Strange histories
Subtitle: the trial of the pig, the walking dead, and other matters of fact from the medieval and renaissance worlds
By: Darren Oldridge.
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2004
Place of publication: London; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 198
Subjects: Belief and doubt -- History.; Witchcraft -- History.
Description: "This book explains how beliefs that are strange to us were once widely accepted. It sets out the intellectual world of men and women in the distant past, and shows how their assumptions and expectations allowed them to believe things that we cannot: that heresy and witchcraft posed a threat to society, that demons carried people through the air, and that the dead occasionally wandered from their graves."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: Strange worlds; title: Angels on a pinhead; title: They hang horses, don't they?; title: The roaming dead; title: A shipwreck of souls : understanding witchcraft; title: Werewolves and flying witches; title: Raptures and forbidden words; title: Suffering saints; title: The case for killing heretics; title: Conclusion: The edge of wonder.