Casting a spell to capture the past

Clark, a visiting lecturer in the history department, studies demonology, which includes the study of magic, witchcraft and, of course, demons. His research focuses specifically on the supernatural in the intellectual history of Europe's early modern period, between the Middle Ages and the Industrial Revolution. This term, he is teaching HIS 266: Magic and Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe.

Early modern Europeans had deep beliefs in the supernatural, many of which were irrevocably tied to religion, Clark said, explaining that "if you get in the literature, you can understand why they took witchcraft so seriously and how it affected them ... [You] shouldn't just dismiss it."

Witchcraft stopped being a central concern around the end of the 17th century, when the Scientific Revolution led many Europeans to think of witchcraft as an impossible act and thus an impossible crime, he noted.

In his research, Clark looks to position ideas, like the belief that the devil was actively in league with humans within the larger culture of early modern Europe, and attempts to explain why these ideas made sense to the people of that era. In short, he seeks to lend an element of rationality to events like the witch trials that occurred in Europe and in Salem, Mass.

Clark's course uses witchcraft and magic as a lens through which to explore the developments of the early modern period. The course has attracted 141 students and is nearly at full enrollment.

"To be honest, I took the course because it was about magic, and it seemed like it was a fun topic," Nate Sulat '11 said.

"[Clark] thinks of [the study of witchcraft] in the context of humanist thought," explained Amy Haley '96 GS, a preceptor for the course.

Clark spent most of his career at the University of Wales in Swansea, though he previously served as a visiting lecturer in the European Cultural Studies program. He was also a member at the Institute for Advanced Study. Clark said he chose to study magic and witchcraft because "it's a point of entry into European culture at that time."

Clark has formally retired from his permanent position in Swansea and will only be at Princeton for a year. For his next project, he plans to continue using demonology as a way to study early modern intellectual history and will draw connections between theology and art using the many representations of the story of the temptation of St. Anthony.