European witch trials
Subtitle: their foundations in popular and learned culture, 1300-1500
By: Richard Kieckhefer.
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 1976
Place of publication: Berkeley
Language: eng
Number of pages: 181
Subjects: Trials (Witchcraft) -- Europe; Learning and scholarship -- History -- Medieval, 500-1500; Popular culture -- Europe -- History; Law, Medieval
Description: In popular tradition witches were either practitioners of magic or people who were objectionable in some way, but for early European courts witches were heretics and worshippers of the Devil. This study concentrates on the period between 1300 and 1500 when ideas about witchcraft were being formed and witch-hunting was gathering momentum. It is concerned with distinguishing between the popular and learned ideas of witchcraft. The author has developed his own methodology for distinguishing popular from learned concepts, which provides adequate substantiation for the acceptance of some documents and the rejection of others.
Notes: Bibliography: p. 148-153.