Routledge Studies in the History of Witchcraft, Demonology and Magic welcomes proposals for books that can be used in the teaching of the history of witchcraft, demonology and magic across all time periods and geographies, but with a particular focus on the early modern period.
These books allow students to discover new areas of research which have been placed into the secondary literature of the period and the historiography of the subject. These books provide a key learning resource for all students studying the history of witchcraft, demonology and magic.
By Matt Goldish
August 27, 2024
Most studies of the Salem witch trials focus on social history and the dynamics between accused and accusers. Science and Specters at Salem turns instead to the intellectual background of the judges to understand why they accepted controversial types of evidence. The role of judges in a witch trial...
By Oscar Di Simplicio, Martina Di Simplicio
November 30, 2023
Much has been written on witchcraft by historians, theologians, philosophers, and anthropologists, but nothing by scientists. This book aims to reappraise witchcraft by applying to it the advances in cognitive sciences. The book is divided into four parts. Part I ("Deep History") deals with human ...
By Liv Helene Willumsen
March 29, 2022
Women come to the fore in witchcraft trials as accused persons or as witnesses, and this book is a study of women’s voices in these trials in eight countries around the North Sea: Spanish Netherlands, Northern Germany, Denmark, Scotland, England, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. From each country, ...
Edited
By Michael R. Lynn
March 18, 2022
Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Enlightenment argues for the centrality of magical practices and ideas throughout the long eighteenth century. Although the hunt for witches in Europe declined precipitously after 1650, and the intellectual justification for natural magic came under fire by 1700...
Edited
By Marina Montesano
August 20, 2021
This volume offers 18 studies linked together by a common focus on the circulation and reception of motifs and beliefs in the field of folklore, magic, and witchcraft. The chapters traverse a broad spectrum both chronologically and thematically; yet together, their shared focus on cultural ...
Edited
By Julian Goodare, Rita Voltmer, Liv Helene Willumsen
August 12, 2020
Demonology – the intellectual study of demons and their powers – contributed to the prosecution of thousands of witches. But how exactly did intellectual ideas relate to prosecutions? Recent scholarship has shown that some of the demonologists’ concerns remained at an abstract intellectual level, ...
Edited
By Jan Machielsen
April 08, 2020
Witches, ghosts, fairies. Premodern Europe was filled with strange creatures, with the devil lurking behind them all. But were his powers real? Did his powers have limits? Or were tales of the demonic all one grand illusion? Physicians, lawyers, and theologians at different times and places ...