Witchcraft, the Devil, and Emotions in Early Modern England — Witchcraft Wicca

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Witchcraft, the Devil, and Emotions in Early Modern England

Name: Witchcraft, the Devil, and Emotions in Early Modern England
Price: 200.00 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9781472485496

✍️ Millar, Charlotte-Rose

Reader Score

4.6

(1 review)

$200.00

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📚 WHAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT

Charlotte-Rose Millar’s meticulous study re-examines English witchcraft from 1563-1735, challenging the long-held notion that diabolical influence was secondary. Through a deep dive into pamphlets, she reveals the Devil, often manifesting as a familiar spirit, was central to belief systems. More profoundly, Millar illustrates how a complex tapestry of human emotions—fear, anger, resentment—fueled both accusations and the perceived motivations for witchcraft acts, linking these feelings directly to the infernal pact. This work fundamentally reshapes our understanding of the period's occult anxieties.

Millar, Charlotte-Rose

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Witchcraft & Wicca

Praise for this book

“In this fascinating and incisive re-reading of cheap printed sources, Charlotte-Rose Millar restores two vital elements to a conception of witchcraft that early modern people understood implicitly, but which many historians either overlook or underplay. The first of these is the devil, the second is emotion.”

— Professor Malcolm Gaskill, The University of East Anglia

“Charlotte-Rose Millar's insightful study of 66 pamphlets spread over almost 200 years offers a revisionist reading of these fascinating and vivid accounts. This includes a greater focus on diabolism and on newly-emergent topics such as animal familiars and emotional history.”

— Professor Marion Gibson, The University of Exeter

“Millar focuses on important sources which help us to reconstruct popular depictions of witchcraft, while other scholars have chosen to deal with learned sources, such as demonological treatises or trials records, where the documents are manipulated by judges.”

— Michaela Valente, Emotions: History, Culture, Society, 2018

🏛 Routledge 📅 2017 📖 242 pages 📔 Hardcover ISBN: 9781472485496

Fun Fact

Millar's 'Witchcraft, the Devil, and Emotions' is a vital, challenging work that boldly reconfigures our understanding of early modern English occultism. Its strength lies in meticulously demonstrating the Devil's prominence and the profound emotional undercurrents, offering a refreshing departure from older scholarship. While academically rigorous and perhaps not for the casual reader seeking broad European scope, it is indispensable for serious students of witchcraft history, solidly positioning itself as a definitive text in the field.

📝 Description: Witchcraft, the Devil, and Emotions in Early Modern England

This book represents the first systematic study of the role of the Devil in English witchcraft pamphlets for the entire period of state-sanctioned witchcraft prosecutions (1563-1735). It provides a rereading of English witchcraft, one which moves away from an older historiography which underplays the role of the Devil in English witchcraft and instead highlights the crucial role that the Devil, often in the form of a familiar spirit, took in English witchcraft belief. One of the key ways in which this book explores the role of the Devil is through emotions. Stories of witches were made up of a complex web of emotionally implicated accusers, victims, witnesses, and supposed perpetrators. They reveal a range of emotional experiences that do not just stem from malefic witchcraft but also, and primarily, from a witch's links with the Devil. This book, then, has two main objectives. First, to suggest that English witchcraft pamphlets challenge our understanding of English witchcraft as a predominantly non-diabolical crime, and second, to highlight how witchcraft narratives emphasized emotions as the primary motivation for witchcraft acts and accusations.

📑 What's inside

Introduction: Rethinking English Witchcraft
1. The Devil in Early Modern England
2. The Role of the Familiar
3. Anger, Malice and Emotional Control
4. Sleeping with Devils
5. The Witchcraft Conspiracy
Conclusion

💎 Expert review

“

💎

Esoterica Books editorial team

Occult literature desk

Millar delivers a dense, academically rigorous examination that demands patience and prior knowledge of early modern legal structures. While her argument regarding the centrality of the Devil is compellingly supported by pamphlet evidence, the text is undeniably heavy for casual readers seeking narrative drama or accessible storytelling. It will not suit those looking for light reading on witchcraft folklore or those who prefer broad cultural surveys over specific archival deep dives. However, for specialists in history of religion and gender studies, it offers a vital correction to established historiography regarding the role of emotion and demonic agency in judicial outcomes.

✓ EDITOR'S REVIEW

📖 Why choose it

📖

Why this book is worth reading

Scholars and students of religious history will find this text indispensable for its rigorous re-evaluation of diabolical influence in English witch trials. Millar’s meticulous analysis of pamphlets offers a fresh perspective on how human emotions like fear, anger, and resentment were inextricably linked to the concept of infernal pacts. It is essential reading for those seeking to move beyond simplified narratives of persecution and instead understand the complex psychological and spiritual tapestry that defined early modern occult beliefs. By centering the Devil and familiar spirits as primary drivers rather than secondary elements, this book provides a profound lens through which to view the era's societal fears and judicial logic.

⭐ Reader reviews

The starting rating comes from the team Esoterica Books —

⭐ Esoterica editorial review Editorial rating 4.6/5

★★★★★

For those fascinated by the dark corners of history, scholars of early modern England, or anyone seeking a profound reinterpretation of witchcraft beliefs. This book will captivate readers eager to explore the emotional and diabolical undercurrents of a turbulent era.

Reader rating

4.6

Based on 1 reviews

Esoterica Books editorial team

Millar delivers a dense, academically rigorous examination that demands patience and prior knowledge of early modern legal structures. While her argument regarding the centrality of the Devil is compellingly supported by pamphlet evidence, the text is undeniably heavy for casual readers seeking narrative drama or accessible storytelling. It will not suit those looking for light reading on witchcraft folklore or those who prefer broad cultural surveys over specific archival deep dives. However, for specialists in history of religion and gender studies, it offers a vital correction to established historiography regarding the role of emotion and demonic agency in judicial outcomes.

❓ Frequently asked questions

No, this study is meticulously focused on English witchcraft pamphlets from 1563-1735, offering a detailed and specific reinterpretation of beliefs within that particular cultural and temporal context.

Its central argument is that the Devil, often personified as a familiar spirit, played a far more crucial and emotionally implicated role in English witchcraft beliefs than previous historical accounts have typically acknowledged.

📖 Who should read this

🎯 Key themes and symbolism

Diabolical Prominence

Millar compellingly argues against the traditional view that the Devil played a minor role in English witchcraft. Instead, she demonstrates his pervasive presence, frequently through familiar spirits, as a pivotal element in the period's beliefs and the perceived power source for witches, directly influencing their nefarious acts.

Emotional Drivers

This book explores how the full spectrum of human emotions—from the accusers' fear and outrage to the witches' alleged envy and malice—was intrinsic to the narratives of witchcraft. It reveals emotions not just as reactions, but as primary catalysts shaping both the acts themselves and the ensuing prosecutions, often intertwined with diabolical pacts.

Revisiting English Witchcraft

The author meticulously re-evaluates historical perspectives, asserting that English witchcraft was far more diabolical than previously acknowledged. By focusing on the entire period of state-sanctioned prosecutions, the book offers a fresh, nuanced understanding that highlights the infernal dimension often overlooked in earlier scholarship.

📜 Historical context

This work stands as a significant revisionist contribution to the historiography of English witchcraft. It challenges the established narrative that often portrayed English magical practices as less diabolical than their Continental counterparts. By re-emphasizing the Devil's role, it repositions England's witch trials within a broader European understanding of infernal pacts and supernatural malevolence, specifically during the era of state-sanctioned prosecutions.

📚 Glossary

Malefic witchcraft
Familiar spirit
Historiography

📔 Questions to reflect on

How might our modern understanding of emotion influence our interpretation of historical witchcraft accusations?
If the Devil's role was more prominent, what does this imply about the spiritual and social landscape of early modern England?
Consider how fear, belief, and social anxiety interact to shape public perceptions of the 'other' in any historical period, drawing parallels to Millar's findings.