Seminar to explore witches, demons and the Western imagination

The European witch hunt will be the focus of a free public lecture at UQ’s St Lucia campus next week.

For the seminar Professor Philip Almond from the Centre for the History of European Discourses will look at the European witch craze from 1400 to 1700.

During the period there were many demonic acts reported. On one occasion, a Lancashire Assizes court was told by one young female witness of the involvement of her grandmother and aunt in a sordid tale of murder, cannibalism and sexual misdemeanour.

During the lecture, Professor Almond will provide answers to many of the questions most commonly asked about the period.

Discussion points include Satanic cults, the persecutions of witches, witchcraft and the role and actions of demonologists during the period.

His most recent books in witchcraft and demonology include Demonic Possession and Exorcism in Early modern England (2007), The Witches of Warboys (2008), and England’s First Demonologist: Reginald Scot and the Discovery of Witchcraft (2011).

His latest book The Lancashire Witches: Politics, Persecution and Murder in Early Modern England will be published in 2012 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Lancashire witch trials.

Hosted by the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies, the seminar will be held on Thursday, September 8, from 5.30–6.30pm at the UQ Art Museum, St Lucia.

For further information about the seminar, contact Rebecca Ralph on 07 3366 7407 or r.ralph@uq.edu.au

Media: Dania Lawrence (07 33659163 or email d.lawrence@uq.edu.au)