Phantoms of the Night

About this Taster Session

The early modern world was a superstitious place. In the face of crop failures, epidemics, and high rates of infant mortality, ordinary people turned to supernatural explanations for their misfortune. As the panic intensified, tens of thousands of people were accused of being witches, and charged with working with the Devil. Thousands were executed. But if these catastrophes were the work of malevolent forces within the community, then who were the likely suspects? While as many as 80 of accusations were levelled against women, the numbers varied wildly: in Iceland, for instance, over 90 of convicted witches were men. Many male witches were powerful and respected community figures. In other words, the popular image of “the witch” as an old woman on the periphery of society doesn’t really stand up when we look more closely at the evidence. In this interactive session, we’ll think about some of the cases that don’t fit into the overarching trends, and consider what they can tell us about the complex web of social, economic, political, and religious factors that generated witchcraft accusations. We’ll think about how historians have explained the early modern witchcraze: do the trial records of unusual or anomalous cases support or undermine their arguments?

Key topics covered

• Early modern witchcraft accusations
• Historiography of witchcraft

How do I book?

If you would like to book a session, please email SCL@hull.ac.uk