Magic, witches, and demons have drawn interest and fear throughout human history. In this comprehensive primary source reader, Martha Rampton traces the history of our fascination with magic and witchcraft from the first through to the seventeenth century. In over 80 readings presented chronologically, Rampton demonstrates how understandings of and reactions toward magic changed and developed over time, and how these ideas were influenced by various factors such as religion, science, and law. The wide-ranging texts emphasize social history and include early Merovingian law codes, the Picatrix, Lombard's Sentences, The Golden Legend, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. By presenting a full spectrum of source types including hagiography, law codes, literature, and handbooks, this collection provides readers with a broad view of how magic was understood through the medieval and early modern eras.

Rampton's introduction to the volume is a passionate appeal to students to use tolerance, imagination, and empathy when travelling back in time. The introductions to individual readings are deliberately minimal, providing just enough context so that students can hear medieval voices for themselves.

About the Author
Martha Rampton is Professor of History at Pacific University. She concentrates on the early medieval period with an emphasis on social history and the activities and roles of women. She is the founder and director of the Pacific University Center for Gender Equality.

Reviews
"Anyone looking for significant attention paid to the medieval period, and especially the earlier medieval centuries, will find it here. And for the late medieval and early modern periods, its attention to different kinds of sources, especially its mix of literature and drama along with legal and demonological texts, is a welcome addition." -- Michael D. Bailey, Iowa State University * The Medieval Review *
"For several decades now, magic and witchcraft have been the focus of scholarly attention, and Martha Rampton's reader - a collection of primary texts that prepares the topic in all its breadth for use in the classroom - is a welcome addition. University of Toronto Press has to be thanked for providing teachers, students, and scholars alike with a rich and voluminous source-book, albeit less affordable than one might have hoped. European Magic and Witchcraft presents carefully selected texts, eighty-six examples from very different genres, from biblical times to the early modern period in chronological order. Some of these texts are famous and have had an enormous cultural impact, such as A Midsummer Night's Dream or Augustine's City of God, while others are quite rare, such as Alferic of Eynsham (ca. 955-1010) or court records of the use of torture in early modern witchcraft trials." -- Sergius Kodera, University of Vienna * Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Reforme *



Book Information
ISBN 9781442634206
Author Martha Rampton
Format Paperback
Page Count 480
Imprint University of Toronto Press
Publisher University of Toronto Press
Weight(grams) 650g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 24mm