Witchland

If the witchfinders came to your town, who would you have believed - and what would you have done? With the English civil wars raging in the background, this work reveals how economic uncertainty, religious extremism and deprivation created the ideal conditions for mass witch-hunting in Britain. Across the country, fear spread rapidly, and neighbours turned on one another in panic. Women and the poor were especially vulnerable, scapegoated by the powerful looking for someone to blame, and hundreds of witch trials across the country soon followed. The hysteria provided a handbook for similar trials to occur around the world, most famously just a few decades later in Salem. Moving from village to village, Professor Marion Gibson reveals how accusations grew out of everyday tensions - poverty, grief, and resentment - and how entire communities became involved in the persecution of the innocent.

Genres

History

Language

English

Publisher

Simon & Schuster UK Ltd.

ISBN

9781398545144