Alison Rowlands
Search for other papers by Alison Rowlands in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
The devil’s power to delude
Elite beliefs about witchcraft and magic

Rothenburg and its hinterland had this restrained pattern of formal prosecution for witchcraft during the early modern period. There was a web of legal, social and cultural factors at popular and elite levels which operated and interacted to deter the inhabitants of the area from accusing their neighbors of witchcraft at law, and to ensure that the allegations of witchcraft that reached the courts rarely led to convictions for the crime and never triggered mass trials. This chapter discusses elite beliefs about witchcraft and explains reasons that the city councilors were unwilling to overstep the boundaries of due legal procedure in their prosecution of alleged witches. Elite beliefs about maleficent or demonic witchcraft were expressed around three themes in early modern Rothenburg: maleficium, or the causing of harm by magical means; the making of pacts with the devil; and the flight to and attendance at witches' dances or sabbats.

  • Collapse
  • Expand

All of MUP's digital content including Open Access books and journals is now available on manchesterhive.

 

Witchcraft narratives in Germany

Rothenburg, 1561–1652

Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 0 0 0
Full Text Views 411 41 3
PDF Downloads 637 150 1