Third Year Module
Module Leader: Dr Louise Carter
Rationale and Content:
The witch-hunt in East Anglia was part of a wider phenomenon in which between 90,000-110,000 people, the majority women, were prosecuted for the crime of witchcraft across Europe between 1450 and 1750, and in which some 45,000-60,000 people were executed. Why did the witch-hunt occur? Why were some regions more affected than others? And why did the witch-hunt die out? What function did a witch-hunt play within a community and how should we interpret individual confessions of witchcraft? This course will explore such questions using a comparative analysis of the witch-hunt in East Anglia, elsewhere in the British Isles, across Europe and in New England. It will question contemporary beliefs about witches, including differences between elite demonology and popular belief, the impact of varying systems of justice, governance and religious belief on the size, scale and character of the hunt, the relationship with broader socio-economic changes, the profile of the accusers and the accused and the role of gender in the witch-hunt. The module will introduce students to a range of textual and visual primary sources as well as the vibrant and extensive historiography on the topic.
Learning and Teaching Strategies:
This module will be delivered through a combined weekly lecture and seminar plus tutorial support. Where appropriate supporting resources will also be made available online. Seminar sessions will be designed to encourage student participation and will support students in strengthening their skills of presentation, discussion,argument and debate,and in evaluating, interpreting and using secondary and primary sources.
Assessment:
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Module
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Mode
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Weighting %
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Length
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Submission date
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Witch-Hunt
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Exam
Essay
Oral Presentation
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50
40
10
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2 hours
3,000 words
20 minutes plus handout
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End of semester
Week 12
As scheduled
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Recommended introductory reading:
Brian P. Levack, The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe, (3rd edition 2006).
Further Reading:
B. Ankarloo & G. Henningsen (eds.) Early Modern European Witchcraft, (1993).
Jonathan Barry, (ed.), Advances in Witchcraft Historiography, (2007).
Jonathan Barry, Marianne Hester and Gareth Roberts (eds.), Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe: Studies in Culture and Belief, (1998).
Malcolm Gaskill, Witchfinders: A Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy, (2005).
G. Geis and I. Bunn, A Trial of Witches: A Seventeenth-Century Witchcraft Prosecution, (1997)
Marion Gibson (ed.) Witchcraft and Society in England and America, 1550-1750, (2003).
A.C. Kors & Edward Peters (eds.), Witchcraft in Europe 1100-1700: A Documentary History, (1995).
Christina Larner, Christopher Hyde Lee & Hugh V. McLachlan, (eds.), A Source-book of Scottish Witchcraft, (2005).
Brian Levack, (ed.), The Witchcraft Sourcebook, (2003).
Alan Macfarlane, Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England: A Regional and Comparative Study, (1990).
Darren Oldridge, (ed.), The Witchcraft Reader, (2008).
James Sharpe, Witchcraft in Early Modern England, (2001).
Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic. Studies in Popular Beliefs in 16th- and 17th-Century England, (1971).