The Realities Of Witchcraft And Popular Magic In Early Modern Europe » (New Edition)

EDWARD BEVER received his Ph.D. in History from Princeton University in 1983. He was a software developer specializing in historical simulations before taking his present position as Professor of History at SUNY Old Westbury in 1997. He has published a book on African history and a number of articles on witchcraft and magic in Early Modern Europe.

This book explores the elements of reality in early modern witchcraft and popular magic through a combination of detailed archival research and broad-ranging interdisciplinary analyses. The book complements and challenges existing scholarship, offering unique insights into this murky aspect of early modern history.

List of Figures     ix
List of Tables     x
Acknowledgments     xi
Introduction     xiv
The Reality of Maleficium     1
The Varieties of Maleficium     5
Poison and assault     8
Occult injury and psychosocial factors in disease     11
Ill will and interpersonal communications     20
Harm to animals     37
Conclusion     39
Maleficium and Society     40
Maleficium and intracommunal conflict     40
Gender, age, and interpersonal power     47
Hard times and hard hearts     60
The Realities of Diabolism     65
The Devil in the Duchy of Wurttemberg     67
Origin and diffusion of the diabolic stereotype     67
The Devil made me do it     73
Dealing with the Devil     79
Witch Dances and Witch Salves     93
Rumors of witch dances     97
Dreams of dances     106
Dances and trances     118
Scopolamine dreams     129
Sorcery, Satanism, and Shamanism     151
The realities of sorcery in early modern Europe     154
Sorcery and satanism     168
Witchcraft and shamanism     185
Conclusion     212
The Realities of Beneficent Magic     215
Divination and Prophesy     219
The varieties of divinatory activity     219
Divination and guilt     221
Locating hidden things     230
Fortune-telling and prognostication     250
Prophesy     258
Conclusion     269
Beneficent Manipulative Magic     271
Magical healing     273
The varieties of healing practices     274
The efficacy of magical healing     287
Magical countermeasures     303
Magical enhancements     312
Supernatural powers and anomalous events     318
Conclusion     334
Repression and Reality     337
Magic and Society     339
Practitioners of beneficent magic     339
The mechanisms of repression     349
The judicial system     350
The church     356
Local communities     362
Individual psychophysiology     372
Repression and the marginalization of magic     378
The roots and rise of judicial repression      381
The prosecutions falter     389
Second surge and the decline of witchcraft     399
Enlightenment and repression     415
Conclusion     429
Conclusion     433
Appendix     441
Notes     444
Bibliography     504
Index     558