History 196: the European Witch-Hunt

Texts from all time periods. From the Digital Book Index

The Cornell University Library Witchcraft Collection is an online selection of titles (300 of 3,000) from the Cornell University Library's extensive collection of materials on Witchcraft. The Witchcraft Collection is a rich source for students and scholars of the history of superstition and witchcraft persecution in Europe.

104 microfilm reels (v. 1-1098). Tisch Microforms MFR533
Print Guide: Ref BF 1566.R47 1983 guide online
Anthology from various library collections of mss. and published works to 1900.
"The renowned Witchcraft Collection at Cornell University's Olin Library forms the nucleus of the collection"--Guide, p. v.

A Digital Humanities project for Unveiling Witchcraft Narratives

Select primary source materials from the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries pertaining to European witch hunts. Available from Hanover Historical Texts Project.

Digital book index

Print: Tisch Book Stacks BF 1584.I8 D86 2007
"Reconstructing the activity of the "Tribunal of the Faith" in Italy during the period 1400-1600, this compelling book analyzes the ideology of its judges and takes a closer look at Italian witches and their clientele. For the first time, the English reader, student, and scholar alike will be offered direct access to this little-known world through a large selection of translated Inquisition trials from the rich State Archives of Modena. From the voices of the men and women who practiced the occult arts or resorted to them on a daily basis, magic and witchcraft will emerge as an integral part of social life in early modern Italy and a means for contact and communication between diverse cultural spheres." [from Amazon description]

This is the best known (i.e., the most infamous) of the witch-hunt manuals. Written in Latin, the Malleus was first submitted to the University of Cologne on May 9th, 1487. The title is translated as "The Hammer of Witches". Written by James Sprenger and Henry Kramer (of which little is known), the Malleus remained in use for three hundred years. It had tremendous influence in the witch trials in England and on the continent. This translation is in the public domain.

Tisch Book Stacks: KDK 104.K98 L43 2004

In LATIN
"Reprint with permission of the Royal Historical Society of 1843 edition. Full Latin text of a 1324 narrative describing the events surrounding the trial and execution for witchcraft of a wealthy Anglo-Irish woman. Useful source to consider the relationship between canon and common law in medieval Ireland and England.
Introduction (i—xxii) gives background on medieval laws against witchcraft; contains Latin and Middle English extracts. Appendix to the Introduction (xxiii-xlii) contains the record of a different trial for sorcery in England during the reign of Edward II, as well as extracts of medieval theological and legal works on sorcery and popular religion." From Online Medieval Sources Bibliography

This list of primary and secondary (or reference) sources in the Chapin Library (Williams College) concerning magic, witchcraft, alchemy, and other “occult” subjects is not meant to be exhaustive. Those titles indicated with an asterisk (*) are available to consult in the Library’s temporary quarters at the Southworth Schoolhouse; the remainder are in storage and unavailable until the opening of the new Sawyer Library.

A digital library of medieval manuscripts from French libraries across the country (but not the National Library), made available by the IRHT (Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes). The interface is in French but easy to use. There is a map view that allows you to browse by city.

Here are some of the primary sources that you will find in this database:

- A true and just recorde, of the information, examination and confession of all witches taken at S. Oses in the County of Essex (Thomas Dawson, 1582)

-The discouerie of witchcraft vvherein the lewde dealing of witches and witchmongers is notabale detected... (Excerpted from Reginald Scot, 1582)

-A dialogue concerning witches and witchcraftes In which is laide open how craftely the Dieull deceiueth not onely the witches but many other and so leadeth them awry into many great errours.( Excerpted from George Gifford, 1593)

- Daemonologie in forme of a dialogue. (Excerpted from King James I, 1597)

- A discourse of the damned art of witchcraft so farre forth as it is reuealed in the Scriptures, and manifest by true experience. (William Perkins, 1608)

Full-text searching of digital facsimile images of literature on economy and business, published from 1450 through 1850.

ECCO aims to deliver every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in Great Britain during the Eighteenth Century, along with thousands of important works from the Americas: books, directories, Bibles, scientific treatises, etc.

Included English Law Reports 1220-1867 and Statutes of the Realm 1235-1713