Witchcraft in the Middle Ages
Select Format
Select Condition 
Book Overview
All the known theories and incidents of witchcraft in Western Europe from the fifth to the fifteenth century are brilliantly set forth in this engaging and comprehensive history. Building on a foundation of newly discovered primary sources and recent secondary interpretations, Jeffrey Burton Russell first establishes the facts and then explains the phenomenon of witchcraft in terms of its social and religious environment, particularly in relation to medieval heresies. Russell treats European witchcraft as a product of Christianity, grounded in heresy more than in the magic and sorcery that have existed in other societies. Skillfully blending narration with analysis, he shows how social and religious changes nourished the spread of witchcraft until large portions of medieval Europe were in its grip, "from the most illiterate peasant to the most skilled philosopher or scientist." A significant chapter in the history of ideas and their repression is illuminated by this book. Our enduring fascination with the occult gives the author's affirmation that witchcraft arises at times and in areas afflicted with social tensions a special quality of immediacy.
Customer Reviews
Rated 4 starsNot a book on Modern Witchcraft
This is a very well written scholastic book about the sociopolitical events and ideas that led to the formation of the modern concept of Witchcraft. This is not a book on the Witch Trials of the 17 or 18th century. Nor is it ment to be all inclusive of every witch trial that ever took place. The writer does a credible job of leading the reader to understand the medieval mindset of how witchcraft, sorcery and religion filled...
0Report
Rated 4 starsOutstanding interpretation of events....
WITCHCRAFT IN THE MIDDLE AGES by Jeffrey Russell is a salient and well-written history about religious persecution during the Middle Ages involving individuals accused of the practice of "witchcraft". WITCHCRAFT was first published in the early 1970s when a renewed interest in the craft was gaining public attention. Adherents of the craft have suffered a severe and enduring persecution--worse than any other religious persecution--including...
0Report
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
