HIST 329
The History of Witches and Witchcraft in Medieval and Early Modern Europe Spring 2021
Division II
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

Between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, some 50,000 people–mostly women, but also men and children–were tried and executed for witchcraft all over Europe and its colonies. In this seminar, we investigate through primary sources why and how this phenomenon developed, erupted, and ended in the early modern period, a period that included the European Renaissance, Reformations, Scientific Revolutions, colonization, and Enlightenment. We also examine the various methodologies that historians have employed and debated over the past decades to try and explain European witchcraft beliefs and prosecutions and their impact on society. Lastly, the study of witches and witchcraft will also inform our understanding of its place in the religious, political, legal, social, and cultural development of medieval and early modern Europe, as well as of its connections to the histories of European persecution, heresy, antisemitism, gender formations, demonology, magic, state formation, and race.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 15
Expected: 15
Class#: 5254
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: Participation. Short reading response essays (200-300 words) on readings and topics. The leading of a class discussion. One 5-6 page historiographical essay and a final 10-12 page research paper on a witchcraft topic of choice in consultation with the instructor.
Prerequisites: No prerequisites. Open to first-year students with permission of instructor
Enrollment Preferences: History majors and students with demonstrated interest in European history.
Distributions: Division II
Attributes: HIST Group C Electives - Europe and Russia
HIST Group P Electives - Premodern

Class Grid

Course Catalog Archive Search

TERM/YEAR
TEACHING MODE
SUBJECT
DIVISION



DISTRIBUTION



ENROLLMENT LIMIT
COURSE TYPE
Start Time
End Time
Day(s)