- [UNTITLED]
- List of Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- Introduction
- Magic and its Hazards in the Late Medieval West
- Fifteenth-Century Witch Beliefs
- Popular Witch Beliefs and Magical Practices
- Demonologies
- Sabbath Stories: Towards a New History of Witches’ Assemblies
- The Sceptical Tradition
- Witchcraft in Early Modern Literature
- Images of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe
- The First Wave of Trials for Diabolical Witchcraft
- The German Witch Trials
- Witchcraft and the Local Communities: The Rhine-Moselle Region
- Witchcraft Trials in France
- Witchcraft and Wealth: The Case of the Netherlands
- Witchcraft Prosecutions in Italy
- Witchcraft in Iberia
- Witchcraft Trials in England
- Witchcraft in Scotland
- Witchcraft in Poland: Milk and Malefice
- Witch-Hunting in Early Modern Hungary
- Witchcraft Trials in Russia: History and Historiography
- Witchcraft Criminality and Witchcraft Research in the Nordic Countries
- Witchcraft in British America
- Merging Magical Traditions: Sorcery and Witchcraft in Spanish and Portuguese America
- The Decline and End of Witchcraft Prosecutions
- Witchcraft and Gender in Early Modern Europe
- Witchcraft and the Law
- Sixteenth-Century Religious Reform and the Witch-Hunts
- On The Neuropsychological Origins of Witchcraft Cognition: The Geographic and Economic Variable
- Politics, State-Building, and Witch-Hunting
- Science and Witchcraft
- Medicine and Witchcraft
- Demonic Possession, Exorcism, and Witchcraft
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
This article discusses the history of witchcraft in British America. The fear of witches was embedded within the culture which English migrants brought with them as they crossed the Atlantic to settle in North America, and so it is not surprising that witch-hunting became a part of the colonial experience. Over sixty trials for witchcraft took place in seventeenth-century New England, omitting the infamous Salem witch-hunt of 1692, which resulted in over 150 formal charges. Accusations of witchcraft occurred throughout the British colonies, but there were far fewer prosecutions in the middle and southern colonies than in New England.
Keywords: witchcraft prosecutions, British colonies, witchcraft, English migrants, witch trials, New England
Richard Godbeer, is Professor of History at the University of Miami. He is author of The Devil's Dominion: Magic and Religion in Early New England (1992), Sexual Revolution in Early America (2002), Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692 (2005), The Overflowing of Friendship: Love between Men and the Creation of the American Republic (2009), and The Salem Witch Hunt: A Brief History with Documents (2011).
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- [UNTITLED]
- List of Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- Introduction
- Magic and its Hazards in the Late Medieval West
- Fifteenth-Century Witch Beliefs
- Popular Witch Beliefs and Magical Practices
- Demonologies
- Sabbath Stories: Towards a New History of Witches’ Assemblies
- The Sceptical Tradition
- Witchcraft in Early Modern Literature
- Images of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe
- The First Wave of Trials for Diabolical Witchcraft
- The German Witch Trials
- Witchcraft and the Local Communities: The Rhine-Moselle Region
- Witchcraft Trials in France
- Witchcraft and Wealth: The Case of the Netherlands
- Witchcraft Prosecutions in Italy
- Witchcraft in Iberia
- Witchcraft Trials in England
- Witchcraft in Scotland
- Witchcraft in Poland: Milk and Malefice
- Witch-Hunting in Early Modern Hungary
- Witchcraft Trials in Russia: History and Historiography
- Witchcraft Criminality and Witchcraft Research in the Nordic Countries
- Witchcraft in British America
- Merging Magical Traditions: Sorcery and Witchcraft in Spanish and Portuguese America
- The Decline and End of Witchcraft Prosecutions
- Witchcraft and Gender in Early Modern Europe
- Witchcraft and the Law
- Sixteenth-Century Religious Reform and the Witch-Hunts
- On The Neuropsychological Origins of Witchcraft Cognition: The Geographic and Economic Variable
- Politics, State-Building, and Witch-Hunting
- Science and Witchcraft
- Medicine and Witchcraft
- Demonic Possession, Exorcism, and Witchcraft
- Index