The Pursuit of Reality: Recent Research Into the History of Witchcraft

Gaskill, Malcolm

doi:10.1017/s0018246x0800719x

Cited by 16 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…In the years encompassing the late Middle Ages and continuing through the Renaissance eras throughout Europe and later expanding into Colonial North America, women were tried and executed as witches [11,23]. The numbers of those lost can only be estimated, and range from 35,000 to 100,000 women.…”

Section: Early Concepts Of Menopausementioning

confidence: 99%

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History and Overview of the Menopause Experience

Geraghty¹

2021

Each Woman’s Menopause: An Evidence Based Resource

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Section: Early Concepts Of Menopausementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Overwhelmingly these women were of menopause age, beyond the reproductive control of men. Often these women also provided reproductive healthcare including contraceptives and abortifacients to other women [11,23,25].…”

Section: Early Concepts Of Menopausementioning

confidence: 99%

History and Overview of the Menopause Experience

Geraghty¹

2021

Each Woman’s Menopause: An Evidence Based Resource

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“…Following also the more recent focus on the inner lives and self-narratives of self-proclaimed witches/magic practitioners/cunning folks or those accused of magic/witchcraft practices connected to the history of emotions and selfhood currently characterising English speaking witchcraft studies and literature (Gaskill 2001;Gaskill 2008;Bever 2013;Kounine and Ostling 2017;Kounine 2018), the aim of this paper is to give a clear example on how, if read carefully and within the relevant context, some trials documents and inquisitorial documents can truly provide a glimpse-albeit minimalistic-on the perceptions and concepts of witchcraft beliefs from both the accused and the inquisitor and the more general cultural background within which these witchcraft beliefs and traditions were developed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Angels or Demons? Interactions and Borrowings between Folk Traditions, Religion and Demonology in Early Modern Italian Witchcraft Trials

Moretti¹

2019

Religions

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In 1638 Caterina di Francesco, from the town of Siena (Tuscany), was accused by the Roman Inquisition of invoking the devil through a spell called “the white angel spell” or “the spell of the carafe” (incantesimo della caraffa). She was interrogated, tortured and kept in and out of prison for nine years. Despite the accusations of the witnesses being focused on her practice of love magic, specifically her ability to bind men to “other” women rather than their wives and to help the disgruntled wives to have their husbands back with the use of a baptised magnet, the Inquisition focused its attention on her practice of the white angel spell, a divination spell to find lost or stolen objects with the help of shadows seen inside the carafe. This was a well-known spell not only among all levels of Italian lay society but also well known to the Inquisition, so much so that the 17th-century Inquisition manual Prattica per Procedere nelle Cause del Sant’Officio lists this spell among the sortilegij qualificati: Those spells presenting serious heretical elements. Using archival sources, this article will examine the effects of borrowed concepts between the theological/elite and folk witchcraft traditions within a specific case-study.

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“…6 In the words of Malcolm Gaskill, "there was no avalanche of reason and disenchantment, rather a slowly evolving matrix of assertion, association, and meaning." 7 Within this more complex picture, assumptions about early modern gullibility are deeply problematic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modern Magic, the Illusion of Transformation, and How It Was Done

Lamont¹

2016

Journal of Social History

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In 1584, Reginald Scot claimed that jugglers who performed magic tricks were mistaken for witches. The claim was repeated, and later became the basis of the Victorian idea of "modern magic." According to stage conjurors and writers on magic, "modern magic" was magic that was (now) understood to be an illusion. The claim continued to be repeated by amateur historians of magic, who reinforced this idea of "modern magic" by citing cases of early modern jugglers who were persecuted as witches. In recent years, "modern magic," as a distinctly modern form of magic that was understood to be an illusion, has become part of modern cultural history. The view that magic tricks were mistaken for witchcraft, however, is not to be found in the historiography of the early modern period. Indeed, it is a myth. When one examines how magic tricks and witchcraft were compared, one sees that there was a clear distinction made between the two. Nevertheless, despite the lack of evidence, the myth continued to survive. It was used to justify the exposure of secrets, enhanced Victorian conjurors' respectability, and it fitted neatly within the modern narrative of rational progress. It persisted due to the uncritical reading of sources by some historians, whose examples of persecution were the result of misinterpretation. Thus, "modern magic," as a form of magic that was understood to be an illusion, was not a particularly modern phenomenon. Indeed, despite some changes in how magic was experienced, early modern views of magic were remarkably similar to modern ones.

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The Pursuit of Reality: Recent Research Into the History of Witchcraft

Cited by 16 publications

References 16 publications

History and Overview of the Menopause Experience

History and Overview of the Menopause Experience

Angels or Demons? Interactions and Borrowings between Folk Traditions, Religion and Demonology in Early Modern Italian Witchcraft Trials

Modern Magic, the Illusion of Transformation, and How It Was Done

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