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2 - Witchcraft and Demonology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2021

Mark A. Waddell
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
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Summary

Witch hunts raged for almost 300 years across Europe and its colonies, claiming the lives of some 50,000 women, men, and children. At their height, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, magistrates and inquisitors tortured those suspected of witchcraft in desperate attempts to uncover their confederates and prove their fealty to the Devil himself. Many people believed that their friends and neighbors had made wicked pacts with Satan and practiced harmful magic that destroyed crops, sickened livestock, and murdered the innocent. Lurid tales of secret gatherings, where witches worshipped the Devil and ate the flesh of unbaptized infants, combined with widespread economic hardship, famine, and war to produce unprecedented levels of paranoia and anxiety that lasted for generations. Theologians and philosophers accused witches of engaging in sexual intercourse with demons, the ruling classes led brutal purges of rebels and heretics, and practitioners of folk magic — healers, midwives, soothsayers — went from respected members of their communities to suspected witches.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Witchcraft and Demonology
  • Mark A. Waddell, Michigan State University
  • Book: Magic, Science, and Religion in Early Modern Europe
  • Online publication: 22 January 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108348232.003
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  • Witchcraft and Demonology
  • Mark A. Waddell, Michigan State University
  • Book: Magic, Science, and Religion in Early Modern Europe
  • Online publication: 22 January 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108348232.003
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Witchcraft and Demonology
  • Mark A. Waddell, Michigan State University
  • Book: Magic, Science, and Religion in Early Modern Europe
  • Online publication: 22 January 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108348232.003
Available formats
×