Robin Briggs (University of Oxford)

Witches and Neighbours

The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Witches and Neighbours is a highly original and unconventional analysis of a fascinating historical phenomenon. Unlike other studies of the subject which focus on the mechanisms of persecution, this book presents a rich picture of witchcraft as an all-pervasive aspect of life in early modern Europe.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
• 2 ed
• Seitenzahl: 416
• Erscheinungstermin: 25. Februar 2002
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 228mm x 151mm x 32mm
• Gewicht: 628g
• ISBN-13: 9780631233268
• ISBN-10: 0631233261
• Artikelnr.: 13620978

Autorenporträt

Robin Briggs is Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford where he has worked since his election as Prize Fellow in 1964. He was educated at Felsted School and Balliol College, Oxford and he is the author of The Scientific Revolution of the Seventeenth Century (1970), Early Modern France (2nd Edition 1998), and Communities of Belief: Cultural and Social Tensions in Early Modern France (1989).

Inhaltsangabe

Maps ix

Preface to the Second Edition xiv

Preface to the First Edition xv

Introduction 1

1 Myths of the Perfect Witch 12

2 The Experience of Bewitchment 51

3 Supernatural Power and Magical Remedies 82

4 The Projection of Evil 115

5 Witch-Finders and Witch Cures 146

6 Love and Hatred: Spouses and Kin 191

7 Men against Women: The Gendering of Witchcraft 224

8 The Age of Iron 250

9 The Web of Power 276

10 Internal and External Worlds 321

Conclusion 343

Notes 357

Further Reading 377

Additional Bibliography 386

Index 390

Rezensionen

"In this learned and meticulously researched book, Robin Briggslays to rest many of the modern myths about the witch craze,without in any way diminishing its horror... Briggs skilfully showshow the myths of witchcraft were linked with fundamental humanexperiences of pain and anxiety... Lucid and important." KarenArmstrong, The Times

"Briggs provides a fascinating psychological insight into theideological system that produced the trials. To understand themwithin their own historical context, he argues, is to realize thata belief in the witches' power was neither irrational nor absurd...the evidence from this compelling book suggests that human actionsare far more determined by irrational fears than our social selvesare willing to accept." Julia Wheelwright, NewStatesman

"I salute [Briggs's] rigorous and thoughtful scholarship."James Morrow, The Guardian