Brian P. Levack

John E Green Regents Professor in History Brian P Levack

This book first appeared in 1987. It focuses on the great age of witch-hunting in Europe (and also in colonial America), between 1450 and 1750. In these years more than 100,000 people - most of them women - were prosecuted by secular and ecclesiastical courts across Europe for allegedly practising harmful magic and worshipping the Devil. The book sets out to answer the major questions that this strange and terrible phenomenon evokes today. Why did the trials take place? Why did they suddenly proliferate in Europe at this time? How many trials were there, and where, and what were the outcomes? Why were more witches prosecuted in some countries than others? Who were the accused and who were their accusers? Why, after more than 200 years of vigorous activity, did the trials eventually dwindle away? What did they tell us about the social, economic and political history of early modern Europe, and, in particular, the position of women within it? In this timely Second Edition, Brian Levack now incorporates the latest scholarship on the subject.

The Witch-hunt in Early Modern Europe

Second Edition

Witchcraft Sourcebook

A collection of essays from leading scholars in the field that collectively 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.

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

La caccia alle streghe in Europa agli inizi dell'età moderna

Distrust of public institutions, which reached critical proportions in Britain and the United States in the first two decades of the twenty-first century, was an important theme of public discourse in Britain and colonial America during the early modern period. Demonstrating broad chronological and thematic range, the historian Brian P. Levack explains that trust in public institutions is more tenuous and difficult to restore once it has been betrayed than trust in one's family, friends, and neighbors, because the vast majority of the populace do not personally know the officials who run large national institutions. Institutional distrust shaped the political, legal, economic, and religious history of England, Scotland, and the British colonies in America. It provided a theoretical and rhetorical foundation for the two English revolutions of the seventeenth century and the American Revolution in the late eighteenth century. It also inspired reforms of criminal procedure, changes in the system of public credit and finance, and challenges to the clergy who dominated the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, and the churches in the American colonies. This study reveals striking parallels between the loss of trust in British and American institutions in the early modern period and the present day.

Distrust of Institutions in Early Modern Britain and America

Articles on Witchcraft, Magic, and Demonology: Witchcraft in colonial America

Witchcraft and magical beliefs have captivated historians and artists for millennia, and stimulated an extraordinary amount of research among scholars in a wide range of disciplines. This new collection, from the editor of the highly acclaimed 1992 set, Articles on Witchcraft, Magic, and Demonology , extends the earlier volumes by bringing together the most important articles of the past twenty years and covering the profound changes in scholarly perspective over the past two decades. Featuring thematically organized papers from a broad spectrum of publications, the volumes in this set encompass the key issues and approaches to witchcraft research in fields such as gender studies, anthropology, sociology, literature, history, psychology, and law. This new collection provides students and researchers with an invaluable resource, comprising the most important and influential discussions on this topic. A useful introductory essay written by the editor precedes each volume.

New Perspectives on Witchcraft, Magic, and Demonology

Demonology, Religion, and Witchcraft

Witchcraft and magical beliefs have captivated historians and artists for millennia, and stimulated an extraordinary amount of research among scholars in a wide range of disciplines. This new collection, from the editor of the highly acclaimed 1992 set, Articles on Witchcraft, Magic, and Demonology, extends the earlier volumes by bringing together the most important articles of the past twenty years and covering the profound changes in scholarly perspective over the past two decades. Featuring thematically organized papers from a broad spectrum of publications, the volumes in this set encompass the key issues and approaches to witchcraft research in fields such as gender studies, anthropology, sociology, literature, history, psychology, and law. This new collection provides students and researchers with an invaluable resource, comprising the most important and influential discussions on this topic. A useful introductory essay written by the editor precedes each volume.

Witchcraft in Continental Europe

Witch-Hunting in Scotland presents a fresh perspective on the trial and execution of the hundreds of women and men prosecuted for the crime of witchcraft in Scotland.

Law, Politics and Religion

Witch-hunting in Scotland

The Witchcraft Sourcebook, now in its second edition, is a fascinating collection of documents that illustrates the development of ideas about witchcraft from ancient times to the eighteenth century. Many of the sources come from the period between 1400 and 1750, when more than 100,000 people - most of them women - were prosecuted for witchcraft in Europe and colonial America. During these years the prominent stereotype of the witch as an evil magician and servant of Satan emerged. Catholics and Protestants alike feared that the Devil and his human confederates were destroying Christian society. Including trial records, demonological treatises and sermons, literary texts, narratives of demonic possession, and artistic depiction of witches, the documents reveal how contemporaries from various periods have perceived alleged witches and their activities. Brian P. Levack shows how notions of witchcraft have changed over time and considers the connection between gender and witchcraft and the nature of the witch's perceived power. This second edition includes an extended section on the witch trials in England, Scotland and New England, fully revised and updated introductions to the sources to include the latest scholarship and a short bibliography at the end of each introduction to guide students in their further reading. The Sourcebook provides students of the history of witchcraft with a broad range of sources, many of which have been translated into English for the first time, with commentary and background by one of the leading scholars in the field.

The Witchcraft Sourcebook

Witchcraft in the British Isles and New England

Gender and Witchcraft

The fourth edition of The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe,written by one of the leading names in the field, is the ideal resource for both students and scholars of the witch-hunts.For those starting out in their studies of witch-beliefs and witchcraft trials, Brian Levack provides a concise survey of this complex and fascinating topic, while for more seasoned scholars the scholarship is brought right up to date. The Witchcraft Sourcebook, now in its second edition, is a fascinating collection of documents illustrating the development of ideas about witchcraft from ancient times to the eighteenth century along with commentary and background by Brian Levack. Including trial records, demonological treatises and sermons, literary texts, narratives of demonic possession and artistic depiction of witches, the documents show how notions of witchcraft have changed over time, and consider the connection between gender and witchcraft and the nature of the witch's perceived power. Available to purchase as a bundle, together these two books make the perfect collection for students and lecturers of witchcraft and witch-hunts in the early modern period.

The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe 4ed, and the Witchcraft Sourcebook, 2ed - BUNDLE

The West: Encounters and Transformations takes a new approach to telling the story of Western Civilization. Rather than looking at Western Civilization only as the history of Europe from ancient times to the present, this groundbreaking book examines the changing nature of the West how the definition of the West has evolved and transformed throughout history. It explores the ways Western civilization has changed as a result of cultural encounters with different beliefs, ideas, technologies, and peoples, both outside the West and within it. Presenting a balanced treatment of political, social, religious, and cultural history, this new text emphasizes the ever-shifting boundaries of the geographic and cultural realm of the West, with special attention given to Eastern Europe and the Muslim world, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

Encounters & Transformations

The West

die Geschichte der Hexenverfolgungen in Europa

Hexenjagd

Roy Porter

Marijke Gijswijt-Hofstra

The end of the 18th century saw the end of witch trials. This volume charts the processes and reasons for decriminalizing witchcraft. It also surveys the social role of witchcraft in European communities to the end of the 19th century.

The Twentieth Century

Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, Volume 6

Die Geschichte der Hexenverfolgungen von den Anfängen im frühen Mittelalter bis zum Ende im 18. Jahrhundert. Das Buch nennt die Gründe für die Hexenjagden, fragt, welche Voraussetzungen gegeben sein mußten, um zu den Verfolgten oder zu den Verfolgern zu zählen.

die Geschichte der Hexenverfolgung in Europa

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.

This collection of trial records, laws, treatises, sermons, speeches, woodcuttings, paintings and literary texts illustrates how contemporaries from various periods have perceived alleged witches and their activities.

Brian P. Levack

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