Module overview
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- The variety of witchcraft narratives in the period 1542-1736 and the factors determining those variations
- The historiographies of witchcraft in early modern England
- The primary sources and testimonies that provide historical evidence for stories of witchcraft in the early modern period.
Cognitive Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Make analytical connections between different types of sources and theories in explaining why there were so many witchcraft prosecutions in the early modern period.
- Evaluate differences in historiographical understandings of witchcraft in the early modern era
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of the histories of witchcraft and witchcraft accusations.
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- put forward your ideas and arguments in group discussions, and consider the arguments put forward by your fellow students
- develop orally and in writing sound and well supported arguments.
- elaborate and express your ideas and critical reflections in essays, using primary and secondary sources.
- gather and digest relevant primary and secondary source materials including via electronic and web resources
- engage in independent study and research.
Subject Specific Practical Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Work confidently with library, archival and virtual sources as appropriate
- Evaluate and compare different genres of source text
Syllabus
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Lecture | 12 |
| Completion of assessment task | 54 |
| Seminar | 12 |
| Revision | 24 |
| Wider reading or practice | 12 |
| Preparation for scheduled sessions | 36 |
| Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
Journal Articles
D. Purkiss (1997). ‘Desire and its Deformities: Fantasies of Witchcraft during the English Civil War’. Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 27(1).
Textbooks
H. Trevor-Roper (1947). Four Centuries of Witch-Belief.
C. Ewen (1929). Witch-Hunting and Witch Trials.
K. Brigges (1962). Pale Hecate’s Team: An Examination of the Beliefs on Witchcraft and Magic among Shakespeare’s Contemporaries.
J. Sharpe (2002). ‘The Witch’s Familiar in Early Modern England’, in G.W. Bernard and S.J. Gunn (eds), Authority and Consent in Tudor England.
R. Poole (ed.) (2000). The Lancashire Witches.
P. Elmer (2016). Witchcraft, Witch-Hunting and Politics in Early Modern England.
B. Rosen (1991). Witchcraft in England, 1558-1618.
A.Macfarlane (1970). Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England.
M. Gaskill (2005). Witchfinders: A Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy.
M. Stoyle (2017-18). Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart Exeter.
M. Stoyle (2011). The Black Legend of Prince Rupert’s Dog: Witchcraft and Propaganda during the English Civil War.
J. Sharpe (1996). Instruments of Darkness: Witchcraft in England, 1550-1750.
B.P. Levack (2006). The Witch-Hunt in early Modern Europe.
C. Hole (1986). Witchcraft in Britain.
O. Davies (1999). A People Bewitched: Witchcraft and Magic in Nineteenth-Century Somerset.
Assessment
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Essay | 60% |
| Written assignment | 40% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Resubmit assessments | 100% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External