ABSTRACT

In 1604, 20-year-old Anne Gunter was bewitched: she foamed at the mouth, contorted wildly in her bedchamber, went into trances. Her garters and bodices were perpetually unlacing themselves. Her signature symptom was to vomit pins and "she voided some pins downwards as well by her water or otherwise.." Popular history at its best, "The Bewitching of Anne Gunter" opens a fascinating window onto the past. It's a tale of controlling fathers, willful daughters, nosy neighbors, power relations between peasants and gentry, and village life in early-modern Europe. Above all it's an original and revealing story of one young woman's experience with the greatly misunderstood phenomenon of witchcraft. James Sharpe is Professor of History at York University and the author of "Instruments of Darkness: Witchcraft in" "Early Modern History" and other works of social history.

chapter one|13 pages

Anne's Story

chapter three|21 pages

Many Strange Tortures

chapter four|26 pages

Witchcraft

chapter five|25 pages

The Oxford Connection

chapter six|24 pages

The Witch-Trial at Abingdon

chapter seven|30 pages

Demonic Possession and the Politics of Exorcism

chapter eight|28 pages

Anne Meets the King

chapter nine|16 pages

Loose Ends, Tied and Untied