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 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 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 see the Office of Disability Accommodation website athttp://www.unt.edu/oda. You may also contact them by phone at940.565.4323.
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
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
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
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
1