Introduction / Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark -- pt. 1. Witch trials in continental Europe, 1560-1660 / William Monter -- Montgaillard, 1643 -- Features of continental witch trials -- Witchcraft and the Reformations -- Three-quarters German? European witch trials 1560-1660 -- A German Sonderweg? -- 1563: Weyer and Wiesensteig -- Germany's "superhunts" (1586-1639) -- A Bavarian Sonderweg? -- Confessionalism and appellate justice in the empire -- The 'Lotharingian corridor' and Francophone witch-hunts -- Witch-hunting in the kingdom of France -- Witchcraft and the Mediterranean inquisitions -- Witch-hunting after 1650: new and old patterns -- pt. 2. Witch trials in northern Europe, 1450-1700 / Bengt Ankarloo -- The rise of government and the judicial revolution: accusatorial versus inquisitorial regimes -- Consolidation of patriarchal social relations -- Development of theology and demonology -- Social tensions on the local level -- The sixteenth century: from sorcery to witchcraft -- Witchcraft by regions -- pt. 3. Witchcraft and magic in early modern culture / Stuart Clark -- Popular magic -- Magic at work -- The meaning of magic -- Maleficium and magic -- Religious reformation and popular magic -- Demonology -- The literature of witchcraft -- Witchcraft and intellectual history -- The politics of witchcraft belief -- Languages of witchcraft -- Intellectual magic -- The greatest profoundness of natural philosophie -- Intellectual magic and the scientific revolution -- Natural magic and demonic magic -- Magic and politics.