Witch Craze: Terror and Fantasy in Baroque Germany

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Witchcraft in Europe, The Bewitching of Anne Gunter: Here's how restrictions apply. Review "In this brilliant piece of investigative history [and]. Her style is fluent and accessible, but those who examine the 59 pages of closely printed notes will rapidly see the depth of scholarship that underpins her work. This is an interesting book and one in which the author has provided her readers with a good selection of primary materials. Davidson, Sixteenth Century Journal.

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It is also of great interest to all students of psychology, delusion and the madness of crowds, fear and fanaticism, life and law. It is a major work which must be read, not only by those interested in witch hunting in Germany, but by those in related fields. It has, indeed, much to tell us about the human condition as a whole.

Should ensure Roper's position as the doyenne of witchcraft scholarship for many years to come.

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Showing of 19 reviews. Top Reviews Most recent Top Reviews. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. I've read quite a few books on the history of witchcraft, but this one truly sets itself apart. A beautiful impassioned work that looks into the psychology of the concept of the witch. Namely, how is it that poor old women are seen by her contemporaries as death dealing harpies in league with the devil and out to destroy the foundations of Christiandom. The author reveals how the aging female body was an obsession for those who propagated the witch myth; the idea that as women age and become infertile, they develop a repulsive sexual appetite due to jealousy.

Sexual union with the devil is sought, and the woman becomes a malevolent witch. Other factors contributing to this demonology are also looked at, including family conflicts and children who act out in extreme ways and are labeled as diabolical by their clueless parents.

In league with the devil

Lyndal Roper's tome, Witch Craze: Terror and Fantasy in Baroque Germany, attempts to investigate the "realms" of "fantasy, envy and terror" in the psychology of Germans during the early 's and into the 's xi. These psychological states are, in Roper's estimation, critical to an investigation of history, especially witchcraft, as these lines of consciousness drove perceptions and realities during the Baroque era. Societies developed semiotic categorizations as well as mental schemas, to delineate and identify witchery.

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These abstractions, or "unconscious fantasies," became the reality of the "witch craze" and the resulting witch hunt, trial and execution. The symbols and fears of witchcraft itself revolved around notions of femininity and fertility. Utilizing these concepts, Roper employs a Freudian histoiographical approach. Prominently investigating Southern Germany, specifically Marchtal, Augsburg and Nordlingen in Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg, she explores "the fantasy of witchcraft, the reasons for its persuasiveness" in the Baroque Era, "and its gradual decline" Germany's "Baroque landscape" was one consumed with environmental and religious turmoil.

The early 17th century in Europe experienced what recent historians have documented as the "little ice age. Because witches were often tied to notions of fertility, they were the obvious culprits of and infertile soil. Village life was marked with a continuous concern over reproduction, of both the body and the land food. Thus, "people could become inclined to see threats to fertility lurking everywhere" 8. Witches, especially women who were beyond the reproductive age, were easily rationalized as the cause of infertility in a world that was deficient of scientific reasoning.

The Reformation and Counter-Reformation, with their power visually erected in "imposing alters" and churches also created a landscape in which religious leaders and disciples of three different Christian faiths competed for superiority and legitimacy. Roper does her best to analyze what she does have and works like a schooled detective. The rest, of course, is up to speculation. I had hoped against hope A layered, though repitive examination of the social pressures, ideals and views on women especially old women colored the witch hunts in Germany between and I had hoped against hope that Roper would actually go farther in detailling the accounts of guilt of the women themselves, and the role of women in the witch hunt in general.

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Even though Roper assembled copious amounts of trials and compared them to great effect, a conclusion was missing. Oct 15, October rated it it was amazing. I really thought this was going to make me snore all the way through it but it was such a page turner full of confessions to crimes from accused and alleged witches. Very interesting to see how their stories intermingled and how inquisition and torture played a huge role as well as hatred of women. Jul 05, Joseph F.

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A book on the witch panic in Germany during the early modern period that really sets itself apart from many other books on the subject. I almost didn't read this since I thought it was just another history book. But Roper tells an intriguing story here that focuses on reported confessions. The accused are named, thus you feel a connection with these poor, older women and some children , who were put to death due to the fear people had of a satanic conspiracy out to destroy Christiandom.

The auth A book on the witch panic in Germany during the early modern period that really sets itself apart from many other books on the subject. The author takes a psychological approach to understand the witch craze, and the book in general contributes admirably to the field of women's studies. Especially how women were perceived at one time by men in power who were trying to promote what they thought was a "godly" community. Controversial and thought provoking. May 15, David marked it as may-read Shelves: The Bible said so. The Bible commanded that they should not be allowed to live.

Therefore the Church, after doing its duty in but a lazy and indolent way for eight hundred years, gathered up its halters, thumbscrews, and firebrands, and set about its holy work in earnest. She worked hard at it night and day during nine centuries and imprisoned, tortured, hanged, and burned whole hordes and armies of witches, and washed the Christian world clean with their fo "During many ages there were witches.

She worked hard at it night and day during nine centuries and imprisoned, tortured, hanged, and burned whole hordes and armies of witches, and washed the Christian world clean with their foul blood. Then it was discovered that there was no such thing as witches, and never had been. One does not know whether to laugh or to cry. Feb 14, Samantha Bee rated it it was amazing. I wasn't sure if this was going to be more chronological or just focus on various themes. It was a little bit of both. Roper attempts to figure out the how and why of witch trials in Germany, and dives into the sexism, ageism, and anti-Semitism of the time as some of the many reasons as to why these witch hunts took off in the way they did.

I only knock off half a star because there were a couple points when I was reading and zoning out because for whatev 4. I only knock off half a star because there were a couple points when I was reading and zoning out because for whatever reason that particular passage just didn't hold my attention. Mar 06, Holly rated it it was amazing Shelves: Very readable, informative and persuasive.

I was occasionally bugged that it wasn't better edited--in particular, "which" was often used when "that" was called for, and there were a number of dangling modifiers--but it ultimately it wasn't something I couldn't overlook.

I definitely recommend it for readers interested in the history of: Jan 03, Aya rated it really liked it Shelves: The more I read about witch trials the more I want to read about witch trials. It was great to find a book about witch trials that wasn't about Salem! The counter reformation context of this book was excellent and the turn at the end to discuss German identity and the Grimms stories not originally intended for children and rewritten frequently was basically designed to amuse me.

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Apr 13, Steve Wiggins rated it really liked it. A good introduction to the witch trials of late medieval Germany. Makes a good case that the victims were women for a reason. A bit gruesome in parts. Sects and Violence in the Ancient World. This is definitely a well researched book. The author has managed to delve into many accounts of those who were accused, but through it all you learn the base causes of why these people were named as witches.

What is heart-breaking to me is the neighbors and family who lobbed accusations and lies at these people, leading to their deaths. Jan 19, Lauren Albert rated it really liked it Shelves: A fairly interesting look at the unconscious drives behind the witch trials in Germany. Roper sees these as circling around the idea of motherhood--hence why the majority of targets were women past their childbearing years. Feb 02, Clara-Sage rated it really liked it Shelves: Another book for school that wasn't anywhere near boring! While some of the chapters seemed repetitive and everyone's name is so odd I had a hard time remembering them I still really enjoyed it.

May 01, Clara Beth rated it liked it. Roper talks about the historical witch hunts throughout Germany. After this initial seduction scene, becoming a witch - someone in league with the devil - was rather mundane. The evil one himself tended to be quite casual about when he would next get in touch. Meanwhile, there were crops to spoil and cows to kill.

Making a diabolic salve took up a lot of time, since one of the major ingredients was the crushed bones of babies if there weren't any to hand, you had to dig them up from the graveyard. Flying around in the night sky wasn't particularly necessary, since the "Sabbaths" were usually held somewhere pretty central - next to the old mill, or down by the cheese market.

Being evil turned out to be not much different from being a good Catholic or Lutheran. You still had to spend the day in a round of back-breaking labour, domestic drudgery and just getting by. We know all this because the witches themselves described their dalliances with the devil in great detail to the court authorities who periodically rounded up likely suspects, and tortured them until they confessed.

The women's stories were all remarkably similar, which suggests, says Lyndal Roper, that a narrative of witchcraft had been unconsciously devised by all the interested parties - secular, religious, high and low - to suit the psychic and social needs of the community.

Witches whose confessional accounts were lacking - the devil didn't appear in quite the right way, the details about baby killing were vague - were tortured again until they supplied all the required elements. Only once their stories fitted the template were they permitted the release of a public death. In this brilliant piece of investigative history, Roper uses the formulaic and pain-soaked narratives put up by the witches to go deep into the psychic and social structures of village life in post-Reformation and counter-Reformation Germany.

These communities were tethered to the agrarian year, which means that at their heart stood the business - and it was a business - of reproduction. Witches, by virtue of being menopausal, were unable to contribute to the core activity of village life. And since they were mostly widows too, they were economically marginal and worryingly free from the rule of men.

But this kind of anthropological approach will only take you so far.

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