Papers
should be 5-6 pages typed, double spaced, no covers please, just title page
with
name, date, title.
TOPICS TO BE PICKED by August 3: e-mail Professor O’Neil or turn in index card
To be sure everyone has
decided on a topic a week or more before paper is due, topics will be due 8/3,
turned in on index card at lecture. Topics not on this list should be discussed
with by Prof O’Neil.
I am glad to discuss
topics or look at drafts of your papers.
Talk to me in class, come to office hours,
Tues 9:30-10:30, Thurs 12-1, Fri 10:30-12, or arrange appt by e-mail.
Malleus Maleficarum:
1. What is the view of
women presented by Kramer and Sprenger? What is their
overall argument, and
what are their sources? Issues to be discussed include
their view of the general nature of women, their
sexuality (including demonic sex) and the kinds of harm
women are given to. (If you choose this topic, try
to present these views on their own terms, looking for
their internal logic.)
2. Despite
their assurance that witches cannot injure "those who administer public
justice against them,"
the authors of the Malleus
betray a certain fear and horror of witches that emerges especially in their
instructions on how to try a witch (Pt. III, K&P,
pp. 204-229). Discuss the interaction between judges and
witches and the attitude of the witch hunters towards
their victims in the Malleus.
Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Fautus:
3. Marlowe's Doctor Faustus
is often described as a Reformation drama. What are the theological issues
involved in the tragedy of Dr. Faustus? Why
is Faust damned? What caused his fall? Could he have been
saved? Discuss the attitude to
scholasticism and to Catholicism depicted in the play.
16th Century Witch Debate:
4. At
the start of the witch panic, the central issues involved were debated by a groups of intellectuals representing
the major
professions. What were the issues debated between the Lutheran preacher Johann Brenz, the physician
Johann Weyer,
and the French magistrate Jean Bodin? Discuss their explanations for the harm attributed to witches
and their
positions on the reality of witches, using the documents in the xerox readings packet (Section # 1,
Readings for Week 6).
The Benandanti:
5. How does the Inquisition's view of the benandanti differ from their concept of themselves?
Use the trial records included in the Xerox packet to discuss these differences (trials
against Paolo Gasparutto and Battista Moduco).
You will
also need to look at the opening section of Ginzburgs
book The Night Battles,
which you can get on reserve, or borrow a copy from me.
There are at least two
distinct cultural levels visible in these trial records, the benandanti and the Inquisition.
Discuss the difference between each of these perspectives, asking:
1) what is the benandanti's
view of themselves and their own social role?
2) what is the Inquisitor's
interpretation of them and their activities?
(see
the sentences handed down at end of trial, as well as questions during trial)
Book report on Salem Possessed
6. Discuss the central
argument and methodology of Boyer and Nissenbaum in
their book Salem Possessed.
Why do the authors focus on the period leading
up to the witch trials more than on the trials themselves?
What do they see as the underlying causes of the
PAPERS ANALYZING WITCH TRIAL
DOCUMENTS
These topics involve close reading
and analysis of one or more trial records, placing them in their historical
context by
using secondary source These papers should
will take the transcripts of one or more witch trials, and place the trials
in
their specific historical context. Trial documents can be
analyzed in various ways:
1) Factual / literal
/ historical reading of trial records:
Reconstruct the events leading to trial from a close reading of the trial
document.
What happened before the trial? How did accusation(s) come about?
Who is testifying against the accused? What happens after person is
arrested?
Use small bits of information in the trial records as evidence, clues.
2)
Social/cultural/symbolic reading: What images of witch, devil, familiars etc
are invoked in trial?
What is the social context of the accused witch's life? Is s/he accused by neighbors, relatives, strangers?
Can you identify the accused witch's social role (e.g. beggar, healer, midwife
etc.)?
What social purposes might be served by this trial?
Analyses of trial
records should begin with a close reading of the trial itself,
including specific details (but not all details will be easily interpreted..)
Papers drawing on
trial documents should then place a specific trial in its
historical context (country, date, type of court, religion etc.)
How does this trial record reflect local traditions, beliefs, legal procedures?
You should examine specific charges brought, how an initial accusation came
before the court,
the kind of court trying the case (if secular jurisdiction: local or higher
appeals court?; if a Catholic
court: Inquisition or Bishop’s court?; most trials outside of
Note also the kinds of questions put to defendant & to witnesses, form of
judicial procedure used,
the types of evidence accepted by the court, the standards of proof in use, and
the outcome of the case.
What is interesting, surprising or unique about this case? How does it compare
to trials elsewhere?
To place trials in their context,
you need some secondary sources. What follows is a list of
trials and relevant sources for context. A recent new Encyclopedia of
Witchcraft (2006). edited
by Richard Golden is availalbe
in Suzzallo Reference Section BF1566 .E56 2006 v.1 -4
for
Library Use Only (LUO) You could use the articles on
1)
Use his discussion of the trials for context, especially pp 1-39, 69-97.
2) Netherlands/France: Trial of Suzanne Gaudry
in Kors & Peters #
57 pp. 359-366.
For context, see article by Robert Muchembled,
“Witches of the Cambresis,” will be on E-reserve.
3)
pp. 302-208; later outbreaks are also documented in Barbara Rosen (ed) W/C in England.
For context on English trials and
Sharpe, Instruments of Darkness; Keith Thomas, Religion &
Decline of Magic, Ch. 14-17.
4) German trials: In our reading there are
several documents from German cities that can form the
basis for a paper about the German witch panic. Specific documents include:
Walpurga Hausmanin, in
Xerox Packet #3; trial of Johannes Junius in
moving statement
by Frederich Von Spee,
Jesuit confessor to witches in Wurzburg, in K&P # 65 pp.
425-429.
For overall context use Midelfort article in Xerox
packet, Levack & lecture notes.
5)
by itself). If
you want to analyze trial records, there are five included in the book by David
Dallin (alias David Levin),
What
Happened at
Salem
This is an outstanding site, but there are others as well (Google for
I’d suggest picking one or two
trials, perhaps comparing a man and a woman (men: John Proctor, George
Burroughs;
women: Sarah Good is a classic, but see also Bridge Bishop and
others). Or compare a “respectable” person like
Rebecca Nurse with a
“beggar witch” like Sarah Good.