Instead of focusing on witchcraft trials and the communities that bore them, Roper, utilizing psychoanalytic theory, focuses on how the image of the witch changed throughout this period, and how these changing representations of the female body reflect the mental worlds of early modern Germany.Ĭomposed of a series of previously published essays, The Witch in the Western Imagination employs a wide array of material culture (art, literature, archival materials) and case studies to investigate how the popular image of the witch transformed within sixteenth and seventeenth-century Germany.

In her 2012 book, The Witch in the Western Imagination, Australian historian and Regius Professor of History at Oxford University Lyndal Roper examines various representations of the witch throughout sixteenth and seventeenth-century Germany.

Scholarly interest in the early modern witch trials renewed in the 1970s, as the phenomenon of witchcraft accusations and trials were analyzed under the critical lenses of feminist theory, sociology, religious studies, anthropology, criminology, literary criticism, and philosophy. An era dominated by religious schisms, civil wars, and economic strife, the late 16th and early 17th centuries were witness to a second great witch craze in Western Europe, resulting in the death of 40,000-60,000 people (roughly 80% of which were women). While they occurred throughout much of early modern Europe, there was an enormous spike in witchcraft trials and executions in southwest Germany in the late 16th century. While suspicions and accusations of witchcraft have existed since the ancient world, the persecution of supposed witches skyrocketed in Western Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. Yet, the history of witchcraft in the Western world has been much less whimsical and family-friendly. These witchy figures have served as popular villains in television shows, movies, and video games (enter one of my favorite fictional witches, the always-rhyming Gruntilda.) As such, this witchy figure shows up most commonly during the Halloween season, adorning various Halloween decorations, mugs, and T-shirts. This image has become a widespread and highly-marketable icon, helping to sell postcards, books, and even adorning the patch worn by the members of the town of Salem’s police department. These are the witches of common children’s literature, and this popular image pervades many of our pop culture representations of a witch.

When we think of a stereotypical, pop-culture representation of a witch, we typically conjure up images of old, ugly hags wearing pointed hats, riding on broomsticks, and brewing potions in their black cauldrons.

Witch craze lyndal roper