Brian A. Pavlac
I'd be lying if I tried to claim I'd read this whole book. Conveniently however, it was chaptered, so I found and read the relevant stuff. I think I might go and read the whole thing when I have time (i.e. when the HSC is over) because it's really quite interesting.
Pavlac makes a lot of really good points. Let me share them with you:
* It is virtually impossible for historians to develop one theory that can explain the onset of witch hunts- In his book Pavlac looks at witchhunting from around 1400 to 1800 CE, and writes
' Probably no ultimate explanation for the witch hunts will ever completely satisfy either historians or victims. The assortment of scholarly theories accounting for the hunts offers only partial explanations. Variations in time, place, motivations, and results make comprehensive explanations nearly impossible and multipple causations essential.' pg. 195
He makes a really good point. I may only be focusing on the Salem trials, but in reality each witch hunt is different in many many ways, and so require to be studied seperately in order to understand them. Salem alone has continued to baffle historians for over 300 years, and there's still hundreds more!
* On the topic of causation, he also notes:
'Whatever the theory, the ultimate reasons reside in human nature and the cultural conventions of an age' pg. 4
and he then states:
'Two phenomena allowed the witch hunts to erupt when and where they did . First, a wide spread belief in witches as an imminent public danger fabricated a justification, and more importantly, late-medieval and early-modern Christian intellectuals wove people's long-held superstitious fears about malevolent magic into the Christian worldview.' pg. 4
I think he sums that idea up nicely. There are clearly other factors to take into account when it comes to witch hunts, but I agree that Christian theocracy certainly leant itself to the persecution of witches. Definatley at Salem we can see the influence Puritan theocracy had.
On Salem, Pavlac doesn't have too much to say that I didn't already know, but he does mention one theory that I hadn't heard- That some of the women targeted were targeted because of an attitude that women shouldn't own property. He doesn't make known what his own opinions are, but it is clear that he doesn't buy into 'medical' theories such as ergotism and hallucinations due to Jimson Weed.
Pavlac also invented the term "Strixologist", derived from the Latin word for 'witch'. A Strixologist is someone who writes about witches and whether they are real and if magic could actually change the natural world. Though they may have originally tried to explain witches' origins, character and powers, they eventually ended up refuting the reality of witches. He developed the term to describe those who studied and hunted witches. Not really too related to Salem, I know, but I thought it was an interesting term none-the-less.
What is more relevant to Salem though is this note:
' The majority of scholars have noted...that many witches were among the poorest of society, and hunts rarely ever paid for themselves. Usually once a hunt did begin convicting members of the wealthy elitess, other untouched rich and powerful persons feared for their own lives and livelihoods and shut the hunt down.' pg. 191
Even though there is still some debate over why the witch trials at Salem ended so abrubtly, I think, as do many historians, that it definately had to do with the fact the 'afflicted' girls had over reached themselves and accused extremely prominent people- including the wife of the Governor, Lady Phipps.
Pavlac also discusses Sociological Theories:
'Convincing theories of social functionalism or social accusation have satisfied some historians looking to explain the hunts (Like Boyer and Nissenbaum) . These theories draw on ideas of anthropology, psychology, and postmodernism, describing how societies define themselves by including some and excluding "others."... [they] reinforce and define the limits of socially acceptable behaviour.' pg. 193
Pavlac is the Herve A. LeBlanc Distinguished Service Professor and chair of the Department of History at King's College in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania.
I really quite enjoy this book, its very fascinating :)
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