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基本説明
How prevalent was the practice of witchcraft in France between 1560 and 1620? How many "witches" were actually tortured and killed during that unsettled period?
Full Description
One of the most intriguing, and disturbing, aspects of history is that most people in early modern Europe believed in the reality and dangers of witchcraft. Most historians have described the witchcraft phenomenon as one of tremendous violence. In France, dozens of books, pamphets and tracts, depicting witchcraft as the most horrible of crimes, were published and widely distributed.
Yet, in his new book, The Crime of Crimes: Demonology and Politics in France, 1560-1620, Jonathan Pearl shows that France carried out relatively few executions for witchcraft. Through careful research he shows that a zealous Catholic faction identified the Protestant rebels as traitors and heretics in league with the devil and clamoured for the political and legal establishment to exterminate these enemies of humanity. But the courts were dominated by moderate Catholics whose political views were in sharp contrast to those of the zealots and, as a result, the demonologists failed to ignite a major witch-craze in France.
Very few studies have taken such a careful and penetrating look at demonology in France. The Crime of Crimes: Demonology and Politics in France, 1560-1620 sheds new light on an important period in the history of witchcraft and will be welcomed by scholars and laypersons alike.
Contents
The Crime of Crimes: Demonology and Politics in France, 1560-1620 by Jonathan L. Pearl
Chronology
Introduction
One: Early Modern Demonologists and Modern Historians
Two: Witchcraft, Politics and Law
Three: Politics and Demonic Possession
Four: The Jesuits, Maldonat and the Development of French Demonology
Five: Politics, Morality and Demonology
Six: Three Adversaries of Political Demonology
Seven: Pierre de Lancre
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
