Witches and Witchcraft

«Witches and Witchcraft» (1906) by Nikolai Speransky — a fundamental historical study that reveals the phenomenon of witch hunts in the 15th to 17th centuries. The book immerses the reader in the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras, when trials against witches reached their peak of brutality, and the judicial persecution of women became a widespread social phenomenon.
The author focuses on popular beliefs and frightening narratives about witchcraft (summoning demons, flying to sabbats, abducting infants), as well as the deeper mechanisms of the era. Speransky offers an unconventional perspective: he links witchcraft not just to superstitions, but to the development of scientific ideas of that time, analyzing how education, power, and the church influenced the formation of ideas about witches and the course of judicial processes.
Of particular interest is the comparison of Speransky's work with well-known guides on combating witchcraft — primarily with «The Hammer of Witches»: the reader will see how the image of the witch was constructed in different texts and how the necessity of hunting her was justified. The work of this erudite historian allows for a new perspective on forgotten masterpieces of historiography and an understanding of how religious doctrines and political interests intertwined with mass hysteria.
«Witches and Witchcraft» — a valuable source for those interested in the history of the church, the mechanisms of mass persecutions, and the cultural codes of the Modern era. The study remains relevant today: it helps to comprehend how societal fears, reinforced by the authority of power and religion, turned into a system of repression.