Title: And though this world with devils filled : a story of sufferings /
Authors: Jón Magnússon, 1610-1696.; Fell, Michael, 1923-
Publisher: Peter Lang,
Year: 2007
Subjects: Jón Magnússon,; Witchcraft Iceland.
Abstract: "This book is mainly an English translation of Jon Magnusson's A Story of Sufferings. Magnusson, a seventeenth-century Lutheran priest in Iceland, endured intense physical and mental sufferings, which he attributed to the black magic of three alleged sorcerers. The two male sorcerers were tried, convicted, and burned to death, but the third (a woman) was acquitted. The work may have been written as material for appealing the acquittal of the woman to a higher court. This book also includes a historical introduction, a chronology of Jon Magnusson's life, and the rulings from the trials. Though hardly pleasant to read, A Story of Sufferings is a literary masterpiece in the original. It should be of interest to students of mystical religion and to historians of the witchcraft craze that plagued Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries."--Jacket.
Contents: Introduction. Texts translated in this book -- The witchcraft craze in Europe -- The historical background of seventeenth-century Iceland -- Schools, administration, and living conditions in seventeenth-century Iceland -- Witchcraft in Iceland -- Sorcery and spells in Iceland -- The scene of Jón Magnússon's life as a priest -- Síra Jón Magnússon, priest of Eyri -- Attitudes of scholars toward the Story of sufferings -- The nature of Síra Jón's distresses -- Síra Jón's spiritual experiences.