Table of Contents

Brian P. Levack: Introduction
Part I: Witch Beliefs
1: Richard Kieckhefer: Magic and its Hazards in the Late Medieval West
2: Hans Peter Broedel: Fifteenth-Century Witch Beliefs
3: Edward Bever: Popular Witch Beliefs and Magical Practices
4: Gerhild Scholz Williams: Demonologies
5: Willem de Blécourt: Sabbath Stories: Towards a New History of Witches' Assemblies
6: Walter Stephens: The Sceptical Tradition
7: Diane Purkiss: Witchcraft in Early Modern Literature
8: Charles Zika: Images of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe
Part II: Witchcraft Prosecutions
9: Richard Kieckhefer: The First Wave of Trials for Diabolical Witchcraft
10: Thomas Robisheaux: The German Witch Trials
11: Robin Briggs: Witchcraft and the Local Communities: The Rhine-Moselle Region
12: William Monter: Witchcraft Trials in France
13: Hans de Waardt: Witchcraft and Wealth: The Case of the Netherlands
14: Tamar Herzig: Witchcraft Prosecutions in Italy
15: William Monter: Witchcraft in Iberia
16: Malcolm Gaskill: Witchcraft Trials in England
17: Julian Goodare: Witchcraft in Scotland
18: Michael Ostling: Witchcraft in Poland: Milk and Malefice
19: Ildikó Sz. Kristóf: Witch-Hunting in Early Modern Hungary
20: Valerie Kivelson: Witchcraft Trials in Russia: History and Historiography
21: Rune Blix Hagen: Witchcraft Criminality and Witchcraft Research in the Nordic Countries
22: Richard Godbeer: Witchcraft in British America
23: Iris Gareis: Merging Magical Traditions: Sorcery and Witchcraft in Spanish and Portuguese America
24: Brian P. Levack: The Decline and End of Witchcraft Prosecutions
Part III: Themes of Witchcraft Research
25: Alison Rowlands: Witchcraft and Gender in Early Modern Europe
26: Brian P. Levack: Witchcraft and the Law
27: Gary K. Waite: Sixteenth-Century Religious Reform and the Witch-Hunts
28: Oscar Di Simplicio: On the Neuropsychological Origins of Witchcraft Cognition: the Geographic and Economic Variable
29: Johannes Dillinger: Politics, Sate Building, and Witch-Hunting
30: Peter Elmer: Science and Witchcraft
31: Peter Elmer: Medicine and Witchcraft
32: Sarah Ferber: Demonic Possession, Exorcism, and Witchcraft

About the Author

Brian P. Levack has published widely on English and Scottish legal history and the history of witchcraft prosecutions. His books on witchcraft include The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe (3rd ed., 2006) and Witch-Hunting in Scotland: Law, Politics and Religion (2008). He is co-author of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (1999) and the editor of The Witchcraft Sourcebook (2004).

Reviews

The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft is a fundamental contribution to the field of witchcraft studies ... it most certainly deserves its place in libraries which collect material pertaining to this lively scholarly field.
*Adam Mezes, European Review of History*

a worthwhile contribution to the literature which all concerned with early modern witchcraft will consult with profit.
*Michael Hunter, History Today*

the individual contributions are on the whole of a truly excellent standard. The sum of its parts more than suffices to recommend this volume.
*Jan Machielsen, English Historical Review*

Editor Levack's balanced volume is a welcome addition to the study of the history of witchcraft ... Highly recommended.
*A.E. Leykam, CHOICE*

The essays in this collection succeed well in representing the field in its rich complexity, regional variation and historical contours. The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft offers a broad historiographical entrée into witchcraft studies ... as well as an up-to-date glimpse into the debates and claims of the field for scholars seeking a reliable and suitably deep overview ... this volume ranks among the best.
*Laura Stokes, History*