1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910254764903321

Titolo

Witchcraft and Demonology in Hungary and Transylvania / / edited by Gábor Klaniczay, Éva Pócs

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2017

ISBN

9783319547565

3319547569

Edizione

[1st ed. 2017.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (XIV, 412 p.)

Collana

Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic, , 2731-5649

Disciplina

940.903

Soggetti

Europe - History - 1492-

Europe, Central - History

Russia - History

Europe, Eastern - History

Soviet Union - History

Civilization - History

History of Early Modern Europe

History of Germany and Central Europe

History of Modern Europe

Russian, Soviet, and East European History

Cultural History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di contenuto

The social background of witchcraft accusations in early modern Debrecen and Bihar County; Ildikó Sz. Kristóf -- Witchcraft, greed and revenge: The prosecutor activity of György Igyártó and the witch trials of Kolozsvár in the 1580s; László Pakó -- Healers in Hungarian witch trials; Gábor Klaniczay -- Divinatio diabolica and magical medicine. Healers, seers and diviners in early modern Nagybánya; Judit Kis-Halas -- Shamanism or witchcraft? The táltos before the tribunals; Éva Pócs -- The decriminalization of magic and the fight against superstitions in Hungary and Transylvania 1740-1848; Péter Tóth G -- Demonology and Catholic Enlightenment in eighteenth-century Hungary; Dániel



Bárth -- Talking through witchcraft - on the bewitchment discourse of a village community; Ágnes Hesz -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

This book provides a selection of studies on witchcraft and demonology by those involved in an interdisciplinary research group begun in Hungary thirty years ago. They examine urban and rural witchcraft conflicts from early modern times to the present, from a region hitherto rarely taken into consideration in witchcraft research. Special attention is given to healers, midwives, and cunning folk, including archaic sorcerer figures such as the táltos; whose ambivalent role is analysed in social, legal, medical and religious contexts. This volume examines how waves of persecution emerged and declined, and how witchcraft was decriminalised. Fascinating case-studies on vindictive witch-hunters, quarrelling neighbours, rivalling midwives, cunning shepherds, weather magician impostors, and exorcist Franciscan friars provide a colourful picture of Hungarian and Transylvanian folk beliefs and mythologies, as well as insights into historical and contemporary issues.