ABSTRACT
Despite many years of research. the European witch craze of late-medieval and early-modem times remains a fascinating enigma. a »secret of world history« (Genz. 1954. p.36). Such is the rudimentary nature of our knowledge. that we are still uncertain of the number of witches executed in the period of the witch craze. which extends from around 1400 to 1700. One estimate is that nearly one million women were charged with witchcraft. and that some 50% of them died.(Heinsohn and Steiger 1982 p.208). Although numerous theories have been proposed to explain the puzzle. they have never been systematically tested by comparative statistical analyses over a large number of cases. One consequence of this is that there is little consensus as to the relative merits of the
* My thanks to Matthijs Kalmijn and Bruce Western for advice on earlier drafts of this paper and generous help with time. advice and computil\g. I would also like to thank George Sabagh. the participants in the U.C.L.A. Macro-Sociology Seminar and the anonymous reviewer of Historical Social Research for comments on various drafts of this paper. Please send all correspondence to Philip Smith. Department of Sociology. University of California. Los Angeles. 405 Hilgard Avenue. Los Angeles Ca 90024-1551.
