Discussions Acta Poloniae Historica 88, 2003 PL ISSN 0001 - 6829 Małgorzata Pilaszek FAILURE OF WITCH-HUNTS IN 16th-18th CENTURY EUROPE? (On Witches & Neighbours. The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft by Robin Briggs, London 1996) With the application of sociological and anthropological methods to historical research, witch-hunts have become an important area of historical research1. Currently, historians do not even try answer the basic questions concerning witchcraft without ac- counting for its psychological, sociological and anthropological aspects. Only such an approach can properly account for the complicated vectors of forces that were the driving mechanisms of witch trials in 16 to 18th century Europe. Although witch-hunts made an initially timid entry into the sphere of historical research interest, since the 1980s conferen- 1 The enduring source regarded as both a synthesis of the conventional historio- graphy on sorcery and the starting point for research into witch-hunts has proved to be the article b y H. R. T r e v o r - R o p e r , The European Witch-Craze of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, in his Religion, the Reformation and Other Essays, London 1967, pp. 90-192. Among the pioneering works in this field that deserve a mention are: J. C a ro B a roj a. Las brujas y su mundo, Madrid 1961: K. T h o m a s , History and Anthropology, “Past and Present”, 1963, n° 24, pp. 3-24; C. Ginzburg, 7 benandanti: Stregoneria e culti agrari tra Cinquecento e Seicento, Torino 1966; R. M an d r o u, Magistrats et sorciers en France au XVIIe siècle. Une analyse de psychologie historique, Paris 1968: A. M a c f a r l a n e , Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England. A Regional and Comparative Beliefs Study, London 1970; K. T h o m a s , The Relevance of Social Anthropology to the Historical Study of English Witchcraft, in: Witchcraft Confessions and Accusations, ed. M. Douglas, London 1970, pp. 47-79; idem. Religion and the Decline of Magic, New York 1971, pp. 29-56; H. C. Erik Midelford, Witch-hunting in Southwe stern Germany, 1562-1648. The Social and Intellectual Foundations, Stanford 1972. www.rcin.org.pl