How did the image of the evil woman witch emerge in European culture? This lecture explores the fascinating history behind one of history's most enduring stereotypes, tracing the theological, intellectual and cultural shifts that shaped ideas about magic and heresy from the medieval period onwards.
Medieval magical practices were diverse—encompassing healing, love magic and divination—and were not inherently associated with women. Darker practices like necromancy, which relied on demonic power, were typically performed by men, who had access to the education these rituals required. So why did witchcraft come to be seen as a distinctly female phenomenon linked to evil and the devil?
Using feminist historical approaches, Dr Jennifer Farrell examines medieval attitudes toward magic, gender and heresy to illuminate how the witch archetype developed in the late Middle Ages. The discussion also addresses witchcraft through the lens of female sexuality and anxieties about women's relationship to ritual power across history.
Dr Farrell is a lecturer in medieval history at the University of Exeter, specialising in gender and the medieval supernatural. Her research spans medieval prophecy, fairies in medieval texts, and the interplay between literary representations and gender, with a forthcoming book on Geoffrey of Monmouth and Arthurian legends.
