how and in what ways did states succeed in asserting their definitions of witchcraft over and above clerical and communal definitions of witchcraft. 

 how and in what ways did states succeed in asserting their definitions of witchcraft over and above clerical and communal definitions of witchcraft.

The medieval Church conceived of witchcraft as a crime against the church.  The medieval/early modern village conceived of witchcraft as a threat against the community.  How did the “godly state” reconceptualized witchcraft as a crime in ways that superseded these two definitions? In your essays please answer the following questions.  First, what was the godly State?  Second, what frightened such states about witchcraft?  In other words, how did the practice of witchcraft represent a challenge to the states’ authority? Third, how and in what ways did states succeed in asserting their definitions of witchcraft over and above clerical and communal definitions of witchcraft.  For this exercise, please use Goodare, chapters 4-6; Levack, documents 15-41.  Please cite the Goodare text at least three times and the Levack text at least three times.

European Witch-Hunt, 1400-1750

Author: Goodare

Witchcraft Sourcebook

Author: Levack