Witches and Witch Hunts Through the Ages

by Phil Carradice

Witches & Witch Hunts Through the Ages by Phil Carradice

Witches Giving Babies to the Devil CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Macbeth Seeing Three Witches, CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Thank you to Pen and Sword and NetGalley for allowing me to read a preview copy of Phil Carradice’s informative history of witches in his book Witchesand Witch Hunts Through the Ages. Prior to this, I finished reading TheDevil’s Best Trick by Randall Sullivan, another book that looks at both ancient and modern forms of evil, and how societies and those with power often seek to justify violence through labeling differences. Carradice’s book focuses more specifically on the role of witches over time, and how Christianity largely changed our views of witches and witchcraft, specifically in the Medieval Times. Carradice’s book begins with an overall explanation of our modern ideas about witches and witchcraft and how it has shifted. I really appreciated how much he used literature, especially Shakespeare, to identify the kinds of different roles that witches and cunning folk played in literature, and how it often has affected our views of what witches look like and how they behave. He then takes a historical look across different cultures and time periods, examining the role that witches played in societies, starting with the ancient world of Babylon and how witches (and priests) were often facilitators of the rituals that were such a significant part of ancient people’s lives, eventually moving into the world of Ancient Greeks and Romans. This is not the popular image of witches, but it helped to provide a different context and show how they were powerful people with a direct connection to the gods in the ancient world. This also might be why Christianity shifted the perspective to reconsider witches as evil, as those who are often using the black arts to gain power over others. Interestingly, Carradice goes on to show how Morgan LeFey, from Arthurian legends (and Merlin) could be considered witches due to their knowledge and powers in the stories. Although Arthurian legends are not real, Carradice makes effective use of the literature (as he did with Shakespeare) to serve as evidence of perceptions and attitudes towards witches, especially when there are contrasting views about Morgan’s actions and motives as both a healer and a harmer of Arthur. Carradice then gets more historical by analyzing the real witch hunts that started in the late Medieval Times, examining the Inquisition. He explores how witch hunts throughout Europe terrorized those who often were outsiders and did not have the support or power to speak up or defend themselves. Furthermore, I found it interesting to learn how many of the accusations stemmed from rivalries or desires for land ownership. Additionally, Carradice examines the life of the Witchfinder General, a self-appointed title for Matthew Hopkins. I didn’t know about the many trick that he and John Stearne employed to “identify” witches, nor that they were frequently paid by towns they went to. Carradice explains how witch finding was a lucrative business at the time, and we can see how those with power often benefitted from the loss of others. I also liked learning that these witch hunts were not relegated to Spain or England, but happened all over Europe. He uses both more famous examples, like the Loudun possession in 17^th century as well as more obscure cases. It was also amazing to learn that royalty were also not exempt from these accusations by examining and detailing the lives of some wealthy landowning individuals (often women) who were accused of being witches. Although primarily focused on England, Carradice examines the case of Salem, MA in Colonial America, and provides some factual rebuttals that challenge the idea of witchcraft, specifically examining the difficult and conformist lives of the Puritans, especially those who experienced violent encounters with the Native Americans. Interestingly, Carradice ends the book with exploring more of the secular “witch hunts” in politics, examining the McCarthy Hearings and some modern uses of the terms, as well as the movement to reclaim witchcraft as a spiritual community connected with nature and knowledge. I really enjoyed this book and the detailed research and history that Carradice supplies to understand the various perspectives and experiences of people from different time periods. I also appreciated his use of both history and literature to examine the attitudes towards witches and those who were different or often did not conform to society’s dominant expectations. I would have liked to learn more about modern witchcraft and how it developed from the 19^th into the 20^th centuries. The last chapter covered a lot of ground, but also left me wanting to learn more about this shift in perspective and attitudes. Nevertheless, I would recommend this book for anyone interesting in history, religion, and social movements.