History

This general interest course introduces students to the complex and fascinating realm of religious and scientific beliefs and magical practices maintained by people living during the high and late Middle Ages in Europe and the Middle East, from about 1200 AD to 1600 AD. Considerable attention will be paid to the development of the Inquisition against heresy, the growing fear over supposed diabolical conspiracies and the development of the diabolical witch stereotype in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.