Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe - Studies in Culture and Belief ed by Jonathan Barry Marianne Hester & Gareth Roberts (1996).pdf - Magia - historia magii - morefaya2006

This important collection of essays brings together both established figures and

new researchers to offer fresh perspectives on the ever-controversial subject of

the history of witchcraft. Using Keith Thomas' Religion and the Decline of

Magic as a starting point, the contributors explore the changes of the last twenty-

five years in the understanding of early modern witchcraft, and suggest new

approaches, especially concerning the cultural dimensions of the subject. Witch-

craft cases must be understood as power struggles, over gender and ideology as

well as social relationships, with a crucial role played by alternative represen-

tations. Witchcraft was always a contested idea, never fully established in early

modern culture but much harder to dislodge than has usually been assumed. The

essays are European in scope, with examples from Germany, France and

the Spanish expansion into the New World, as well as a strong core of English

material.

Past and Present Publications

Witchcraft in early

modern Europe

Past and Present Publications

General Editor: JOANNA INNES, Somerville College, Oxford

Past and Present Publications comprise books similar in character to the articles in

the journal Past and Present. Whether the volumes in the series are collections of

essays - some previously published, others new studies - or monographs, they

encompass a wide variety of scholarly and original works primarily concerned with

social, economic and cultural changes, and their causes and consequences. They

will appeal to both specialists and non-specialists and will endeavour to communi-

cate the results of historical and allied research in the most readable and lively form.

For a list of titles in Past and Present Publications, see end of book.

Witchcraft in

early modern Europe

Studies in culture and belief

EDITED BY

JONATHAN BARRY

University of Exeter

MARIANNE HESTER

University of Bristol

AND

GARETH ROBERTS

University of Exeter

CAMBRIDGE

UNIVERSITY PRESS

Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe - Studies in Culture and Belief ed by Jonathan Barry Marianne Hester & Gareth Roberts (1996).pdf