Elaborated concepts of witchcraft? Applying the
The "elaborated concept of witchcraft" is of central importance for scholarly research on witchcraft and magic. However, as the validity of its conceptualization and origins are doubted, its usefulness remains a point of debate. The following article reports on a study conducted to test th...
| Published in: | e-Rhizome |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Palacky University Olomouc
2019
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| In: |
e-Rhizome
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| Further subjects: | B
Witchcraft
B Comparative Study B qualitative content analysis B Magic B elaborated concept of witchcraft B Rostock B Hainburg B Early Modern Period |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The "elaborated concept of witchcraft" is of central importance for scholarly research on witchcraft and magic. However, as the validity of its conceptualization and origins are doubted, its usefulness remains a point of debate. The following article reports on a study conducted to test the applicability of the "elaborated concept of witchcraft" under a comparative approach on material from the 1584 Rostock and 1617-1618 Hainburg witchcraft trials. Following Johannes Dillinger's theoretical approach on the topic, the five categories of "pact with the devil", "sexual intercourse with the devil", "witches' Sabbat", "magical flight" and "harmful magic" have been applied to the sources, and serve as an underlying grid for structuring the analysis. Whereas the "pact with the devil" and "sexual intercourse with the devil" vary only gradually between the two text corpora, the prominence and the integration of the witches' Sabbat and the witches' flight differ greatly between an uncontested position in Hainburg and diminishing importance in Rostock. The category of "harmful magic" shows overall great heterogeneity between and also within the text corpora. While the results of the study mostly align with the latest in scholarly witchcraft research, the "elaborated concept of witchcraft" stands out as a useful analytical tool for structuring comparative research. |
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| ISSN: | 2571-242X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: e-Rhizome
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.5507/rh.2019.001 |