Profile

Richard Raiswell
Name:
Richard Raiswell
Email:
rraiswell@upei.ca
Position:
Professor
Department:
History and Classics
Phone:
902-566-0504
Building:
SDU Main Building 404
Island Scholar:
Island Scholar Biography

Professor

BA (Carleton); MA, PhD (Toronto)

Richard Raiswell teaches courses in the areas of medieval and early modern Europe, specializing in pre-modern intellectual history, including the devil and witchcraft, and Europe’s relations with Asia and Africa.

His research interests include European perceptions of India in the early modern period, the history of geography, and the history of the devil in the western tradition. Recent publications include: Evidence in the Age of the New Sciences (2018) with James Lancaster; Knowing Demons, Knowing Spirits (2018), with Michelle Brock and David Winter; The Devil in Society in Premodern Europe (2013) with Peter Dendle; “Writing Demon Possession: The Case of the Witches of Warboys” Preternature (2021); “Evidence before Science,” (2018) with James Lancaster; and “Edward Terry and the Calvinist Geography of India,” Études anglaises: Revue du monde anglophone (2017).

He is currently editing a collection of primary sources about the devil in the Middle Ages. He is co-editor of The Routledge History of the Devil scheduled for publication in 2023.

Research Interests
  • European knowledge of India before 1600
  • Fraud and deceit 1300-1650
  • Demonological possession in early modern Europe
  • History of geographical thought before 1650

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