Agents of Witchcraft in Early Modern Italy and Denmark

This book offers a comparison of lay and inquisitorial witchcraft prosecutions. In most of the early modern period, witchcraft jurisdiction in Italy rested with the Roman Inquisition, whereas in Denmark only the secular courts raised trials. Kallestrup explores the narratives of witchcraft as they were laid forward by people involved in the trials.

Kallestrup's volume is easy to read, and filled with exceptional insight into the complexities of the prosecution of witchcraft. For students of history and witchcraft, the volume is an exemplar of how comparative historical research can be carried out. This volume should find a place on the bookshelves of those interested in the history of European witchcraft, and in the legislative and prosecutorial approach to witchcraft throughout Europe and the Americas. (Timothy Tangherlini, Folklore, Vol. 128 (2), 2017) Louise Nyholm Kallestrup has provided a study that specialists of the Reformation and of the history of witchcraft will find interesting and useful. Based on archival sources, this works aims to compare the judicial treatment and popular understanding of witchcraft in Catholic Italy and Lutheran Denmark. this comparative study makes a worthy contribution to the huge body of literature on the subject of early modern witchcraft. (Jeffery R. Watt, Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 69 (3), 2016)

Auteur

Louise Nyholm Kallestrup is Associate Professor in Early Modern Cultural History at University of Southern Denmark in Odense, Denmark. She has published widely on Italian and Danish witchcraft.

Contenu
Contents 1. Introduction 2. Marking The Limits Of Transgression 3. The Condemnation Of Witchcraft In Denmark 4. Comparing Procedures Against Witchcraft In The Roman Inquisition And The Danish Secular 5. The Local Studies 6. Constructing An Accusation Of Witchcraft For The Court 7. From Allegation To Formal Accusation 8. Popular Notions Of Witchcraft 9. Honest People And Wicked People