Witchcraft Persecutions in Bavaria: Popular Magic, Religious Zealotry and Reason of State in Early Modern EuropeThis is a major, groundbreaking study by a leading scholar of continental witchcraft studies, now made available to an English-speaking audience for the first time. The author has compiled a thorough overview of all known prosecutions for witchcraft in the period 1300-1800, and shows conclusively that witch-hunting was not a constant or uniform phenomenon: three-quarters of all known executions for witchcraft were concentrated in the years 1586-1630. The book also investigates the social and political implications of witchcraft, and the complex religious debates between believers and sceptics.'..essential reading for all serious students of the subject.' Bob Scribner in English Historical Review |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
INVESTIGATING WITCH TRIALS AND LEARNED DISCOURSE IN SOUTHEASTERN GERMANY | 17 |
METHODOLOGY | 29 |
Moving toward a social history of witchcraft | 34 |
QUANTIFICATION IN SYNCHRONIC AND DIACHRONIC JUXTAPOSITION | 35 |
WITCH TRIALS AND POPULAR MAGIC | 65 |
A CRISIS OF THE LATE SIXTEENTH CENTURY? | 89 |
The wave of persecutions around 1590 | 115 |
CONFLICT OVER THE MANDATE AGAINST SUPERSTITION AND WITCHCRAFT OF 1612 | 269 |
PREDOMINANCE OF THE MODERATES IN BAVARIA | 291 |
TRIUMPH OF THE MODERATES IN SOUTHERN GERMANY | 310 |
Perpetuation through domestication 16301775 | 322 |
NOVEL POLARITIES AND STRUCTURAL CHANGES OF TRIALS | 331 |
THE LAST EXECUTIONS FOR WITCHCRAFT 174975 | 344 |
The final Catholic debate | 355 |
THE ONSET OF CATHOLIC DEBATE | 357 |
THE COURSE OF THE PERSECUTIONS | 121 |
TRIGGERING FACTORS | 158 |
MECHANISMS OF PERSECUTION | 183 |
THE BREAKDOWN OF CONSENSUS | 194 |
REGULATORY EFFORTS AT THE END OF THE PERSECUTIONS | 206 |
The struggle for restraint 160030 | 212 |
THE PROTESTANT SOLUTION | 213 |
THE CATHOLIC STANCE HARDENS | 216 |
FORMATION OF AN OPPOSITION PARTY IN BAVARIA | 230 |
LEARNED DEBATE 16014 | 247 |
Other editions - View all
Witchcraft Persecutions in Bavaria: Popular Magic, Religious Zealotry and ... Wolfgang Behringer No preview available - 1997 |
Witchcraft Persecutions in Bavaria: Popular Magic, Religious Zealotry and ... Wolfgang Behringer No preview available - 2003 |
Common terms and phrases
accusations of witchcraft agrarian crisis Akten apologists of persecution arrested authorities Bamberg Binsfeld Bishopric of Augsburg Bishopric of Eichstätt Bishopric of Freising Catholic Chancellor chapter confessions county courts Court Council Court Councillor crime debate Delrio denunciations Devil Dillingen Donauwörth Duchy of Bavaria Duhr Eichstätt Elector executioner Film Franconia Free City Freising Geschichte der Jesuiten Gretser Handbuch Hexen Hexenakten Hexenprozesse Hexerey Heydenreuter Hochstift Augsburg HStAM Ibid Jesuit Johann judge jurists Kaufbeuren Kempten landesherrliche Hofrat Landshut mandate Memmingen Midelfort Munich Neuburg Nördlingen Nuremberg opinion opponents of persecution pact persecution party Pfalz-Neuburg popular magic Prince Prince-Bishop Prod Protestant Prozess punishment Regensburg region Riezler Salzburg Schongau Schormann Schwabmünchen social soothsayers southeast Germany Spee Spindler StadtA Munich Sterzinger suspected Swabia Tanner territories theologians tion torture trials for witchcraft University of Ingolstadt Wagnereckh wave of persecution Wemding Werdenfels witch burnings witch hunts witch trials witchcraft trials woman women Würzburg Zauberey Zauberwahn