The Realities of Witchcraft and Popular Magic in Early Modern Europe

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xx

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2. The Reality of Maleficium

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-4

      PDF

   2. The Varieties of Maleficium

      • Edward Bever

      Pages 5-39

   3. Maleficium and Society

      • Edward Bever

      Pages 40-63

3. The Realities of Diabolism

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 65-66

      PDF

   2. The Devil in the Duchy of Württemberg

      • Edward Bever

      Pages 67-92

   3. Witch Dances and Witch Salves

      • Edward Bever

      Pages 93-150

   4. Sorcery, Satanism, and Shamanism

      • Edward Bever

      Pages 151-213

4. The Realities of Beneficent Magic

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 215-217

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   2. Divination and Prophesy

      • Edward Bever

      Pages 219-270

   3. Beneficent Manipulative Magic

      • Edward Bever

      Pages 271-335

5. Repression and Reality

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 337-337

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   2. Magic and Society

      • Edward Bever

      Pages 339-432

   3. Conclusion

      • Edward Bever

      Pages 433-440

6. Back Matter

   Pages 441-627

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Exploring the elements of reality in early modern witchcraft and popular magic, through a combination of detailed archival research and broad-ranging interdisciplinary analyses, this book complements and challenges existing scholarship, and offers unique insights into this murky aspect of early modern history.

• aspect
• cognition
• complements
• culture
• dance
• Europe
• history
• history of literature
• interdisciplinary
• Modern History
• Research in English and American Literature
• society

CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title for 2009

Short listed for the Katharine Briggs Award 2009

"Bever has done a great service in bringing an extensive and relevant medical literature into witchcraft studies...a book which bravely challenges so many received ideas can only be good for us all." - European History Quarterly

"Bever's book is an exciting and provocative contribution to the study of magic and witchcraft. Reaching far beyond the usual material of history into the disciplines of psychology and neurophysiology, Bever has drawn conclusions both stunning and profound in a work that will move the field forward as surely as it will inspire debate." - Laura Strokes, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"Approaches such as Bever's are a vast improvement over an earlier approach to the witchcraft trials as manifestations of superstition, priestcraft, and bigotry that would flee when exposed to the light of science." - Chas S. Clifton, Nova Religio: TheJournal of Alternative and Emergent Religions

EDWARD BEVER received his Ph.D. in History from Princeton University in 1983, USA. He was a software developer specializing in historical simulations before taking his present position as Professor of History at SUNY Old Westbury in 1997. He has published a book on African history and a number of articles on witchcraft and magic in Early Modern Europe.

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