History 4380.001, the European Witch Hunts

29 Auigust 2017

Richard M. Golden History 4380.001, The European Witch Hunts Fall 2017; 6:30-9:20 PM. Tuesday; Wooten Hall 316

Office hours: 3:30-5:30 PM, Tuesday, or by appointment--General Academic Building (GAB 460. For an appointment, email me at [email protected] or call me at 940- 369-8933 or 214-282-6094.

Course description: While all societies have practiced various types of witchcraft, only early modern Europe (fifteenth-eighteenth centuries) persecuted and prosecuted people for the imaginary crime of diabolical witchcraft. Alleged witches constituted only one type of people in this “persecuting society,” which for the most part considered intolerance as a religious and societal good. This class will examine the history of witchcraft in Western civilization, the various types of witchcraft, the origins of demonization, the causes for witchcraft prosecution, the accusers, victims, and persecutors, witchcraft trials, the issue of gender, the legal context, the role of torture, geographical varieties in persecution, the role of individuals, states, and religions, the decline of legal witchcraft persecution, and the continuation of the practice of witchcraft and extra-judicial persecution after the age of the witch hunts.

REQUIRED READINGS:

Cohn, Norman. Europe’s Inner Demons: The Demonization of Christians in Medieval Christendom. Revised edition. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-11307-8 (paperback)

Levack, Brian P. The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe. Fourth edition. Routledge, 2016. ISBN 978--1-138-80810-2 (paperback)

Levack, Brian P. The Witchcraft Sourcebook. Second edition. Routledge, 2015. ISBN 978-- -138-77497-1 (paperback)

[Additional reading may be assigned from time to time.]

GRADING, ATTENDANCE POLICY, AND CLASSROOM ETIQUETTE:

Midterm examination 30 % Class discussion 30 % Final Examination 40 %

If you attend all classes, I will increase your final grade by 5%. Only one class absence is permitted. For every class missed after that, the student’s final grade will be reduced by 2%. Please do not be late to class. If you miss a class because you are ill, provide me with a written document from a physician and the physician’s contact

1 information. If you miss a class because of an emergency, such as a death in the family, provide me with written documentation. PLS know that there is a high positive correlation between attendance and high grades.

Please bring to class the book(s) and other readings designated for each day.

Please do not consume food or drink in the class. Turn off cell phones. Laptops are not permitted unless you have a medical reason for having a laptop. In that case, PLS see me. Please do not leave the room while the class is in session unless you have a genuine emergency.

Students may not tape record lectures or classroom discussion without my permission. Students who have a disability that warrants the use of a tape recorder may use one after discussing its use with me.

All exams for this course will be given only on the dates noted on the tentative schedule. My policy is to give make-up exams only for university authorized absences approved in advance by the department chair and academic dean, for religious holidays (after notification to me in writing within the first fifteen days of the semester), and in cases of genuine emergency, such as a serious illness, a death in the family, etc. In cases of emergency, to be eligible for a make-up exam, you must submit to me (a) written documentation for your excuse, and (b) a phone number I can call to verify excuses. I will then examine what you provide to determine if I believe the absence was owing to a genuine emergency. Make-up exams will be administered on a specified day during the week before the final examination.

For UNT’s policies concerning cheating, including plagiarism, see the “Code of Student Conduct and Discipline” in the Undergraduate Catalog.

Special Accommodation Request Procedure—ADA statement:

The University of North Texas makes reasonable academic accommodation for students with disabilities. Students seeking reasonable accommodation must first register with the Office of Disability Accommodation (ODA) to verify their eligibility. If a disability is verified, the ODA will provide you with a reasonable accommodation letter to be delivered to faculty to begin a private discussion regarding your specific needs in a course. You may request reasonable accommodations at any time, however, ODA notices of reasonable accommodation should be provided as early as possible in the semester to avoid any delay in implementation. Note that students must obtain a new letter of reasonable accommodation for every semester and must meet with each faculty member prior to implementation in each class. Students are strongly encouraged to deliver letters of reasonable accommodation during faculty office hours or by appointment. Faculty members have the authority to ask students to discuss such letters during their designated office hours to protect the privacy of the student. For additional information

2 see the Office of Disability Accommodation website at http://www.unt.edu/oda. You may also contact them by phone at 940.565.4323.

Help Center: The Department of History operates a Help Center in room 220 Wooten Hall staffed by history graduate students where you can receive tutoring about this class (which you can receive also from me!) or help developing study skills. These students are paid by course fees (there is no additional cost to you) to provide individual tutoring for undergraduates. Of course, I am available in my office during office hours or by appointment to help any of you.

The Department of History has a library in 267 Wooten Hall that you are welcome to use.

For bibliographical citations and questions of grammar and style, refer to the Chicago Manual of Style ONLY. You may consult the latest editions in Willis Library or in the Department of History library. There is an online edition. http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

29 August T Introduction; historiography; overview;

5 September T Definitions of witchcraft; Origins of witch beliefs; The Devil

Norman Cohn, Europe’s Inner Demons, 1-34

Brian P. Levack, The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe, 1-46

Sourcebook # 1, Witch of Endor Sourcebook # 2 sorcery trial, second century CE Sourcebook # 3 curse tablets against Roman charioteers Sourcebook # 4 Apuleius, the power of witches Sourcebook # 5 Horace, Candia as a witch figure Sourcebook # 6 love magic in antiquity

Sourcebook # 39 confession of witches in Guernsey Sourcebook # 48 trial and confessions of Elizabeth Sawyer Sourcebook # 20 Guazzo – pact with the Devil Sourcebook # 21 Bernard—demonic pact in England Sourcebook # 22 de Lancre – dancing and sex at the sabbath Sourcebook # 13 Nider—description of witches’ sabbath

3 12 September T Medieval Witchcraft

Cohn, 35-101, 167 Sourcebook # 7 St. Augustine, demonic power in early Christianity Sourcebook # 8 canon law and witchcraft Sourcebook # 9 Thomas Aquinas

19 September T Origins of the Witch Hunts: The Cohn Thesis

Cohn, 102-201 Sourcebook # 10 trial of Alice Kyteler Sourcebook # 11 Eymeric- magic and heresy Sourcebook #12 University of Paris: a condemnation of magic

26 September T The Fifteenth Century: The Witch Hunts Begin; The Hammer of Witches

Cohn, 202-233 Levack, 47-56 Sourcebook # 13 Nider, early description of the witches’ Sabbath Sourcebook # 14 Kramer, Malleus malificarum (Hammer of Witches)

3 October T Trial, Torture, and the Legal Context; The Impact of the Sixteenth –Century Reformation; Witchcraft Theorists

Levack, 56-121

Sourcebook # 26 Kramer, torture of accused witches Sourcebook # 40 confessions of Johannes Junius Sourcebook # 15 Daneau, Protestantism and witchcraft Sourcebook # 16 Boguet, the threat of witchcraft Sourcebook # 17 Remy, the Devil’s mark and flight to the Sabbaths Sourcebook # 18 Del Rio, the maleficia of witches Sourcebook # 19 William Perkins, good and bad witches Sourcebook # 20 Francesco Maria Guazzo, the pact with the Devil Sourcebook # 21 Bernard, demonic pact in England Sourcebook # 22 Pierre de Lancre, dancing and sex at the sabbath

4 Sourcebook # 23 Mather, the apocalypse and witchcraft Sourcebook # 24 Hutchinson, children, the covenant, and witchcraft

10 October T Was Witch-Hunting Woman-Hunting?; The Social Context Levack, 122-158

Sourcebook # 36 Confession of Walpurga Hausmännin Sourcebook #38 Trial of Françette Camont in Lorraine Sourcebook # 39 Confessions of witches in Guernsey Sourcebook # 62 Weyer, Witches as melancolics

17 October T MIDTERM EXAMINATION

Film-Benjamin Christensen, Häxan (1922)

24 October T Dynamics and Geography of Witch-hunting; Germany (The Heartland of Witch Hunting)

Levack, 159-195

Sourcebook # 41 Witch-Hunt in Eichstätt

Film-- Karl Theodor Dreyer, Day of Wrath (1943)

31 October T Witchcraft in France, the Low Countries, Scandinavia, and Switzerland; Central and Eastern Europe Levack, 195-198, 204-216,

7 November T Witchcraft in New France and Spanish America; The Lands of the Inquisitions (Spain, Portugal, and Italy)

Levack, 216-229

14 November T Witchcraft in England, Scotland, and New England

Levack, 198-203

Sourcebook # 45 Witches’ demonic familiars Sourcebook # 46 Trial of Agnes Sampson Sourcebook # 47 Witchcraft and the English aristocracy Sourcebook # 48 Trial and Confession of Elizabeth Sawyer

5 Sourcebook # 49 Trial and Confession of Janet Barker and Margaret Lauder Sourcebook # 50 Matthew Hopkins witch-hunt Sourcebook # 51 Witchcraft persecution in Kent Sourcebook # 52 Isobel Gowdie’s first confession Sourcebook # 53 Salem witchcraft trials

21 November T Possession and Exorcism (I)

Levack, 167-169

Sourcebook # 54, Weyer, Possession of nuns Sourcebook # 55 Possession of the Lancashire seven Sourcebook # 56 Boguet, possession of Loyse Maillat Sourcebook # 57 Possession of Marthe Brossier Sourcebook # 58 Jordan, demonic possession and disease Sourcebook # 59 possession at Loudun Sourcebook # 60 Mather, possession of the Goodwin children Sourcebook # 61 Possession of Christian Shaw

Film: Ken Russell, The Devils

28 November T The Decline of Witch-Hunting in the West; Scepticism

Levack, 230-261

Sourcebook # 63 Scott: the unreality of witchcraft Sourcebook # 64 Alonso de Salazar Frias, the unreliability of confessions Sourcebook # 65 Hobbes, the nature of demons Sourcebook # 66 Spinoza, the non-existence of the Devil Sourcebook # 67 Webster, witchcraft and the occult Sourcebook # 68, Bekker, the disenchantment of the world

5 December T Contemporary Witchcraft and Witch-Hunting (ca.1800 to the present); review

Levack, 262-278

12 December T 6:30-8:30 FINAL EXAMINATION