Recent years have seen a resurgence in scholarly and popular interest in early modern witchcraft and related ‘superstitions’, but also – and most crucially – the beliefs and anxieties which powered such phenomenena. The special subject ‘Witchcraft, The Devil and Fear in Early Modern Britain’ will examine who witches were, what they did – or were accused of doing – and why society at large seemed to fear them so much. In order to do so, it will also investigate the climate of suspicion, fear and paranoia which often characterised the period, and its various representations and depictions of the greatest enemy of all: Satan. The Fiend appeared to many individuals, not just witches, conducting relationships of all kinds with all sorts of people. This period of history saw significant and ongoing religious change which influenced people’s perceptions of the world around them. We will consider, for example, how reformed Protestant culture led to a heightened fear of the ‘supernatural’ sphere, due to newly invigorated beliefs about the innately sinful nature of humankind and fears about the heretical nature of the traditional Church. The module will develop students’ understanding of early modern religious and popular culture, the nature of early modern primary texts, alongside various historiographical debates.