Europe's inner demons : the demonization of Christians in medieval Christendom

Europe's Inner Demons is a fascinating history of the irrational need to imagine witches and an investigation of how those fantasies made the persecutions of the middle ages possible. In addition, Norman Cohn's discovery that some influential sources on European witch trials were forgeries has revolutionized the field of witchcraft, making this one of the most essential books ever written on the subject. CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 PRELUDE IN ANTIQUITY 2 CHANGING VIEWS OF THE DEVIL AND HIS POWER 3 THE DEMONIZATION OF MEDIEVAL HERETICS (1) 4 THE DEMONIZATION OF MEDIEVAL HERETICS (2) 5 THE CRUSHING OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS 6 THE REALITY OF RITUAL MAGIC 7 DEMON-WORSHIPPING MAGICIANS THAT NEVER WERE 8 THE SOCIETY OF WITCHES THAT NEVER WAS 9 THE NIGHT-WITCH IN POPULAR IMAGINATION 10 HOW THE GREAT WITCH-HUNT DID NOT START 11 HOW THE GREAT WITCH-HUNT REALLY STARTED (1) 12 HOW THE GREAT WITCH-HUNT REALLY STARTED (2) NOTE ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES INDEX "Europe's Inner Demons is a fascinating history of the need to imagine antihuman conspiracies and an investigation of how those fantasies make the great European witch-hunt possible. In addition, Norman Cohn's discovery that some influential sources on witch trials were forgeries has revolutionized the field of witchcraft studies, making this one of the most essential books ever written on the subject."--Jacket Europe's Inner Demons is a fascinating history of the irrational need to imagine witches and an investigation of how those fantasies made the persecutions of the Middle Ages possible. In addition, Norman Cohn's discovery that some influential sources on European witch trials were forgeries has revolutionized the study of witchcraft, making this one of the most essential books ever written on the subject. In the second century after Christ the Christian communities in the Roman Empire - still small and scattered groups - were the object of strange suspicions and accusations. This is a history of the irrational need to imagine witches and an investigation of how those fantasies made the persecutions of the Middle Ages possible.