European Magic and Witchcraft: A Reader

This unique new reader incorporates material from Late Antiquity through the early Enlightenment, taking a chronological approach to the history of magic in order to highlight the conflicting, complementary, and complex mix of magical ideas that developed in this time period. It draws from a wide range of sources—including ecclesiastical, polemic, pastoral, literary, and medical materials—and examines observed practices as well as proscriptive or theoretical texts. The addition of Norse, Celtic, and Anglo-Saxon texts demonstrate how medieval and early modern magic evolved from several historical and cultural milieus. The book concludes with a short chapter on the end of witch-hunting in the eighteenth century.