Scholarship on witchcraft continues to grow apace. In this latest offering, The Routledge History of Witchcraft, Johannes Dillinger seeks to introduce readers to “the diversity of witchcraft studies” (x). Dillinger—who in addition to editing the volume provides a chapter on the early modern German witch hunts—is joined by twenty-seven other contributors, many of whom are established scholars in their fields. They represent an array of disciplines including history, theology, anthropology, art history, and literary studies. Perhaps inevitably, given the extensive existing literature on this topic, this book covers some ground similar to that of earlier edited collections, such as B. P. Levack's The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America (2013) and David J. Collins's The Cambridge History of Magic and Witchcraft in the West: From Antiquity to the Present (2015). Nevertheless, the book's scope is impressive and surpasses previous works in its interdisciplinary nature.
The book's twenty-nine chapters are organized into four sections: “Witches in Antiquity and in the Middle Ages,” “The Early Modern Witch Hunts: Regions and Issues,” “Modern Concepts of Witches,” and “Witches and the Arts.” The inclusion of this final section, breaking from the traditional chronological layout, defines this book as a distinct contribution to witchcraft scholarship. Each chapter is short (the longest is just twenty pages, including notes and select bibliography). As Dillinger states in his preface, the essays are not exhaustive; rather, they should be the “first words” (x) that people read on the topic. To assist readers with further research, each author provides a select bibliography highlighting some key works.
Given the book's scale, it is impossible to review each chapter individually. Dillinger appears to have given the authors fairly free rein, so chapters vary in length, structure, and focus. Some authors, including Michael D. Bailey and Owen Davies, provide broad overviews; some, including Giorgos Andrikopoulos and Sigrid Schade, offer several key examples; and others, including Adam Jortner and Peter Geschiere, focus on individual case studies. This variety is not a problem. It provides a useful insight into the many ways that the study of witchcraft can be approached. Coupled with the remarkable range in chronology and discipline, however, it is difficult at first to identify closely shared themes across the chapters.
Yet, on closer inspection, common threads emerge. One is the ambiguity of terminology like “magic” and “witchcraft.” Kathryn Edwards explores how these ideas overlapped in early modern Europe, concluding that delineating the two proves challenging because “the distinction between legitimate magic and illegitimate witchcraft was often in the eye of the beholder” (273). This tension has existed since antiquity; Andrikopoulos describes seeking a definition of magic and witchcraft in Greco-Roman antiquity as futile “since even then . . . there was hardly a consensus” (3). Using witchcraft as a broad term is problematic. In his study of colonial and postcolonial Africa, Geschiere expresses misgivings about terming local practices witchcraft, noting that to do so has “distorting effects” on practices open to several interpretations (299). Imprecise translation may group distinct beliefs and practices, creating uniformity over time and place that, as this book aptly demonstrates, never existed. But these terms also allow for comparison that would be otherwise impossible. Overall, the book advocates pragmatic use of these terms, while also highlighting the need to think sensitively about language.
Another theme is the enduring cultural power of witchcraft. Throughout history, witches emerge in a variety of contexts: in the courtroom, of course, but also in religious texts, everyday life, art works, and literature. Undoubtedly, the witch figure has inspired significant fear, as the early modern witch hunts show. This fear was widespread in society, which Dillinger's discussion of witch-hunting in Germany illustrates. The decentralized nature of the Holy Roman Empire meant that the organization of witch hunting varied; in some places, witch hunts were instigated “from above,” in others “from below.” Fear of witchcraft did not subside after the early modern period. Davies, using slander trials and newspaper reports, shows popular concern about witchcraft continued in modern Europe. Jortner and Geschiere both demonstrate that an increased desire among native populations to prosecute witches was a by-product of colonialism in America and Africa.
In other contexts, the witch has become a figure of respect and inspiration. This transformation is most obvious in the connections between witchcraft, gender, and feminism highlighted throughout the book. As Raisa Maria Toivo notes, “the history of witchcraft was one of the first fields to accept gender history” (219). Wisely, Toivo chooses not to explore the historiography of witchcraft and gender, which, as she observes, has been covered elsewhere. Instead, her chapter is a subtle exploration of how factors such as age, work, and status interacted with gender and witchcraft. And yet, despite many nuanced studies of witchcraft and gender in its historical context, the radical feminist interpretation of early modern witches as subversive women subjugated by patriarchal authorities has had a lasting impact on contemporary perceptions. Wicca and Neopagan religions remember the witch-hunts as “the Burning Times,” evidence of patriarchal hostility to their groups that are often female-centered. Linda J. Jencson particularly emphasizes the feminist elements of Wicca, especially in the Dianic covens that developed in the 1970s. Similarly, Justyna Szachowicz-Sempruch and John Stephens note that second-wave feminism had a distinct influence on witchcraft in twentieth-century literature and children's literature, creating the notion of the witch figure as “the other woman, the one who is not only possible, but actually needed and desired” (376). This reconfiguration of witches as inspirational, rebellious women highlights that a significant reason for the ongoing resonance of witchcraft is its adaptability and shifting meanings.
Certain aspects of the book could be improved. Expanding Dillinger's single-page preface to a full-length introduction would help to frame the book and signpost the central themes clearly. The treatment of early modern witchcraft could have been more ambitious. Abaigéal Warfield's chapter on witchcraft and early modern media is valuable, as this theme has not been covered extensively in previous collections, but it would have been good to see other, newer areas of early modern witchcraft scholarship included. Irish witchcraft, for example, gets a brief mention in James Sharpe's chapter, “Witch Hunts in Britain,” but could have been the subject of its own chapter. Similarly, emotions are a promising subfield, as Michael Ostling and Laura Kounine's Emotions in the History of Witchcraft (2016) highlights. A chapter exploring witchcraft and emotions would, therefore, have been a welcome addition. These minor quibbles do not, however, detract from the book's merits. As an introduction for students and researchers new to witchcraft, and as a testament to the vibrant variety of witchcraft research, The Routledge History of Witchcraft is a valuable contribution.
