ABSTRACT
Magical beliefs and practices permeated early modern European society. It was widely believed that some individuals could perform incredible acts by harnessing the power of supernatural forces. Most people had recourse to ‘white’ magic at some time in their lives in order to ensure the welfare of loved ones, livestock or crops. It was also understood that such powers or ‘black’ magic could equally be directed to do harm. This ‘magical’ worldview encompassed other commonly held beliefs: in prophecy, divination and astrology, the operation of divine pRoviDence and the possibility of demonic possession (Thomas 1971; Wilson 2000). The mental construction of such beliefs affected intellectuals and peasantRy alike in their understanding of how God and the devil operated in the world. Sorcery or demonic magic became associated with witchcRaft by the end of the Middle Ages, and the Church and Demonologists came increasingly to attribute all magical acts to the agency of the devil. Those who were believed to have conspired with him were labelled witches and prosecuted as such. The sharp rise in prosecutions for witchcraft between the mid-sixteenth and mid-seventeenth centuries has long been a source of popular fascination and, in recent decades, has generated much historical debate. However, the fact that its perpetrators became a judicial target in the early modern period has proved difficult to explain. Theories encompass wider patterns of socio-economic, political, intellectual and cultural change as well as religious reform.
