Temporal and Spatial Variations in Early Modern Witch Hunts

这本书研究了16 - 17世纪发生在德国、英格兰和苏格兰的瘟疫和战争与猎巫的关系。先前的历史研究表明，猎杀女巫是一种模式活动，传遍了整个欧洲，最终传到了美洲殖民地。这项研究将集中在两种特定的威胁或危机上，这两种威胁或危机被认为是欧洲女巫热潮的原因——瘟疫和战争。这项研究将考察猎巫活动的波动是否与战争和瘟疫的波动类似。有关猎巫、瘟疫、战争和人口特征的数据将根据德国、苏格兰和英格兰的历史著作和人口统计数据进行编码。这些数据将使用时间序列和空间分析技术进行分析。这项研究将是第一个通过对历史和人口数据进行系统的、定量的检查来解决将猎巫与瘟疫和战争有关的假设的研究。这项研究将提高我们对政治迫害的社会和经济原因的理解，特别是对对离经叛道群体的迫害。

This is a study of the relevance of plague and war to the witch hunts which took place in Germany, England and Scotland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Previous historical research has shown that witch-hunting was a patterned activity that spread throughout Europe and, ultimately, to the American colonies. This study will concentrate on two specific threats or crises that have been suggested as causes of the European witch craze--plague and war. The study will examine whether witch hunts fluctuated in a manner that correlates with similar fluctuations in war and plague. Data on witch-hunts, plague, war and population characteristics will be coded from historical works and demographies for GErmany, Scotland and England. These data will be analyzed using time series and spatial analysis techniques. The study will be the first study addressing the hypotheses relating witch-hunting to plague and war through a systematic, quantitative examination of historical and demographic data. The study will improve our understanding of the social and economic causes of witch-hunting in particular, and of the persecution of deviant groups in general.