Author: Ignatius Donnelly File Type: epub The great classic of Atlantis, this book more than any other established the existence of this lost continent for the modern world. Attracting hundreds of thousands of readers and stimulating vast debate, it influenced generations of people including countless scientists who went on to do serious work in their fields, and numerous science-fiction writers. It is a measure of the power of the Atlantis myth that, despite all the evidence to the contrary, the idea of a submerged Atlantic Ocean continent remains vigorous today, long after Donnellys work first appeared. A lawyer and politician before he turned to writing, Ignatius Donnelly (18311901) spent many years amassing evidence for his book on Atlantis. Displaying an immense knowledge of Platonic and Biblical material, comparative archeological discoveries, folk traditions of deluges, and geological data supporting catastrophic volcanic activity, Donnelly staggered his readers with facts and overwhelmed them with his many brilliant arguments. Despite the many more recent discoveries that have proved many of his facts to be false, his arguments still dazzle and his central myth continues to fascinate. The highly appealing idea of a lost continent with a high civilization, one that was the mother of all other civilizations, is one of the most enduring of all human myths and shows no signs of disappearing. A seminal work on Atlantis and a classic in the history of culture, this book is the starting point for anyone sincerely interested in the Atlantis myth. Still the most readable and imaginative of the books on Atlantis, it is a work that will long outlive most of the more recent accounts. As a study of the golden past, it is an enormously intriguing and enjoyable book. **

Author: Andrew Colin Gow File Type: pdf This is the first complete and accessible English translation of two major source textsTinctors Invectives and the anonymous Recollectiothat arose from the notorious Arras witch hunts and trials in the mid-fifteenth century in France. These writings, by the Anonymous of Arras (believed to be the trial judge Jacques du Bois) and the intellectual Johannes Tinctor, offer valuable eyewitness perspectives on one of the very first mass trials and persecutions of alleged witches in European history. More importantly, they provide a window onto the early development of witchcraft theory and demonology in western Europe during the late medieval periodan entire generation before the infamous Witches Hammer appeared. Perfect for the classroom, The Arras Witch Treatises includes a reader-friendly introduction situating the treatises and trials in their historical and intellectual contexts. Scholars, students, and others interested in the occult will find these translations invaluable. **Review [This] sourcebook presents a valuable contribution to the study of witchcraft and devil worship in the late medieval imagination. It is intelligible to lay readers, while scholars may find it useful as a brief overview of the Arras affair, with multiple references to more detailed studies on the topic. Frantisek Novotny, Correspondences This new volume offers readable translations with helpful outlines and notes. Reading the accounts written by churchmen whose learning and conviction made them very partial jurors, one gets an eerie picture of the mindset behind the witch craze in late medieval Europe. Thomas Willard, Mediaevistik The editors additions of modern subheadings and the wide, empty margins make the book well-suited to the classroom the novelty and accessibility of these English translations render the book critical to researchers in the field. The Arras Witch Treatises will hopefully usher Tinctor and du Bois texts into the canon of demonological treatises, expanding our grasp of this chilling historical episode and forcing scholars to look afresh at received knowledge. Rachel Daphne Weiss, Comitatus Provides a well-articulated introduction and excellent primary sources for undergraduate and graduate courses on the topic of witchcraft and the European witch hunts. Amanda Pipkin, *Sixteenth Century Journal * The potential of the new edition of the Arras treatises promises to transcend its already valuable contribution for classroom use. It will surely contribute to fine-tuning existing assumptions about fifteenth-century demonology, and students and scholars alike will benefit from its publication. Tamar Herzig, Renaissance Quarterly There can be no argument, therefore, that a complete translation of Tinctors treatise and the anonymous Recollectio, which may have come from the pen of Jacques du Bois, one of the judges in the Arras trials, helps considerably in providing much-needed evidence to fill a gap in our knowledge of an important episode a century or so before the major waves of witchcraft prosecution in Western Europe began to make themselves felt. P. G. Maxwell-Stuart, Speculum This important work sheds much light on the fifteenth-century origins of the witch craze. The elaborated theory of witchcraft described here is absolutely fascinating, not just because it predates the classic era of witch hunting by a century but also because it was so incoherent and contentious and yet terrifyingly relevant to changing social and political conditions. This is a story about medieval superstition as well as the modernity of print and law and state building. Malcolm Gaskill, University of East Anglia A fascinating glimpse into the mind-set of two promoters of witch hunting who defined demonic heresy and justified the use of cruel tactics to extract confessions. Revealing both similarity to and significant differences from other demonological works, The Arras Witch Treatises offers an exciting new resource for both teaching and scholarship. Gary K. Waite, University of New Brunswick About the Author Andrew Colin Gow is Professor of History at the University of Alberta. Robert B. Desjardins is an independent scholar and a graduate writing advisor at the University of Alberta. Francois V. Pageau is a doctoral candidate in medieval history at the University of Alberta.