Witch-Hunt in Europe During the Middle Ages

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Research Questions
Annotated Bibliography
Works Cited

Introduction

The phenomena of the discovering and prosecution of hidden witches, presently defined as a witch-hunt or witch trial, existed in Europe from the Late Antiquity, during the Middle Ages, and until the Early Modern Period. Most of the studies are dedicated to the period after 1600 when the witch-hunt culminated. At the same time, much fewer works focus on the Middle Ages, probably because witchcraft practice seems to be more diverse and ambiguous at that time. This research will try to fill this time gap, analyzing the information about specificities of the witch-hunt in Europe during the Middle Ages. It will particularly focus on diverse definitions of witchcraft and, therefore, of those considered witches.

Research Questions

The historical background of witchcraft and witch-hunt (considering its preconditions in the Late Antiquity and early Christianity).
Specificities of the witch-hunt in the Middle Age, compared to the previous and subsequent eras.
The concepts and definitions of magic and witchcraft, which determine the principle of setting the targets for the accusation.
The diversity of the targets of the witch-hunt, and the role of the superstitions in it: real and imagined witches.
What served as evidence of witchcraft, allowing the witch trial to be committed.

Annotated Bibliography

Dunn, Sarah. The mark of the Devil: Medical Proof in Witchcraft Trials. 2017. The University of Louisville, Master’s Thesis. ThinkIR University of Louisville’s Institutional Repository, doi.org/10.18297/etd/2804

This Master’s thesis evaluates the importance given to physical evidence of witchcraft. For this purpose, the author brings together the examination of the bodily features or states, which are assumed to be signs of the possession or the presence of the Devil’s force in a human. These symptoms include “physical convulsions, extra-ordinary facial or bodily contortions, levitation, exceptional strength,” as well as no visible signs, such as “speaking unknown foreign languages, babbling meaningless phrases, and impenetrable silence” (Dunn 23).

This work, although belonging to a young scholar (Ph.D., Northwestern University, 2017), provides valuable data based on the vast literature on witchcraft. The research might be useful for those who need general information about the body in the context of magical abilities. It might be connected to the research question about the evidence of witchcraft. The ways of finding the targets of the witch-hunt are also described in this dissertation. The link between heresies and magic practices could be a subject of reflection within the question about the definitions of witchcraft.

Goodare, Julian. The European Witch-Hunt. Routledge, 2016.

This study examines the history of the witch-hunt in early modern Europe in the era of Reformation and Counter-Reformation. However, individual chapters are dedicated to its historical background, referring to the Antiquity since as early as 184-153 BCE (Goodare ch.1). The work examined different types of witches as it appears in public minds, considering stereotypes about them.

Julian Goodare is a Scottish scholar, at present a professor at Edinburgh University; his main research interests are witchcraft, folklore, and popular beliefs. The book is addressed to the students who are interested in the subjects, as well as scholars. It provides information about the historical background of witchcraft, and its specificities in the Middle Ages. It is also related to the research question about the different types of targets of the with-hunt. Besides, it mentions the problem of defining magic and witchcraft.

Montesano, Marina. Classical Culture and Witchcraft in Medieval and Renaissance Italy. Springer, 2018.

The author examines Greek and Latin literature, analyzing the particular features of the Classical Culture that were carried into the Middle Ages and early modern Europe. She discusses the idea of witchcraft, or supernatural abilities, considering such female mythological characters as Circe, Medea, Canidia, etc.

At present, Marina Montesano is a professor at the University of Messina, Italy; she actively contributes to the study of magic and witchcraft in Europe. The book may be interesting for the students and scholars, as well as the general auditory. This source is valuable, considering the research questions about the background and historical development of witchcraft. Knowing the prototypes of the demonic characters enlightens the problem of targets of the medieval witch-hunt.

Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Witchcraft in the Middle Ages. Cornell University Press, 2019.

Russell considers European witchcraft a product of Christian religion, thus, connecting it to heresy within the church more than to sorcery outside of it. He provides a detailed analysis of heresies, treating witch-craft in this context. The author is an American historian and religious studies scholar, most known for the works dedicated to the concept of the Devil, and the phenomenon of witchcraft.

This study contains detailed material on the subjects of heresies and witchcraft, which may be useful for scholars. In the context of this research, it provides the necessary information for the sections about the concepts of witchcraft. Besides this, considering witchcraft as a response to the official church and as a part of it, it changes the perspective of viewing it. The interesting point is the author’s affirmation about the emergence of witchcraft as an immediate social response to social and political tensions.

Voltmer, Rita. “Debating the Devil’s Clergy. Demonology and the Media in Dialogue with Trials (14th to 17th Century)”. Witchcraft, Demonology, and Magic, special issue of Religions, vol. 10, no. 648; 2019, doi:10.3390/rel10120648

This article is dedicated to the Catholic clergy (priests, monks, friars, and nuns) who were accused as magicians and sorcerers, or as confessors of other witches. It provides a different point of view on the research subject, describing whose, who usually considered conductors of a witch-hunt, as its targets and victims. Rita Voltmer is currently a professor of history at the University Trier, Germany; her main subjects of scholarly interest are witchcraft and demonology in Middle Ages Europe.

This article is a valuable source of unique data about the position of medieval Catholic clergy in the context of a witch-hunt and may be useful for scholars. In the context of the current research, this source helps to answer the question about the targets of the witch-hunt. It provides valuable factual data, which may be used in the paper. In addition, the article allows connecting the Middle Ages processes to the subsequent period of the Reformation; moreover, it illuminates one of the possible reasons for it.

Works Cited

Dunn, Sarah. The mark of the Devil: Medical Proof in Witchcraft Trials. 2017. The University of Louisville, Master’s Thesis. ThinkIR University of Louisville’s Institutional Repository, doi.org/10.18297/etd/2804

Goodare, Julian. The European Witch-Hunt. Routledge, 2016.

Montesano, Marina. Classical Culture and Witchcraft in Medieval and Renaissance Italy. Springer, 2018.

Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Witchcraft in the Middle Ages. Cornell University Press, 2019.

Voltmer, Rita. “Debating the Devil’s Clergy. Demonology and the Media in Dialogue with Trials (14th to 17th Century)”. Witchcraft, Demonology, and Magic, special issue of Religions, vol. 10, no. 648; 2019, doi:10.3390/rel10120648

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