Witchcraft in the Middle Ages

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Cornell University Press, 1972 - History - 394 pages

All the known theories and incidents of witchcraft in Western Europe from the fifth to the fifteenth century are brilliantly set forth in this engaging and comprehensive history.

Building on a foundation of newly discovered primary sources and recent secondary interpretations, Professor Russell first establishes the facts and then explains the phenomenon of witchcraft in terms of its social and religious environment, particularly in relation to medieval heresies. He treats European witchcraft as a product of Christianity, grounded in heresy more than in the magic and sorcery that have existed in other societies. Skillfully blending narration with analysis, he shows how social and religious changes nourished the spread of witchcraft until large portions of medieval Europe were in its grip--"from the most illiterate peasant to the most skilled philosopher or scientist."

A significant chapter in the history of ideas and their repression is illuminated by this book. Our growing fascination with the occult gives the author's affirmation that witchcraft arises at times and in areas afflicted with social tensions a special quality of immediacy.

 

Contents

The Meaning of Witchcraft I
1
Witchcraft in History
27
The Transformation of Paganism 300700
45
Popular Witchcraft and Heresy 7001140
63
Demonology Catharism and Witchcraft 11401230 ΙΟΙ
101
Antinomianism Scholasticism and the Inquisition
133
Witchcraft and Rebellion in Medieval Society 1300
167
The Beginning of the Witch Craze 13601427
199
The Classical Formulation of the Witch Phenomenon
227
Bibliography
345
Index
379
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About the author (1972)

Jeffrey Burton Russell is Professor of History Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

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