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Paracollege 205
"Witch" Trials: Conflict of Interpretations in History and Religion

Discussion Questions
(an evolving list of interesting questions for discussion and preparation for Mid-Term Exam)

I. Terms, Concepts, and Persons To Be Familiar With:
 

II. Themes, Topics, and Questions to Consider:

• Consider the contrast of “scientific” and “magical” explanations of events.  Discuss how these contrasting styles of explanations contribute to an understanding of the trials of alleged witches.  Describe a common scenario of witch accusations wherein magical causes were assumed.
• Contrast the working assumptions, prejudices, and ruling questions in the histories by Klaits, Barstow, and Daly.
• Illuminate something of the role of the church in developing:
• • the cumulative concept of witchcraft
  • the theology of women (esp. Eve)
  • the procedures of the trials
• Consider the significance of the Reformation in the ebb and flow of the trials.
• Comment on the roles of women in their communities as “healer-diviners” (midwives, herbalists, wise-women, etc.).
• Comment on the role of torture in eliciting confessions, in contributing to the emergence of the cumulative concept of witchcraft.  Also on Barstow’s contention that torture, as sexualized sadism, was in some respects the point of the trials, and not merely a feature of them.
• Consider the class and other economic dimensions of the trials.
• Consider the role of sexuality (male and female) and constructions of sexuality in the emergence of the trials (for example, in the Malleus Maleficarum).

 
III. For Sake of Discussion, the Mid-Term from Spring, 1998:
 

Part I.  Address each item as completely as possible, but briefly, in a few sentences.  About fifteen minutes.

1. Identify three differences between accusatorial and inquisitorial judicial procedures.
2. Identify three elements in the “cumulative concept of witchcraft” (Levack).
3. Define maleficia.
4. Define diabolism.
5. Explain changes in inquisitorial procedures that were rationalized by the fact that witchcraft was crimen exceptum.
 

Part II.  Answer TWO of the following four questions.  Provide as much detail as possible.  Cite specific sources as much as possible.  About twenty minutes each.

1. Choose any one of the representations of witches on the back of this sheet.  Describe what it reveals of early modern understandings of witches, women, devils, etc.  Use any categories you find helpful (e.g., from Miles, Levack, Barstow, Daly, or from primary materials in Kramer and Sprenger, or Boguet).
2. Describe the role of torture as the witch trials unfolded.  You might address questions like these: How was torture justified by the trial judges?  What effects did it have on the spread of accusations?  How did it affect the “production of knowledge”?  How do modern historians differ in evaluating the importance of torture in the trials?
3. Choose two of these significant factors in the development of the trials and explain their significance: the Reformation, consolidation of medical and other professions through guilds and universities, centralization of state power, class difference and antagonism.
4. Compose and answer a question of your own.

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