Encyclopaedia of Witchcraft and Demonology

by Rossell Hope Robbins

Hardcover, 1972

Status

Available

Call number

272

Publication

Littlehampton Book Services Ltd (1984), Hardcover, 572 pages

Description

With research sourced by the world's greatest libraries, Robbins has compiled a rational, balanced history of 300 years of horror concentrated primarily in Western Europe. Spanning from the 15th century through the 18th century, the witch-hunt frenzy marks a period of suppressed rational thought; never before have so many been so wrong. To better understand this phenomenon, Robbins examines how the meaning of "witch" has evolved and exposes the true nature of witchcraft--a topic widely discussed in popular culture, though remarkably misunderstood.First published in 1959, Robbins' encyclopedia remains the most authoritative and comprehensive body of information about witchcraft and demonology ever compiled in a single volume. Lavishly acclaimed in academic and popular reviews, this full-scale compendium of fact, history, and legend covers about every phase of this fascinating subject from its origins in the medieval times to its last eruptions in the 18th century. Accompanying the text are 250 illustrations from rare books, contemporary prints, and old manuscripts, many of which have been published here for the first time.Rossell Hope Robbins (1912-1990), an acknowledged authority on witchcraft, was one of the half-dozen Americans ever elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He authored over a dozen books and nearly 200 articles, including the definitive introduction to the catalogue of the Witchcraft Collection at Cornell University Library in 1979. He was a Commonwealth Fellow, Canada Council Professor, and he received grants from the Modern Language Association of America and from the American Council of Learned Societies. He also served as Chairman of the Middle English Division of the MLA, President of the Medieval Club of New York, research associate at Harvard and Columbia Universities. Robbins has lectured extensively on medieval topics and witchcraft at universities throughout the world.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member reignsong
I lover reference books, and this is the holy grail. It has a great bibliography of many a burned books throughout history, illustrations of engravings and paintings related on the subject, and a plethora of entries. Any horror writer, occultist, or book collector would cherish this definitive
Show More
book. It is not a book of spells, a book of shadows, or a grimoir. It is and encyclopedia of all things creepy fact and fiction.
Show Less
LibraryThing member JalenV
The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology> is about the infamous witch hunts and witch trials from 1450 to 1750. There are over 100 names of persons accused of being witches, authors about witches or witch hunting, those who presided over witch trials, and those who wrote against witch trials.
Show More
We also get to learn about famous witch trials besides Salem, although Salem has its own entry. We follow the delusion from what would become the United Kingdom through Scandinavia.

The weak of stomach might wish to skip the entry on torture as well as those for various instruments of torture. One thing made very clear is that torture did get victims to admit to being witches as well as accuse others of being witches.

Until I read this book, I had no idea what a profitable business witch trials were for those who engaged in them. Check the entry on 'Costs of Witch Trials'. One of the pages is the Archbishop of Cologne's price list for the various types of torture.

There are also entries on various types of witches and what they were supposed to be able to do, such as storm raising. Werewolves, demons, vampires, and poltergeists have their entries. Probably my favorite nugget of information is in the entry on demonology, more specifically, the Third Hierarchy of Hell. Did you know there was a demon named Olivier whose heavenly opponent is Lawrence?

This book is also amply illustrated with reproductions of engravings, woodcuts, portraits, the occasional bas-relief, title pages of books, and at least one map.

I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the witch hunts and witch trials, and curious beliefs about witches from the Bad Old Days.
Show Less

Language

Original publication date

1959

Physical description

572 p.; 9.1 inches

ISBN

0600357643 / 9780600357643
Page: 0.3408 seconds