A book on the history of witchcraft, published, originally in French, in 1862. The first English translation was published in London in 1863.

La Sorcière: The Witch of the Middle Ages is a book on the history and origins of witchcraft in Europe. According to the author, ancient witches' magical rituals and beliefs were connected with Christian beliefs and practices.

Experience the intrigue, drama, and mystery of the Middle Ages with this classic work of history. Focusing on the role of witchcraft in medieval society, Jules Michelet weaves a captivating tale of persecution, superstition, and power. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Long out of print, Jules Michelet's classic study of medieval superstition has been reprinted in this edition to bring the general public's attention to one of the truly great sociological works of modern times. Michelet brilliantly recreates the Europe of the Middle Ages, the centuries of fierce religious intolerance, the Inquisition and the Auto-da-fe. He depicts the feudal barons, the great manors, the fiefs and serfs. and the witches, hobgoblins and wizards of whom the masses lived in mortal fear. Michelet draws flaming word pictures of the witch hunts, the Black Masses, the reign of Satan, and the weird rites of the damned. Here is the age of unbridled pleasure and sensuality, of luxury beyond imagination and squalor beyond endurance. Here is the time when a girl might be accused of witchcraft merely if she were young and pretty and did not survive the test of immersion in water or boiling oil. Here is the day of beatings, floggings, tortures and summary decapitations.The index section of this public domain reissue, a history of witchcraft from medieval times to the 17th century, may or may not be fully calibrated.