Between the Living and the Dead : : A Perspective on Witches and Seers in the Early Modern Age / / Éva Pócs.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Central European University Press eBook-Package 2013-1998
• VerfasserIn: Pócs, Éva,
• Place / Publishing House: Budapest ;, New York : : Central European University Press, , [2022]; ©1998
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (188 p.)

Éva Pócs, one of the most highly respected scholars of historical anthropology, has undertaken extensive research on the history of folk beliefs connected with communication and the supernatural sphere. In this book, she examines the relics of European shamanism in early modern sources, and the techniques and belief-systems of mediators found in the records of witchcraft trials from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. The book explores the various communication systems known to early modern Hungarians, describes the role of these systems in everyday village life, and shows how they were connected to contemporary European systems, as well as new types of mediators and systems which function right up to the twentieth century. Representing a major contribution to the most up-to-date international research, Eva Pócs draws on significant East European material and literature not previously co-ordinated with that from the West.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- 1. The Limitations and Potential of the Documentary Sources -- 2. General Conditions for Communication with the Supernatural -- 3. The Belief Figure of the Witch -- 4. The Malefactor Witch -- 5. The Alternative World of the Witches' Sabbat -- 6. The Healing Witch -- 7. The Enemies of the Witch: Seers, Magicians, and Healers -- Afterword -- Bibliography -- Documentary Sources -- Abbreviations