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Witchcraft in the Western Tradition
10 lectures on European and American witchcraft trials and history.
5 hours and 11 minutes
From Shakespeare’s trio in Macbeth to modern-day Halloween costumes, witches have occupied our imaginations for centuries. Much of what we associate with witchcraft has been the result of myth-making and stereotypes, but where do these stories come from? And why do they continue to inform the concept of “witch” in the popular imagination?
Beginning with the witch hunts of the early 15th century, Professor Jennifer McNabb takes you on an eye-opening exploration of witchcraft and superstition in Witchcraft in the Western Tradition. In these 10 lectures, you will better understand where many of our most indelible images of witchcraft come from and how the religious pursuit of witches across Europe and into the Americas in the early modern period spread fear and violence like a contagion, for generations.
As you examine the impact of witchcraft hysteria, you will also come to better understand the cultural, religious, economic, social, and other factors that contributed to the witch hunts that caught hundreds of thousands of people in their wake. How did social unrest and competition for resources fuel persecution? Why were women targeted so much more than men? How much of the hysteria surrounding witchcraft was real fear, and how much of it was manufactured by those acting in their own self-interest? As you search for the answers to these questions and more, you will meet perpetrators and victims, true believers and opportunists, the accusers and the accused. And, while these events can feel rooted in the distant past, you will also see how superstition and fear can continue to operate in our modern world, from Nazi witch hunts in the 1930s to the “satanic panic” of the 1980s - and even in our own contemporary response to crisis events.
5 hours and 11 minutes
From Shakespeare’s trio in Macbeth to modern-day Halloween costumes, witches have occupied our imaginations for centuries. Much of what we associate with witchcraft has been the result of myth-making and stereotypes, but where do these stories come from? And why do they continue to inform the concept of “witch” in the popular imagination?
Beginning with the witch hunts of the early 15th century, Professor Jennifer McNabb takes you on an eye-opening exploration of witchcraft and superstition in Witchcraft in the Western Tradition. In these 10 lectures, you will better understand where many of our most indelible images of witchcraft come from and how the religious pursuit of witches across Europe and into the Americas in the early modern period spread fear and violence like a contagion, for generations.
As you examine the impact of witchcraft hysteria, you will also come to better understand the cultural, religious, economic, social, and other factors that contributed to the witch hunts that caught hundreds of thousands of people in their wake. How did social unrest and competition for resources fuel persecution? Why were women targeted so much more than men? How much of the hysteria surrounding witchcraft was real fear, and how much of it was manufactured by those acting in their own self-interest? As you search for the answers to these questions and more, you will meet perpetrators and victims, true believers and opportunists, the accusers and the accused. And, while these events can feel rooted in the distant past, you will also see how superstition and fear can continue to operate in our modern world, from Nazi witch hunts in the 1930s to the “satanic panic” of the 1980s - and even in our own contemporary response to crisis events.
6 pages, Audible Audio
First published September 1, 2020
21 people are currently reading
305 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
February 6, 2025
A lot of people assume that witch hunting was this major THING throughout the Middle Ages.
Yes and no.
If this is the first time you've listened to anything on the subject, I think it would be a great introduction to what actually went down. If not, then you'll probably not learn anything new here.
Yes, the average person did think witches were real.
No, there wasn't some major push across the globe to burn witches. It was more localized, there were different reactions to the charges, and the outcomes of the trials were varied.
Also, it wasn't as targeted against just women as popular media would have you believe. Plus, a lot of the targets who were women, weren't the young sexy things. The evidence seems to point more to old, cranky, possibly contentious women that nobody liked to start with.
So think about that nasty old fart who is always calling the cops when you have a party or your dog digs out from under your fence.
Her.
The idea of having her hauled up on witchcraft charges doesn't evoke the same amount of sympathy, does it?
Not that I'm advocating for killing off our annoying neighbors or anything...
Of course, anyone who was killed or imprisoned for the "crime of witchcraft" does actually evoke our modern-day sympathies. Because obviously, they weren't witches.
Some of the people were unlikeable, some were oddballs, some were political rivals, and some were just other.
I think the main thing to take away from this lecture is that fear and paranoia coupled with a mob mentality can lead to some regrettable results. A recent example is the Satanic Panic of the 80s, which had disastrous ramifications for people accused of defiling children in the name of the Devil, and influenced an entire generation of parents who were genuinely terrified that their children would end up molested or eaten by Satanists.
If you're looking for something on the practice of witchcraft, this ain't it. But it is a good bite-sized lecture on the history of witchcraft.
Recommended.
Yes and no.
If this is the first time you've listened to anything on the subject, I think it would be a great introduction to what actually went down. If not, then you'll probably not learn anything new here.
Yes, the average person did think witches were real.
No, there wasn't some major push across the globe to burn witches. It was more localized, there were different reactions to the charges, and the outcomes of the trials were varied.
Also, it wasn't as targeted against just women as popular media would have you believe. Plus, a lot of the targets who were women, weren't the young sexy things. The evidence seems to point more to old, cranky, possibly contentious women that nobody liked to start with.
So think about that nasty old fart who is always calling the cops when you have a party or your dog digs out from under your fence.
Her.
The idea of having her hauled up on witchcraft charges doesn't evoke the same amount of sympathy, does it?
Not that I'm advocating for killing off our annoying neighbors or anything...
Of course, anyone who was killed or imprisoned for the "crime of witchcraft" does actually evoke our modern-day sympathies. Because obviously, they weren't witches.
Some of the people were unlikeable, some were oddballs, some were political rivals, and some were just other.
I think the main thing to take away from this lecture is that fear and paranoia coupled with a mob mentality can lead to some regrettable results. A recent example is the Satanic Panic of the 80s, which had disastrous ramifications for people accused of defiling children in the name of the Devil, and influenced an entire generation of parents who were genuinely terrified that their children would end up molested or eaten by Satanists.
If you're looking for something on the practice of witchcraft, this ain't it. But it is a good bite-sized lecture on the history of witchcraft.
Recommended.
December 14, 2021
Witchcraft in the Western Tradition by Jennifer McNabb, The Great Courses, narrated by Jennifer McNabb, will change your knowledge and understanding of witchcraft and executions. Lessons discuss written files and ancient documents about which hunt. Demonology arose, describing all types of mystic creatures through the century. Inquisition's if witches primarily women and sometimes warlocks. Less than one man from four accused women.
I enjoyed knowing that James the 1st, Marrry's Queens of Scots, son, had a particular interest in this subject. There is some evidence that suggests King's participation in the courts of accusations of any mystery.
Interesting, page-turner, factual.
I enjoyed knowing that James the 1st, Marrry's Queens of Scots, son, had a particular interest in this subject. There is some evidence that suggests King's participation in the courts of accusations of any mystery.
Interesting, page-turner, factual.
November 4, 2021
I discovered this book because Audible started playing it right after I finished another book. I usually find this annoying, but this time I listened to the whole book and am really glad I did. McNabb takes her readers though the historical evolution of the belief in witches, showing how witchcraft came to be viewed as evil and threatening, and how society continues, even into the present day, to under grow crazes of persecuting witches. It was both enlightening and an excellent book to read in October as we approach Halloween.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
November 29, 2025
A read that somehow manages to be both fascinating and disturbing at the same time 😁
September 23, 2022
This was less a history of witchcraft and more a history of how witchcraft has been prosecuted. Very interesting, but I was expecting/hoping for something different.
December 13, 2021
An interesting discussion with some major gaps that made me feel it ultimately presented a problematically incomplete picture, even though it's meant as an introduction:
1. The lectures make no mention of antisemitism's role in constructing the image of the witch or persecuting alleged witches (though the final lecture, which mentions the Nazis' research of witchhunts, notes that the fascists blamed the hunts themselves on Jews).
2. Despite mentioning a few times that practices such as divination, non-religious blessings, and the allegedly supernatural recovery of lost items were commonplace, the discussion consistently treats the hunted "witches" as social outcasts who did not practice (or believe they practiced) magic. That view presents an incomplete picture since many who were persecuted did practice what their enemies called magic, and some of them viewed their own practices as magic. The lectures do note the pre-Christian and especially now-popular distinction between malevolent and benevolent magic (what other scholars have sometimes called "witchcraft" versus "sorcery," though these lectures don't invoke those terms), and some application of these concepts to the hunts' victims would have been interesting. Especially since disciplines we now consider scientific, like herb-lore or early pharmacology, were penalized as witchcraft. In any case, while no one accused of witchcraft deserved to have been tortured, the assumption that none of them practiced (or believed they practiced) magic seems revisionist and inconsistent. The horrors of the hunts are not only that people were condemned on false accusations but also that benevolent practices—especially traditionally feminine ones—were literally demonized.
3. The lectures are rightly presented as focusing on Western traditions, but they barely mention Eastern Europe (still the "West" culturally and historically, at least in large part), devoting mere sentences to cases and publications from Eastern Europe while scrutinizing French, German, Swiss, and especially British cases and publications by the paragraph. Notably, this inconsistent focus isn't due to less evidence from Eastern Europe, which is noted to have had particularly virulent hunts, especially in Poland. Thus, the lectures seem to overgeneralize Western history broadly based on western European examples almost solely.
4. Related to my previous point, the lectures make some (in my opinion) uninteresting and baseless generalizations about human nature generally from the (already too narrow) focus on western European witch hunts. Coupled with a largely sympathetic view of European colonialism and underrepresentation of non-Catholic, pre-Reformation Christian faiths as mere "heresies" (not, for example in Cathars' case, fully fledged religions that had always existed alongside the Catholic church), the lectures seem to dismiss these remarkable and shameful histories as more inevitable and human than particularly situated, in my view obscuring their importance in understanding our (Western) culture's particular legacies. This is not to say that there isn't something universal about witch hunts (indeed, some mention of the ongoing practice outside the West would have underscored this point). Rather, this is to say that the lectures themselves don't substantiate this point enough to justify it here.
I did particularly appreciate the lectures' emphasis that the hunts were early modern, not medieval, and a direct precursor to our time. I also think the lectures' close attention to primary sources sets them apart from a lot of trade histories that tend to editorialize too much. Nevertheless, while it's an interesting and well-written overview, much more nuanced yet similarly brief introductions are available.
1. The lectures make no mention of antisemitism's role in constructing the image of the witch or persecuting alleged witches (though the final lecture, which mentions the Nazis' research of witchhunts, notes that the fascists blamed the hunts themselves on Jews).
2. Despite mentioning a few times that practices such as divination, non-religious blessings, and the allegedly supernatural recovery of lost items were commonplace, the discussion consistently treats the hunted "witches" as social outcasts who did not practice (or believe they practiced) magic. That view presents an incomplete picture since many who were persecuted did practice what their enemies called magic, and some of them viewed their own practices as magic. The lectures do note the pre-Christian and especially now-popular distinction between malevolent and benevolent magic (what other scholars have sometimes called "witchcraft" versus "sorcery," though these lectures don't invoke those terms), and some application of these concepts to the hunts' victims would have been interesting. Especially since disciplines we now consider scientific, like herb-lore or early pharmacology, were penalized as witchcraft. In any case, while no one accused of witchcraft deserved to have been tortured, the assumption that none of them practiced (or believed they practiced) magic seems revisionist and inconsistent. The horrors of the hunts are not only that people were condemned on false accusations but also that benevolent practices—especially traditionally feminine ones—were literally demonized.
3. The lectures are rightly presented as focusing on Western traditions, but they barely mention Eastern Europe (still the "West" culturally and historically, at least in large part), devoting mere sentences to cases and publications from Eastern Europe while scrutinizing French, German, Swiss, and especially British cases and publications by the paragraph. Notably, this inconsistent focus isn't due to less evidence from Eastern Europe, which is noted to have had particularly virulent hunts, especially in Poland. Thus, the lectures seem to overgeneralize Western history broadly based on western European examples almost solely.
4. Related to my previous point, the lectures make some (in my opinion) uninteresting and baseless generalizations about human nature generally from the (already too narrow) focus on western European witch hunts. Coupled with a largely sympathetic view of European colonialism and underrepresentation of non-Catholic, pre-Reformation Christian faiths as mere "heresies" (not, for example in Cathars' case, fully fledged religions that had always existed alongside the Catholic church), the lectures seem to dismiss these remarkable and shameful histories as more inevitable and human than particularly situated, in my view obscuring their importance in understanding our (Western) culture's particular legacies. This is not to say that there isn't something universal about witch hunts (indeed, some mention of the ongoing practice outside the West would have underscored this point). Rather, this is to say that the lectures themselves don't substantiate this point enough to justify it here.
I did particularly appreciate the lectures' emphasis that the hunts were early modern, not medieval, and a direct precursor to our time. I also think the lectures' close attention to primary sources sets them apart from a lot of trade histories that tend to editorialize too much. Nevertheless, while it's an interesting and well-written overview, much more nuanced yet similarly brief introductions are available.
June 6, 2021
This series of lectures nicely sums up the history of the witch hunts in the late medieval and early modern period. I particularly appreciated the fact that she makes clear where and when the bulk of witch trials took place and the historic factors that led up to them as well as other factors that led to their decline.
These lectures are illuminating and engaging.
This was definitely worth my time.
These lectures are illuminating and engaging.
This was definitely worth my time.
September 9, 2022
I wonder to what extent can I blame this book for not being what I wanted...
The main issue being that this book isn't about witchcraft, but about witch-hunts. You could think there is no difference, but there is a huge difference for me. I went into this book, curious about old witchcraft practices, the myths about witches - how they originated, whether true or not etc. I was interested in people who actually practiced witchcraft. BUT McNabb's stand on the thing is that there was no witchcraft... essentially. Don't get me wrong, this isn't about whether the magic is real or not, it's about the practice and we know that was there. The way in which McNabb defines witchcraft is sort of roundabout, because witchcraft is the thing that is the object of witch-hunts... defining the subject by the hatred focused on it is kind of inappropriate in my opinion... (Like, just pretend for a moment that this book was called Homosexuality in the Western Tradition and then the whole book was only about homophobia and the laws against homosexuality instead. Like... it's part of the theme, sure, but it's not all there is to it.)
Now, discarding the fact that I'm not actually interested that much in witch-hunts this book was decent. It filled some of the gaps in my supernatural knowledge - it shed some light on things I couldn't catch in A Discovery of Witches (especially the second book) and The Once and Future Witches. So, it definitely wasn't lost time! As a non-American I actually didn't know much about Salem, so that was good... It just overall wasn't in a style that would highly appeal to me and some details chaffed at me.
Also, if I was to read about witch-hunts, the theme most interesting to me would be the gender side of thing, which... wasn't ignored, but was mostly featured in statistics.
Overall, interesting read that I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading, but it wasn't what I wanted and it wasn't particularly for me... No regrets though...
The main issue being that this book isn't about witchcraft, but about witch-hunts. You could think there is no difference, but there is a huge difference for me. I went into this book, curious about old witchcraft practices, the myths about witches - how they originated, whether true or not etc. I was interested in people who actually practiced witchcraft. BUT McNabb's stand on the thing is that there was no witchcraft... essentially. Don't get me wrong, this isn't about whether the magic is real or not, it's about the practice and we know that was there. The way in which McNabb defines witchcraft is sort of roundabout, because witchcraft is the thing that is the object of witch-hunts... defining the subject by the hatred focused on it is kind of inappropriate in my opinion... (Like, just pretend for a moment that this book was called Homosexuality in the Western Tradition and then the whole book was only about homophobia and the laws against homosexuality instead. Like... it's part of the theme, sure, but it's not all there is to it.)
Now, discarding the fact that I'm not actually interested that much in witch-hunts this book was decent. It filled some of the gaps in my supernatural knowledge - it shed some light on things I couldn't catch in A Discovery of Witches (especially the second book) and The Once and Future Witches. So, it definitely wasn't lost time! As a non-American I actually didn't know much about Salem, so that was good... It just overall wasn't in a style that would highly appeal to me and some details chaffed at me.
Also, if I was to read about witch-hunts, the theme most interesting to me would be the gender side of thing, which... wasn't ignored, but was mostly featured in statistics.
Overall, interesting read that I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading, but it wasn't what I wanted and it wasn't particularly for me... No regrets though...
March 26, 2021
I’ve often heard that most of the common knowledge about witch hunts are either totally wrong or misleading, but I’ve never been able to find anyone to elaborate on that claim and help me understand what really happened in witch hunts (though, to be fair, I didn’t look that hard), so I was glad of this series, done by an expert of the period and the subject, which did just that. Like her series on the Renaissance, Mcnabb skillfully paints the picture of witchcraft and witch hunting in the past and ties it to our own modern world, once again showing how much we have in common with those who came before us and how much we have to learn because of it.
January 24, 2022
In episode one (about one minute in) of The Coming Storm "The Dead Body" Gabriel Gatehouse begins to investigate QAnon by recalling an online course "Witches, drawing, and storytelling" with "Louisa Maria Mccormick. Mccormick give context by describing how early in the age of printing, The Malleus Maleficarum and the Construction of Witchcraft: Theology and Popular Belief gave energy to a popular period of bloody witch hunts, despite leading figures decrying it. The implication is the myths from online forums bred with social media is a similar story. This series of lectures tracks from the same book and series of persecutions to delineate a Wester Tradition of prejudice, animosity, and hate unloosed. The lecturer connects the hateful past to the '80s "Satanic Panic" and COVID conspiracies.
July 22, 2024
Meh' good enough
To be clear this is actually about the prosecution of witchcraft in Europe over a few hundred years and some of it's socioeconomic causes.
Any information about witchcraft is the invention of priests, theologians, and secular authorities (inventing it just to) defining it as a crime.
There was some interesting speculation as to motivations of this hysteria. A lot of that speculation sounded plausible.
But I still feel like I got baited and switched from that title.
To be clear this is actually about the prosecution of witchcraft in Europe over a few hundred years and some of it's socioeconomic causes.
Any information about witchcraft is the invention of priests, theologians, and secular authorities (inventing it just to) defining it as a crime.
There was some interesting speculation as to motivations of this hysteria. A lot of that speculation sounded plausible.
But I still feel like I got baited and switched from that title.
February 2, 2022
Great rundown of the history of witchcraft. The professor kept saying that many of the subjects she touched upon could absorb an entire lecture. I was aware of some of these subjects she mentioned and indeed, there was a lot more information available that she glossed over, but the overall knowledge summary was good.
I will probably listen to this audiobook again.
I will probably listen to this audiobook again.
July 31, 2023
Nice, quick overview of witch hunts in Europe and the US colonies over several hundred years. Interesting to note the number of men accused and the fact that the trials in England generally weren’t as bad (because of lack of torture) or numerous (by population percentage) as other European countries. And that the trials didn’t necessarily decline from people no longer believing in witchcraft.
August 20, 2024
I'm sure this audiobook is great, but my brain couldn't focus most of the time, even when I listened to the courses multiple times. I'll listen to it once more later as the subject is really of interest to me.
April 15, 2022
A modernist look at witch trials in the early modern period.
July 9, 2022
2.5 ⭐️
Meh 🤷🏻♀️
Meh 🤷🏻♀️
November 24, 2022
3,5
Das Hörbuch ist extrem kompakt. Sehr viel Information in sehr wenig Zeit, aber auch sehr interessant. Es hätte - und das sage ich selten- durchaus länger sein dürfen.
Das Hörbuch ist extrem kompakt. Sehr viel Information in sehr wenig Zeit, aber auch sehr interessant. Es hätte - und das sage ich selten- durchaus länger sein dürfen.
October 31, 2025
Concise but thorough!
February 18, 2022
Interesting topic, exploring the history of witchcraft and witch hunting.
March 3, 2022
more like a 3.5. a solid look at how witchcraft has been viewed culturally within European countries and North America.
May 21, 2022
The last lecture on modern witch hunts really made me paranoid for the immediate future. Absolutely terrifying that archaic beliefs like this are still alive and kicking.
November 29, 2021
I wondered if this would be some course talking about ancient druids or pagans. Instead, it's mostly focused on how Europeans dreamed of devils and witches and started accusing their neighbors of witchcraft. It actually delves into a number of interesting areas, such as how the different European judicial systems approached this, to how religious developments in the evolution of Christianity caused people to think of witchcraft as real or fake or neutral or evil or inconsequential or the greatest threat of the era.
July 29, 2024
This is the first book I choose to learn about witchcraft (since it was free). The author/narrator, Jennifer McNabb, has a pretty credible academic background to support this historical exploration and her wealth of knowledge reflects that. Although I’m new to witchcraft, I noticed this book’s focus gives weight unevenly to a certain few points of interest, and sadly, not to witchcraft (the title "Witchcraft in the Western Tradition" is misleading). After doing a little research on the side, I saw how some lectures lead me to think certain ways when that wasn’t exactly historically accurate (see EDIT UPDATE). This book doesn’t get many of the facts wrong (from what I know) but it’s worded to steer McNabb’s agenda which could lead newcomers astray. In McNabb’s defense, she does have a wonderful agenda with this book that I could sum up in 3 main messages:
-A message for the individual: Be open minded and rational.
-A message for the state: We can’t always trust those in charge or popular belief.
-A message for the nation: Remain discerning especially during times of crisis.
I really do respect Jennifer McNabb in her efforts for getting these messages out to the world, however, I did not pick up this book to learn a life lesson. I really just wanted an unadulterated history book. This book does have history, but will steer you to think more sympathetically toward the persecuted when really they were just as ruthless as their persecutors. This history seems more confusing and chaotic than this book has portrayed it to be. McNabb has very clearly separated the confusion in her mind and gives us a lot of her speculation on the side. But I would argue that her clarity, ironically, does not clear things up. If the times were complicated and confusing, let them be complicated and confusing!
You won’t need much knowledge prior to get into this book. It’s a great overview itself (however very general). The writing was sometimes meandering with the occasional long-winded sentences, but if you can get past that (or replay it 5 times like I did), you will gain a lot of good knowledge to start off on.
For those who will read or have read this book:
My last critique is not toward this book. It’s toward the reviewers who read it. I see a lot of reviews saying this book is “only about the witch-hunts”. I feel this is an unfair simplification that, funnily enough, steers people wrong while the complaint is about being steered wrong. If I had to simplify it, I would say this book is about why the witch-hunts happened, which might not seem like a huge difference, but it is. It's a shame thinking how much the title of this book "Witchcraft in the Western Tradition" is holding back its rating. Had it been titled "Why the Witch-Hunts Happened" I would have given this book a solid 3 stars. I feel it was average, but failing people's expectations broke the reviews.
And yet, dear reviewers, we are trusted to review this book fairly despite our broken hearts. So allow me to attempt a fair overview since this book is more than “just about the witch-hunts”:
-Lecture 1 sets the stage and the record straight (although, reading the book blurb was about the same and I felt this lecture was a waste)
-Lecture 2 is about how Christians came to view witchcraft as evil
-Lecture 3 is about the history of Heresy
-Lecture 4 was about the different legal systems of the Middle Ages and Early Modern period. (I could skip the first 7 minutes and would ask McNabb to add more about the Protestant Reformation)
-Lecture 5 was about how the hype of demonology connected to witchcraft which further demonized it (pun intended)
-Lecture 6 will misinform you through the "ordinary person" perspective (find my research in the EDIT UPDATE)
-Lecture 7 was a 15 minute mess attempting "chronology?" (but really only focused how the Protestant Reformation distracted attention away from witches between 1520-1560) and then a 15 minute geography lesson which was okay
-Lecture 8 is about the Salem witch trials
-Lecture 9 examines the decline of witch-hunting
-Lecture 10 brought it all home with McNabb and her message to the world (which felt like beating a dead horse)
SO! I hope that made my point. The witch-hunts were just the tip of the iceberg on what you’ll learn in this book.
EDIT UPDATE:
Here’s a quote from lecture 6 (please excuse my grammar errors in my attempt to quote this audiobook correctly without the actual reading of it):
“English skeptic Reginald Scot explored common people’s thinking on who witches were in his 1584 demonology, The Discovery of Witchcraft. Scot described accused witches as, “woman which be commonly old, bleary-eyed, fowl and full of wrinkles.” And he added poor, sullen and superstitious to the list as well. Scot deemed these women odious and tedious to their neighbors saying that when these neighbors denied the women food or drink or other requests, the women would curse them, curses remembered when some misfortune struck as grounds for assigning the old women blame. As a witchcraft skeptic, Scot didn’t actually believe in this denial-curse-harm trajectory. But he was cataloging what he understood to be the dynamics of many actual accusations of witchcraft in England…”
In my research, I found a free archive for this so-called "demonology" online. This was my first attempt trying to read straight “from the horses mouth” to get the full picture. It is in old english and the font was also hard to decipher, but what I gleamed from it painted a very different picture than what McNabb gave. Here’s my attempt to quote from it directly. Scot said witches were commonly thought to be:
"Old, lame, bleary-eyed, pale, fowl and full of wrinkles; poor, sullen, superstitious and papi[?]s ; or such knowe no religion: in whole [drowsy?] minds the devil hath gotten a fine seat; so as, what mischief, mischance, calamity, [laughter?] is brought to pa[ss?]e, they are easily persuaded the same is done by themselves; imprinting in their minds an earnest and con[fr?]ant imagination thereof. They are lean and deformed, showing melancholy in their faces, to the horror of all that see them. They are [doting?], [scolds?], mad, devilish; and not much differing from them that are thought to be [polluted?] with spirits; so [firm?] and [steadfast?] in their opinions, as whoever shall only have respect to the con[st?]ancie of their words uttered, would easily believe they were true indeed.
[The?] miserable wretches are so odious unto all their neighbors, and so feared, as few dare offend them, or deny them anything they ask : whereby they take upon them; yea, and sometimes think, that they can do such things as are beyond the abilities of human nature. [They'll?] go from house to house, and from door to door for a pot full of milk, [yelf?], drink, [porridge?], or some such relief; without the which they could hardly live; neither obtaining for their [service?] or pains, nor by their art, nor yet at the devils hand (with whom they are said to make a perfect and [visible?] bargain) either beauty, money, promotion, wealth, worship, pleasure, honor, knowledge, learning or any other benefit whatsoever."
Sorry for quoting more than what was needed. I just thought it was interesting hearing it directly from Scot himself. If you’re encouraged to read more on your own, here’s how I found it:
-Go to Wikipedia
-Search “Reginald Scot”
-Scroll down to External Links
-Click on “The Discouerie of Witchcraft” from the Library of Congress (no, I didn’t misspell “Discouerie”)
Here’s the link if it works: https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001....
If you’re on a PC, go to page 35 to begin The First Book. If you want to skip to the quote I wrote out, go to page 41 (The 3rd Chapter). My attempted quote is at the very beginning of chapter 3.
If you’re on a mobile device, I think you have to scroll all the way through the entire book to get to any page. But when you get to page 34, you’ll find “page 35” doesn’t exist. It turns into page “1 of 560”. I know it’s weird. If you want to skip to chapter 3 where I quoted from, it’s on page 7.
OKAY FINALLY! So there’s 2 things I want to point out. First, McNabb said incorrectly that this text was a demonology. It is not. It is just a critical examination. Second, after reading McNabb’s statement, it lends the reader to think that this “denial-curse-harm trajectory” thing was a more common analogy of how people thought of witches. But in reality, witches were hardly EVER denied. They were more so feared! I’m sure some did deny the witch, but McNabb should have put more emphasis that the witch was greatly feared with maybe few who would deny her. Maybe later in Scot’s book he talks about what would happen if a witch was denied, but that would be the less common way for an ordinary person to treat a witch.
If you’ve read this entire review, I’m sorry and go read a book already.
-A message for the individual: Be open minded and rational.
-A message for the state: We can’t always trust those in charge or popular belief.
-A message for the nation: Remain discerning especially during times of crisis.
I really do respect Jennifer McNabb in her efforts for getting these messages out to the world, however, I did not pick up this book to learn a life lesson. I really just wanted an unadulterated history book. This book does have history, but will steer you to think more sympathetically toward the persecuted when really they were just as ruthless as their persecutors. This history seems more confusing and chaotic than this book has portrayed it to be. McNabb has very clearly separated the confusion in her mind and gives us a lot of her speculation on the side. But I would argue that her clarity, ironically, does not clear things up. If the times were complicated and confusing, let them be complicated and confusing!
You won’t need much knowledge prior to get into this book. It’s a great overview itself (however very general). The writing was sometimes meandering with the occasional long-winded sentences, but if you can get past that (or replay it 5 times like I did), you will gain a lot of good knowledge to start off on.
For those who will read or have read this book:
My last critique is not toward this book. It’s toward the reviewers who read it. I see a lot of reviews saying this book is “only about the witch-hunts”. I feel this is an unfair simplification that, funnily enough, steers people wrong while the complaint is about being steered wrong. If I had to simplify it, I would say this book is about why the witch-hunts happened, which might not seem like a huge difference, but it is. It's a shame thinking how much the title of this book "Witchcraft in the Western Tradition" is holding back its rating. Had it been titled "Why the Witch-Hunts Happened" I would have given this book a solid 3 stars. I feel it was average, but failing people's expectations broke the reviews.
And yet, dear reviewers, we are trusted to review this book fairly despite our broken hearts. So allow me to attempt a fair overview since this book is more than “just about the witch-hunts”:
-Lecture 1 sets the stage and the record straight (although, reading the book blurb was about the same and I felt this lecture was a waste)
-Lecture 2 is about how Christians came to view witchcraft as evil
-Lecture 3 is about the history of Heresy
-Lecture 4 was about the different legal systems of the Middle Ages and Early Modern period. (I could skip the first 7 minutes and would ask McNabb to add more about the Protestant Reformation)
-Lecture 5 was about how the hype of demonology connected to witchcraft which further demonized it (pun intended)
-Lecture 6 will misinform you through the "ordinary person" perspective (find my research in the EDIT UPDATE)
-Lecture 7 was a 15 minute mess attempting "chronology?" (but really only focused how the Protestant Reformation distracted attention away from witches between 1520-1560) and then a 15 minute geography lesson which was okay
-Lecture 8 is about the Salem witch trials
-Lecture 9 examines the decline of witch-hunting
-Lecture 10 brought it all home with McNabb and her message to the world (which felt like beating a dead horse)
SO! I hope that made my point. The witch-hunts were just the tip of the iceberg on what you’ll learn in this book.
EDIT UPDATE:
Here’s a quote from lecture 6 (please excuse my grammar errors in my attempt to quote this audiobook correctly without the actual reading of it):
“English skeptic Reginald Scot explored common people’s thinking on who witches were in his 1584 demonology, The Discovery of Witchcraft. Scot described accused witches as, “woman which be commonly old, bleary-eyed, fowl and full of wrinkles.” And he added poor, sullen and superstitious to the list as well. Scot deemed these women odious and tedious to their neighbors saying that when these neighbors denied the women food or drink or other requests, the women would curse them, curses remembered when some misfortune struck as grounds for assigning the old women blame. As a witchcraft skeptic, Scot didn’t actually believe in this denial-curse-harm trajectory. But he was cataloging what he understood to be the dynamics of many actual accusations of witchcraft in England…”
In my research, I found a free archive for this so-called "demonology" online. This was my first attempt trying to read straight “from the horses mouth” to get the full picture. It is in old english and the font was also hard to decipher, but what I gleamed from it painted a very different picture than what McNabb gave. Here’s my attempt to quote from it directly. Scot said witches were commonly thought to be:
"Old, lame, bleary-eyed, pale, fowl and full of wrinkles; poor, sullen, superstitious and papi[?]s ; or such knowe no religion: in whole [drowsy?] minds the devil hath gotten a fine seat; so as, what mischief, mischance, calamity, [laughter?] is brought to pa[ss?]e, they are easily persuaded the same is done by themselves; imprinting in their minds an earnest and con[fr?]ant imagination thereof. They are lean and deformed, showing melancholy in their faces, to the horror of all that see them. They are [doting?], [scolds?], mad, devilish; and not much differing from them that are thought to be [polluted?] with spirits; so [firm?] and [steadfast?] in their opinions, as whoever shall only have respect to the con[st?]ancie of their words uttered, would easily believe they were true indeed.
[The?] miserable wretches are so odious unto all their neighbors, and so feared, as few dare offend them, or deny them anything they ask : whereby they take upon them; yea, and sometimes think, that they can do such things as are beyond the abilities of human nature. [They'll?] go from house to house, and from door to door for a pot full of milk, [yelf?], drink, [porridge?], or some such relief; without the which they could hardly live; neither obtaining for their [service?] or pains, nor by their art, nor yet at the devils hand (with whom they are said to make a perfect and [visible?] bargain) either beauty, money, promotion, wealth, worship, pleasure, honor, knowledge, learning or any other benefit whatsoever."
Sorry for quoting more than what was needed. I just thought it was interesting hearing it directly from Scot himself. If you’re encouraged to read more on your own, here’s how I found it:
-Go to Wikipedia
-Search “Reginald Scot”
-Scroll down to External Links
-Click on “The Discouerie of Witchcraft” from the Library of Congress (no, I didn’t misspell “Discouerie”)
Here’s the link if it works: https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001....
If you’re on a PC, go to page 35 to begin The First Book. If you want to skip to the quote I wrote out, go to page 41 (The 3rd Chapter). My attempted quote is at the very beginning of chapter 3.
If you’re on a mobile device, I think you have to scroll all the way through the entire book to get to any page. But when you get to page 34, you’ll find “page 35” doesn’t exist. It turns into page “1 of 560”. I know it’s weird. If you want to skip to chapter 3 where I quoted from, it’s on page 7.
OKAY FINALLY! So there’s 2 things I want to point out. First, McNabb said incorrectly that this text was a demonology. It is not. It is just a critical examination. Second, after reading McNabb’s statement, it lends the reader to think that this “denial-curse-harm trajectory” thing was a more common analogy of how people thought of witches. But in reality, witches were hardly EVER denied. They were more so feared! I’m sure some did deny the witch, but McNabb should have put more emphasis that the witch was greatly feared with maybe few who would deny her. Maybe later in Scot’s book he talks about what would happen if a witch was denied, but that would be the less common way for an ordinary person to treat a witch.
If you’ve read this entire review, I’m sorry and go read a book already.
December 15, 2022
Short and sweet. A good review of the subject and a pleasant listen.
February 7, 2022
I found this book somewhat intriguing, but often slow and uninteresting. I thought there would be more anecdotal material, but it’s mostly made up of geopolitical and religious exposition. I understand those things are intertwined, and some of it was quite fascinating, but it got bogged down at times and I’d find myself tuning out frequently. This one lands right in the middle for me, at three stars.
July 10, 2021
Great information provided as a audible original but where is the PDF for all the sources and links to the next books to further educate us? Really what a great class and well presented. Not saying I agree with everything but that is a different topic, no mention of the whole town dancing?
How many references AUDIBLE that could allow us to purchase more books when all we need is a link. How many times and how many years do I need to tell you to get busy with this FREE SUGGESTION? I have told you, Apple, NETFLIX and you on AMAZON and so many more places that even in the movies a link to the next talked about movie or the books referenced should be easy to buy with just a click or even send to my friend not just a gift card but the ACTUAL book, movie item that I want them to see.
So please with excellent courses such as these with all the other books and works cited where are my links to read them! Not even a pdf, come ON!
So to everyone perhaps you will enjoy this. I would like to see a PHD dissertation topic on the Catholics church’s specific guidance and their ANCIENT references not just what she indicated in the Bible text. Why do women cover their heads? What about the Book of Enoch and the Watchers who apparently are the demons who taught women about spells roots and herbs? “And took as many as they desired”. So the church knew ALL ALONG just as they knew about the cycles of the moon, earth and planets and yet they still killed and repressed.
Perhaps its time to hold them accountable for all the deaths in the name of ignorance when they had the documents all this time…. Why do they priests all have sex with prepubescent boys…? No one asks just assumes pedophilia and yet their is old documents, references on how to do it, to summon….
Well never mind just keep reading!!!!
How many references AUDIBLE that could allow us to purchase more books when all we need is a link. How many times and how many years do I need to tell you to get busy with this FREE SUGGESTION? I have told you, Apple, NETFLIX and you on AMAZON and so many more places that even in the movies a link to the next talked about movie or the books referenced should be easy to buy with just a click or even send to my friend not just a gift card but the ACTUAL book, movie item that I want them to see.
So please with excellent courses such as these with all the other books and works cited where are my links to read them! Not even a pdf, come ON!
So to everyone perhaps you will enjoy this. I would like to see a PHD dissertation topic on the Catholics church’s specific guidance and their ANCIENT references not just what she indicated in the Bible text. Why do women cover their heads? What about the Book of Enoch and the Watchers who apparently are the demons who taught women about spells roots and herbs? “And took as many as they desired”. So the church knew ALL ALONG just as they knew about the cycles of the moon, earth and planets and yet they still killed and repressed.
Perhaps its time to hold them accountable for all the deaths in the name of ignorance when they had the documents all this time…. Why do they priests all have sex with prepubescent boys…? No one asks just assumes pedophilia and yet their is old documents, references on how to do it, to summon….
Well never mind just keep reading!!!!
October 5, 2021
“Witchcraft in the Western Tradition” by Jennifer McNabb ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
“Witchcraft in the Western Tradition” is a series of lectures that discuss the history of witchcraft in western cultures from the late medieval period to the present.
These lectures are basically a crash course on the history of witches and witchcraft in the western sense. There wasn’t much that I didn’t already know but it was nice to have a reintroduction to the history of witches in Western Europe and Colonial America.
If you would like a crash course on witchcraft in the western sense, I recommend this series of lectures. There really isn’t more to say unless if you’d like to know if the narration was good which it was.
Over 10 lectures of ~30 minutes, McNabb discusses both the religious aspect and legislation behind cases of witchcraft as well as discussions of gender and petty disputes between neighbors.
The biggest take away from this series is realizing that, within Europe, the closer you were to the Holy Roman Empire (Germany), the higher the number of trials and accusations. I knew the reformation was a large factoring cause of the trials of witchcraft but sometimes I forget that the historical narrative doesn’t exclusively revolve around Britain and that’s my fault.
“Witchcraft in the Western Tradition” is a series of lectures that discuss the history of witchcraft in western cultures from the late medieval period to the present.
These lectures are basically a crash course on the history of witches and witchcraft in the western sense. There wasn’t much that I didn’t already know but it was nice to have a reintroduction to the history of witches in Western Europe and Colonial America.
If you would like a crash course on witchcraft in the western sense, I recommend this series of lectures. There really isn’t more to say unless if you’d like to know if the narration was good which it was.
Over 10 lectures of ~30 minutes, McNabb discusses both the religious aspect and legislation behind cases of witchcraft as well as discussions of gender and petty disputes between neighbors.
The biggest take away from this series is realizing that, within Europe, the closer you were to the Holy Roman Empire (Germany), the higher the number of trials and accusations. I knew the reformation was a large factoring cause of the trials of witchcraft but sometimes I forget that the historical narrative doesn’t exclusively revolve around Britain and that’s my fault.
June 30, 2024
This is one of the best lectures from The Great Courses that I’ve listened to.
McNabb lectures on the history of witchcraft in Western civilization from antiquity to the present day. She covers the Catholic church’s classification of witchcraft and various supernatural entities, and the Lutheran and Calvinist reactions to witchcraft during the Reformation.
She covers the witch hunts of Europe from the 15th century to the 17th century, and of course mentions the witch trials in North America and Canada.
I thought I knew something about the persecution of alleged witches in Europe and in the United States, but as it turns out, I didn’t know nearly enough.
It has received some low ratings on Amazon and elsewhere. I think I can guess why. People are going to read the title, and assume that she is endorsing or defending witchcraft. I’ve seen this before. People will give a low rating to a book they’ve never read based on the title, or based on what somebody at their church told them about the book.
What McNabb actually does is give you the facts.
McNabb lectures on the history of witchcraft in Western civilization from antiquity to the present day. She covers the Catholic church’s classification of witchcraft and various supernatural entities, and the Lutheran and Calvinist reactions to witchcraft during the Reformation.
She covers the witch hunts of Europe from the 15th century to the 17th century, and of course mentions the witch trials in North America and Canada.
I thought I knew something about the persecution of alleged witches in Europe and in the United States, but as it turns out, I didn’t know nearly enough.
It has received some low ratings on Amazon and elsewhere. I think I can guess why. People are going to read the title, and assume that she is endorsing or defending witchcraft. I’ve seen this before. People will give a low rating to a book they’ve never read based on the title, or based on what somebody at their church told them about the book.
What McNabb actually does is give you the facts.
January 29, 2025
This lecture series is a great discussion not just on the American witch trials but also on those which occurred in Europe. I learned a lot about the differences in trials as they happened across time and space. For example, witch hunts flare up when there is greater political instability and ideological uncertainty, such as during times of significant social change or where government is highly decentralized (think of Medieval Europe when the vast countryside was a complicated patchwork of lands and peoples controlled by variously titled aristocrats).
While this doesn't discuss modern iterations of witchcraft practice as much as I expected and would have liked, this is a solid historical overview that I'm glad I listened to. Jennifer McNabb is a good speaker and her 10 lectures flow nicely.
While this doesn't discuss modern iterations of witchcraft practice as much as I expected and would have liked, this is a solid historical overview that I'm glad I listened to. Jennifer McNabb is a good speaker and her 10 lectures flow nicely.
September 16, 2022
Witchcraft in the Western Tradition is a series of lectures discussing witchcraft and witch hunts of recent history.
The discussion primarily surrounds the witch hunts and the circumstances that led to them. Though the cases are largely unrelated, some common themes pop through, such as people wanting to explain what they could not explain, then attributing it to witchcraft. And the terrible sexism of the times, resulting in over 80% of accused witches being women. The religious origins of witchcraft belief and the changing legal landscape are also discussed.
This not a bad short listen for anyone curious about the subject.
The discussion primarily surrounds the witch hunts and the circumstances that led to them. Though the cases are largely unrelated, some common themes pop through, such as people wanting to explain what they could not explain, then attributing it to witchcraft. And the terrible sexism of the times, resulting in over 80% of accused witches being women. The religious origins of witchcraft belief and the changing legal landscape are also discussed.
This not a bad short listen for anyone curious about the subject.
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