REFORMATION ATTITUDES: impact on witch beliefs
Rejection of "ecclesiastical
magic" of Catholic Church
people should put trust in God, not in remedies
Divine Providence
as guiding principle:
everything happens according to God's eternal plaN
"Are
not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of
them is forgotten in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your
head are all counted." Luke 12:6-7
JOHANN BRENZ,
Lutheran pastor in Swabia (Germany)
1539 Sermon
on Hailstorms:
popular belief – storms caused by witches, devils
remedies: bells, herbs
Brenz:
religious explanation (also scientific)
storms sent by God to punish men
sin as underlying cause of divine wrath
Is witchcraft possible or only an illusion?
I. JOHANN WEYER
(German)
Biography: Protestant
physician to Duke of Cleves,
studied
with Cornelius Agrippa Von Nettesheim
Treatise:
1563
De Prestigiis Daemonum et Incantationibus et Veneficiis,
(On the Illusions of Demons, Incantations and Poisons)
7 editions
from 1563 to 1580, including German & French transl.
1) Skeptical about the
reality of witchcraft
stresses devil's
powers of creating illusion
2) Natural, medical
explanation for witchcraft
portrays witches
as "melancholics"
3) Scriptural, protestant
attack on diabolical pact
expands power
of devil, sees witches as deluded by devil
4) Procedural objections
to use of torture to extract confessions
II. JEAN BODIN (French)
1580 La Demonomanie
des Sorciers
(The Demonomania of Witches)
refutation
of Weyer's theory of melancholia
attack on Weyer
himself as a sorcerer
Career: Lawyer,
judge, member of parlement of Laon
(regional appeals court, NE France)
Political theorist:
Six Books of the Republic, 1561
statement
of theory of state sovereignty, absolutism
Experienced judge
in witch trials in Laon, case of Jeanne Harvillier, 1578
III. English witch debate
Reginald Scot, Discovery of Witchcraft 1584 (K&P#60)
Skeptical of reality of witchcraft, follows Weyer
Theological and scriptural arguments: [Quotes from King James Version]
OT: Exodus 22:18 "Thou shalt not suffer a witch (sorceress) to live."
Deuteronomy 18:10-11 "There shall not be found among you anyone ....
that useth divination, or an observer of times, an enchanter or a witch,
a charmer, a consulter with familiar spirits, a wizard, or a necromancer
I Samuel 28: 3-25 Witch of Endor conjures up ghost of prophet Samuel
Four kinds of witches:
innocent, deluded,
poisoners, impostors ("couseners")
James Stuart James I of England 1603-1625, VI of Scotland
1589--marriage to Anne of Denmark
storm, trial of Dr. Fian for w/c (K&P #48)
political context, Fian as opponent of King
1597 Daemonologie attack on Weyer/Scot
learned Latin treatise, theological approach
emphasizes the diabolical pact
William Perkins: English Puritan
On the Damned Art of Witchcraft 1608