Detestable and Wicked Arts

B. Moyer Paul

Description

In Detestable and Wicked Arts, Paul B. Moyer places early New England's battle against black magic in a transatlantic perspective. Moyer provides an accessible and comprehensive examination of witch prosecutions in the Puritan colonies that discusses how their English inhabitants understood the crime of witchcraft, why some people ran a greater risk of being accused of occult misdeeds, and how gender intersected with witch-hunting. Focusing on witchcraft cases in New England between roughly 1640 and 1670, Detestable and Wicked Arts highlights ties between witch-hunting in the New and Old Worlds. Informed by studies on witchcraft in early modern Europe, Moyer presents a useful synthesis of scholarship on occult crime in New England and makes new and valuable contributions to the field.

Sujets

• Histoire
• USA
• United States of America
• Local history
• Witchcraft
• History of the Americas
• États-Unis

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501751066
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 9 Mo

Extrait

DETESTABLE AND WICKED ARTS

DETESTABLE AND WICKED ARTS

NE W E NGL AND AND WI TCHCRAFT I N T HE E ARLY MODE RN AT L ANT I C WORL D

Pa u l B . M oy e r

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS Ithaca and London

Copyright © 2020 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

First published 2020 by Cornell University Press

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Names: Moyer, Paul Benjamin, 1970– author. Title: Detestable and wicked arts : New England and witchcraft in the early modern Atlantic world / Paul B. Moyer. Description: Ithaca [New York] : Cornell University Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019050798 (print) | LCCN 2019050799 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501751059 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781501751615 (paperback) | ISBN 9781501751066 (pdf ) | ISBN 9781501751073 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Witchcraft—New England—History— 17th century. | Witchcraft—Great Britain—History— 17th century. Classification: LCC BF1576. M69 2020 (print) | LCC BF1576 (ebook) | DDC ss364.1/88—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019050798 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc. gov/2019050799

Cover image: “The Devil and the Disobedient Child,” woodcut, 1742. As found in Rosalie V. Halsey,Forgotten Books of the American Nursery(Boston, 1911) and copied fromThe Prodigal Daughter(Boston, 1769).

To Bridget and Ethan

Co nte nts

List of Maps, Figures, and Tables ix Preface xi

Introduction: The Devil in New England 1. “Hanged for a Witch”: WitchHunting in New England before 1670 2. “Being Instigated by the Devil”: The Crime of Witchcraft 3. “A Forward, Discontented Frame of Spirit”: The New England Witch 4. “The More Women, the More Witches”: Gender and Witchcraft 5. “There Was Some Mischief in It”: The Social Context of Witchcraft 6. “Very Awful and Amazing”: Witch Panics and the Bewitched 7. “According to God’s Law”: Witch Hunting as a Judicial Process

Conclusion: The Case of Ann Burt and WitchHunting in the English Atlantic

Abbreviations 207 Notes 209 Bibliography 257 Index 271

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M a p s , F i g u r e s , a n d Ta b l e s

Maps 1. The English Atlantic, ca. 1660 2. New England, ca. 1660 3. England’s midseventeenth century witch hunts 4. House lots in Springfield, MA, ca. 1650 5. House lots in Easthampton, Long Island, ca. 1658 6. House lots in Northampton, MA, ca. 1656

Figures 1.1. Witchhunting in New England up to 1670 1.2. Matthew Hopkins, the “Witch Finder General” 1.3. Portrait of Robert Rich, Second Earl of Warwick, ca. 1632–41 2.1. Witches bring wax dolls of their intended victims to be “baptized” by the Devil 2.2. The Devil cutting a woman’s finger so she can sign a cov enant with him in her blood 2.3. Witches dancing with devils at a black Sabbath 2.4. A witch feeds her animal familiars 2.5. Two witches flying on broomsticks with the Devil 2.6. The Devil helping a witch forge a hexed nail 3.1. Satan appears to a woman in the guise of a finely dressed gentleman 3.2. The witch portrayed as an old woman 4.1. Three female witches 6.1. Deposition of John and Bethia Kelly against Judith Ayers, 1662 6.2. Witches dancing with devils 6.3. Witches feasting with devils at a black Sabbath 6.4. A bewitched girl vomiting up nails and pins 7.1. The hanging of a convicted witch 7.2. Portrait of Governor John Winthrop Jr., ca. 1634–35

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