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Witchcraft and magic are topics of enduring interest for many reasons. The main one lies in their extraordinary interdisciplinarity: anthropologists, folklorists, historians, and more have contributed to build a body of work of extreme variety and consistence. Of course, this also means that the subjects themselves are not easy to assess. In a very general way, we can define witchcraft as a supernatural means to cause harm, death, or misfortune, while magic also belongs to the field of supernatural, or at least esoteric knowledge, but can be used to less dangerous effects (e.g., divination and astrology). In Western civilization, however, the witch hunt has set a very peculiar perspective in which diabolical witchcraft, the invention of the Sabbat, the persecution of many thousands of (mostly) female and (sometimes) male presumed witches gave way to a phenomenon that is fundamentally different from traditional witchcraft. This Special Issue of Religions dedicated to Witchcraft, Demonology, and Magic features nine articles that deal with four different regions of Europe (England, Germany, Hungary, and Italy) between Late Medieval and Modern times in different contexts and social milieus. Far from pretending to offer a complete picture, they focus on some topics that are central to the research in those fields and fit well in the current “cumulative concept of Western witchcraft” that rules out all mono-causality theories, investigating a plurality of causes.

magic --- n/a --- divination --- religious history --- Thomas Hobbes --- Bavaria --- classical culture --- folklore --- Catholic reform --- dissolution of the monasteries --- animals --- Franciscan and Dominican friars --- Early Modern History --- friars --- demonic possession --- Trier --- Adriaan Koerbagh --- gynecology --- biblical exegesis --- Franconia --- monasticism --- witch-hunting in Hungary --- exorcism --- Italy --- convent cases --- Germany --- monks --- popular belief --- ritual magic --- Inquisition --- devil --- media --- counter-reformation --- inquisition --- Holy Office --- English reformation --- witch trials --- spells --- France --- witchcraft --- popular/vernacular magic in Hungary --- witchcraft and sorcery in Hungary --- Witchcraft --- familiars --- counter-reformation Italy --- treasure hunting --- heresy --- medicine --- priests --- love magic --- Spain --- Protestant demonology --- sorcery --- superstition --- witch-hunting in Debrecen/Bihar county --- Calvinist demonology in Hungary --- Jesuits --- censorship --- witch-hunts --- demonology

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This book explores the relationships between ancient witchcraft and its modern incarnation, and by doing so fills an important gap in the historiography. It is often noted that stories of witchcraft circulated in Greek and Latin classical texts, and that treatises dealing with witch-beliefs referenced them. Still, the role of humanistic culture and classical revival in the developing of the witch-hunts has not yet been fully researched. Marina Montesano examines Greek and Latin literature, revealing how particular features of ancient striges were carried into the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance and into the fifteenth century, when early Italian trials recall the myth of the strix common in ancient Latin sources and in popular memory. The final chapter also serves as a conclusion, to show how in Renaissance Italy and beyond, classical accounts of witchcraft ceased to be just stories, as they had formerly been, and were instead used to attest to the reality of witches’ powers.

World history --- History of civilization --- Ancient history --- History --- History of Italy --- History of Eastern Europe --- History of Europe --- cultuurgeschiedenis --- geschiedenis --- sociale geschiedenis --- Europese geschiedenis --- oudheid --- middeleeuwen --- Antiquity --- anno 500-1499 --- Italy --- Europe

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Cardini, Franco --- Middle Ages --- Civilization, Medieval --- Europe

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Inquisition --- History

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Fruit d’un colloque international réuni à la Casa de Velázquez (Madrid) du 11 au 13 avril 2005, ce volume propose de lire l’histoire de la guerre sainte de façon moins linéaire que de coutume, en acceptant les ruptures, les discontinuités et les nombreux aménagements qui ont été rendus nécessaires par les usages multiples, contradictoires et parfois concurrents de cette notion. À partir d’un fonds commun de principes surgis à la charnière de l’Antiquité et du Moyen Âge, contenus dans les traditions politiques et religieuses des royaumes chrétiens, l’idée de guerre sainte a été périodiquement ravivée et chaque fois reconstruite à la mesure des besoins de ceux qui la sollicitaient et de leur environnement historique. Elle s’est aussi enrichie. L’appel de Clermont, en 1095, qui suscite la Première croisade et conduit à la conquête de Jérusalem par les Latins ne met pas fin à ce processus. Certes, il devient impossible, à partir du XIIe siècle, d’échapper totalement au modèle de guerre sainte forgé par la papauté, qui, pour l’imposer, dispose d’un contrôle sans précédent sur les mécanismes de sanctification et de pénitence. Cependant, durant tout le Moyen Âge, le référent pontifical qu’est la croisade n’est jamais figé et demeure perméable à tous les aménagements au bénéfice de ceux, rois et princes d’Occident, qui s’en réclament et se l’approprient. En admettant la diversité de la notion de guerre sainte et en croisant les regards portés sur elle, les spécialistes dont les contributions se trouvent ici rassemblées participent de façon importante au renouvellement d’un domaine de recherche qui a été le théâtre, depuis quelques années, de grandes controverses.

Crusades --- War --- Croisades --- Guerre --- History --- Religious aspects --- Histoire --- Aspect religieux --- Mediterranean Region --- Méditerranée, Région de la --- Church history --- Histoire religieuse --- Méditerranée, Région de la --- Religion --- croisade --- première croisade --- Jihad --- 11e-13e siècles --- Historiographie