Christina Larner (22 September 1933 27 April 1983) was a British historian with pioneering studies about

European witchcraft European witchcraft can be traced back to classical antiquity, when magic and religion were closely entwined. During the Ancient Roman religion, pagan era of ancient Rome, there were laws against harmful magic. After Christianization#Roman Empir ...

and a Professor of Sociology at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

. She was an expert on the history of witchcraft in Scotland.

Early life and education

Christina Larner was born in London, the daughter of Helen Margaret Wallace and John MacDonald Ross, senior civil servant, who both went to university. After attending South Hampstead High School for Girls (London), she matriculated and graduated with first class honours in Modern History in 1957 at the University of Edinburgh. She was awarded a PhD at the University of Edinburgh for her thesis 'Continental Influences on Scottish Demonology, 1560–1700’ in 1962.

Academical career

After graduating from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, Larner moved to the

as a part-time assistant in the Department of Politics and Sociology in 1966. In 1972, she was appointed Lecturer in Sociology and was subsequently Senior Lecturer. She was awarded a titular professorship at the

in the same year as she died.

Personal life

In 1960, she married John Patrick Larner, a historian of Renaissance Italy. They had two sons, Patrick and Gavin.

Selected list of published works

* ''A Source-book of Scottish witchcraft'' (1977, 2005) * ''Enemies of God'' (1981) * ''Witchcraft and Religion'' (1984) * ''The Thinking Peasant'' (1982) Glasgow: Pressgang ISBN 0946025207

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larner, Christina 1933 births 1983 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People associated with the University of Glasgow Witchcraft in Scotland 20th-century British historians