A Trio of Fecondary Fourcef for the Teaching of the Grim and Forrowful Hiftory Trials in Salem Village

While it's admittedly not a scholarly source, and while National Geographic clearly called in the B team when it came to web design, their site on the Salem Witch Trials is a great introduction and presents basic information on the dynamics of a witch trial in a very memorable format. It's a good supplement.

I've already done an abstract of Reis's conference paper "Revelation, Witchcraft, and the Danger of Knowing God’s Secrets," and I still admire its concision and breadth. It's thought-provoking without being too specific for an undergraduate course.

Finally, while Mather's Wonders of the Invisible World is large enough to function better as a primary text, pages 5-17 reveal a good deal about the apocalypticism and bunker mentality of the Puritans, and make for interesting, if not particularly riveting, reading.

A Propofal for a Conferenf Paper on the Late Perfecution of Witches in Salem Village, Especially the Relation of the Firft Wave of Accufations to the Lowly Statuf of Women in Puritan Colonial Fociety

Visions of the Daughters of Zion: Female Revelation and Agency in the Salem Witch Trials Testimony

            While both scholarly and popular writing on the subject has often focused heavily on the motives of the accusers, the explanations offered – religious mania, greed, spite, ergot poisoning, etc. – have tended towards the shallow and simplistic. Moreover, they have tended to operate on shallow or simplistic understandings of the role of women in colonial Puritan culture, and to ignore the ways that women actively participated in the margins of their faith community. This paper examines the testimony of the trials and the conduct manuals of Puritan New England to identify the ways in which the accusers reacted to a Puritan culture that did not allow them the direct experience of the divine, and which saw them as uniquely susceptible to the experience of the demonic.

            Using the work of scholars such as Richard Godbeer and Elizabeth Reis, as well as the writings of Puritan thinkers such as Cotton Mather, notably Mather’s conduct manual Ornaments for the Daughters of Zion, this paper will explore the cultural context for the witchcraft accusations before turning to the testimony of the witnesses themselves. This testimony, much of it filtered through or dictated to men, is decidedly visceral in nature, with apparitions and supernatural assaults, and represents a stark counterpoint to the  impersonal “signs and wonders” which formed the basis of divine revelation for Puritan males. Using the writing of scholars such as Carol Karlsen, this paper will then weave these threads into a portrait of the ways that the accusers negotiated their presumed profanity and spiritual blindness through the use of demonic visitations that emphasized their physicality.

            This physicality has been an important part of the study of accused witches, and of the nature of their supposed crimes, but its role in the lives of accusers, especially female accusers, has often been downplayed in the scholarship on the subject. This paper seeks to shed new light on the lives of the accusers, and on Puritan society in general, and contribute to our understanding of what is often a grossly misrepresented group of people.

An Abstract of Elizabeth Reis's "Revelation, Witchcraft, and the Danger of Knowing God's Secrets," With Commentary on the Usefulness of Reis's Work to Our Enterprise, as well as that of one Conchetta Bommarino, Lately of Orlando and Also Much Concerned with the Discovery of Witchcraft in Salem in 1692

Source:

Reis, Elizabeth. “Revelation, Witchcraft and the Danger of Knowing God’s Secrets.” Women in Religion in America: Reimagining the Past. Chicago Divinity School. October 8-10, 1993. PDF. http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/conferences/womenandreligion/private/reis_elizabeth.pdf

By focusing on the role of gender and authority in the Salem witch trials, Reis argues that knowledge of the supernatural in Puritan England was often contested, especially women’s knowledge. Celestial guidance may have been desired, but absolute knowledge was considered dangerous and generally demonic in nature (2). Witchcraft in particular was dangerous because it manipulated the divine plan, and because it raised the question of what was acceptable or desirable knowledge of that plan. To know a witch was to know her damnation, which meant knowing God’s plan, which was potentially dangerous knowledge, especially because divination was the prerogative of the wealthy and educated elite (3, 21). These elite charged themselves with interpreting signs and wonders which indicated God’s pleasure or, more often, displeasure, but that while such signs were trusted, revelations were not, especially not women’s revelations (4-6). Signs were another example of Puritan belief that God would reveal all, including all sins, in due time, and in fact had to do so for repentance to take place and for the outward appearance and inward nature of the sinner to match (12-13). This was especially true of witchcraft, a sin which by its very nature constituted both a betrayal of God and a secret sin, such that the professed piety of some of the accused became evidence against them, as it proved the extent of their alleged hypocrisy (14). Accusers who targeted pious women were given increased credibility, as their claims were seen as courageous acts, even by the accused, who were often guilty of other sins than those with which they were charged (15-16). Ultimately, though, what was important was confession, which allowed the judges to distinguish repentant witches from the damned, who denied the accusations to the last, and which created a public knowledge that evaded the moral ambiguity of private and thus privileged information (17-18).

Reis takes something of a whirlwind tour through the forms of supernatural knowledge available to women in Puritan England, and the result shows just how circumscribed women were. Not only were they denied the ability to tell fortunes or have revelations, but the simple task of interpreting a sign was considered inappropriate – anything resembling a revelation had to come from an authority. Reis also balances primary and secondary sources, including the writings of John Winthrop and the confessions of accused witches, while also describing particular historical incidents, such as the heresy of Ann Hutchison and the trial of Elizabeth How. This is really helpful for my thesis, as it shows how limited women were in their ability to participate in the struggle against evil, except as exemplars of good. At the same time, Reis seems to avoid the fact that spectral visitations and other alleged symptoms of witchcraft were seen as valid testimony despite their often unverifiable, directly revelatory nature, which gave women a means by which they could briefly participate in the battle between good and evil which the Puritans saw taking place all around them. She provides some information that relates to this – especially the fact that testimony against especially pious women was considered especially reliable – but otherwise is mostly useful for providing context, which she provides a lot of in a very compact article that never feels as dense as it is. I would recommend it, especially for Conchetta’s presentation, due to the way it explains just why witchcraft was so dangerous to the Puritan mindset, and how any kind of female revelation could be equally upsetting.

A Series of Notes Taken From a First Reading of Elizabeth Reis's "Revelation, Witchcraft, and the Danger of Knowing God's Secrets," Using the Sentence Method as a Means of Finding the Core Points of a Very Complex Paper with a Broad Scope and Considerable Detail

Pg 2. – Thesis: knowledge of the supernatural often contested, especially women’s knowledge. Celestial guidance desired, but absolute knowledge considered damnable, demonically guided offence.

Pg. 3 – Witchcraft dangerous because it manipulated the divine plan, and because it raised the question of what was acceptable or desirable knowledge of that plan. To know a witch is to know here damnation, which means knowing God’s plan, which is sinful knowledge.

Pg 4. – Puritans often looked for signs from God of their salvation or the imminence of Judgment Day.

Pg. 5 – Puritan omens rarely pointed to God’s pleasure, though the effects of European diseases on Native Americans are an exception.

Pg 6 – Signs trusted, revelations distrusted, especially women’s revelations.

Pg 6-7 – Example of Dorothy Talbot, who murdered her daughter due to what she perceived as divine revelations.

Pg. 7 – Laypeople who alleged revelation were alleging privileged information from God.

Pg. 8 – Ann Hutchinson expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony because revelations came directly to her, not through a minister.

Pgs. 9-10 – Mary Dyer, follower of Hutchinson, Quaker and frequent consumer/experiencer of revelations, had a malformed child which was seen by ministers as a sign from God of her errors.

Pg. 11 – The link between female revelation and monstrous births was consistent.

Pg. 12 – Relationship between God and humanity uneven, as God knows and can reveal all and his followers do not and can not.

Pg. 13 – Secret sins considered most dangerous, as they disallow repentance. Secret sin compared to child in womb, which will inevitably get out.

Pg. 14 – This includes witchcraft, and the professed piety of several witches became evidence against them.

Pg. 15 – This led to a situation where accusations against especially righteous or upstanding women gained credibility, since they were seen as courageous actions.

Pgs. 15-16 – Some of the accused felt that the accusations were justified in that they were punishment for real, hidden sins.

Pg. 16 – Considerable blurring in the minds of the accused of their actual sins and accused sins.

Pg. 17 – Great emphasis on confession as only path to repentance and towards identifying the  damned.

Pg. 18 – Confession meant the possibility of salvation, hence the decision not to execute confessed witches in 1692. Those who denied the accusations were hanged.

Pg. 20 – Judges had no problem with this kind of private knowledge of the accused witches’ fates.

Pg. 21 – Fortune-telling especially dangerous, as it causes inappropriate levels of knowledge that the elite, who had their own methods of divination, considered their prerogative.

Pg. 22 – This wasn’t simply for classist reasons – the knowledge offered by witchcraft and revelation was certain, and therefore heretical.

Pg. 23 – Angel sightings rare, any seen by Puritans as generally demonic, especially sightings by women.

The Beginnings of a Bibliography, Accompanied by the Formation of a Hypothesis, for the Contemplation of the Learned.

The more I read, the more I notice the heavy apocalyptic undertones (and overtones) in Puritan writing, which has led me to suspect that participation in witchcraft trials gave women a way to participate directly in the violent, and perhaps ultimate struggle against evil which dominated Puritan narrative identity. I've focused my bibliography around this possibility, and on determining just how big a role apocalypticism played in Puritan pop culture.

Preliminary Bibliography

Callis, Mark. “The Aftermath of the Salem Witch Trials in Colonial America.” Historical Journal of Massachusetts 33(2). Oct 2005: 187-213

Doty, Kathleen. “Formulaic Discourse and Speech Acts in the Witchcraft Trial Records of Salem, 1692.” Journal of Pragmatics: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Language Studies 41 (3). 2009 Mar: 458-469.

---. “'I Will Tell, I Will Tell': Confessional Patterns in the Salem Witchcraft Trials, 1692.” Journal of Historical Pragmatics 3 (2). 2002: 299-335.

---. “(Un)Becoming Conduct: Cotton Mather's Ornaments for the Daughters of Zion and the Salem Witchcraft Crisis.” Instructional Writing in English. Eds. Matti Peikola and Janne Skaffari. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Benjamins, 2009.

Gildrie, Richard P. “The Salem Witchcraft Trials as a Crisis of Popular Imagination.” Essex Institute Historical Collections 128(4). 1992: 270-285.

Kittredge, George Lyman. “Notes on Witchcraft.” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 18. Apr 1907: 148-212.

Kusunoki, Akiko. “'Their Testament at Their Apron-Strings': The Representation or Puritan Women in Early-Seventeenth-Century England.” Gloriana's Face: Women, Public and Private, in the English Renaissance. Eds. S. P. Cerasano and Mario Wynne-Davies. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1992.

Maclear, J. F.. “New England and the Fifth Monarchy: The Quest for the Millenium in Early American Puritanism.” William & Mary Quarterly 23(2). Apr 1975: 223-260.

---. "’With Bodilie Eyes’: Eschatological Themes in Puritan Literature and Gravestone Art.” William & Mary Quarterly 40(3).  Jul 1983: 469-471.

Ray, Benjamin. “Satan’s War Against the Covenant in Salem Village, 1692.” New England Quarterly: A Historical Review of New England Life and Letters 80 (1). 2007 Mar: 69-95.

Silva, Cristobal. “Miraculous Plagues.” Early American Literature 43(2). Jun 2008: 249-275.

Tracy, Allison. “Uncanny Afflictions: Spectral Evidence and the Puritan Crisis of Subjectivity.” Spectral America: Phantoms and the National Imagination. Ed. Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew. Madison, WI: Popular, 2004.

Meditationf on Our Progreff in the Eftablifhment of a Biblography for Refearch into the Hyftory of Vile Witchcraft in Falem Town, and Thoughtf on our Hypothefif and Directionf of Refearch

It's clear to me that I will be very intimate with Cotton Mather by the time this semester is over, but my very quick, hesitant forays into his work have left me, as usual, with more questions than answers.

My biggest question now is about Cotton Mather himself. The impression that I get is that his work was immensely popular, and that his writings on witchcraft gained him considerable fame, prestige and authority, and most likely money as well. The big question, for me, is whether he meant to do this. 

It doesn't sound like it makes a big difference. It sounds, in fact, like a kind of historical trivia. Still, it makes a huge difference in the relationship between Mather and the accusers. Was Mather a greedy, irresponsible sociopath who stuck the notion of witchcraft into the community's head and then exploited it for personal gain? Was he as much a part of the moral panic as everyone else? Or was he himself duped by ordinary Puritan social climbers who used him for their personal gain? 

The trouble is, of course, that I may have to settle for never quite knowing. Some of the accusers confessed to deliberately making false accusations, but did all of them? More importantly, how many did so out of genuine remorse, as opposed to a simple desire to avoid social ostracism once the moral panic ended? The end result is that, whatever my thesis is, it's probably not going to point fingers at anyone. With so many accusations flying around, it wouldn't stretch credulity for at least some of the accusers to believe they were bewitched, or for Mather to fear openly opposing the trials. Ideally, I would like to pin down a thesis that would make the question of intent irrelevant except

Besides Mather's writing and the testimony of the accusers, accused and agents of the court, I'm considering adding Stephen T. Asma's On Monsters, which has a chapter on European witchcraft beliefs, to the bibliography, as well as Leonard R.N. Ashley's The Complete Book of the Devil's Disciples. The latter is not particularly useful, since it's a decidedly unscholarly work (I once used it as bathroom reading) but it contains a very useful bibliography of scholarly works on the Salem Witch Trials, none of which Ashley actually bothers to cite. A text on the Satanic Panic of the 1980's might be valuable as a link to modern times, and a book about moral panic might provide some perspective. I plan on taking Thursday and a portion of Friday to burrow through the library and get a functioning bibliography going.

A Treatise on Books with Prodigiously Long Titles, with Commentary on the Efficacy of the Ventilation and Air Filtration Systems in the Library of the University of Central Florida, Orlando and on the Effects Thereof Upon the Author

First thing's first: I hate the UCF library. It's ugly, hard to navigate, overcrowded, lit like a prison, and alternately noisy and dead silent. Its shelves come in colors selected for their ugliness and inability to match any other colors ever made by humankind. Worst of all, though, is the filtration system. I grew up by the ocean, and my body is used to breathing moist air, so after twenty minutes in the library, I'm bone-dry and can feel my palate shrivel up in my mouth. Today I spent the entire afternoon, after office hours at least, in the library. I'll be spending even more time there in the next few months.

Still, it was worth it for the chance to get past the paywall that blocks Evans Digital Database. I dug around in the witchcraft sections and found what I'd always wanted out of life: a PDF of a Cotton Mather book on witchcraft published in 1689, only three years before the infamous witch trials. The book, which had the cumbersome title of Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions, was perfect for me in terms of its publication date. It was published early enough to influence the Salem Witch Trials, and recently enough to still be remembered when they began. Poring through it, I found so many potentially intriguing things: Endorsements from other leading clergymen, a dedication to someone named Wait Still Winthrop, and remarks about the supposed demonic possession and sexual licentiousness of Quakers. Moreover, I found an explosion of new editions in 1697, implying that the witch trials had a positive effect on sales.

It's a juicy read, and I can't wait to really get into it. I especially want to compare the accounts in Mather's book to the accounts given by supposed victims of witchcraft in Salem. In the meantime, though, I need more cough drops.