Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials – Gibson Marion (2023)

Salem, King James VI and the Malleus Maleficarum evoke a world of witch hunts and trials that may seem like a relic of an unenlightened and brutal age. Yet the expression “witch hunt” remains common in today’s media, and the misogyny underlying it is still familiar. A woman was prosecuted under the 1735 Witchcraft Act as recently as 1944. Through thirteen significant trials, this book explores the history of witchcraft and witch hunts, examining famous cases from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century while also pursuing new and unexpected directions. It follows the decriminalisation of witchcraft in the eighteenth century and its reimagining by Romantic radicals in the 1780s, showing how it evolved from a threat to Christianity into a form of gendered persecution, and how trials against African chieftains fuelled opposition to colonial rule. The book gives particular attention to the victims, including Helena Scheuberin and Joan Wright, whose stories have often been overshadowed by powerful men such as King James VI and I and the “Witchfinder General” Matthew Hopkins. Witchcraft cannot be confined to history: hundreds of people, mostly women, are tried and killed as witches every year in Africa, while witch hunts continue to shape language and take place around the world. The contents are in English.