Profs and Pints Online presents: “The War on Warlocks,” a look at the hunt for male witches in early modern France, with Thomas Rushford, professor of history at Northern Virginia Community College and scholar of witch trials in France and England.

[ This talk will take place online at 7 pm EDT and remain available in recorded form at the same link given here for tickets and access. ]

When we think of the witch hunt that took place in Europe in the 16th and 17th century, we typically think of women as the accused. There's good reason for that, as women accounted for about 80 percent of the 100,000 people put on trial for alleged acts of maleficia, or sorcery.

But in the Normandy region of France, 80 percent of the accused ended up being men. Most were shepherds, with priests ranking as the second most likely to be accused. Among those accused of exerting supernatural control over the world around them were a priest who had been giving consecrated hosts as a cure for parishioners' sick cattle, as well as others who merely had made light of their own supernatural beliefs, a foolish act with often-tragic results.

Join scholar Thomas Rushford as he sheds light on this exceptional chapter in the history of Europe’s witch hunts and what it means for our broader understanding of the persecution of accused witches during that time.

Rushford spent nearly two years in Normandy and in Kent, England, poring over court records dealing with witchcraft. Using information drawn from his archival research and maps produced through Geographic Information Software, he was able to map out patterns that emerged among the witch hunts throughout early modern Europe, documenting the share in individual communities and specific regions that resulted in convictions and executions and whether women or men were the accused.

His research shows that there was no single European stereotype of a witch, and very distinct conceptions of the suspect cropped up locally. Who was thought to be a witch in London might not be thought to be a witch in Paris. Moreover, not all accusations of witchcraft arose from nowhere, and many stemmed from real claims by the accused to have practiced magic.

Rushford, a former digital historian at the U.S. House of Representatives, will discuss such patterns and focus specifically on the men who got in trouble. You’ll end up with a much more nuanced understanding of this horrific chapter in the world’s history than you had before.

Profs & Pints Online: The War on Warlocks