Overview
- Awarded the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award 2016 by the Folklore Society
Part of the book series: Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic (PHSWM)
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment represents the first in-depth investigation of Scottish witchcraft and witch belief post-1662, the period of supposed decline of such beliefs, an age which has been referred to as the 'long eighteenth century', coinciding with the Scottish Enlightenment. The late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries were undoubtedly a period of transition and redefinition of what constituted the supernatural, at the interface between folk belief and the philosophies of the learned. For the latter the eradication of such beliefs equated with progress and civilization but for others, such as the devout, witch belief was a matter of faith, such that fear and dread of witches and their craft lasted well beyond the era of the major witch-hunts. This study seeks to illuminate the distinctiveness of the Scottish experience, to assess the impact of enlightenment thought upon witch belief, and to understandhow these beliefs operated across all levels of Scottish society.
Reviews
“This book reveals a nuanced, shifting, and hitherto underexplored landscape of belief in the supernatural in Enlightenment-era Scotland. … Such historical empathy should be a model, not just for historians of the supernatural in Scotland, but for all of us interested in the experiences of people living in worlds just as real—and fantastical—as our own.” (Michelle D. Brock, Magic Ritual and Witchcraft, Vol. 12 (3), 2017)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Lizanne Henderson has been a lecturer and cultural historian at the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Glasgow, UK since 2004. She is Editor of Review of Scottish Culture and has published on the Scottish witch-hunts, folk belief, ballads, critical animal studies, Scottish diaspora, polar explorers, and the transatlantic slave trade. Her books include Fantastical Imaginations: The Supernatural in Scottish History and Culture (2009) and, with Edward J. Cowan, Scottish Fairy Belief: A History (2001), and A History of Everyday Life in Medieval Scotland, 1000 to 1600 (2011).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment
Book Subtitle: Scotland, 1670-1740
Authors: Lizanne Henderson
Series Title: Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137313249
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016
Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-230-29438-7Published: 29 February 2016
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-59313-2Published: 28 February 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-31324-9Published: 08 April 2016
Series ISSN: 2731-5630
Series E-ISSN: 2731-5649
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 382
Topics: History of Britain and Ireland, Cultural History, History of Religion, Modern History, Social History