Demonological Discourse Through Primary Sources

2,000 word-research essay

The purpose of this assignment is to research a topic of interest using a primary source(s) from a list provided. Third year students should draw on at least 7 scholarly monographs and journal articles, in addition to the primary sources.

Format: Please use Times New Roman font, 12 pt, double-spaced. Don’t forget page numbers!!

Footnotes and Bibliography according to Chicago Manual of Style. Include title page and bibliography.

This assignment is a RESEARCH project based on a primary source chosen from the list provided below. As you read through your primary source, look for themes that we have examined during the course. Situate your source in relation to its historical and geographical context, including background events, socio-economic conditions, political narrative, and ideologies of the era. Take into consideration the type of source, the author, the intended audience, any biases in the document, etc. Use this information to analyse the usefulness of the source from a historian’s perspective. Is the author reflecting contemporary ideologies or reacting to them? Is this a descriptive or prescriptive text? What does the text tell us about witchcraft or magic?

Choose a variety of secondary sources to understand your primary source and to support your thesis. Third-year students must use AT LEAST SEVEN secondary sources to set the source in its historical context. Sources could include a biography of the author, a general monograph on witchcraft or possession, a witchcraft text specific to the geographical location, and texts that discuss historical ideologies or methodological theories. You may also need sources that explore religion, economics, politics, gender, or popular culture of the time and place. Journal articles should also be used as a secondary source. Try searching for mthe name of your author as well as more general subjects. In addition to your secondary sources, you may also use other primary sources as a comparison to your source.

YOU MUST HAVE AN ARGUMENT/THESIS!! In the introduction (the first couple of paragraphs), clearly tell your reader what your thesis is and where you are going with your argument. Use quotes from the primary source to support yourargument, but analyse the quote to indicate how it relates to the point you are trying to make. Do not expect your reader to make the same conclusions that you do. Avoid quotations from secondary sources unless you are contesting what the author has said. Instead, put the information into your own words and cite the source. Avoid lengthy narrative descriptions. Focus an analysis and argument.

Primary Sources

1) Demonological Tracts (there may be other editions of these works and some are at least partially available on line). You are not expected to read and analyse the entire book. Choose 50 pages or so and concentrate on one element of the text. Bodin, Jean. On the demon-mania of witches. [De la démonomanie des sorciers]. Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2001.

James VI [James I of England]. Daemonologie, 1597. London: J. Lane, 1924.

Pierre de Lancre, On the inconstancy of witches: Tableau de l’inconstance des mauvais anges et demons (1612), ed. Gerhild Scholz Williams (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies in collaboration with Brepols, 2006).

Remy, Nicolas. Demonolatry. J. Rodker, 1930 or Dover 2008.

Scot, Reginald. The discoverie of witchcraft. Dover, 1972.

Spee, Friedrich von. Cautio criminalis, or, A book on witch trials. University of Virginia Press, 2003.

Weyer, Johann. On witchcraft: an abridged translation of Johann Weyer's De praestigiis daemonum. [De praestigiis daemonum]. Pegasus Press, 1998.

2) English Pamphlet Literature: Available on-line at EEBO (Early English Books On-line – available through Bata E-Resources). You need to read the whole document for this project. It is often useful to use 2 or 3 of these to compare and contrast.

The Examination and confession of certain wytches at Chensforde. 1566. [EEBO]

A Detection of damnable driftes, practized by three VVitches. 1579 [EEBO]

The apprehension and confession of three notorious Witches arraigned and by Justice condemned and executed at Chelmes-forde. 1589 [EEBO]

The examination of John Walsh. 1566. [EEBO]

The Witches of Northamptonshire. 1612 [EEBO]

The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the countie of Lancaster. 1613. [EEBO]

The Wonderful Discoverie of the Witchcrafts of Margaret and Phillip Flower. 1619

Witches Apprehended, Examined and Executed. 1613. [EEBO]

The Lawes against Witches and Conjuration . . . Also, The Confession of Mother Lakeland. 1645.

[EEBO]

The Wonderfull discoverie of Elizabeth Sawyer. 1621 [EEBO] 3) Legal Texts, Inquisition and Trial Records:

Perkins, William. A Discourse of the Damned Art of Witchcraft. 1608. [EEBO]

Henningsen, Gustav. The Salazar documents: Inquisitor Alonso de Salazar Frías and others on the Basque witch persecution, 2004.

The Sorcery trial of Alice Kyteler, ed. L. S. Davidson and J. O. Ward, Binghamton, NY, 1993.