Essex Witchcraft - A Review

Description

A study of witchcraft in Essex, comprising five chapters. The first concerns origins, and looks at possible beginnings of the witch cult, with a discussion of the social climate of the time when the witch craze swept Europe. Special reference is made to Essex and contemporary life in the county. Chapter Two concerns imps, devils and familiars, and describes trials in Essex, the influences exerted by different forces, the location of the witches and the nature of the accusations. Chapter Three discusses the kind of circumstantial evidence, and exemplary material, which demonstrates the persistence of witch belief in Essex after the end of the persecution period proper, taken to the present day. Chapter Four presents the results of the collector's fieldwork, with sections containing stories about witches from people external to the phenomenon, and accounts from practising occultists. The fifth chapter suggests possible new approaches to the study of witchcraft, and an understanding of the phenomenon. This chapter also considers the witch in 1973, and their role in society. Appendices contain photocopied pages from 'Abstracts of Essex Witchcraft Cases, 1560-1680' [provenance unclear], photocopied pages from a notebook dated 1910 relating to a woman in Little Dunmow accused of witchcraft, and photographs cut from the magazine 'Essex Countryside'. Also included in the file is a press cutting of an article of Kathryn Smith dicussing witchcraft from the Evening Post (Apr 16th 1975)

Metadata

Identifier dtw3jg9k
IRN 410180
Class Mark LAVC/SRP/2/144
Level File
Type of Record Archives - ISAD(G)
Peristent Link http://prototype1.library.leeds.ac.uk/dtw3jg9k
Collection(s) Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture
Category Archive
Parent Record Undergraduate Dissertations
Creator(s) Mahoney, Kathryn C
Date 1973
Size and Medium ii, 112 unbound typed leaves.

Related Records