author
Wallace Notestein
1878–1969
Best known for bringing seventeenth-century England vividly into focus, this Yale historian wrote clearly about witchcraft, Parliament, and everyday political life. His books helped shape how modern readers understand early modern English history.
1 Audiobook
A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718
by Wallace Notestein
About the author
Born in Wooster, Ohio, in 1878, Wallace Notestein became an American historian known for his work on early modern England. He taught at Yale University and served as Sterling Professor of English History from 1928 to 1947.
His scholarship centered on seventeenth-century English politics and society, with well-known work on witchcraft, parliamentary history, and public life. He is especially associated with A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718, a study that remained widely noted long after its publication.
Notestein was also part of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace in Europe after World War I, and he was married to educator Ada Comstock. He died in 1969, leaving behind a reputation as a careful scholar who made a complicated period of history easier to grasp.