The Oxford handbook of witchcraft in early modern Europe and colonial America

摘要

Reviewing a handbook for a journal concerned with archives is problematic. The focus of the 33 essays contained in this impressive volume is resolutely historiographical, not source-based. They are divided into three sections: witch beliefs; witchcraft prosecutions; and themes of witchcraft research. The first section begins with two late medieval chapters on magic and witch beliefs, then considers popular beliefs and practices, demonologies, sabbath stories and the sceptical tradition, before ending with witchcraft in literature and art. The second and largest section begins and ends chronologically, starting with the first wave of trials and ending with the decline and end of prosecutions, but consists largely of regional studies across Europe and colonial America: England and Scotland are covered by Malcolm Gaskill and Julian Goodare respectively, but Wales and Ireland do not feature (nor does south-eastern Europe).