Witchcraft prosecutions in Essex, 1560-1680

Thesis



The purpose of this thesis is to consider the connections between witchcraft prosecutions and other social phenomena. A single county and a limited period of time have been chosen so that a study in depth can be made. W.Notestein's History of Witchcraft in England 1558-1718 (Washington, 1911) had already surveyed English witchcraft beliefs at a general level and the various works by C.L. Ewen, particularly his Witch Hunting and Witch Trials (1929), had shown that there was still a consid- erable amount of legal material relating to the prosecution of witches in the archives. Ewen's abstracts from Assize indictments suggested that Essex would be a suitable county for intensive study since it produced an over- whelming proportion of his witchcraft cases. The first part of the thesis is therefore an extension of the work of Ewen and Notestein. It discusses the various sources which may be used to analyse witchcraft beliefs. The cases which result from the investigation of these sources are presented in an appendix of prosecutions.

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Authors: Macfarlane, A; Macfarlane, Alan

• Alternative title: a sociological analysis
• Publication date: 1967
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-zgdwqd8ga
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Subjects: England; Witchcraft