Overview

This book explores witchcraft accusations as bizarre and violent reflections of the tensions, fears, and fantasies within one of Early Modern Europe’s most culturally diverse societies. At the crossroads of Latin and post-Byzantine traditions, Western and Eastern Christianity, and the forces of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania offers a rare perspective on the Early Modern witch-hunting phenomenon. Through twelve thematic chapters, this book explores the transformation of local magical beliefs and imported ideas into a peculiar legal offence and a culturally specific tool for resolving social tensions and conflicts. The book traces how Orthodox traditions, Catholic confessionalisation, and political changes intertwined with literary and folk dark fantasies to shape the distinctive character of Lithuanian witch-hunting. It investigates legal frameworks, courtroom practices, community dynamics, and the varied roles of elites and subjects, women and men, dominant churches, and religious minorities such as Jews and Muslims in sustaining or resisting the culture of accusation. Grounded in a wide range of sources and adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this book offers a sophisticated portrait of how power, fear, and cultural diversity interacted in a complex Early Modern society.

Full Product Details

Author:   Vital Byl
Publisher:   Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Imprint:   Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN:  

9783032006707

ISBN 10:   3032006708
Pages:   295
Publication Date:   29 December 2025
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.- CHAPTER 2: HIC MORTUI LOQUUNTUR: STUDYING LITHUANIAN WITCHCRAFT.- CHAPTER 3: WITCHCRAFT BEFORE THE WITCH HUNTS: BETWEEN CANON AND CUSTOM.- CHAPTER 4: WITCH OUTLAWED: LEGAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE LITHUANIAN WITCH TRIALS.- CHAPTER 5: WITCHCRAFT IN THE COURTROOM: THE TOOLKIT OF LITHUANIAN WITCH PROSECUTION.- CHAPTER 6: MOSAIC OF (IN)JUSTICE: WITCH TRIALS IN PARTICULAR COURTS.- CHAPTER 7: BEYOND THE COURTROOM: THE MECHANICS AND ALTERNATIVES OF WITCHCRAFT ACCUSATION.- CHAPTER 8: SHADES OF WITCHCRAFT: ACCUSATIONS DIVERSIFIED.- CHAPTER 9: THE NIGHTMARE OF THE POWERFUL: CONSPIRACY AND DIABOLIC WITCHES.- CHAPTER 10: BORDERLESS FEAR: LITHUANIAN JEWS AND TATARS IN THE WITCH TRIALS.- CHAPTER 11: THE REASONS BEHIND UNREASON: THE SOCIAL SOIL OF THE LITHUANIAN WITCH HUNT.- CHAPTER 12: THE PLAGUE OF WITCHCRAFT: BORDERLESS IDEA ON THE CULTURAL FRONTIERS.

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Author Information

Vital Byl is a postdoctoral researcher at the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies at the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn, Germany. He is the recipient of the Juliusz Bardach Award (Lithuania, 2023), and has previously held the Pontica Magna Fellowship (Romania, 2018), and the Konstanty Kalinowski Scholarship awarded by the Government of the Republic of Poland (2019). His research focuses on the Early Modern and Modern history of Eastern Europe, with particular interests in cultural history, historical anthropology, transregional history, and memory studies.

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