DCU Home | Our Courses | Loop | Registry | Library | Search DCU
<< Back to Module List

Module Specifications.

Current Academic Year 2024 - 2025

All Module information is indicative, and this portal is an interim interface pending the full upgrade of Coursebuilder and subsequent integration to the new DCU Student Information System (DCU Key).

As such, this is a point in time view of data which will be refreshed periodically. Some fields/data may not yet be available pending the completion of the full Coursebuilder upgrade and integration project. We will post status updates as they become available. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Date posted: September 2024

Module Title Witchhunting in Early Modern Europe
Module Code HY342 (ITS) / HIS1041 (Banner)
Faculty Humanities & Social Sciences School History & Geography
Module Co-ordinatorCeleste McNamara
Module TeachersGránia Shanahan
NFQ level 8 Credit Rating 10
Pre-requisite Not Available
Co-requisite Not Available
Compatibles Not Available
Incompatibles Not Available
None
Description

From the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries, across Europe, many people were accused of practicing witchcraft and thousands were executed for this purported crime. Studying early modern witch crazes is an exercise in explaining the unexplainable. Early modern people strongly believed in the reality of witchcraft, accusing people of things we cannot prove happened, and which many people now would assert are not possible. But it is not good historical practice to simply say we know better, or that early modern people were irrational. Instead, we strive to understand their world, to see why the accusation of witchcraft was an explanation often reached for by early modern people. This requires examining law, religion, politics, community tensions, economics, gender, and climate. Historians also struggle to answer questions about why certain places executed thousands of accused witches while others adopted much more lenient modes of punishment. In this module, we will explore both of these elements, trying to deepen our understanding of the place of witchcraft in early modern society and to better understand why some places suffered witch crazes while others dealt with the problem of witchcraft less violently.

Learning Outcomes

1. Demonstrate comprehension of the similarities and differences in witch hunting practices across 15th-17th century Europe.
2. Explain various potential causes of witchcrazes with historical sensitivity.
3. Identify, access, and critically analyse primary sources for the history of witchcraft and witch hunting in medieval and early modern Europe.
4. Identify, access, and critical engage with secondary sources on the history of witchcraft and witch hunting.
5. Present historical arguments supported by secondary and primary sources



Workload Full-time hours per semester
Type Hours Description
Lecture48Lectures/Seminars
Independent Study202Independent Study, reading, Assignment preparation and completion
Total Workload: 250

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Definitions of Witchcraft and Witchcrazes

Intellectual Foundations of Witchcrazes

Legal Foundations of Witchcrazes

Impact of the Reformation

Social Context of Witchcrazes

The Dynamics of Witch Hunting

Chronology and Geography of Witchcrazes

Decline and End of Witch Hunting

Legacies of Witchcrazes

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment100% Examination Weight0%
Course Work Breakdown
TypeDescription% of totalAssessment Date
EssayEssay 3500-4000 words Assignments x 4 (Bibliography, Outline, Draft, Peer Review)70%As required
ParticipationPreparation (group annotations) and participation in class sessions30%n/a
Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories:
Resit category 1: A resit is available for both* components of the module.
Resit category 2: No resit is available for a 100% continuous assessment module.
Resit category 3: No resit is available for the continuous assessment component where there is a continuous assessment and examination element.
* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a Continuous Assessment/Examination split; where the module is 100% continuous assessment, there will also be a resit of the assessment
This module is category 1
Indicative Reading List

  • ed. Johannes Dillinger: 2020, The Routledge History of Witchcraft, Routledge,
  • ed. Brian Levack: 2013, The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America The Witchcraft Reader, Oxford,
  • ed. Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark: 2002, Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Period of the Witch Trials, University of Pennsylvania,
  • eds. Marianne Hester, Jonathan Barry, Gareth Roberts: 1996, Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe: Studies in Culture and Belief, Cambridge,
  • ed. Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark: 1999, Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, University of Pennsylvania,
  • ed. Brian Levack: 2015, The Witchcraft Sourcebook, Routledge,
  • ed. Peter Morton, Barbara Dahms: 2005, The Trial of Tempel Anneke, University of Toronto,
  • ed. Alan Kors: 2000, Witchcraft in Europe, 400-1700, University of Pennsylvania,
Other Resources

53272, Loop, 0, Key readings and additional resources for research will be posted on Loop,

<< Back to Module List