Witchcraft In Early Modern Scotland
James VI's Demonology and the North Berwick Witches
Distributed for Liverpool University Press
480 pages
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illustrations
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10 x 7-1/10
This volume provides a valuable introduction to the key concepts of witchcraft and demonology through a detailed study of one of the best known and most notorious episodes of Scottish history, the North Berwick witch hunt, in which King James was involved as alleged victim, interrogator, judge and demonologist. It provides hitherto unpublished and inaccessible material from the legal documentation of the trials in a way that makes the material fully comprehensible, as well as full texts of the pamphlet News from Scotland and James' Demonology, all in a readable, modernised, scholarly form.
Full introductory sections and supporting notes provide information about the contexts needed to understand the texts: court politics, social history and culture, religious changes, law and the workings of the court, and the history of witchcraft prosecutions in Scotland before 1590. The book also brings to bear on this material current scholarship on the history of European witchcraft.
Albion
“Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland will be immensely useful for scholars of witchcraft, demonology, early modern women, as well as those who study Scottish political, religious, legal, and social history. The contextual information in Part One is clearly presented and accessible for scholars with only a cursory knowledge of early modern Scotland; and detailed annotations of the documents make them readily comprehensible for readers unfamiliar with Scots dialect. The book is a case-study that becomes cultural history . . . Such rich and carefully read evidence of intimate interactions between members of elite and popular cultures makes an important contribution to our understanding of sixteenth-century social history.” –Albion, Vol.34, Issue 2, Summer 2002
Scottish Economic and Social History
“This volume provides readers, especially students, with what is too often lacking in early modern history: a self-contained case study based on primary sources . . . However, the authors have done more than provide the raw material of these trials as a case study. They preface each document with a useful introduction while avoiding the temptation to lead the reader in the interpretation of them. The documents also have footnotes relating to vocabulary and endnotes on textual matters arising from the originals. Both are extremely helpful . . . While one might be tempted to conclude that the publication of a complete set of witch trials is accomplishment enough, this volume expands upon this by including a detailed set of introductory chapters. These set out, clearly and concisely, the context in which the trials were prosecuted . . . this volume is to be commended for providing those interested not only in witchcraft but also witch-hunting with a single, self-contained case study rich in detail. Students, in particular, will find much food for thought in these original documents.” –Scottish Economic and Social History, Vol. 21, Part 1, 2001
Archives
“This book is, altogether, a remarkable achievement, combining the best standards of traditional textual scholarship with an imaginative approach to the subject. For as well as the texts gathered together and so splendidly edited, there is a lengthy introduction which places these texts, and the events which underlay them, in context . . . this is a book which will be welcomed, and much used, by the specialist in witchcraft history, which will also be invaluable to teachers and students both of early modern witchcraft and of early modern Scottish history more generally, and which will also be read with profit by those with a more general interest in such matters.” –Archives, April 2002
Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance
“A significant contribution to the history of witchcraft, the history of Scotland, the history of feminism and the history of ideas in general.” –Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance, Vol. 63, Oct 2001
Renaissance Quarterly
“This splendid edition of the documents represents substantial research and will be a welcome addition to the library of all interested in this topic.” –Renaissance Quarterly, Spring 2002
Contents
List of the Documents
List of Maps
List of Illustrations
Introduction
Discussion of the Texts and Editorial Conventions
Chronology
The Court and Politics
The Royal Marriage
Bothwell
Social Contexts and Cultural Formations
The Kirk
Scottish Witchcraft Before the North Berwick Witch Hunt
The Legal Process
Aftermath
Witch Hunting: Examinations, Confessions and Depositions
Texts of the Examinations, Confessions and Depositions
Records of the Witchcraft Trials (Dittays)
Texts of the Witchcraft Trials (Dittays)
Witch Hunt Propaganda: News from Scotland
Text of News from Scotland
Theorising the Witch Hunt: James VI’s Demonology
Text of Demonology
Appendix: Privy Council Orders Relating to the Legal Processes of Witch Trials
Bibliography
Index
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