A collection of seminar sheets with bibliographies and topic summaries prepared for the Special Subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe. This module ran at the Department of History, University of Sheffield.

This seminar deals with the Royal Society of London and the rising 'new science' and 'experimental philosophy' of the 17th century.

This seminar examines microscopy in the 17th century.

This seminar looks into the experimental philosophy that grew during the 17th century in Europe.

This seminar examines Millenarianism.

This seminar looks at the scriptural grounds for believing that the 'Last Days' would be accompanied by 'false prophets'.

This seminar explores the contested role of Astrology in early-modern Europe.

A seminar about early-modern almanacs and astrology and how opinions about these changed during the period.

This seminar explores how 'monstrous creatures' and human birth accidents were understood as signs of God's providence.

A seminar that explores beliefs in portents in early-modern Europe. This seminar is linked to seminar 07 on Protestant Piety.

A seminar focused on providential beliefs in early-modern Europe.

A seminar focused on reformation debates about miracles.

A Seminar examining sudden death and the belief in providential punishment in early-modern Europe.

This seminar focuses on Joseph Glanvill's Saducismus Triumphatus, which attempts to provide a 'reasonable' justification of the existence and power of witchcraft in the world.

A seminar examining the role of exorcism in Elizabethan protestant circles, and how the idea fitted uncomfortably in the revised religion.

This seminar examines the idea of Demonic possession in early-modern European thought.

A set of extracts upon which students are expected to attempt a commentary. Includes a bibliography. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

Witchcraft was more often represented on stage in the Jacobean period than at any other time. In this seminar we are interested in what impact such plays are likely to have had on their audiences; whether the relationship to the witchcraft that we have now studied is an accurate one (and, where relevant, how the dramatists used contemporary cases of witchcraft to give them their dramatic material), etc. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

This seminar will examine the craze of witch-hunting in Essex during the civil wars. A key figure in the 'witch-craze' of 1645 was Matthew Hopkins. The seminar will ask students to consider, in particular, the role of Hopkins as witch-hunter and attitudes towards him and his work. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

This seminar and its sequel explore the rich documentation on witchcraft trials surviving for two English regions: Lancashire and Essex. They have both been subjected to considerable historical analysis already; and acquired a degree of public exposure too. So the aims of this seminar are to test various scholarly assumptions about the origins and process of witchcraft accusations against the regional evidence. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

This seminar will examine in depth James VI (and I’s) attitude towards witchcraft as portrayed in his text Daemonologie (1597). Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

We tend to imagine that there was a consensus of beliefs about witchcraft and the powers of the devil, with that unity beginning to break down only towards the end of the seventeenth century under the impact of the scientific movement and the scepticism of the early Enlightenment. This seminar challenges these assumptions by showing that there was no real consensus earlier on. The seminar focuses specifically on Reginald Scot and John Webster. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

This seminar considers how witchcraft belief was exploited for various means and what role the belief in and practice of witchcraft played in the local community. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

Witchcraft was a scandal as well as a crime. The issue of scandal often appears in witchcraft trials. This seminar examines literary and oral resources to understand the role ‘gossip’ and scandal played in witchcraft cases. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

There is a strong historiographical tradition, sustained by the insularity of English historians, that English witchcraft and accusation were ‘somehow distinctive from the continental equivalents of these phenomena’. This seminar concentrates on the case of the Duchy of Lorraine to show that the English experience was a variation on themes that were prominent within Europe and not entirely ‘distinctive’ as has been claimed. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

This seminar examines the criminalization of witchcraft in the early modern period. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

This session examines the relationship between the literature on apparitions and the emerging ‘Republic of Letters’, especially focusing on works by Thomas Hobbes and Daniel Defoe. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

This seminar examines the scientific revolution/movement and the conception of the natural world through the lens of a member of the Royal Society, Joseph Glanvill, and the case which he popularised of the Drummer of Tedworth. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

This seminar focuses on the protestant opinion of angels and spiritual presences. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

Examination of the role of and belief in fairies during the early modern period. Discussion of literature and events surrounding this belief in fairies, how it was taken advantage of, and specifically how it was linked to the discourse surrounding witchcraft. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

Exploration of what represented a 'good death' and by contrast what 'bad deaths' were characterised by in this period. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

What did funeral practice in the early modern period look like and what were the rituals and ceremonies (both formal and informal) surrounding it? This seminar examines primary source accounts to answer those questions. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

A discussion of purgatory, death and the afterlife during the early-mid sixteenth century through analysis of the primary sources that surround the debate over purgatory etc. Specifically Simon Fish's A Supplication for the beggars (1529). Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

Examination of late Medieval Christianity's approaches to death. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

Discussion of 'ghost stories' and the role of literary culture in early modern understandings of ghosts. Based upon the key text Mother Leakey and the Bishop. Includes questions to consider. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

Explores Ludwig Lavater's Of Ghostes and Spirites walking by nyght (1572). Specifically examining in detail Lavater's advice on appropriate behaviour when encountering a ghost. Includes questions to consider. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

Explores Ludwig Lavater's Of Ghostes and Spirites walking by nyght (1572). Includes bibliography and background information. Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

Explores John Vicar's Prodigies and Apparitions or England's Warning Pieces (1643). Prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

A brief introduction to the course, number of teaching hours, and course assignments along with a brief discussion of the historiography, seminar programme and list of essay questions. These materials were prepared for the special subject module: Ghosts, Witches and Portents in Early Modern Europe.

Preparation sheet and associated exercise for students studying King Clovis (c. 481-511) and the Franks, with suggested reading, and questions to be considered. The exercise is an extract from Gregory of Tours about Clovis' conversion.

Preparation sheet and exercise for students studying Julian the Apostate. The exercise is an analysis of Julian's 'The Caesars'.

A preparation sheet and related exercise for students studying Emperor Constantine, with suggested reading, exercises and questions to be considered for a seminar. The exercise is a comparison of two primary accounts - Lactantius and Eusebius of Cesarea.