Witchcraft, Superstition, and Observant Franciscan Preachers

Witchcraft, Superstition, and Observant Franciscan Preachers Synopsis

This book offers a new and innovative approach to the study of magic and witchcraft in Italy between the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. Unusually, this subject is explored not through inquisitorial trial records or demonological literature, but through the sermons and confession manuals produced by Observant Franciscan friars, focusing on the so-called 'pastoral' approach to folklore, superstition, and witchcraft - an approach that appears to have been notably less harsh than that taken by inquisitors and dedicated demonologists.