ‘Third Pillar’ of the Civilizing Process

Utilising the early modern witchcraft prosecutions as historical evidence, this article proposes a reconfiguration of Norbert Elias’ theory of The Civilizing Process to include ‘religious de-centralisation’ as a necessary ‘third pillar’ within long-term European development. It is argued that, given the significance of the medieval church and the threat to monarchical power posed by that same institution, decentralising organised religion from the functioning of the state was required in order to allow state formation to proceed. This is evidenced by the early modern recategorization of ‘magic’ as witchcraft and the resulting extension of state jurisdiction into the prosecution of witches to the disadvantage of the church courts.

Emma Wilby. 2019. Invoking the Akelarre. Voices of the Accused in the Basque Witch-Craze, 1609-1614. Brighton, Chicago, Toronto: Sussex Academic Press, 480 p.

Emma Wilby’s research is shedding light on one of the most outstanding records of Europe’s witchcraft prosecutions, which are the Basque (1609-14), bringing to life both the local witch-craze, in a long trail of academic writing dominated by the momentous work of Gustav Henningsen, and the eventual perspective on co-authoring the testimonials during the confession-making process, a genuinely post-1990 orientation.

Late Witchcraft Prosecutions in Imperial Russia within a Comparative European Context

Abstract While Russia was an early practitioner within a European context in ceasing to apply the death penalty against suspected witches and sorcerers in 1744, it continued to prosecute them in what became a two-tiered system under Catherine II that lasted until the mid-nineteenth century. The last known prosecutions of witchcraft in Russia in the 1860s occurred several decades after the very last trials in places such as Bavaria (1792), Württemberg (1805), and Spain (1820). Based on archival and legal sources, this essay focuses on Catherine’s limited measures of decriminalization largely through the creation of “merciful” courts of equity in Russian and Ukrainian areas of the empire and their unintended consequences, including the aggravation of existing social tensions in the countryside.

Diabolical Duos: Witch Spouses in Early New England

A significant proportion of witchcraft prosecutions in early New England targeted married couples. Although these cases have not received much attention, they open up a window onto witch-hunting in the region and how it compares to that in other parts of the English-speaking world. An examination of New England's witch spouses reveals how witchcraft intersected with demographic change as well as the social and religious outlook of its Puritan inhabitants. During the opening decades of settlement when colonists were few in number and couples' childbearing capabilities were essential to the survival of the New England colonies, spouses who fell short in this regard sometimes fell victim to suspicions of witchcraft. However, as the century advanced and the population expanded, the pressure on couples to produce children shrank while anxieties over family governance grew. Thus, New Englanders increasingly envisioned witch couples as bad parents rather than failed child-bearers. Moreover, the high frequency of accusations against spouses in New England was a product of the important place marriage held in the Puritans' worldview. They viewed it as the foundation of a godly society and, as a result, commonly envisioned witchcraft as a dark alter ego of nuptial relations.

Centralism, Civil Rights, and Witchcraft

The largest witch-hunt in human history occurred in early modern Europe, where grisly estimates place the numbers at about 90,000 witchcraft prosecutions, and an overall execution rate of 50%, resulting in roughly 45,000 deaths. However, the execution rates of witches throughout Europe were not consistent. England was on one side of the spectrum with some court circuits having execution rates as low as 19%, while the Holy Roman Empire (Germany) was in stark contrast, accounting for almost half of the total prosecutions in Europe. Some locations in Germany, like Kiel, had execution rates of at least 67%, but the figure could possibly as high as 81%. One of the primary reasons for this large distinction may be the more centralized court system of early modern England, and the lack of a centralized court system in early modern Germany. This note will dive into a comparative legal study between the relative systems of early modern Germany and England and attempt to extrapolate the effects of judicial centralization on witch-hunting intensity. Furthermore, if judicial centralization was acting as a safeguard to the rights of the innocent despite the policies of local and state governments, is it possible that this force is still at play in the modern federal system of the United States? Perhaps the parallel can be drawn from the witch-hunts in early modern Europe to the civil rights movement in the United States during the 20th century to help illustrate the sliding scale of judicial centralism’s effect on mitigating injustice. The United States’ federal courts tried to take on a more influential role on the issue of racial segregation in state and local governments during the civil rights movement. This move toward centralization by the federal judiciary in a federal system additionally helps to illustrate the relationship between centralism and federalism.

Welsh Witches: Narratives of Witchcraft and Magic from 16th and 17th Century Wales by Richard Suggett

Reviewed by: Welsh Witches: Narratives of Witchcraft and Magic from 16th and 17th Century Wales by Richard Suggett Lisa Tallis Wales, Welsh witchcraft, witchcraft, witchcraft prosecutions, witchcraft trials, primary source, witchcraft accusations, soothsaying, charms, 1500-1700 richard suggett. Welsh Witches: Narratives of Witchcraft and Magic from 16th and 17th Century Wales. N.p.: Atramentous Press, 2018. Pp. 253. Welsh witchcraft might seem a bit of a paradox to some. Wales's experience of witchcraft, in terms of trials at least, was negligible. The so-called "witch craze"—not necessarily a useful term in any context—was non-existent in Wales, it simply did not happen. And yet, witchcraft was intrinsic to Welsh life in the early modern period, raising the ultimate question so perceptively posed by Geraint H. Jenkins back in 1977: why was the "belief in witchcraft woven into the normal fabric of life whereas witchcraft trials and accusations were not"?1 There's possibly no fuller answer than Richard Suggett's most recent publication on the topic: Welsh Witches: Narratives of Witchcraft and Magic from 16th and 17th Century Wales, published by Atramentous Press. Suggett has already done much to highlight the dynamics of witchcraft and the history of magic in Wales, a neglected region in witchcraft historiography, and it is to the author's credit that he has again produced a highly readable and comprehensive study of Wales's unique witchcraft prosecutions. These were unique in the sense that, as in other non-English speaking parts of Britain, there were so few in comparison with England or lowland Scotland; these trials were "exceptional events" (14) both in the history of the courts and in the history of Welsh witchcraft generally. For the first time, the pre-trial documents relating to formal accusations of witchcraft in Wales between 1570–1699 are published in full, making this a crucial sourcebook for any scholar, or anyone interested in the history of witchcraft trials. For someone who is a little woolly on the intricacies of the early modern legal system, Suggett does an excellent job of contextualizing these trials and their significance to witchcraft studies in his introduction, paving the way for a smooth engagement with these depositions. And engaging they certainly are! The book is organised into four parts, each dealing with a key feature of the narratives included. The first provides a thorough account of "Witchcraft in Wales" throughout the period in question. The accusations at the Court of Great Sessions are set in their legal context with a table clearly highlighting the number of persons indicted for witchcraft in the four circuits— Chester, Carmarthen, North Wales, and Brecknock. The figures are visibly low, and the Welsh trials are compared in the wider context of prosecutions in [End Page 301] England, where similarities such as the prominence of women as witnesses are also revealed. One of the interesting things our attention is drawn to is how accusations of witchcraft also shed light on other aspects of Welsh social life at this time, namely the spread of news and information, or "gossip," and the giving and lending culture that was central to women's economy at this time. Witchcraft cases are a window onto much more than just witchcraft. Slander cases are also utilized in a shrewd move to bolster the small number of indictments in order to gain a fuller profile of accused witches. As Suggett demonstrates, actions for slander between the 1550s and 1730s rely upon some of the attributes of the witch-figure, highlighting the historiographic potential of these sources (which are fully documented in Chapter 6) especially in areas where prosecutions were low. This section also considers the relationship between witches and their accusers, the significance of "words and deeds" or ritualized cursing and blessing, which has been shown to be a fundamental characteristic of witchcraft in Wales. We also encounter other key figures in the diverse expanse of Welsh witchcraft—charmers, soothsayers, and the fairies, or "y Tylwyth Teg" (the Fair Family) as they were commonly termed. Such figures were integral to witchcraft and magical beliefs, and their significance to our understanding of such beliefs is aptly demonstrated. Part II concentrates on the case of...

The Political and Economic Role of Elites in Persecution: Evidence from Witchcraft Trials in Early Modern Scotland

Persecution, as a political and economic phenomenon, can be abetted by the resources of a nation's elite. To demonstrate this, I focus on a case study: witchcraft trials in Early Modern Scotland (1563-1727), a largely agricultural economy. I find that favourable growing temperatures predict more trials. My main empirical specification survives various robustness checks, including accounting for outliers. During this time, witchcraft was a secular crime, and it was incumbent on local elites to commit resources to trying alleged witches. Turning to mechanisms, I find that positive price shocks to export-heavy, taxable goods predict more witch trials, while price shocks to Scotland's main subsistence commodity, oats, do not. This is consistent with the explanation that as elite income increased, more resources were devoted to witchcraft prosecutions; I cite anecdotal evidence that a different judicial proceeding, sexual trials in Aberdeen, experienced a similar trend.

Agents of Witchcraft in Early Modern Italy and Denmark by Louise Nyholm Kallestrup

Reviewed by: Agents of Witchcraft in Early Modern Italy and Denmark by Louise Nyholm Kallestrup Gerhild Scholz Williams Gerhild Scholz Williams, Louise Nyholm Kallestrup, Gerhild Williams, Louise Kallestrup, witchcraft, early modern witchcraft, Italian witchcraft, Danish witchcraft louise nyholm kallestrup. Agents of Witchcraft in Early Modern Italy and Denmark. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave, 2015. Pp. xv + 206. The book under review compares witchcraft prosecutions in a small town in Southern Italy (Orbetello) with those in Jutland, Denmark (Viborg) during the seventeenth century. The former prosecutions were handled by the Roman Inquisition, the latter by secular courts. This meant that the distance between the two locales was not only geographic but also confessional, demonstrating the differences between Catholic and Lutheran approaches to the witch phenomenon. Basing her detailed examination on numerous court records in both jurisdictions, Kallestrup shows that accusations of witchcraft do not only differ in substance, but also in severity of punishment. A semantic exploration of what exactly is meant by the witch, witchcraft, and the pact with the Devil in both locales signals the complexity of not only the concept but, more specifically, of how both cultures approached the reality of the phenomenon in their midst. It is clear that, in spite of the geographic distance, both communities formulated strict laws against witchcraft [End Page 414] and magic. As was the case across western Europe, all legal proceedings rested on the authority of the same well known and frequently cited demonological treatises, which were applied to the local specifics. The great strength of this study lies in its comprehensive examination and reconstruction of local court records and proceedings. As the stories of individual prosecutions unfold, the participation of the populace in the accusations, denunciations, eventual convictions, and even executions comes alive, based on the minute details unearthed by the author. Before the reader gets to those, the author surveys the legal tools on which each of the prosecuting authorities rested their judgments, and thus their definitions of what exactly the power of the witch was, what constituted witchcraft, and how its benevolent, healing version differed from its malevolent effects. It turns out that the understanding among the people who felt impacted by magical powers practiced by cunning-folk or witches diverged greatly, not only in the two geographic locations, but also among people in the same small communities. Investigating the differences between the Danish and Roman legal procedures, this study suggests that after the 1617 Witchcraft Regulations, the Law of Jutland tended to move away from burning and toward hanging, and also toward the exiling and confiscation of property. Members of the nobility were beheaded before being burned. Only one execution by beheading of a noblewoman was recorded in 1621. The Roman Inquisition seemed to have employed a greater variety of penalties. In Orbetello, the punishment of choice was apparently public whipping and exile. It is interesting that in the mid-seventeenth century, a time when navies around the Mediterranean were always in need of galley slaves, additional punishments included not only imprisonment and fines, but also galley duty. The difference in penalty between the Danish and the Inquisition suggests that the lightest sentence applied by (Protestant) Danish courts matched the harshest meted out by the Inquisition, which looked upon witchcraft as a sin that needed repentance and absolution, and not necessarily severe physical punishment. After a comparison of both legal systems, Kallestrup investigates local examples in both jurisdictions. It turns out that witches in Italy apparently practiced mostly love magic and magic directed at marital problems, impotence, and infertility. They differed from those in Denmark, who were primarily involved in crimes against property such as bewitchment of livestock, and influencing the impact of the weather on harvests, in addition to quarrels among villagers. To bring a suspected witch to trial in Orbetello, reliable witnesses had to initiate an investigation supported by trustworthy accusations and reliable [End Page 415] denunciations. In Jutland, testimony and formal accusations, if substantiated by witnesses, would lead to a trial. In both jurisdictions, each narrative included information about who participated in magic rituals, when, and where (benevolent or malevolent). Kallestrup presents an interesting Danish example of witchcraft that involved the "birth" of a...

Witchcraft, Superstition, and Observant Franciscan Preachers: Pastoral Approach and Intellectual Debate in Renaissance Milan by Fabrizio Conti

Reviewed by: Witchcraft, Superstition, and Observant Franciscan Preachers: Pastoral Approach and Intellectual Debate in Renaissance Milan by Fabrizio Conti Matteo Duni Fabrizio Conti. Witchcraft, Superstition, and Observant Franciscan Preachers: Pastoral Approach and Intellectual Debate in Renaissance Milan. Europa Sacra. Turnhout: Brepols, 2015. pp. xviii + 380. Fabrizio Conti’s book brings to light a hitherto unknown aspect of the intellectual genesis of the European witch hunt, namely the contribution of a group of preachers belonging to the Observant branch of the Franciscan order and all based at the Milanese convent of Sant’Angelo between the mid-1400s and the first twenty years of the 1500s. During these decades, while witchcraft prosecutions were reaching very high levels in several parts of Europe including the Italian northern regions, a series of tracts, mostly the work of Dominican inquisitors, argued that witches were the members of a new heretical sect, led in person by the devil to the perdition of Christendom, and that only by exterminating such heretics could the Church save religion and humankind from destruction. The Milanese Franciscans studied by Conti, by contrast, did not see the rise of witchcraft as such an alarming threat, and followed a much softer, pastoral approach to what they considered to be simply one of the facets of the sin of superstition. Through a close examination of a cluster of collections of sermons, Conti’s book situates these Franciscan preachers’ position within the context of Renaissance homiletic literature and practice, highlighting their role as early proponents of a more skeptical consideration of witchcraft. The first two chapters introduce the convent of Sant’Angelo, an important and very rich center of Observant Franciscans, patronized by Milan’s ruling families, Visconti and Sforza, and home to a group of famous preachers. These are the protagonists of the book and include the likes of Angelo of Chivasso, author of a very popular summa of cases of conscience, Bernardino and Bartolomeo Caimi, Antonio of Vercelli, Michele Carcano, Samuele Cassini, and especially Bernardino Busti (c. 1450–1515), whose Rosarium sermonum (1498) is the main focus of Conti’s analysis. The friars at Sant’Angelo’s were at the time prolific authors of collections of sermons, many of which [End Page 272] were printed. Often borrowing material from each other’s compilations, Milanese Observant Franciscans produced works that could function at the same time as a resource for fellow preachers (as summae of preachable topics), and as a comprehensive expounding of doctrine at a time in which catechism was not yet a popular genre. Chapters 3 through 5 analyze how fifteenth-century preachers characterized the sin of superstition within the multiple grids available at the time. Bernardino of Siena and Antoninus of Florence, for example, treated superstition as a form of pride, but did not distinguish further between its many types because these did not have a specific place in the traditional scheme they used, based on the seven sins. Milanese Franciscans showed a much more consistent attention toward superstition, which they examined thoroughly through the newly adopted scheme of the Ten Commandments. Busti, in particular, categorized superstition as a sin against the First Commandment and listed fifteen different types of it. These range from Aquinas’s classic triad (idolatry, divinatory superstition, vain observances) to invocations of demons, maleficium, brevia (scrolls with magical formulas), belief in shape-shifting, blasphemy, and more types still. The core of Conti’s book lies in Chapters 6 through 8, which focus on the way Observant Franciscans dealt with witchcraft and related beliefs. In this area, Busti and his fellow Franciscans consistently showed the same position, which was markedly different from that of contemporary Dominicans. This latter group equated casters of malevolent spells (malefici, feminine maleficae) with the lamiae,or strigae, that is, witches participating in the Sabbat, or ludus diabolicus (the “game of the devil”), in which they renounced Christianity and defiled the sacraments. Milanese preachers instead distinguished between the two groups. They understood strigae (or strige) as women and men who were tricked by the devil into believing they rode or flew at night, turned into cats or other animals, and joined a company of revelers, the so-called ludus Dianae (the “game of the...

England's First Demonologist: Reginald Scot and ‘The Discoverie of Witchcraft’ (Philip C. Almond)

<i>England's First Demonologist: Reginald Scot and ‘The Discoverie of Witchcraft’</i> (Philip C. Almond)

Witchcraft Prosecution: Chasing the Devil in Connecticut

Witchcraft Prosecution: Chasing the Devil in Connecticut

Unclean Spirits Unleashed: Flying Bricks, Demonic Possession, and Blackmail in Russia, 1636

The spotty and dilapidated record of single trial of an alleged witch in the outskirts of Galich in 1636 serves as a window through which to view the workings of the highly stratified society, its interactions with local courts and central tsarist authorities, and, most importantly, the beliefs, fears, and interpersonal dynamics that drove low-ranking people to turn to the courts. Particularly valuable are the tangential references to common practices that normally did not reach the courts and therefore eluded the historical record. The case of the landlord Gorikhvostov and the “known witch” Mitroshka Khramoi, with its dramatic canvass of devilish spirits and supernatural havoc, reveals the universal acceptance, at the height of Muscovite witchcraft prosecutions, of healers working with roots and herbs, spells and prayers.

Prospero’s America: John Winthrop, Jr., alchemy, and the creation of New England culture, 1606–1676 (review)

Reviewed by: Prospero’s America: John Winthrop, Jr., alchemy, and the creation of New England culture, 1606–1676 Jole Shackelford Prospero’s America: John Winthrop, Jr., alchemy, and the creation of New England culture, 1606–1676 Walter W. Woodward. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2010. Prospero’s America takes its title from Shakespeare’s alchemical magus in The Tempest, who Walter Woodward uses as a period icon for John Winthrop, Jr., to set the stage for his argument for the cultural importance of Paracelsian alchemy and late Renaissance natural philosophy in the history of colonial New England. The former governor of Connecticut and well-known collector of books on alchemy and other aspects of occult philosophy has been subject to study before, but Woodward’s novelty is to place Winthrop’s training in alchemy and alchemical medicine squarely in the context of the colonial Englishman’s vision for the development of New England, a vision shared by the founding members of England’s Royal Society and their Rosicrucian and radical Calvinist forebears.1 Winthrop began study of alchemy in London during the 1620s and traveled to Turkey (1627–29) “seeking out alchemical contacts” (33) at their source, much as the mythical founder of the Rosicrucians had done. His commitment to Renaissance magic is evident from his choice of John Dee’s monas hieroglyphica as his personal emblem. By 1631, when he set out with his family for North America (where his father would become governor of Massachusetts), Winthrop was a practicing alchemist, intent on bringing Rosicrucian reformers’ alchemical vision of social and economic development to New England. For Woodward, alchemy was a worldview that glued Puritan hopes for renovation of the world to an irenic religious perspective and the alchemical medicine of the Paracelsians, understood as Protestant Christian ideology much along the same lines as in John Young’s Faith, Medical Alchemy and Natural Philosophy.2 Indeed, Woodward makes the further, interesting comment that “Politically, the Protestant alchemical quest for universal world improvement provided a useful counter to the Catholic universalism of the Hapsburg Empire.”(24) The irenic nature of alchemy helps to explain Winthrop’s mission and his success: it permitted friendships and the exchange of ideas to flourish across denominational and linguistic boundaries, equipping Winthrop to navigate the delicate political situation that was to confront him as a colonial leader. At the core of Woodward’s analysis is Winthrop’s commitment to the Rosicrucian reform and his practice of alchemical medicine. The Rosicrucian vision, which merged nicely with the Hartlib Circle’s endorsement of Comenian pansophism—Winthrop visited England (1641–43) and met Comenius—provided the colonial alchemist with a plan for developing a utopian plantation at the mouth of the Pequot River in eastern Connecticut. This plantation was to utilize the latest agricultural and technological developments and service a silver mine further up river. The mine, in turn, would provide the raw material for metallurgical arts. Winthrop exchanged seeds and plants with collectors abroad and sought to naturalize new grasses and other crops to develop the plantation’s productivity. Likewise, he established saltworks, ironworks, saltpeter production, and distilleries for processing tars and turpentines for local use and export. But Woodward makes an even stronger case for the importance of Winthrop’s practice of chemical medicine, both in establishing his reputation as a healer among fellow colonists and in positioning himself as a leader in relations between Europeans and Native peoples. Winthrop’s diplomatic skills were especially evident in 3 specific contexts: negotiations to stabilize his plantation, which was caught up in the politics of intertribal conflicts and the hegemonic maneuvers of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island to control the Pequot River basin; amelioration of witchcraft prosecutions, and; defense of colonial autonomy against the efforts of the English crown to control its overseas possessions. Woodward implicates Winthrop’s alchemical adeptness in all 3. His irenic willingness to see Native peoples as potential members of plantation society enabled his diplomatic mission, especially to the Pequot who resided in the area. His familiarity with the theory behind magic raised his skepticism about the ability of accused witches to accomplish the feats they were charged with, leading him...

Lay and Inquisitorial Witchcraft Prosecutions in Early Modern Italy and Denmark

This article explores the differences between Danish lay and Roman inquisitorial witchcraft prosecution, by investigating the understanding of witchcraft and how it inflicted on the course of the trials. For the first half of the 17th century, the understanding of witchcraft among Danish lay judges corresponded to popular beliefs. Focus remained on malevolent magic, and the diabolical pact was rarely introduced until after the verdict, when torture was initiated. To the Roman Inquisition, the pact with the devil, namely the implicit pact, was crucial when sentencing the illiterate villagers, since it made it possible to incorporate the offender into a learned theological system of ideas.

Prospero's America: John Winthrop, Jr., alchemy, and the creation of New England culture, 1606-1676

In Prospero's America, Walter W. Woodward examines the transfer of alchemical culture to America by John Winthrop, Jr., one of English colonisation's early giants. Winthrop participated in a pan-European network of natural philosophers who believed alchemy could improve the human condition and hasten Christ's Second Coming. Woodward demonstrates the influence of Winthrop and his philosophy on New England's cultural formation: its settlement, economy, religious toleration, Indian relations, medical practice, witchcraft prosecution, and imperial diplomacy. Prospero's America reconceptualises the significance of early modern science in shaping New England hand-in-hand with Puritanism and politics. Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia.

Eradicating the Devil's Minions: Anabaptists and Witches in Reformation Europe, 1525-1600

It is perhaps surprising, given the popular status of witchcraft studies, that the relationship between witches and Anabaptists has remained largely unexplored, when we consider some of the structural and ideological similarities between the types of crimes attributed to both groups. Gary K. Waite's new book addresses the connections between the judicial treatment of Anabaptist heretics and individuals accused of witchcraft in the sixteenth century, and argues that the harsh persecution of Anabaptism laid the groundwork for the vicious witch-hunts, by giving credence to widespread claims that the agents of the Devil were omnipresent, and encouraging the authorities to become accustomed to persecuting the Devil's minions. Nocturnal, secret gatherings, pacts with the Devil, perversion of the sacraments and magical offences were features of both Anabaptist and witchcraft prosecutions, and Waite argues that the demonising rhetoric which was deployed against Anabaptists meant that, as heresy trials came to an end, the transition to prosecuting witches as diabolical servants was relatively straightforward. Although the two groups were kept distinct in the minds of the authorities, fears intersected to create the image of a widespread demonic threat.

Witchcraft Prosecutions and the Decline of Magic

Witchcraft prosecutions in Europe rose dramatically during the late sixteenth century, peaked in the middle third of the seventeenth century, and declined rapidly thereafter, gradually ceasing altogether by the end of the eighteenth century. The rise was driven by the dissemination of the late-medieval demonology and the “scissors effect” of rising population and constricting resources; the peak reflected the governing elite's “crisis of confidence” in the prosecutions and the demonology. The trials ended because the elite's skepticism about the magnitude of the threat posed by witchcraft gave way to disbelief in the power of magic altogether. The “crisis of confidence” manifested not only the victory of a long-standing tradition of skepticism and contemporary experience with the cruelty and injustices of the trials but also changes in popular behaviors and practices that the trials brought about. The growing acceptance of the new mechanical philosophy was less a cause than a consequence of the decline of witchcraft.

Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Western Tradition (review)

Reviewed by: Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Western Tradition H. C. Erik Midelfort Richard Golden . Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Western Tradition. 4 vols. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio, 2006. Pp. xxxvi + 1238. The world of scholarship has been eagerly awaiting this ambitious encyclopedia for several years. Its most comprehensive predecessor has long been The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology (1959, with 227 entries), by the medieval English literary scholar Rossell Hope Robbins. Recent smaller entries into this field have not been an adequate substitute for a thorough reassessment of the state of this burgeoning area of historical research.1 Robbins’s work summarized much of what was known and thought before scholars began their systematic assault upon the archival records of witchcraft trials, and so it is not surprising that his entries on many individual demonologists have stood the test of time better than his attempts to survey the history of [End Page 87] actual witchcraft trials. In fact, Richard Golden’s four volumes with 758 entries, co-edited by six other prominent scholars and written by an international team of 170 experts (29% of them women) from 29 countries, combine such a wealth of knowledge from so many countries and cover so many aspects of the history of witchcraft, that they can serve as a means to assess the health, progress, and maturity of various subfields. In this review I will confine myself to the main emphases of the editors and of the authors they recruited. One should note at the outset that although the subtitle of the Encyclopedia is “The Western Tradition,” the vast majority of articles deal with European witchcraft between the years 1400 and 1750, that is, the years of the so-called great European witch hunt. A dozen learned articles treat ancient Greek and Roman witchcraft (e.g., “Homer,” “Medea,” “Greek Magical Papyri,” “Horace,” “Defixiones,” “Laws on Witchcraft—Ancient,” “Apuleius of Madaura”), and there are a few essential entries on the Bible (e.g., “Bible,” “Moses,” “Exodus 22:18,” “the witch of Endor”). Similarly, key medieval thinkers (e.g., Gratian, John of Salisbury, Thomas Aquinas, Pope John XXII) and key medieval documents (e.g., the Canon Episcopi, “Laws on Witchcraft—Medieval”) attract a small bouquet of usefully learned articles. But these entries pale in comparison with the huge number of often overlapping articles treating the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. The reason is not far to seek. The fundamental subject of Golden’s Encyclopedia is not so much the broad topic of witchcraft, demonology, or magic (as a belief or a practice) but the escalating series of witchcraft prosecutions that plagued much of Europe in the three centuries after 1420. So overwhelming is the emphasis on witchcraft trials that one can say that these volumes are now not only the single best place to begin the study of European witchcraft but actually also the best introduction to the comparative history of early modern European criminal procedure. E. William Monter has contributed sharply focused articles on “Accusations,” “Acquittals,” “Appeals,” “Confessions” (with Jonathan Durrant), “Confiscations,” and a more general survey entitled “Geography of the Witch Hunts,” while Edward Kern has provided articles on “Courts—Ecclesiastical,” “Courts—Inquisitorial,” and “Courts—Secular.” Vincinzo Lavenia treats some of the same topics, however, under “Episcopal Justice,” while Peter Dinzelbacher goes over some of this material again in “Inquisition—Medieval.” In addition, there are separate articles on the Portuguese, Roman, Spanish, and Venetian Inquisitions, as well as a general entry on “Inquisitorial Procedure” by Brian Levack, who has also contributed a substantial piece on “Torture.” There is even a separate entry on “Trials.” Along these same lines, Wolfgang Behringer has contributed a substantial [End Page 88] article on “Laws on Witchcraft—Early Modern,” Robert Thurston has contributed “Proof, Problem of,” while Robin Briggs has offered another article dealing with the “Parlement of Paris.” Near the end of the Encyclopedia, Rita Voltmer wraps up much of this material in an effective summary entitled “Witch Hunts,” but this summary does not by any means exhaust the list of legally focused entries. The upshot of so much information on trials and procedure is that we can now understand the varying intensity of the...

An Abundance of Witches: The Great Scottish Witch-Hunt (review)

Reviewed by: Abundance of Witches: The Great Scottish Witch-Hunt Lawrence Normand An Abundance of Witches: The Great Scottish Witch-Hunt. By P.G. Maxwell-Stuart. Pp. 254. ISBN 0 7524 3329 6. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. 2005. £17.99. This is the second of P.G. Maxwell-Stuart's volumes on the history of Scottish witchcraft. The first dealt with the sixteenth century, and this with the seventeenth, or rather one short period of six years between 1657 and 1662. The book's subtitle, The Great Scottish Witch-Hunt, indicates why those years have been chosen; implying that witch-prosecutions in that period may have been either the most numerous, or most serious, or most characteristic of witch-hunting in Scotland in the entire early modern period. The precise meaning of 'great' in the sub-title is a question that stays with the reader as he or she reads. The book is published by Tempus whose aim is 'Revealing History', that is, presumably, producing intellectually sound, accessible accounts of history for educated general readers and students rather than specialist scholars of witchcraft. Of course such worthwhile aims fashion the form of this book, which draws material from a wide range of primary sources and presents them as narrative and description rather than interpretation or theory. The author makes his intentions clear when he writes that he wishes 'to place new material in coherent fashion before the reader so that he or she may have a more detailed basis upon which to formulate future interpretation of this episode in Scottish history' (p.7). This makes for a fascinating read as the author weaves together material from a wide range of sources into coherent stories; and such is the detail that may emerge by using this method that a novelistic sense of particular lives is sometimes produced. However, at the same time it also produces frustrations, for the detail sometimes overwhelms a sense of the overall picture. The 'Introduction' sets out the political and religious context of mid-seventeenth-century Scotland in which witchcraft accusations and trials took place, as well as the arguments that Maxwell-Stuart follows in the rest of the book. Scotland was occupied by an English army from 1651, and subject to attempts to anglicise the justice system; at the same time as the kirk, a possible source of national cohesion, and still maintaining its presbyterian system of governance and social discipline, was riven by disagreements about how it should respond to occupation. Just as important as the material conditions of occupation and church governance were contemporary mentalities that may strike the modern reader as bizarre or irrational, especially a magical view of the world that saw it as being infused with magical affinities and powers. Magical practices were ubiquitous throughout society, including charming for various purposes [End Page 340] and with different intentions, and witchcraft was difficult to identify amidst such complexity. Maxwell-Stuart insists on the importance of trying to see witchcraft prosecutions through early modern eyes, and warns repeatedly against what he sees as the dangers and distortions of interpreting seventeenth-century witchcraft through twenty-first-century intellectual prejudices. The dominant empirical method he chooses is calculated to avoid these dangers, for he turns immediately to the records of kirk and presbytery sessions, and of the court of justiciary, to detail what emerges from these records in terms of narratives of particular accused persons. The narratives that emerge also demonstrate another of the book's themes, namely the centrality to witchcraft prosecutions of the procedures of kirk and courts. A witch's story is constituted by her involvement with neighbours, and the institutions of religious and legal authority, as much as, if not more than, her magical activities. Even when accusations were being made at an increasing rate the authorities attempted, usually successfully, to use their procedures fairly in order to discover the truth of the accusations. Truth in this case, Maxwell-Stuart insists, is truth relative to the historical and ideological context; but what emerges from his tracing of particular witchcraft accusations are, on one hand, the dutiful persistence and procedural propriety of the authorities in pursuing their investigations over sometimes months and years...

The Survival of Witchcraft Prosecutions and Witch Belief in South-West Scotland

During the era of the Scottish witch-hunts, Dumfries and Galloway was one of the last regions to initiate witch prosecutions, but it was also one of the most reluctant to completely surrender all belief in witches until a comparatively late date. In the late seventeeth and early eighteenth centuries south-west Scotland, better known for the persecution of covenanters, took the practice of witchcraft and charming very seriously indeed, and for perhaps longer than other parts of Scotland, though the area has received surprisingly little scholarly investigation. The trial evidence is not incompatible with that found elsewhere though there is less demonic content. Accusations of witchcraft in this region were mostly concerned with the troubles of everyday life, agricultural problems, family tensions and disagreements between neighbours. From 1670 to about 1740, the very decades that were giving birth to the Scottish Enlightenment, learned interest in the supernatural was actually on the increase and the topic received an unprecedented level of questioning, investigation, and scrutiny. Ironically, the ‘superstitions’ that both church and state had been attempting to eradicate for some two hundred years were now being used to defend religion against the growing threat of atheism. The zeal of the ministers does seem to have contributed to the endurance of witch beliefs in the South West, as elsewhere. Against this backdrop, the survival of witch belief and the continued prosecution of witches in southwest Scotland is examined, thus contributing to our understanding of the individualistic nature of witch persecution and the various dynamics at play within the Scottish witch-hunting experience.