Replication Data for: Ideational Diffusion and the Great Witch Hunt in Central Europe

The great upsurge of witch trials in early modern Europe remains a historical puzzle. Popularly known as the “witch craze”, this eruption of persecution is puzzling because belief in witchcraft had existed for centuries, but large-scale witch-hunting appeared rather abruptly, spread widely, and was remarkably brutal in comparison with the past. We define a theory of ideational diffusion to describe the general process of the emergence and spread of a new idea along with its prescribed behavioral change, in this case the adoption of witch-hunting. Ideational diffusion distinguishes between the adoption of new ideas, which lead social actors reinterpret the world and thus to change their behavior, and the adoption of behavior alone. We relate how a new theory of witchcraft appeared in the fifteenth century and theorize that its widespread propagation, owing to the new technology of printing, matches our description of ideational diffusion. We then analyze the diffusion of witch trials in Central Europe by combining data on the publication of demonological treatises alongside climate, state capacity, religious economy, and city network variables. We find that cities adopted persecution after demonological treatises were printed, and that nearby trials induced neighbors to adopt persecution. Tracing the print vectors and social interdependence spurring witch-hunting helps us understand the general mechanisms behind spread of persecution.

近代早期欧洲的女巫审判热潮至今仍是一个历史未解之谜。这场被俗称为"女巫狂热"的迫害浪潮之所以令人困惑，是因为对巫术的信仰已存续数百年，但大规模猎巫行动却突兀出现、广泛蔓延，且相较过往手段尤为残酷。我们提出观念扩散（ideational diffusion）理论，用以阐释新观念及其规定的行为变革（在本研究中即猎巫行动的采纳）的涌现与传播的一般过程。观念扩散理论区分了两种采纳模式：一是对新观念的采纳——这会促使社会行动者重新诠释世界，进而改变自身行为；二是仅采纳行为本身。我们阐述了15世纪全新的巫术理论的诞生过程，并提出：得益于印刷新技术的普及，该理论的广泛传播契合我们对观念扩散的描述。随后，我们结合魔鬼学论著的出版数据、气候、国家能力、宗教经济以及城市网络变量，分析了中欧地区女巫审判的扩散情况。我们发现，城市会在魔鬼学论著出版后开始实施猎巫迫害，且邻近地区的审判会促使周边城市跟进采取迫害行动。追溯推动猎巫行动的印刷传播路径与社会依存关系，有助于我们理解迫害行为蔓延背后的一般性机制。