Drawing on quantitative data drawn from a range of trials Kateryna Dysa first describes the ideological background of the tribunals based on works written by priests and theologians that reflect attitudes toward the devil and witches. The main focus of her work, however, is the process leading to witchcraft accusations. From the stories of participants of the trials she shows what led people to enunciate first suspicions then accusations of witchcraft. Finally, she presents a microhistory from one Volhynian village, comparing attitudes toward two “female crimes” in the Ukrainian courts. The study is based on archival research including witch trials transcripts. Dysa approaches the trials as indications of belief and practice, attempting to understand the actors involved rather than dismiss or condemn them. She takes care to situate early modern Ukrainian witchcraft and its accompanying trials in a broader European context, with comparisons to some African cases as well.|Accusations and beliefs lying beneath the Ukrainian witchcraft trials of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
- Cover
- front matter
- title page
- copyright page
- Table of contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Constructing the Ukrainian Witchcraft Trial
- Legal Foundations
- The Queen of Evidence: The Use of Torture and the Figure of the Executioner
- In the Realm of Gossip: The Role of Everyday Communication in the Legal Process
- Actors of the Witchcraft Trials
- Chapter 2 Ukrainian Orthodox Demonology: The Learned Elite and Perceptions of the Devil and Witches
- Iconography of the Devil, Demons, and Witches
- The Demonic in Ukrainian Orthodox Writings
- Specificities of Demonic Possession and Exorcism
- The Pact with the Devil
- Demonization of Neighbors, Opponents, and Enemies
- Chapter 3 Beyond the Trials, or the Anatomy of Witchcraft Accusations
- “Peaceful” Coexistence
- Family and Witchcraft
- Inheritance of Witchcraft within the Family
- Accusations within the Family
- Family Support
- Rivalry and Bewitchment
- Dangerous Proximity: Master-Servant Relationships
- Bewitching a Master: Trials about the Bewitchment of Social Superiors
- Demonstration of Loyalty to a Master in Witchcraft Cases
- Subtle Love Matters
- Witchcraft and Medicine: Power to Take Away and Restore Health
- Bewitching Animals, Spoiling Harvests
- Magic Practitioners and Actual Magic Practices
- Local Magic Practitioners
- Amateur Magic Practices
- Chapter 4 A Case of Witchcraft and Infanticide in Szczurowczyky
- Infanticide in Szczurowczyky: Iewka Stanorycha
- A Witchcraft practitioner: Orzyszka Liczmanicha
- Night Flights and Coven
- Verdicts
- Further Romanticization, Forgetting, and Resurrection of Ukrainian Witches: An Afterword
- Bibliography
- Index
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