Witchcraft, Witch-Hunting, and Politics in Early Modern England

Synopsis

A Wide-ranging Overview Of The Place Of Witchcraft And Witch-hunting In The Broader Culture Of Early Modern England. Based On A Mass Of New Evidence Extracted From A Range Of Archives, Both Local And National, It Seeks To Relate The Rise And Decline Of Belief In Witchcraft, Alongside The Legal Prosecution Of Witches, To The Wider Political Culture Of The Period. Building On The Seminal Work Of Scholars Such As Stuart Clark, Ian Bostridge, And Jonathan Barry, It Demonstrates How Learned Discussion Of Witchcraft, As Well As The Trials Of Those Suspected Of The Crime, Were Shaped By Religious And Political Imperatives In That Period. 1. Introduction -- 2. Witchcraft, Religion, And The State In Elizabethan And Jacobean England -- 3. Witchcraft In An Age Of Rebellion, 1625-1649 -- 4. Witchcraft In An Age Of Political Uncertainty : Interregnum England, 1649-1660 -- 5. Redrawing The Boundaries Of The Confessional State : Witchcraft, Dissent, And Latitudinarianism In Restoration England -- 6. Rebellion Is As The Sin Of Witchcraft : Anglicanism, The State, And The Decline Of Witchcraft In Restoration England -- 7. Witchcraft, Enthusiasm, And The Rage Of Party : The Politics Of Decline In Late Seventeenth- And Early Eighteenth-century England Peter Elmer.