Talk: Witch Hunting
Winterbourne Medieval Barn
Professor Hutton will explore why the notorious medieval and early modern European witch-hunts took place and what made them different from witch-hunts elsewhere in the world. Find out why they stopped and the impact have they had on witchcraft beliefs and human rights in the present world.
The story of witch-hunting takes us on a journey through the civilisations of the ancient world and early Christianity to a change in mood in late medieval European Christian times. This is when people stopped perceiving witchcraft as a minor problem affecting individuals and started seeing it as a satanic conspiracy directed against the whole of society.
Europe is unique in making this transition and viewing witchcraft as a demonic form of religion. It is also unique in moving from a profound fear of witchcraft to a disbelief in it, officially at least.
How this change came about and how far that fear still presents a problem to the modern world, will be the central issues of this lecture.
Professor Ronald Hutton is a Professor of History at the University of Bristol who specialises in Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and Contemporary Paganism. He has written 14 books and has appeared on British television and radio. He held a fellowship at Magdalen College, Oxford, and is a Commissioner of English Heritage. We are delighted to welcome him back to The Barn!
The bar will be open for refreshments from 6:30pm. Cash and card payments accepted. Free parking on site. Tickets are £7.50. Book online direct on Ticketsource or via the Barn website. The talk will also be live-streamed on zoom - we will email you the Zoom joining link before 6pm.
The primary purpose of the event is to raise money for WMBT and to support conservation, management, maintenance and improvement of the WMBT site. For further details about Winterbourne Medieval Barn see www.winterbournebarn.org.uk
WMBT Registered Charity number 1112908.
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