Battling Demons

“In Battling Demons, Michael Bailey places the Dominican theologian Johannes Nider at the center of an emerging set of beliefs about diabolical sorcery and witchcraft in the fifteenth century. His argument is entirely original and will force those of us who study witchcraft to consider its implications not only for the late Middle Ages but also for the great persecutions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.”

—Edward Peters, University of Pennsylvania

“Aside from offering a close reading of the Formicarius itself, the merit of this book lies in Bailey’s careful construction of the intellectual background against which he projects Nider’s assessment of the witches and the absolute evil they represented.”

—Gerhild Scholz Williams, Washington University in St. Louis The Medieval Review (TMR)

“In this masterful study of Nider, Bailey situates the Dominican reformer and his most famous work in the larger context of European religious and intellectual culture, convincingly demonstrating that the theologian’s concerns informs and shaped his understanding of [witchcraft]. By elucidating Nider’s role in fifteenth-century institutional and spiritual reform, and then connecting that reform to his conceptualization of the witch, Bailey has shed important light not only on his specific subject, but on the entire context of the early modern period.”

—J.W. Dippmann Choice

“Although the extent to which Nider was typical of his time is debatable, the book does make a valuable contribution towards integrating the origins of the idea of witchcraft into the history of the fifteenth century.”

—Helen Nicholson History

“Battling Demons is a useful and thought-provoking book. Bailey will leave his readers wanting to explore further the life and activities of Nider, his writings, and the whole history of the Council of Basel in which Nider occupied a major position. The book is scholarly enough to keep the attention of the specialist, but not so technical and intricate as to be passed over by students.”

—Jane P. Davidson Sixteenth Century Journal

“Although I suspect that more can be said about the religious status of wonders, and the pressing need to develop strategies to evaluate these, Michael Bailey has provided a thorough and compelling analysis of the origins of witchcraft.”

—Steven Vanden Broecke Renaissance Quarterly

“Bailey has written a book that should be read by everyone interested in witchcraft and late medieval religion.”

—James Given Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies

“Copious notes and a thorough, even though select, bibliography with an index close out this fine volume. Specialists and novices of magic, witchcraft, and heresy will find this book to be accessible, compelling and informative.”

—Alberto Ferreiro Church History

“In this valuable, accurate, and engaging volume, Michael Bailey investigates the ‘prehistory’ of the early modern concept of witchcraft through the writings of Johannes Nider, a Dominican whose fundamental treatises—in particular, the seminal Formicarius—are still ‘remarkably understudied.’”

—Armando Maggi Journal of Religion