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On-demand recording
The Demonic Witch and the Origins of the European Witch Hunts
with Dr Debora Moretti
£15
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What you’ll explore
- How religious ideas, social tensions and gender shaped the demonic witch
- The legal and theological changes that fuelled the European witch hunts
- How fear, belief and authority combined to justify persecution
- The lasting impact of these ideas on European society
About this talk
The European witch hunts weren't simply the result of fear or superstition. They began with a new idea of the witch, a shift from people seen as practitioners of harmful magic to people viewed as servants of Satan. By the late 14th and early 15th centuries, this transformation shaped the laws and religious teachings that made mass persecution possible.
Dr Debora Moretti explores how religious ideas, social anxiety and unequal power, especially directed at women, combined to create the figure of the demonic witch. She argues that belief, authority and law reinforced one another, culminating in one of Europe's darkest periods of fear and violence.
A peek inside
Your speaker: Dr Debora Moretti
Dr Debora Moretti is a social historian and archaeologist specialising in the history of magic and witchcraft from the medieval to early modern periods, and a Researcher at the University of Hertfordshire on the Alternative Healers project. Her work explores beliefs in witchcraft, folk medicine and material culture. She has published extensively in Italian and English, organises the York Magic and Witchcraft Conference, and is an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
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