The Social and Psychological Reality of European Witchcraft Beliefs

Abstract

In recent years there have been a number of books and articles on witchcraft in general and European witchcraft in particular. The majority of these works contain the implicit or explicit assumption that witchcraft was a cruel, irrational delusion that resulted in the deaths of perhaps hundreds of thousands or innocent victims (Anderson, 1970). While I do not for a moment dispute the horrible cruelties and hideous tortures inflicted on many of the accused, I do feel that it is essential to point out that in terms of the culture and belief structure of Late Medieval and Post Reformation Europe, not only was a belief in witchcraft not irrational and a delusion, but also it did in fact make good sense.