The Witches of Lorraine

by Robin Briggs

Based on perhaps the richest surviving archive of witchcraft trials to be found in Europe, The Witches of Lorraine reveals the extraordinary stories held within those documents. They paint a vivid picture of life amongst the ordinary people of a small duchy on the borders of France and the Holy Roman Empire, and allow a very close analysis of the beliefs, social tensions, and behavior patterns underlying popular attitudes to witchcraft.

Intense persecution occurred in the period 1570-1630, but the focus of this book is more on how suspects interacted with their neighbors over the years preceding their trials. One of the mysteries is why people were so slow to use the law to eliminate these supposedly vicious and dangerous figures. Perhaps the most striking and unexpected conclusion is that witchcraft was actually perceived as having strong therapeutic possibilities; once a person was identified as the cause of a sickness, they could be induced to take it off again. Other aspects studied include the more fantastic beliefs in sabbats, shapeshifting, and werewolves, the role of the devins or cunning-folk, and the characteristics attributed to the significant proportion of male witches. This regional study makes a vital contribution to historical understanding of one of the most dramatic phenomena in early modern Europe, and to witchcraft studies as a whole, as well as illuminating related topics in social and religious
history.

Genres: History

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 10, 2007

About the author

My co-author Joel Greer and I were neighbors in the 60s. We reconnected via Facebook in late 2019. As a result, in 2020 when COVID-19 was in full swing, we created the CORONA RICHMOND Facebook page to provide a venue for a wide variety of friends to talk about how the pandemic was affecting their lives - whether mundane or live-threatening, suffering anxiety or providing hope. All contributed to this anthology of short, well-written vignettes about their lives In the Year of the Virus.

I am a former law firm Office Administrator, now retired, living in Pacifica, California. I have always had a passion for writing, especially travel logs.

Joel Greer is a retired sports writer, spending the last 55 years in a variety of journalistic endeavors, most notably as a college football writer/editor for the Bleacher Report website. He lives in Richmond, Virginia.