Scott Eaton

John Stearne's Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft

Text, Context and Afterlife

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Between 1645-7, John Stearne led the most significant outbreak of witch-hunting in England. As accusations of witchcraft spread across East Anglia, Stearne and Matthew Hopkins were enlisted by villagers to identify and eradicate witches. After the trials finally subsided in 1648, Stearne wrote his only publication, A confirmation and discovery of witchcraft, but it had a limited readership. Consequently, Stearne and his work fell into obscurity until the 1800s, and were greatly overshadowed by Hopkins and his text. This book is the first study which analyses Stearne's publication and contextualises his ideas within early modern intellectual cultures of religion, demonology, gender, science, and print in order to better understand the witch-finder's beliefs and motives. The book argues that Stearne was a key player in the trials, that he was not a mainstream 'puritan', and that his witch-finding availed from contemporary science. It traces A confirmation's reception history from 1648 to modern day and argues that the lack of research focusing on¿Stearne has resulted in¿misrepresentations of the witch-finder in the historiography of witchcraft. This book redresses the imbalance and seeks to provide an alternative reading of the East Anglian witch-hunt and of England's premier witch-hunter, John Stearne.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Routledge
• Seitenzahl: 216
• Erscheinungstermin: 16. Juli 2020
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 240mm x 161mm x 16mm
• Gewicht: 493g
• ISBN-13: 9780367894047
• ISBN-10: 0367894041
• Artikelnr.: 59843867

Autorenporträt

Scott Eaton teaches history at Queen's University Belfast. He is a religious and cultural historian, with a particular interest in early modern witchcraft, magic, art, and print cultures.

Inhaltsangabe

Introduction 1. The background of the East Anglian witch-hunt: the economy,
courts, religion and the beginnings of the trials 2. Puritanism: a
comparison of Stearne's religious beliefs to the orthodoxy of the
Westminster Assembly's Confession of faith 3. Print culture: the literature
of the supernatural and the reception of A confirmation 4. Familiar
spirits: the origins of Stearne's concept of familiars and its symbolisms
5. Witchcraft, sex and gender: witchcraft confessions in A confirmation as
a reflection of seventeenth-century gender roles 6. Science and the decline
of witchcraft beliefs: evidence for the scientific basis of Stearne's
witch-finding 7. The afterlife of A confirmation: the circulation and
rediscovery of Stearne's text in the nineteenth century Conclusion