The Scottish witch-hunt in context

Julian Goodare is Lecturer in Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh

A collection of essays on Scottish witchcraft and witch-hunting, which covers the whole period of the Scottish witch-hunt, from the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth. Includes studies of particular witchcraft panics such as a reassessment of the role of King James VI. Covers a wide range of topics concerned with Scottish witch-hunting and places it in the context of other topics such as gender relations, folklore, magic and healing, and moral regulation by the church and state. Provides a comparative dimension of witch-hunting beyond Scotland - one on the global context, and one comparing Scotland with England. It is a showcase for the latest thinking on the subject and will be of interest to all scholars studying witchcraft in early modern Europe, as well as the general reader wanting to move beyond shallow and sensational accounts of a subject of compelling in.

PrefaceList of FiguresList of AbbreviationsNotes on contributors1. Introduction - Julian Goodare2. The global context of the Scottish witch-hunt - Ronald Hutton3. In search of the Devil in Fife witchcraft cases, 1560-1705 - Stuart MacDonald4. The Scottish witchcraft panic of 1597 - Julian Goodare5. The Devil and the domestic: witchcraft, quarrels and women's work in Scotland - Lauren Martin6. Devices and directions: folk healing aspects of witchcraft practice in seventeenth-century Scotland - Joyce Miller7. Hunting the rich witch in Scotland: high-status witchcraft suspects and their persecutors, 1590-1650 - Louise Yeoman8. Witch-hunting and the Scottish state - Julian Goodare9. The western witch-hunt of 1697-1700: the last major witch-hunt in Scotland - Michael Wasser10. The decline and end of Scottish witch-hunting - Brian P. Levack11. Witch-hunting, witchcraft and witch historiography: England and Scotland compared - James A. Sharpe12. The last of the witches: the survival of Scottish witch belief - Edward J. Cowan and Lizanne HendersonFurther Reading