How to Rule a Magical World: Europe, 1400–1700

Recorded Oct 27, 2022 Prof. Julian Goodare (University of
Edinburgh) delivers the keynote address of the "Demons: Good and
Bad" interdisciplinary conference, organised by the School of
Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies and funded by the Trinity
Long Room Hub Research Incentive Scheme. How could you rule a
magical world – a world pervaded by supernatural powers? You would
have to make sure that people didn’t use illicit supernatural
powers in antisocial ways. In particular, you would have to make
sure that they didn’t use illicit supernatural powers subversively,
against your own authority. But your main strategy for ruling
successfully would be to get the best and strongest supernatural
powers onto your side, while regulating or repressing anything that
might be evil or might get out of control. In this lecture, Prof.
Goodare will sketch the various types of magical or supernatural
power that godly rulers sought to regulate in early modern Europe.
He will discuss both the control of elite magic and the control of
popular magic. The focus on power is important. Early modern courts
and institutions could be sites for power struggles over magic.
Official demonology insisted that all magic was bad unless the
authorities sanctioned it – but official demonology, while
hegemonic, was never uncontested, nor did it always penetrate into
systems of local government. And there were alternative
demonologies, both elite and popular, that engaged differently with
the magical world, taking a broader view of the legitimacy of
magical power. Finally, Prof. Goodare will offer a small
contribution to the ‘disenchantment debate’ by glancing at the
processes that eventually began to reduce the authorities’ fear of
illicit supernatural power. The magical world was becoming easier
to rule. Julian Goodare is Emeritus Professor of History,
University of Edinburgh. He is author of The European Witch-Hunt
(2016). His recent edited books include Demonology and
Witch-Hunting in Early Modern Europe (2020; co-edited with Rita
Voltmer and Liv Helene Willumsen), The Supernatural in Early Modern
Scotland (2020; co-edited with Martha McGill) and Scottish Witches
and Witch-Hunters (2013; editor). He is director of the online
Survey of Scottish Witchcraft. Learn more at:
https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/