New developments in Witch History

[alexxkay]

Just came across this article. Haven't had time to flly read it, but it's clearly of general interest.

"Since the late 1970's, a quiet revolution has taken place in the study of historical witchcraft and the Great European Witch Hunt. The revolution wasn't quite as dramatic as the development of radio-carbon dating, but many theories which reigned supreme thirty years ago have vanished, swept away by a flood of new data. Unfortunately, little of the new information has made it into popular history. Many articles in Pagan magazines contain almost no accurate information about the "Burning Times", primarily because we rely so heavily on out-dated research."

Recent Developments in the Study
of The Great European Witch Hunt

Comments

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

That's a great article. I remember posting it on the Rialto some years back (or its predecessor with much the same conclusion; hey, it's medieval, therefore relevant, and someone had brought it up) and recieved several emails from self-identified neopagans who were irate that I'd accepted the anti-burning-times propaganda, and they KNEW it couldn't be an accurate conclusion.

[oakleaf-mirror.livejournal.com]

Interesting article. I never really grokked the focus on the 'burning times' that so many pagans seem to get into. Even if you believe the old numbers, it always seemed that the things people were being tried for had so little (or nothing) to do with what we did in modern times. There's enough bigotry and intolerance in the here and now that we'd be far better to work against.

One thing that irked me about the article was the term 'the Great Hunt.' However you slice what really happened, that seems far too benign and romantic a name for what went on.