Hi! I saw that you study witchcraft in the Middle Ages? What are some misconceptions about witchcraft then that you’d like to debunk?
Hi! Technically speaking my master's thesis was on applying Austin and Searle's Speech Act Theory to a corpus of extant magical writings and spells from the Medieval and Early Modern periods, but I did touch on some of the social aspects of witchcraft as well.
One of the misconceptions that I find to be particularly interesting is that witchcraft, cunningcraft, herbalism, whatever you wish to call it, was a primarily female endeavor. Actually, witchcraft was used by men and women alike. It was a way to make a bit of money for people who were otherwise disenfranchised, so the male witches, so to speak, were often disabled or queer men who were locked out of traditional industry. We know this because of court records at the time. We see about a 50-50 split (within a margin of error, of course) of men and women convicted for witchcraft and witchcraft-adjacent crimes. As a disabled queer man who practices witchcraft himself, I felt very represented.