Presentation Abstract
Presentation Abstract
Faculty's Name: Mary Kelly, Ph.D.
Co-registrant Names: Trinity Bridge, Zack Burton, Natalie Ferdinand, Lily Levesque, Nyanaroup Luwal, Logan
Schluter, Abby Whitley
Type of Presentation: Performance
Presentation Title: "Malleus Maleficarum: Witch Trial Enactments in Early Modern Europe"
Abstract:
Students from HS228 Witches: Witch-Hunts in Early Modern Transatlantic History enact
select courtroom scenes from historical European Witch Trials. Between the 15th and
18th centuries, at least 100,000 trials took place across Europe and the Transatlantic
world, resulting in the torture and execution of at least 50,000 condemned people.
While men were occasionally tried as witches, women represented the majority of those
accused and convicted of threatening the social order, sent to the gallows to be hanged,
or otherwise tortured to death.
In this Showcase presentation, students currently taking the HS228 Witches: Witch
Hunts in Early Modern Transatlantic History course play a range of roles commonly
featured in these trials, including judges, accusers, and accused women. Drawing on
historical documents from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries to generate contemporary
dialog and action, these enactments reveal a confluence of social disorder, religious
turmoil, and the criminalization of innocent people that defined a dark chapter in
history.
