HR282-6-SP-CO:
Witch-Trials in Early Modern Europe and New England
2024/25
Philosophical, Historical, and Interdisciplinary Studies (School of)
Colchester Campus
Spring
Undergraduate: Level 6
Current
Monday 13 January 2025
Friday 21 March 2025
15
10 April 2024
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
This module will focus on the large-scale prosecution of individuals for the crime of witchcraft in early modern western Europe and New England. It will explore beliefs about witchcraft, legal changes, the motivations behind accusations of witchcraft, and the regional variation in the intensity of witch-trials.
The module will focus on some of the largest witch-trial episodes and explore why accusations escalated into mass-persecution in certain times and places. It will familiarise students with key historiographical debates surrounding the phenomenon of witch-trials (for example, around the issue of the gendering of witch-persecution) and introduce them to some of the primary sources for the study of early modern witchcraft beliefs and witch-trials (demonologies, trial-records and images).
The aims of this module are:
- To understand the legal, cultural and social context which made witch-trials possible.
- To compare large-scale episodes of witch-persecution and their causes.
- To analyse secondary and primary sources about this subject critically and with confidence.
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- Gain a deep knowledge of early modern witch-trials and their causes and empathy for the people involved in them.
- Gain the ability to think about witch-persecution comparatively.
- Develop their ability to read and analyse historiographical debates and primary source material.
Introductory Reading
- Brian P. Levack, The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe (ideally the 3rd edition, Pearson Longman, 2006).
- Julian Goodare, The European Witch-Hunt (Routledge, 2016).
- Brian P. Levack (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America (Oxford, 2013).
- Malcolm Gaskill, Witchcraft. A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2010).
- Johannes Dillinger (ed.), The Routledge History of Witchcraft (Routledge, 2016).
This module will be delivered via:
- One 2-hour workshop per week.
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Golden, R.M. (ed.) (2006)
Encyclopedia of witchcraft: the Western tradition. Santa Barbara [Calif.]: ABC-CLIO. Available at:
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=148574.
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‘Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft’ (no date). Available at:
https://muse-jhu-edu.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/journal/387.
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Levack, B.P. (2013)
The Oxford handbook of witchcraft in early modern Europe and colonial America. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Available at:
https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/34335.
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Kounine, L. and Ostling, M. (eds) (2017)
Emotions in the History of Witchcraft. 1st ed. 2016. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4803531.
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Oldridge, D. (2019)
The Witchcraft Reader. Third edition. Milton: Routledge. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=5890694.
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Dillinger, J. (2016)
Routledge history of witchcraft. [Place of publication not identified]: Routledge. Available at:
https://doi-org.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/10.4324/9781003010296.
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Barry, J. and Davies, O. (2007a)
Palgrave advances in witchcraft historiography. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Available at:
https://link-springer-com.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/book/10.1057/9780230593480.
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Barry, J., Hester, M. and Roberts, G. (eds) (1996)
Witchcraft in early modern Europe: studies in culture and belief. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available at:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511599538.
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Levack, B.P. (2015b)
The witch-hunt in early modern Europe. Fourth edition. Boca Raton, FL: Routledge, an imprint of Taylor and Francis. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?pq-origsite=primo&docID=4542681.
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Gaskill, M. (2010)
Witchcraft: a very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=684591.
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Ankarloo, B., Clark, S. and Monter, E.W. (2001)
Witchcraft and magic in Europe: the period of the witch trials. London: Athlone. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=435981.
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Maxwell-Stuart, P.G. (2001)
Witchcraft in Europe and the New World, 1400-1800. Basingstoke: Palgrave. Available at:
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=78747.
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Bath, J. and Newton, J. (2008)
Witchcraft and the Act of 1604. Leiden: Brill. Available at:
https://brill.com/view/title/11811.
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Briggs, R. (1996) ‘‘"Many reasons why”: witchcraft and the problem of multiple explanations’, chapter 2’, in J. Barry, M. Hester, and G. Roberts (eds)
Witchcraft in early modern Europe: studies in culture and belief. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available at:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511599538.
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Barry, J. and Davies, O. (2007b)
Palgrave advances in witchcraft historiography. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Available at:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230593480.
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Behringer, W. (1995) ‘Weather, Hunger and Fear: Origins of the European Witch-Hunts in Climate, Society and Mentality’,
German History, 13(1), pp. 1–27. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1093/gh/13.1.1.
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Nenonen, M. and Toivo, R.M. (eds) (2014)
Writing witch-hunt histories: challenging the paradigm. Leiden: Brill. Available at:
https://brill-com.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/edcollbook/title/24304.
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Malleus Maleficarum Part 2, Chapter 1, Question 1 (no date). Internet Sacred Text Archive. Available at:
https://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/mm/mm02a01a.htm.
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Wilson, E. (1996) ‘Institoris at Innsbruck: Heinrich Institoris, the Summis Desiderantes and the Brixen witch-trial of 1485’, in Popular religion in Germany and Central Europe, 1400-1800. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
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Brauner, S. and Brown, R.H. (1995) ‘The Malleus Maleficarum: witches as wanton women’, in
Fearless wives and frightened shrews: the construction of the witch in early modern Germany. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, pp. 31–49. Available at:
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=25547.
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Moira Smith (2002) ‘The Flying Phallus and the Laughing Inquisitor: Penis Theft in the “Malleus Maleficarum”’,
Journal of Folklore Research, 39(1), pp. 85–117. Available at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3814832.
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Machielsen, J.M. (ed.) (2020)
The science of demons: early modern authors facing witchcraft and the devil. 1st ed. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge Taylor & Francis. Available at:
https://doi-org.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/10.4324/9780203702512.
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Dworkin, A. (1974) ‘“Gynocide: the Witches”, chapter 7 of Woman hating by Andrea Dworkin’, in Woman hating. New York: Penguin.
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Broedel, H.P. (2003)
The Malleus Maleficarum and the construction of witchcraft: theology and popular belief [electronic resource]. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Available at:
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=133647.
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Apps, L. and Gow, A.C. (2003)
Male witches in early modern Europe. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Available at:
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=126905.
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EBSCOhost ebook collection (2016)
Emotions in the history of witchcraft. Edited by L. Kounine and M. Ostling. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Available at:
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=1290585.
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Clark, S. (1997)
Thinking with demons: the idea of witchcraft in early modern Europe. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Available at:
https://academic-oup-com.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/book/3259.
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's
reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Primary Source Analysis (750 words) |
13/03/2025 |
20% |
| Coursework |
Essay (2250 words) |
01/05/2025 |
75% |
| Practical |
Workshop participation |
|
5% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Prof Alison Rowlands, email: alisonc@essex.ac.uk.
History UG Administrators: hrugadmin@essex.ac.uk
Yes
Yes
No
No external examiner information available for this module.
Available via Moodle
Of 36 hours, 36 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.
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