The Routledge History of Witchcraft is a comprehensive and interdisciplinary study of the belief in witches from antiquity to the present day, providing both an introduction to the subject of witchcraft and an overview of the on-going debates.
This extensive collection covers the entire breadth of the history of witchcraft, from the witches of Ancient Greece and medieval demonology through to the victims of the witch hunts, and onwards to children’s books, horror films, and modern pagans. Drawing on the knowledge and expertise of an international team of authors, the book examines differing concepts of witchcraft that still exist in society and explains their historical, literary, religious, and anthropological origin and development, including the reflections and adaptions of this belief in art and popular culture. The volume is divided into four chronological parts, beginning with Antiquity and the Middle Ages in Part One, Early Modern witch hunts in Part Two, modern concepts of witchcraft in Part Three, and ending with an examination of witchcraft and the arts in Part Four. Each chapter offers a glimpse of a different version of the witch, introducing the reader to the diversity of witches that have existed in different contexts throughout history.
Exploring a wealth of texts and case studies and offering a broad geographical scope for examining this fascinating subject, The Routledge History of Witchcraft is essential reading for students and academics interested in the history of witchcraft.
Edited by:
Johannes Dillinger
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 246mm,
Width: 174mm,
Weight: 453g
ISBN: 9781138782204
ISBN 10: 1138782203
Series: Routledge Histories
Pages: 412
Publication Date: 24 December 2019
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Further / Higher Education
,
A / AS level
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
"Editor’s Preface; Part 1: Witches in Antiquity and in the Middle Ages; Witches in Greece and Rome; Witchcraft, Magic and Demonology in the Bible, Ancient Judaism and Earliest Christianity; Demons and Witchcraft in the Early Church; Witchcraft and Demonology in the Middle Ages; The Rise of the Witchcraft Doctrine; Part 2: The Early Modern Witch Hunts: Regions and Issues; Witchcraft and Witch-Hunting in Late Medieval and Early Modern Italy; Germany – ""the Mother of the Witches""; Witch Hunts in the Low Countries (1450-1685); Witch Hunts in France; Witch Hunting in Spain: The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries; Witch Hunts in Britain; Witchcraft in Scandinavia; Witch Hunts in Eastern Central Europe; Witch Hunts in Eastern Europe; The Salem Witch Hunt; Witchcraft and the Early Modern Media; Witchcraft and Gender; Child-Witches; Witchcraft in Everyday Life; The Interrelationship of Magic and Witchcraft; Part 3: Modern Concepts of Witches; Child Eaters and Other Problems of Democracy: Witchcraft and the American Frontier; Witchcraft Accusations in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Europe; Shifting Figures of the Witch in Colonial and Postcolonial Africa; Wicca; Disciples of Hell: The History of Satanism; Part 4: Witches and the Arts; Witchcraft and Early Modern Art (1450-1550); The Witch Figure in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Literature; Where Have All the Witches Gone? The Disappearing Witch and Children’s Literature; Witchcraft in Film"
Johannes Dillinger is Professor of Early Modern History at Oxford Brookes University. He has published widely on witchcraft and magic, political crime, and constitutional history. His previous publications include Hexen und Magie (2018) and Magical Treasure Hunting in Europe and North America (2012).
Reviews for The Routledge History of Witchcraft
'The history of witchcraft, once narrowly focused on early modern Europe, now ranges widely across time and territory, and reaches deeply into every nook and cranny of human activity and experience. This diverse collection of essays, by leading experts in their fields, both reflects this remarkable historiographical development and does full justice to the importance of the subject in the twenty-first century.' Malcolm Gaskill, University of East Anglia
