Heresy, Magic and Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe

This work, in short is a very successful combination of Reformation and witchcraft studies which takes into consideration the most diverse points of view (gender, social, political and economic) by following the rise, the climax and the fall of a phenomenon which overwrote the confessional map of Western Christendom.' - Dora Bobory, Archives Internationales D'Histoire Des Sciences

Witch hunting was a means of restoring belief in the veracity of official teachings about the supernatural realm. Waite argues that it was only when the authorities came to terms with religious pluralism that there was a corresponding decline in witch panics.In the fifteenth century many authorities did not believe Inquisitors' stories of a supposed Satanic witch sect. However, the religious conflict of the sixteenth-century Reformation - especially popular movements of reform and revolt - helped to create an atmosphere in which diabolical conspiracies (which swept up religious dissidents, Jews and magicians into their nets) were believed to pose a very real threat. Fear of the Devil and his followers inspired horrific incidents of judicially-approved terror in early modern Europe, leading after 1560 to the infamous witch hunts.

Bringing together the fields of Reformation and witchcraft studies, this fascinating book reveals how the early modern period's religious conflicts led to widespread confusion and uncertainty. Gary K. Waite examines in-depth how church leaders dispelled rising religious doubt by persecuting heretics, and how alleged infernal plots, and witches who confessed to making a pact with the Devil, helped the authorities to reaffirm orthodoxy. Waite argues that it was only when the authorities came to terms with pluralism that there was a corresponding decline in witch panics.