HIST 118 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Witchcraft, James Vi And I, Days Of Our Lives
HIST 118
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Witchcraft and Possession
Professor St. George
8/29/2018
• How should we think about Witchcraft?
o Witchcraft reminds us of Halloween, pointed hats, and cats – these are called familiars.
o Where did the tall hat come from in the Halloween costume?
▪ Middle of the 15th century – four early images of jewish congregation men
wearing pointed hats
▪ Jews were seen as witches to Christians, so they took the hat of the vilified jews
to turn it into this ornamental hat
o There are a number of different photos depicting witches throughout centuries.
• Demonology
o Demonology is a branch of witchcraft that focuses on demons – including Satan.
o There are many books that reference demonology, which we will have the chance to
read.
o Deoolog is o loger seeig as real.
o Salem in 1692 – late/in the last decade of the 17th century. Most of the things happened
much earlier in the century
o The Eorist – boy on lower western shore of America, but was shifted to a girl of the
age of 12 to make a better show out of it
• Maleficium
o This is another branch of witchcraft – when someone is accused of being a witch.
o An act of maleficium is something that has to happen more than once or twice.
o Has a repetitious sense.
o Maleficium has a longer life than demonology, while demonology has a very irregular
pathway.
• Chronology: (Late 15th century – 1995)
o The witch persecutionist – torture and confession
▪ The hae ured people i arious plaes, ut i Eglad the did’t ur
anybody. Instead, they hanged them. With the exception of one person, which
they pressed to death with a pile of rocks. In places where there was hanging,
witchcraft was seen as a violation of the law. In roman catholic countries, like
most of Europe, it was seen as a violation of church law, which labeled a person
a heretic, followed by burning to purify the church.
o Starhawk said the burning was like a holocaust, where 6,000,000 people were burned –
mostly women.
▪ People thought this number was high, so they started to recount. Others
claimed only 40,000 were burned. It is believed to be about 55,000.
o The first slide that shows witches on broomsticks was from 1345.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Posture, deformity, inability to speak properly – all signs of a witch.
o Important document traces demonology
• James the 6th of Scotland, James the 1st of England -1566
o Starting in 1603 he became James the 1st of England, and got the bible translated in
English – this is what he is known for.
o He published writing for the believers of witchcraft, about the DISCOVERY of witchcraft.
o This was put together like a dialogue and catalogued many elements of witchcraft that
he knew of in Scotland.
o He married for the first time to M. Cophenhagen.
o Whe she fiall arried o “otlad’s easter shore, she aoued that her passage
to Scotland was interrupted by witchcraft.
o This was the first time that he had ever been personally involved.
o In the 1580s there was an outbreak of witchcraft – there are many trials archived.
• While there is a bookish tradition, there is another element to think about – persecution and
skepticism.
o “keptiis is he people elieed that ithraft as’t real
• Ethnography of belief
o Asks what questions do I have to have in my head before I read my work?
o What is foreign to my understanding of the world?
o While reading in the context of earlier centuries, try to do this.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
With the exception of one person, which they pressed to death with a pile of rocks. In places where there was hanging, witchcraft was seen as a violation of the law. It is believed to be about 55,000: the first slide that shows witches on broomsticks was from 1345, posture, deformity, inability to speak properly all signs of a witch. James the 6th of scotland, james the 1st of england -1566: starting in 1603 he became james the 1st of england, and got the bible translated in. Inversion: had been accused of crime, medicine/midwives, elite and poor create a mutual loop association with commoners, major theme: imbalance of power, witchcraft counteracted puritanism in new england response factor. Maleficium pagan form of black magic, pre-christian, no theological roots: salem witch trials changed this when people began accusing people of seeing them with the devil.
