Godly Zeal and Furious Rage (RLE Witchcraft) The Witch in Early Modern Europe [Hardcover]

Though it is clearly an exceptionally important part of popular culture, witchcraft has generated a variety of often contradictory interpretations, starting from widely differing premises about the nature of witchcraft, its social role and the importance of higher theology as well as more popular beliefs. This work offers a conspectus of historical work on witchcraft in Europe, and shows how many trends converged to form the figure of the witch, and varied from one part of Europe to another.

Introduction  1. Fact and Fantasy: An Overview  2. Shaping the Image: The Malleus Tradition and its Critics  3. Magic and Maleficium  4. Heresy and the Diabolical Cult  5. Paganism and Popular Religion  6. Gender, Sex and Misogyny: I  7. Gender, Sex and Misogyny: II  8. Ideology and Authority: The Establishment and Witch Hunting  9. The Law, Torture and Trial  10. Defamation, Deception and Corruption  11. Motivation and the Village Community I, The Witch  12. Motivation and the Village Community II, Victims and Accusers  13. Dreams, Drugs and Madness: Conclusion.  Select Bibliography.  Index.