Description
Book SynopsisThis text combines research with the author's investigations to produce an account of the role of witchcraft in the past. It argues that witchcraft - its belief and persecutions - cannot be explained by general causes but was as complex and changing as the society of which it formed a vital part.
Trade Review"In this learned and meticulously researched book, Robin Briggs lays to rest many of the modern myths about the witch craze, without in any way diminishing its horror... Briggs skilfully shows how the myths of witchcraft were linked with fundamental human experiences of pain and anxiety... Lucid and important."
Karen Armstrong, The Times "Briggs provides a fascinating psychological insight into the ideological system that produced the trials. To understand them within their own historical context, he argues, is to realize that a belief in the witches' power was neither irrational nor absurd... the evidence from this compelling book suggests that human actions are far more determined by irrational fears than our social selves are willing to accept." Julia Wheelwright, New Statesman
"I salute [Briggs's] rigorous and thoughtful scholarship." James Morrow, The Guardian
Table of ContentsMaps ix
Preface to the Second Edition xiv
Preface to the First Edition xv
Introduction 1
1 Myths of the Perfect Witch 12
2 The Experience of Bewitchment 51
3 Supernatural Power and Magical Remedies 82
4 The Projection of Evil 115
5 Witch-Finders and Witch Cures 146
6 Love and Hatred: Spouses and Kin 191
7 Men against Women: The Gendering of Witchcraft 224
8 The Age of Iron 250
9 The Web of Power 276
10 Internal and External Worlds 321
Conclusion 343
Notes 357
Further Reading 377
Additional Bibliography 386
Index 390
