{"product_id":"2940015517286","title":"A History Of Witchcraft In England From 1558 To 1718","description":"CONTENTS.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e                                                                  PAGE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Preface                                                             v\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e CHAPTER I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The Beginnings of English Witchcraft                                1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e CHAPTER II.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Witchcraft under Elizabeth                                         33\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e CHAPTER III.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Reginald Scot                                                      57\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e CHAPTER IV.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The Exorcists                                                      73\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e CHAPTER V.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e James I and Witchcraft                                             93\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e CHAPTER VI.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Notable Jacobean Cases                                            120\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e CHAPTER VII.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The Lancashire Witches and Charles I                              146\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e CHAPTER VIII.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Matthew Hopkins                                                   164\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e CHAPTER IX.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Witchcraft during the Commonwealth and Protectorate               206\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e CHAPTER X.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The Literature of Witchcraft from 1603 to 1660                    227\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e CHAPTER XI.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Witchcraft under Charles II and James II                          254\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e CHAPTER XII.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Glanvill and Webster and the Literary War over\u003cbr\u003e Witchcraft, 1660-1688                                             284\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e CHAPTER XIII.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The Final Decline                                                 313\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e CHAPTER XIV.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The Close of the Literary Controversy                             334\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Appendices                                                        345\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e A. Pamphlet Literature                                            345\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e B. List of Persons Sentenced to Death for\u003cbr\u003e Witchcraft during the Reign of James I                            383\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e C. List of Cases of Witchcraft, 1558-1717,\u003cbr\u003e with References to Sources and Literature                         384\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Index                                                             421\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH WITCHCRAFT.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt has been said by a thoughtful writer that the subject of witchcraft\u003cbr\u003ehas hardly received that place which it deserves in the history of\u003cbr\u003eopinions. There has been, of course, a reason for this neglect--the fact\u003cbr\u003ethat the belief in witchcraft is no longer existent among intelligent\u003cbr\u003epeople and that its history, in consequence, seems to possess rather an\u003cbr\u003eantiquarian than a living interest. No one can tell the story of the\u003cbr\u003ewitch trials of sixteenth and seventeenth century England without\u003cbr\u003edigging up a buried past, and the process of exhumation is not always\u003cbr\u003epleasant. Yet the study of English witchcraft is more than an unsightly\u003cbr\u003eexposure of a forgotten superstition. There were few aspects of\u003cbr\u003esixteenth and seventeenth century life that were not affected by the\u003cbr\u003eugly belief. It is quite impossible to grasp the social conditions, it\u003cbr\u003eis impossible to understand the opinions, fears, and hopes of the men\u003cbr\u003eand women who lived in Elizabethan and Stuart England, without some\u003cbr\u003eknowledge of the part played in that age by witchcraft. It was a matter\u003cbr\u003ethat concerned all classes from the royal household to the ignorant\u003cbr\u003edenizens of country villages. Privy councillors anxious about their\u003cbr\u003esovereign and thrifty peasants worrying over their crops, clergymen\u003cbr\u003ealert to detect the Devil in their own parishes, medical quacks eager to\u003cbr\u003eprofit by the fear of evil women, justices of the peace zealous to beat\u003cbr\u003edown the works of Satan--all classes, indeed--believed more or less\u003cbr\u003esincerely in the dangerous powers of human creatures who had\u003cbr\u003esurrendered themselves to the Evil One.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWitchcraft, in a general and vague sense, was something very old in\u003cbr\u003eEnglish history. In a more specific and limited sense it is a\u003cbr\u003ecomparatively modern phenomenon. This leads us to a definition of the\u003cbr\u003eterm. It is a definition that can be given adequately only in an\u003cbr\u003ehistorical way. A group of closely related and somewhat ill defined\u003cbr\u003econceptions went far back. Some of them, indeed, were to be found in the\u003cbr\u003eOld Testament, many of them in the Latin and Greek writers. The word\u003cbr\u003ewitchcraft itself belonged to Anglo-Saxon days. As early as the seventh\u003cbr\u003ecentury Theodore of Tarsus imposed penances upon magicians and\u003cbr\u003eenchanters, and the laws, from Alfred on, abound with mentions of\u003cbr\u003ewitchcraft.[1] From these passages the meaning of the word witch as used\u003cbr\u003eby the early English may be fairly deduced. The word was the current\u003cbr\u003eEnglish term for one who used spells and charms, who was assisted by\u003cbr\u003eevil spirits to accomplish certain ends. It will be seen that this is by\u003cbr\u003eno means the whole meaning of the term in later times.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47069505487088,"sku":"2940015517286","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940015517286","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}