The term esbat in this sense was described by Margaret Murray.
The Night Battles is divided into four chapters, preceded by a preface written by Ginzburg, in which he discusses the various scholarly approaches that have been taken to studying Early Modern witchcraft, including the rationalist interpretation that emerged in the 18th century and the Witch-cult hypothesis presented by Margaret Murray.
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In the first part of the 20th century, the English Egyptologist and anthropologist Margaret Murray (1863–1963) had published several papers and books propagating a variation of the Witch-cult hypothesis, through which she claimed that the Early Modern witch trials had been an attempt by the Christian authorities to wipe out a pre-existing, pre-Christian religion focused around the veneration of a horned god whom the Christians had demonised as the Devil.
The first camp, sometimes called "Murray-ists", supports British anthropologist Margaret Murray's theory of the witches' mark.
Margaret Thatcher | Margaret Atwood | Murray River | Margaret | Murray | Anne Murray | Bill Murray | Margaret Mead | Andy Murray | Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon | Margaret Weis | F. Murray Abraham | Princess Margaret | Margaret Cho | David Murray | Princess Margaret Hospital | Murray Head | Margaret Mitchell | Murray Perahia | Margaret Bourke-White | John Murray | Murray Hill, New Jersey | Margaret of Anjou | Margaret Court | Margaret Becker | Charles Shaar Murray | Pete Murray | Patty Murray | Murray Hill | Margaret Sullavan |
As a hobby, he continued to investigate the occult, beginning to collect objects and became an acquaintance of Margaret Murray, Montague Summers and Aleister Crowley.
In May 1957, the Egyptologist Margaret Murray involved herself in the Gogmagog debate, championing Lethbridge's ideas against the academic fraternity in a letter which she sent to The Times.
Set in the 17th century, it revolves around a group of witches, and according to the historian Ronald Hutton, was based upon the Witch-cult hypothesis of the anthropologist Margaret Murray.
He married in 1511 (her first of four husbands) Agnes (died February 1557), the illegitimate daughter of James Stewart, 1st Earl of Buchan by Margaret Murray.
On the morning of 26 July, Margaret Murray was taken into custody by the Army on suspicion of fund-raising for the Provisional IRA in connection with her brothers' activities and taken to the Springfield Road screening centre.
From the 1920s on, Margaret Murray’s theory was assailed by critics such as George Lincoln Burr, Hugh Trevor-Roper and more recently by Keith Thomas.