Designed for teachers of European history at the high school level, the course
is nonetheless open to any teacher with an interest in the subject. Some materials
may appeal particularly to teachers of early American history.
We begin the coverage of the topic with three related questions:
•
How was witchcraft understood in the past?
•
How did trials for witchcraft become important political events?
•
How did these events reflect larger trends in the emergence of European modernity?
We explore these questions in a variety of ways, noting recent changes in the
study of European history, in general, and addressing recent scholarly approaches
to witchcraft and witch-hunting, in particular. In addition, a very important
aspect of the course is the analysis of extensive documentary evidence from
the period, illustrating how source materials may be used to develop students’ research
skills — to get them “doing history,” rather than just reading
it.
The course seeks to undermine the notion that witchcraft-trials largely took
place in the Middle Ages. To the contrary, witch-hunting was a modern phenomenon,
and one that is central to the study of European history between 1450 and 1750.
Witchcraft-trials, as distinct from witchcraft-beliefs, were the product of
important changes taking place in early modern Europe. Rather than being the
result of widespread lunacy, chaos, and political breakdown, trials of accused
witches were most often methodical administrative procedures reflecting intellectual
consensus of theorists in the fields of theology, politics, law, and medicine.
Instructor: Edmund Kern, associate professor of history, Lawrence University