| CODE | ANT2083 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | Magic, Witchcraft, and Society in Early Modern Europe: Mediterranean Perspectives | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||
| EQF/MQF LEVEL | Not Applicable | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Anthropological Sciences | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | In recent decades, the history of magic, witchcraft, and their repression has been examined from a variety of perspectives. This study-unit adopts an interdisciplinary approach, combining intellectual history, anthropology, and gender studies to explore beliefs about magic and the persecution of witches in early modern Europe, with particular attention to the Mediterranean world and Malta. Throughout the study-unit, selected case studies will be examined in order to illustrate how broader ideas and social dynamics operated in specific historical contexts. The study-unit is divided into four sections. The first examines the intellectual foundations of the witch-hunts from the later Middle Ages to the early Renaissance. It traces how learned elites interpreted popular superstition, magic, and heresy, and how these ideas gradually developed into the belief in a diabolical conspiracy of witches threatening Christian society. Special attention will be given to the interaction between elite demonological theories and local belief systems in Mediterranean communities, including Malta. The second section focuses on the most influential witch-hunting manual, the Malleus Maleficarum (“The Hammer of the Witches”), placing it within the broader context of medieval misogyny. Using tools from gender history, it explores how ideas about women’s bodies, sexuality, and social roles contributed to the association between women and witchcraft. The third section examines the witch-hunts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries within the context of the religious divisions between Protestant and Catholic Europe. It considers how wider political, social, and religious transformations shaped witch persecution, while also situating Malta—under the rule of the Order of St John and the authority of the Roman Inquisition—within broader European patterns. The fourth section draws on anthropology and sociology to analyse the social dynamics that led communities to identify and accuse witches. Particular attention will be given to mechanisms of social tension, scapegoating, and community conflict in small societies. Gender analysis will also help explain why women were more frequently accused and how trial records and confessions, including those preserved in the Maltese inquisitorial archives, can be interpreted within their cultural and psychological context. Study-Unit Aims: This study-unit aims to introduce students to the cultural, intellectual, and social history of magic, witchcraft, and witch-hunting in early modern Europe, with particular attention to the Mediterranean and Maltese context. It seeks to situate beliefs about magic within the broader framework of early modern culture, including natural philosophy, religion, politics, language, and gender relations. The study-unit also aims to familiarise students with the major historiographical interpretations of witchcraft and to explore the complex interplay of cultural, social, and institutional factors that produced the witch-hunts. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: By the end of the study-unit, students should be able to contextualize discourses on magic and witchcraft within the wider intellectual and social environment of early modern Europe. They should be able to identify and critically discuss the principal historiographical approaches used in the study of witchcraft and understand the multiple factors—religious, political, social, and cultural—that contributed to the emergence and development of witch persecutions. Students will also develop a clearer understanding of the sources and methods used in research on witchcraft and related topics. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: Through engagement with primary sources, historiographical debates, and selected case studies, students will develop skills in historical analysis, critical reading, and interpretation of complex texts. The study-unit will enhance their ability to compare different scholarly approaches, contextualize historical phenomena, and evaluate evidence drawn from a variety of sources, including trial records and inquisitorial documents. Students will also strengthen their research and analytical skills in the study of early modern history. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: View reading list |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture, Fieldwork and Seminar | ||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Carmel Cassar |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2026/7. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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