Not many posts the last few days, as I've been spending most of the time finishing off my "Witchcraft in the Channel Islands: A Critical Survey", getting to the point where it is ready for publication. This has been an ongoing labour, began way back in 2004, and finally returned to this year.
This is a 69 page paperback which presents a review of the trials, and how they have been treated by historians and writers from J.L. Pitts, G.R. Balleine and Cary-Curtis to the present day. It includes extracts from witch trials in Guernsey, and a timeline of trials in both Jersey and Guernsey, as well as a brief survey of the actual laws relating to witchcraft, historically and today, which I have not seen in print elsewhere (and for which I have Steven Pallot of the Law Officers to thank).
I wrote it primarily for my own benefit as it has struck me how the historical presentation and analysis of the trials has scarcely changed since Balleine writing on the subject in 1939 (Jersey) and Carey-Curtis in 1937 (Guernsey). Look at any modern book, including Balleine's History of Jersey - the latest revision - and what you will get, in terms of interpreting the Witch Trials, is still the same as Balleine's original work.
Yet the assumptions he made draw largely on the work of Margaret Murray, and the field of witch trial studies, which I have been following for many years, has moved on considerably, with a vastly greater range of documents studied, and a greater awareness of narrative framing in questions posed by inquisitors and how these were reported, as well as the cultural and geographical factors involved.
None of the later Jersey and Guernsey studies seem to have read anything of the work of Alan Macfarlane, Brian Levack, Ronald Hutton, Lyndal Roper or Owen Davies, or other modern writers, but just largely rehash Balleine. Even Neopagan writers on the subject such as Isaac Bonewits have given up on the Murray thesis of an underground conspiracy of "the old religion".
A warning - if you want conspiracy theories, pagan rites, spells and enchantments, this is not the book for you. Instead it is an attempt to look at Balleine and others interpretation of the trials, and to see how they slant the evidence, and what other possibilities are possible, taking in the vast amount of modern research across Europe.
This is a 69 page paperback which presents a review of the trials, and how they have been treated by historians and writers from J.L. Pitts, G.R. Balleine and Cary-Curtis to the present day. It includes extracts from witch trials in Guernsey, and a timeline of trials in both Jersey and Guernsey, as well as a brief survey of the actual laws relating to witchcraft, historically and today, which I have not seen in print elsewhere (and for which I have Steven Pallot of the Law Officers to thank).
I wrote it primarily for my own benefit as it has struck me how the historical presentation and analysis of the trials has scarcely changed since Balleine writing on the subject in 1939 (Jersey) and Carey-Curtis in 1937 (Guernsey). Look at any modern book, including Balleine's History of Jersey - the latest revision - and what you will get, in terms of interpreting the Witch Trials, is still the same as Balleine's original work.
Yet the assumptions he made draw largely on the work of Margaret Murray, and the field of witch trial studies, which I have been following for many years, has moved on considerably, with a vastly greater range of documents studied, and a greater awareness of narrative framing in questions posed by inquisitors and how these were reported, as well as the cultural and geographical factors involved.
None of the later Jersey and Guernsey studies seem to have read anything of the work of Alan Macfarlane, Brian Levack, Ronald Hutton, Lyndal Roper or Owen Davies, or other modern writers, but just largely rehash Balleine. Even Neopagan writers on the subject such as Isaac Bonewits have given up on the Murray thesis of an underground conspiracy of "the old religion".
A warning - if you want conspiracy theories, pagan rites, spells and enchantments, this is not the book for you. Instead it is an attempt to look at Balleine and others interpretation of the trials, and to see how they slant the evidence, and what other possibilities are possible, taking in the vast amount of modern research across Europe.
Paperback book £6.20
Downloadable book: £5.00
Contents
Overview
Witch Trials in Jersey
Witch Trials in Guernsey
An Aside on Confessions
Two Modern Writers
Jersey Folk Lore
Laws on Witchcraft in Jersey
The Legal Position Today
A Modern Neopagan Perspective
Witchcraft and the Evil Eye in Guernsey
Conclusions
Select Bibliography
Appendix 1: Sample Confessions of Witches Under Torture
Appendix 2:Witchcraft Trials in Guernsey - A List
Appendix 3:Witchcraft Trials in Jersey - A List
Overview
Witch Trials in Jersey
Witch Trials in Guernsey
An Aside on Confessions
Two Modern Writers
Jersey Folk Lore
Laws on Witchcraft in Jersey
The Legal Position Today
A Modern Neopagan Perspective
Witchcraft and the Evil Eye in Guernsey
Conclusions
Select Bibliography
Appendix 1: Sample Confessions of Witches Under Torture
Appendix 2:Witchcraft Trials in Guernsey - A List
Appendix 3:Witchcraft Trials in Jersey - A List
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2 comments:
I don't think I ever fully accepted the Murrayite theory of a European-wide underground conspiracy of Pagan witches, except when using it for songwriting.
I was the first Neopagan writer to denounce the theory back in 1973. So it's not quite precise to say I've "given up" on the theory. You can see my book Bonewits’s Essential Guide to Witchcraft and Wicca for details.
I have that one and the Druid one two. Both excellent scholarship. I particularly liked your argument from the "underground" Jews in Spain in the Middle Ages, which was a really strong analogy and I'd not come across it elsewher.
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