Robert Desjardins, Andrew Gow and François Pageau, eds., The Arras Witch Treatises (Penn State UP, 2016).

Dear Colleagues:

On behalf of my colleagues Andrew Gow and François Pageau, I'm pleased to announce the publication of our new book, The Arras Witch Treatises.  It presents accessible (and fully annotated) translations of two fifteenth-century texts that offer important insights into the evolution of witch-hunting ideology in late medieval and early modern Europe.

Based on our recent contacts, we thought that you might be interested in knowing about the text, and in sharing the news with colleagues at your institution.  A more detailed summary from the publisher is presented below, and a summary sheet is attached to this note.  Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have additional questions about the volume.

From the publisher:

This is the first complete and accessible English translation of two major source texts—Tinctor’s Invectivesand the anonymous Recollectio—that arose from the notorious Arras witch hunts and trials in the mid-fifteenth century in France. These writings, by the “Anonymous of Arras” (believed to be the trial judge Jacques du Bois) and the intellectual Johannes Tinctor, offer valuable eyewitness perspectives on one of the very first mass trials and persecutions of alleged witches in European history. More importantly, they provide a window onto the early development of witchcraft theory and demonology in western Europe during the late medieval period—an entire generation before the infamous Witches’ Hammer appeared.

Perfect for the classroom, The Arras Witch Treatises includes a reader-friendly introduction situating the treatises and trials in their historical and intellectual contexts. Scholars, students, and others interested in the occult will find these translations invaluable.

You can find The Arras Witch Treatises on the Penn State University Press web site at this URL: http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-07128-2.html

 Be sure to ask for it at your local library and bookstore!

-- Robert Desjardins