Darkest forests and highest mountains: the witches’ sabbath and landscapes of fear in early modern demonologies

Abstract

Between the mid-fifteenth and late seventeenth centuries, Europe saw a flurry of demonological texts by theologians and jurists, outlining the beliefs, theology and prosecution methods for accused witches at the peak of the European witch craze. While these texts have been at the heart of many examinations of the history of early modern witchcraft for their presentation of magical belief, demonologies also provide vital windows into early modern concepts of space and landscape. By examining demonologies for their discussions of the sites of the witches’ sabbath, patterns emerge in the relationship between marginal spaces and fantasies of the sabbath. Spaces at the margins of the early modern world became the settings of imaginary gatherings of witches and demons, where the anxieties of the authors and the common people at the heart of their narratives could manifest and build upon one another across centuries.