Jason Coy
Professor of History
Jason Coy earned his doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2001. His research interests include the history of early modern Europe, Reformation-era Germany, and the European Witch-Hunts.
He is the author of Strangers and Misfits: Banishment, Social Control, and Authority in Early Modern Germany (Brill, 2008) and The Devil's Art: Divination and Discipline in Early Modern Germany (University of Virginia, 2020).
He has also started preliminary research on a project that will focus on the legacy of the early modern witch-hunts in the modern world. Focusing on the period after 1950, it examines the public memorialization and legal rehabilitation of victims of the witch-hunts, the emergence of Wicca and neopaganism, and the portrayal of the witch-hunts in contemporary popular culture, mass media, and social media.
Education
Ph.D. The University of California, Los Angeles, 2001
M.A. The Ohio State University, 1995
B.A. The Ohio State University, 1993
Research Interests
Dr. Coy’s research interests include the cultural history of magic and witchcraft and the social history of banishment and migration in early modern Europe.
Press and Media
Recently, Dr. Coy discussed his work with CofC junior Francesca Gibson on CofC Today's podcast series. Their research, about the experience of bewitchment in the 1500s and 1600s, was funded by a SURF grant.
"Gibson and Coy explored a time in history when people believed in and feared witchcraft. Their research closely examined this fascinating period of time through the lens of history and psychology. A time when someone, usually a woman, could be accused of witchery based on the testimony of a member of the community and then sentenced to death. Digging deep into a treasure trove of archived sources like court testimonies, the research reveals the power of the mind to cause sleep disorders, nighttime terrors and physical pain."
Click here to listen to The Frightening History of Witchcraft and Sleep Disorders.
Courses Taught
HIST 115: Magic, Religion, and Science in the West
HIST 241: Tudor-Stuart Britain
HIST 241: Witchcraft in the Modern World
HIST 270: The European Witch-Hunts, 1450-1750
HIST 336: Renaissance Europe
HIST 337: Reformation Europe
HIST 441: Reformation and Society in Europe (Seminar)
HIST 441: Witch-Hunting in the Atlantic World (Seminar)
HIST 537: Renaissance and Reformation Europe (Graduate)
HIST 691: Historiography (Graduate)
Honors and Awards
Herzog Ernst Fellowship of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation at the Forschungszentrum Gotha (2012).
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Re-Invitation Grant (2011).
Eleanore and Harold Jantz Fellowship from the Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library (2009).
Excel Outstanding Faculty Award for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the College of Charleston (2007).
Maria Sibylla Merian Fellowship for Postdoctoral Studies from the University of Erfurt, Germany (2002).
Publications
Coy’s most recent publication is The Devil's Art: Divination and Discipline in Early Modern Germany (University of Virginia Press, 2020).
He is also the author of Strangers and Misfits: Banishment, Social Control, and Authority in Early Modern Germany, (Studies in Central European Histories 47, Thomas Brady and Roger Chickering, eds., Leiden: Brill Academic Press, 2008).
He has also co-authored several edited volumes, including The Holy Roman Empire, Reconsidered (Spektrum: Publications of the German Studies Association, Berghahn Press, 2010), Kinship, Community, and Self: Essays in Honor of David Warren Sabean (Spektrum: Publications of the German Studies Association, Berghahn Press, 2015), and Migrations in the German Lands, 1500-2000 (Spektrum: Publications of the German Studies Association, Berghahn Press, 2016).