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Satanism and Witchcraft: The Classic Study of Medieval Superstition Paperback – August 4, 1998

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Jules Michelet (Author)
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Jules Michelet (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars 10 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 356 pages
  • Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp. (August 4, 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 080650059X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0806500591
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #681,021 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
High Drama in the Middle Ages
By Jeremy McGuire on March 8, 2008
Format: Paperback
I first read "Satanism and Witchcraft" in 1970, more than thirty years ago, and I still recall how enthralled I was by this incredibly dramatic and engaging history of the development of superstition in the Middle Ages. In fact, I used it as a source-book for one of my plays, "From All Things Evil," many years later.
Jules Michelet may not be the most accurate historian (in fact much fault has been found with his methods) but boy, does he ever tell a good story! Reading it again after all these years, I still have trouble putting it down.
This imaginative recreation of the Dark Ages is filled with pity for the innocent rural women of the time, when Christianity was trying to beat down the centuries old customs of honoring the nature spirits. Michelet traces the evolution of Satan from the gentle Puck of Greek origin, to the fully formed Goat-Headed Pan that became his primary image in the Middle Ages. We realize that the image we have of Satan is largely a construct of the Church, and not incidentally, of the woodcut pamphlets that so horrified and entertained the cloistered monks of the day, the precursor of modern horror fiction. Much of the misinformation we have of the horrors of that era, are the result of these pamphlets. But, as they say, perception often trumps truth, and this was perhaps never so common as in the Medieval Period.
Michelet has no love for the Medieval Catholic Church, but he has great sympathy for it's victims. He sees the Inquisition as far more political and economic than spiritual, as indeed it was. In the Twelfth through the Fifteenth Centuries especially, the Church was corrupt, greedy and power-hungry and many of its own reformers wrote vociferously against its abuses. The victims, most often, were women.Read more ›
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13 of 19 people found the following review helpful
What in the world was the last reviewer taking?
By A Constant Reader on October 23, 2005
Format: Paperback
Satan as Hero? Michelet a Satanist? The book is the basis for a group of Michelet Satanists? Oh for pete's sake. What some people think is "real" continues to astound me, and you'd think after all these years my astounder would have been pretty much astounded out. But no. Once again, someone expresses a belief so unfounded and so, well, stupid, there I go, getting astounded again. Too bad they wrote it yonks ago. Chances are they won't be reading this. In any case, this book, of which I have an ancient falling apart copy with a truly lurid cover, is a brilliant bit of historical writing. No pulling punches, no shying away from what the Church might think or say (and there was a time not so long ago, one had to be damned careful of old Popey), this book stands even now as a Classic on the Dark Ages. Were we nuts then? You bet. Are we nuts now? Yes. In a different kind of way, but getting nuttier by the day. Are we headed for a new Dark Age? Might be. Timely this book, no matter how long ago it was written. Dripping with blood and lust and hypocrisy and cruelty...that was us. Now we're dripping with greed and a casual indifference to the suffering of others, not to mention the suffering of animals and the earth itself. What do we care when scads of us are so crazed we think something called the Rapture is coming to take us away.

Satan is here and Satan is us.
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An empassioned text by one who was just overwhelmed by the whole despicable era of sanctioned burnings
By mrs.peapod on March 12, 2014
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
When I first picked this book up to read, I actually wondered if this were a scholarly treatise. It is, but the author does not have many real references or bibliographical citations. You will, however, shed tears as he describes - from his very hear of hearts - the abominable story behind the burning of tens of thousands of innocent women and men. I * nearly * put this book down but pursued it to the end and actually found it to be my favorite book of all the ones I ordered to study witchcraft. Why? Because most scholarly writers cringe at the notion of writing with few back-up sources. The book was published about a hundred years ago and I truly found the author's passion the more REAL of all the texts I read. He claims to have written this book from his "lecture notes" which impies he was an professor or teacher of some sort (I did not research his background). You really do FEEL what the horror of simple peasants must have been like when the witch hunts began and continued for ten hundred years. I LIKED his compassion. If you want to get a real feel of the time, read this book. There are things that you can cite if you're looking to write a more scholarly essay but don't let this text be your ONLY one. Read it and immerse yourself in the time - the author brings you right in to the moment even if his citations are lacking. A powerful and emotionally riveting read.
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A very intriguing and marvelous book explaining the madness and ...
By Jeffrey Petit Bois on May 5, 2015
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
A very intriguing and marvelous book explaining the madness and foolishness of Christians in the past and mirrors the same Christian problems we face in our modern age. Their inability to leave behind fairy tales and an old book. A much needed read for anyone, atheist, witches, Christians, spiritualists, etc.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
The dawn of Reason (Satan for the Church)
By Luc REYNAERT on April 18, 2013
Format: Paperback
Jules Michelet paints In his characteristic semi-romantic style an astonishingly lucid portrait of the witch against the brutal background of the Middle Ages and feudalism. It is really a picture in the manner of Jheronimus Bosch, with black masses, huge crazy Sabbaths, monasteries full of hysterical nuns, monstrous trials, abominable tortures (in pace) and mass executions (up to 400 people on the same pyre).

Feudalism and the Church
For the vast majority of the population (the serfs), the feudal system was truly a hell where nobody was safe. Nearly all human beings were blocked in their domain without any possibility of emigration. Around them, they saw nearly only wars, diseases and dead bodies.
The clergy with its Devils and Hell was omnipresent. In addition, the First Estate was plagued by infighting between the clergy, monks depending directly from Rome and the Jesuits.
In this terrible universe of blood and tears women cursed since Eve, were only impure flesh.

The Church and Reason
The Church has always opposed the spiritual independence of man as well as any invention or innovation. She cursed `the prodigious edifice of science.' For her, all sciences were incarnations of Satan, a guilty logician, who had no respect for the clerical law.
Especially medicine was 'true Satanism', a revolt against diseases, the deserved scourges of God. It was a sin to stop the soul on its way to `heaven' and keep it on earth.

The Witch
For Jules Michelet, the witch is nothing less than the humble beginning of Reason, of science, because of her knowledge of the remedial influence of specific plants, but also of the human body (abortions).Read more ›
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