Witchcraft and Magic in Europe

by Ankarloo, Bengt; Clark, Stuart

• ISBN13: 9780812217063
• ISBN10: 0812217063
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Pennsylvania Pr

Summary

The roots of European witchcraft and magic lie in Hebrew and other ancient Near Eastern cultures and in the Celtic, Nordic, and Germanic traditions of the Continent. For two millennia, European folklore and ritual have been imbued with the belief in the supernatural, yielding a rich trove of histories and images. A series that combines traditional approaches of political, legal, and social historians with critical syntheses of cultural anthropology, historical psychology, and gender studies, Witchcraft and Magic in Europe provides a modern, scholarly survey of the supernatural beliefs of Europeans from ancient times to the present day. Each of the six volumes in the series contains the work of distinguished scholars chosen for their expertise in a particular era or region. The eighteenth century saw the end of witch trials everywhere. The authors chart the process of and reasons for the decriminalization of witchcraft, but also challenge the widespread assumption that Europe then became "disenchanted." Here for the first time are surveys of the social role of witchcraft in European communities, as well as a full treatment of Victorian supernaturalism and of the continued importance of witchcraft and magic as topics of debate among intellectuals and other writers.

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
Bengt Ankarloo
Stuart Clark
PART 1: THE DECLINE AND END OF WITCHCRAFT PROSECUTIONS	1	(94)
Brian P. Levack
Introduction	3	(4)
General Reasons for the Decline in Prosecutions	7	(41)
Judicial Scepticism and Procedural Caution	7	(26)
Changes in Witch-Beliefs	33	(7)
Religious Changes	40	(4)
Social and Economic Changes	44	(4)
Patterns and Dynamics of Decline: Five Case-Studies (France, England, Scotland, Germany -- Wurttemberg, Hungary)	48	(26)
The End of Prosecutions	74	(21)
The Process of Decriminalization	74	(4)
Judicial Effects of the Decline	78	(17)
Conclusion	86	(9)
PART 2: WITCHCRAFT AFTER THE WITCH-TRIALS	95	(96)
Marijke Gijswijt-Hofstra
Introduction	97	(5)
From the Low Countries to France	102	(27)
The Netherlands and the Enchanted World	102	(11)
Belgium: From Witch-trials to Witch-lynchings?	113	(4)
France: Witches, Priests and the Ambiguity of Unwitching	117	(12)
From the Mediterranean Countries to the British Isles, and Scandinavia	129	(28)
The Mediterranean Countries: From the Inquisition with Love	129	(12)
The British Isles: Fairies and Witches, Fire and Water	141	(10)
Scandinavia: Divergent Gender Patterns	151	(6)
From Eastern and Central Europe to Germany and Switzerland	157	(34)
Eastern and Central Europe: Witches, Vampires and more	157	(5)
Germany and the Devil	162	(11)
Switzerland: The End of the Journey	173	(2)
Conclusion: Cultures of Misfortune: Towards a Disenchanted Europe?	175	(16)
PART 3: WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC IN ENLIGHTENMENT, ROMANTIC AND LIBERAL THOUGHT	191	(92)
Roy Porter
Controversy c.1680--1800	193	(26)
Introduction	193	(1)
The Decline of Witch Practices and Beliefs in England	194	(3)
Changing Mind-Sets: Religion, Philosophy and Science	197	(2)
Eighteenth-Century Witchcraft Debates	199	(12)
Challenges to Witch Beliefs and Practices on the Continent	211	(8)
The Enlightenment Crusade	219	(18)
Introduction	219	(1)
Voltaire and the Philosophes	219	(6)
The Status of Superstition	225	(1)
The Role of Medicine	226	(9)
Conclusion	235	(2)
Culture and the Supernatural c.1680--1800	237	(18)
Introduction	237	(3)
The Reformation of Popular Culture	240	(5)
Survival: Art and Literature	245	(5)
Rebirth: The Occult in the Secular World	250	(5)
The Disenchantment of the World in the Nineteenth Century	255	(28)
Introduction: Pathologies of Superstition	255	(8)
The Grand Theory of Secularization	263	(4)
The Psychopathology of Witchcraft and Magic	267	(5)
The Return of the Repressed	272	(2)
Conclusion: Secularization	274	(9)
Bibliography	283	(41)
Index	324