Book Review: Witchcraft - A History in 13 Trials

My local library in Beckenham has a very good collection of books in the paranormal section. I recently borrowed and read Witchcraft – A History in 13 Trials, an excellent history book by Marion Gibson. This is what publisher Simon and Schuster says on its website

In Witchcraft, Professor Marion Gibson uses thirteen significant trials to tell the global history of witchcraft and witch-hunts. As well as exploring the origins of witch-hunts through some of the most famous trials from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century, it takes us in new and surprising directions.Three women were prosecuted under a version of the 1735 Witchcraft Act as recently as 2018.

I’ve read quite a few books on the history of witchcraft and witchcraft trials in the past. This one is quite possibly my favourite so far. It covers some famous cases, such as the trial in North Berwick in which women were accused of plotting against the protestant King James VI of Scotland, and the trial of Tatabe in Salem. But it also includes several I was less familiar with, such as the trial of Helena Scheuberin. This is the first case covered in the book, and took place early in the career of witchhunter Heinrich Kramer, author of the infamous Malleus Maleficarum. Helena was wealthy enough to hire a good lawyer who got the case thrown out. Sadly, many other women who Heinrich Kramer targetted were less fortunate.

What I like about Witchcraft – A History in 13 Trials is that it emphasises how the victims of witchcraft persecutions have nearly always been those with least power in society: particularly women, but also ethnic minorities, the disabled, and the poor. Some of those accused did use folk magic, or were midwives or healers, but many weren’t. Scapegoats were often sought in times of economic, religious, and political upheaval. Marion Gibson shows how, even in the 20th and 21st centuries, accusations of witchcraft have taken place and continue to do so. 

I feel this is an important and valuable book to read for anyone with an interest in witchcraft, minority rights, history, and even current world news. Why not pop into your local library and see if you can borrow a copy, like I did.

About the Author

Marion Gibson is Professor of Renaissance and Magical Literatures at the University of Exeter, UK. She is the author of seven academic books on witches in history and literature: Reading Witchcraft; Possession, Puritanism, and Print; Witchcraft Myths in American Culture; Imagining the Pagan Past; Rediscovering Renaissance Witchcraft; Witchcraft: The Basics and, with Jo Esra, Shakespeare’s Demonology. Marion has also edited five books for publishers such as Routledge and Ashgate, published around twenty chapters and articles, and she is general editor of the series Elements in Magic for Cambridge University Press. Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials is her most recent work.

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