The Witchcraft Sourcebook

Brian P Levack

ISBN 10: 0415195063 / ISBN 13: 9780415195065

Published by Routledge, 2003

About this Item

More than 100,000 people, mainly women, were prosecuted for the crime of witchcraft between 1450 and 1750. This new anthology looks at the connections between gender and witchcraft and how notions of witchcraft changed over time.

Seller Inventory # CIN0415195063VG

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Witchcraft Sourcebook
• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0415195063
• ISBN 13: 9780415195065
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

This fascinating collection of documents illustrates the development of ideas about witchcraft from ancient times to the twentieth century. Many of the sources come from the period between 1400 and 1750, when more than 100,000 people – mainly women – were prosecuted for witchcraft in Europe and colonial America.

Including trial records, demonological treatises and sermons, literary texts, narratives of demonic possession, and artistic depiction of witches, the documents reveal how contemporaries from various periods have perceived alleged witches and their activities. Brian P. Levack shows how notions of witchcraft have changed over time. He looks at the connection between gender and witchcraft and the nature of the witch's perceived power.

This Sourcebook provides students of the history of witchcraft with a broad range of sources, many of which have been translated into English for the first time, with commentary and background by one of the leading scholars in the field.

About the Author

Brian Levack is Professor of History at the University of Texas, Austin. His publications on the history of witchcraft include The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe and The Athlone History of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The 18th and 19th Centuries.