Book review: Female Power Witchcraft And Gender In Elizabethan England by Kate Dumycz
the subject of witchcraft within England has raised many different questions and theories: from the "refused charity" hypothesis with "social tensions thrown up by the transition from personal to institutional charity" as argued by MacFarlane/Thomas to the extreme feminist argument of a "complex attack by male-dominated authority on dependent or independent women. This essay and supporting database has used evidence from the Assize trials and the pamphlets to study the surmise that witchcraft was a form of female power. Through looking at the pamphlets (whilst appreciating their bias and the possibility that they were not eye-witness accounts), it can be seen that many of the accused witches were living outside the "norms" of their society.The English witchcraft trails of the sixteenth and seventeenth century are a very complex topic to study. It is hoped that this essay and accompanying database has given realistic consideration to the continuing debate.
Free e-books (can be downloaded):
Justin Winsor - The Literature Of Witchcraft In New EnglandJohn Linwood Pitts - Witchcraft And Devil Lore In The Channel Islands
Kate Dumycz - Female Power Witchcraft And Gender In Elizabethan England
