Originally published in 1947, it is the essential purpose of this book to investigate attitudes of leading Elizabethan and Stuart statesmen, ask whether witchcraft was of any importance in seventeenth-century English history, or even influenced the Great Rebellion. The reader is placed in possession of the more pertinent passages from the arguments used to support or discredit belief in witchcraft.
1. The Growth of Witch-mania in Europe at the end of the Middle Ages 2. The Introduction of Continental Witch-believers into England 3. The First Period of the Great Witch-scare (1588-1618) 4. James I’s Renunciation of his Belief in Witch-craft 5. The Attempts of James I and Charles I to Extinguish Witch-mania (1618-42) 6. Indignation Aroused by the Protection of Witches 7. Parliament and Witch-craft (1625-49) 8. The Second Period of the Great Witch-scare 9. Oliver Cromwell and Witch-craft 10. Conclusion
Biography
Davies, R.