Edwin Austen Abbey , CC BY "> The Penance of Eleanor was painted in 1900 and shows Eleanor Cobham being paraded through the streets of London barefoot. Credit: Edwin Austen Abbey , CC BY

Reclaiming the label "witch" has become an act of feminist solidarity. But are we recovering the women themselves, or a posthumous identity built from accusation rather than fact?

Historical novelist Philippa Gregory's new novel Royal Witch arrives this fall soon after the much-trumpeted release of Practical Magic 2 , with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman returning to our screens as the Owens sisters.

Both tap into something powerful in contemporary culture . The witch has been reclaimed as a feminist figure: independent, knowledgeable, bonded to other women, resistant to authority.

But as a historian interested in how women's reputations change over time, I think our enthusiasm for reclaiming the witch comes with responsibility.…