The History of Witchcraft

Henry VIII was a superstitious sort of bloke, one who was in his element spending his free time charging at another bloke who was also charging him while they both hold long and pointy bits of wood (some academic language for you there), and yet when faced with something he couldn't fight he ran away screaming.Poison, prophecy, and witchcraft were all on his hit-list, as we see in this episode, as we cover the magical elements of both his reign and those of his two eldest surviving legitimate children; Edward VI and Mary I. This episode primarily makes use of the following texts: Alan MacFarlane, Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England, London, 1970Richard Deacon, Matthew Hopkins: Witchfinder General, London, 1976James Sharpe, Instruments of Darkness: Witchcraft in England, 1550-1750, London, 1996Robert Poole (ed.), The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories, Manchester, 2002Christina Larner and Alana MacFarlane, Witchcraft and Religion: the Politics of Popular Belief, Oxford, 1984Please see the full bibliography of the website.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Roman Empire stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Levant for centuries, and today's episode covers a few of the magical beliefs the superstitious Romans held. While it's hard to distinguish between organically Roman traits and those imported from the Greek world, the culture of Rome was certainly a mixture of the two, as can be seen in their beliefs in magic. Today's episode primarily makes use of the following texts:EpodesLivy, The History of RomeThe Twelve TablesM. W. Dickie, Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World, 2002A. Parker, Protecting the Troops? Phallic Carvings in the North of Roman BritainPlease see the website for a full bibliography http://thehistoryofwitchcraft.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today we cover the development of Halloween - its development from a Celtic harvest festival, which may or may not have involved the ritual slaughter of infant children, and its merger with the Christian holy days of All Saints and All Souls, emerging from the melting pot of American society as something new and old, traditional and commercial.Many thanks to Joe from the 80 Days - An Exploration Podcast for lending his voice to today's intro quote. Find his fantastic show on Facebook, Twitter, and 80dayspodcast.com  Today's show primarily relies on the following works:Rogers, Nicholas, Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, 2002Santino, Jack (ed.) Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life, 1994 For a full bibliography, check the website!http://thehistoryofwitchcraft.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The founders of Western Civilisation, the Classical Greeks were strong believers in the existence and capabilities of the supernatural. Their epic poems and plays featured Gods, Goddesses, and spirits aplenty, and mythical heroes were often attributed fantastic knowledge and power. As time went on, Greek writers began to distinguish between different types of magic, and their acceptability. This episode primarily draws from:- Daniel Ogden, Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook, Oxford, 2002For a full bibliography, please see the website: http://thehistoryofwitchcraft.co.ukMany thanks to the Ryan from the History of Ancient Greece Podcast for his help! Go check him out - http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Persian Empires of antiquity were vast and powerful, and many of their subjects were devout Zoroastrians - a monotheistic religion that worshiped Ahura Mazda and abhorred his opposite, the evil Ahriman. Ahriman was the creator of all the impurity of the world, including the powers of witchcraft. Yet despite this zealous hatred of magic, the priesthood of Zoroaster, the Magi, gave the west an ironic legacy... Today's episode primarily relied on:The Book of Arda VirafThe Sixteen Perfect Lands of Ahura Mazda, and the Many Plagues of AhrimanFor a full show bibliography, please see the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Magic and religion was inseparable in the first human civilisations of the Fertile Crescent and the Nile. The Gods were active in the world, and could be bargained with and sometimes commanded by humans. But what was one mans legitimate prayer was his enemy's witchcraft, and all manner of natural events were blamed on the supernatural shenanigans of evil men.This episode primarily makes use of the following texts:Farber, W. Witchcraft, Magic, and Divination in Ancient MesopotamiaSchwemer, D. Witchcraft and War: the Ritual Fragment KiPinch, G. Egyptian Mythology: A guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of ancient EgyptFor a full show bibliography and attributions for music and sound used in this episode, please see the website: http://thehistoryofwitchcraft.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode is on how the news of the ruthless prosecution of the Templars in France was received by three distinct rulers - Edward II of England, Denis I of Portugal, and regent Amaury of the Kingdom of Cyprus. We see how, by and large, the main deciding factor for how the Templars are treated are the domestic situations in each of these countries.This episode primarily makes use of the following texts:Cohn, N. Europe's Inner Demons (London, 1975)Jochten Burgtof, Paul Crawford, Helen Nicholson (eds.) The Debate of the Trial of the Templars (1307-1314), 2013For a full show bibliography and attributions for music and sound used in this episode, please see the website: http://thehistoryofwitchcraft.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dive into the ruthless world of King Philip IV, whose ambition led to the destruction of the Knights Templar. Explore the dramatic decline of this once-powerful order, as political intrigue and financial desperation sparked mass arrests and dubious confessions. Uncover the alleged blasphemous rituals that fueled accusations amidst torturous trials. The brutal end of the Templars reveals a tangled web of betrayal and divine retribution, leaving a complex legacy that echoes through history.

The Knights Templar, or the Poor-Fellow Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, are a fascinating example of how too much success can be a bad thing. Rapidly abandoning the 'Poor-Fellow' aspect of their name, the Templars grew into a vast land-owning organisation with enormous wealth, ignoring the growing anger and discontent against their privileges. Once they lost the 'Temple of Solomon' aspect of their name, their days were numbered...This episode primarily makes use of the following text:Cohn, N. Europe's Inner Demons (London, 1975) For a full show bibliography, please see the website: http://thehistoryofwitchcraft.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John Calvin's role in the history of Geneva is hotly debated to this day, and the city gained a reputation for cruel and excessive witchtrials. We discover exactly how terrible these trials were, and whether or not Calvin deserves the blame for Geneva's attitude towards witchcraft. We also consider the events to the east of the republic, where the greedy motivations of a tyrannical lord resulted in a catastrophic witch hunt which eventually led to the creation of a modern European state. This episode primarily makes use of the following texts:Kieckhefer, R. ‘Witch Trials in Medieval Europe’, in Oldridge D., (ed.), The Witchcraft Reader, (London, 2002)William Monter, E. ‘The Sociology of Jura Witchcraft’, in Oldridge D., (ed.), The Witchcraft Reader, (London, 2002)Ankerloo, B. and Clark, S. (eds.) Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Period of the Witch Trials, (London, 2002)William Monter, E., Witchcraft in France and Switzerland (Cornell, 1976)Robisheaux, T. 'The German Witch Trials', in Levack, B. P. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America, (Oxford, 2013)   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices