The European witch-hunt
The European Witch-Hunt seeks to explain why thousands of people, mostly lower-class women, were deliberately tortured and killed in the name of religion and morality during three centuries of intermittent witch-hunting throughout Europe and North America. Combining perspectives from history, sociol...
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| Format: | Buch |
| Sprache: | English |
| Veröffentlicht: |
London New York : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group,
2016
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| Schlagworte: | Witchcraft Witch hunting Trials (Witchcraft) Europa Hexerei Hexenverfolgung Geschichte 1400-1612 |
| Umfang: | xxii, 430 Seiten |
| Zusammenfassung: | The European Witch-Hunt seeks to explain why thousands of people, mostly lower-class women, were deliberately tortured and killed in the name of religion and morality during three centuries of intermittent witch-hunting throughout Europe and North America. Combining perspectives from history, sociology, psychology and other disciplines, this book provides a comprehensive account of witch-hunting in early modern Europe. Julian Goodare sets out an original interpretation of witch-hunting as an episode of ideologically-driven persecution by the 'godly state' in the era of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. Full weight is also given to the context of village social relationships, and there is a detailed analysis of gender issues. Witch-hunting was a legal operation, and the courts' rationale for interrogation under torture is explained. Panicking local elites, rather than central governments, were at the forefront of witch-hunting. Further chapters explore folk beliefs about legendary witches, and intellectuals' beliefs about a secret conspiracy of witches in league with the Devil. Witch-hunting eventually declined when the ideological pressure to combat the Devil's allies slackened. A final chapter sets witch-hunting in the context of other episodes of modern persecution |
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| Beschreibung: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 397-409) and index |
| Beschreibung: | xxii, 430 Seiten Illustrationen 24 cm |
| ISBN: | 9780415254526 0415254523 9780415254533 0415254531 9781315560458 1315560453 |