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.
In 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.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references: p. 169-178
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 133.4/2/094409031
- General Note
- Includes index Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- Geographic Area Code
- e-fr---
- ISBN
- 0889202966 9780889206502
- LCCN
- BF1517.F5
- LCCN Item number
- P42 1999eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaOTU
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (viii, 181 p.)
- Published in
- Canada
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)jme00326969 (OCoLC)78988222 (CaOOCEL)402419
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- CaOTU
Table of Contents
- Contents 6
- Chronology 8
- Introduction 10
- One: Early Modern Demonologists and Modern Historians 16
- Two: Witchcraft, Politics and Law 32
- Three: Politics and Demonic Possession 50
- Four: The Jesuits, Maldonat and the Development of French Demonology 68
- Five: Politics, Morality and Demonology 86
- Six: Three Adversaries of Political Demonology 110
- Seven: Pierre de Lancre 136
- Conclusion 158
- Notes 162
- Bibliography 178
- Index 188
- A 188
- B 188
- C 188
- D 188
- E 189
- F 189
- G 189
- H 189
- J 189
- K 189
- L 189
- M 189
- N 189
- O 189
- P 189
- R 190
- S 190
- T 190
- V 190
- W 190
- Y 190
