The Witchcraft Sourcebook: Second Edition

By Brian P. Levack

Book Overview

The Witchcraft Sourcebook, now in its second edition, is a fascinating collection of documents that illustrates the development of ideas about witchcraft from ancient times to the eighteenth century. Many of the sources come from the period between 1400 and 1750, when more than 100,000 people - most of them women - were prosecuted for witchcraft in Europe and colonial America. During these years the prominent stereotype of the witch as an evil magician and servant of Satan emerged. Catholics and Protestants alike feared that the Devil and his human confederates were destroying Christian society.

Including trial records, demonological treatises and sermons, literary texts, narratives of demonic possession, and artistic depiction of witches, the documents reveal how contemporaries from various periods have perceived alleged witches and their activities. Brian P. Levack shows how notions of witchcraft have changed over time and considers the connection between gender and witchcraft and the nature of the witch's perceived power. This second edition includes an extended section on the witch trials in England, Scotland and New England, fully revised and updated introductions to the sources to include the latest scholarship and a short bibliography at the end of each introduction to guide students in their further reading.

The Sourcebook provides students of the history of witchcraft with a broad range of sources, many of which have been translated into English for the first time, with commentary and background by one of the leading scholars in the field.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1138774979
• ISBN13: 9781138774971
• Release Date: June 2015
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 390 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A great tool and reference book

If you are considering Levack's Sourcebook, then chances are you already know something about witchcraft. This collection of documents ranges from classical antiquity to the twentieth century, although most documents fall in the early modern period and the great age of witch hunts. The documents are well chosen and edited. This is good stuff, and Levack hits the highlights such as the Canon Episcopi, Nider, Kramer, Weyer and Spee. If those names mean something to you, then I would highly recommend this book, as it is an excellent collection of relevant documents. If they don't, then you might want to start somewhere else that would put these things in more context (although he does have a small introduction to each document in the book).