The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe

Between 1450 and 1750, thousands of people were accused, prosecuted and executed for the crime of witchcraft. This book provides an introduction to the subject of witch-craft. It examines why witchcraft prosecutions took place, how many trials and victims there were, and why witch-hunting eventually came to an end, among other things.

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Fearlessly, Brian Levack tackles a vast, complex subject and reduces it to a concise and lucid synthesis with consummate skill, challenging old assumptions and casting light into the darkest corners. This, the revised third edition, offers student and expert alike immediate access to an overwhelming secondary literature, establishing it as the essential starting point for the study of early modern witch-beliefs and witchcraft trials.

Dr Malcolm Gaskill, Universityof Cambridge

"Now, at last, with Brian Levack's careful, scholarly and critical survey, a thoroughly reliable introduction to the whole literature is available.  Levack appears to have read every significant work, both new and old and in most relevant languages, and has judiciously sifted out the information, pondered on it, and come up with balanced and sensible verdicts."

Henry Kamen, History Today

 

"Levack's logical sorting of a prodigious amount of material has resulted in one of the most informative and comprehensive works of its genre."

Hans Sebald, American Historical Review

 

 

An enthralling and exceptional study, Levack focuses on the great age of witch-hunting in Europe(and also in colonial America), between 1450 and 1750.  He discusses how in these years more than 100,000 people - most of them women - were prosecuted for allegedly practising harmful magic and worshipping the Devil.  He sets out to answer who the accused and accusers were but most importantly Why, after more than 200 years of vigorous activity, did the trials eventually dwindle away?