Routledge Library Editions: Witchcraft

Based on research in the Inquisitorial archives, the book recounts the story of a peasant fertility cult centred on the benandanti. These men and women regarded themselves as professional anti-witches, who (in dream-like states) apparently fought... Lire la suite

Though it is clearly an exceptionally important part of popular culture, witchcraft has generated a variety of often contradictory interpretations, starting from widely differing premises about the nature of witchcraft, its social role and the... Lire la suite

Clues to T.C. Lethbridge’s books lie in their subtitles. Witches: Investigating an Ancient Religion is no exception. In his study of the old pagan gods of Britain, Lethbridge believed that witch cults had their roots in prehistory and eventually... Lire la suite

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... Lire la suite

This is a comprehensive guide to the practices of witchcraft from their inception to the present day. Summers argues that all witchcraft is essentially the same, regardless of geographical location. He examines the practices of the cult in great... Lire la suite

Originally published in 1947, it is the essential purpose of this book to investigate attitudes of leading Elizabethan and Stuart statesmen, ask whether witchcraft was of any importance in seventeenth-century English history, or even influenced the... Lire la suite

Originally published in 1929, the author presents a formidable collection of facts, brought together in a scholarly manner. This is an examination of the general history of witchcraft, its changing laws and legal procedures, as well as methods of... Lire la suite