European Witch Trials

Their Foundations in Popular and Learned Culture, 1300-1500

• Author(s): Richard Kieckhefer, Professor of Religion and History Richard Kieckhefer,
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Pages: 181
• ISBN_10: 0520029674
  ISBN_13: 9780520029675
  
• Language: en
• Categories: Law / General ,

Description:... In popular tradition witches were either practitioners of magic or people who were objectionable in some way, but for early European courts witches were heretics and worshippers of the Devil. This study concentrates on the period between 1300 and 1500 when ideas about witchcraft were being formed and witch-hunting was gathering momentum. It is concerned with distinguishing between the popular and learned ideas of witchcraft. The author has developed his own methodology for distinguishing popular from learned concepts, which provides adequate substantiation for the acceptance of some documents and the rejection of others.