Doubting Witchcraft: Theologians, Jurists, Inquisitors during the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. (16th June 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Duni, Matteo
• Editors: Andrews, Frances; Methuen, Charlotte; Spicer, Andrew
• Is Part Of: Studies in church history. Volume 52(2016)
• Page Start: 203
• Page End: 231
• Publication Date: 2016-06-16
• Subjects: canon law, -- demonology, -- metaphysics, -- Roman Inquisition, -- witchcraft, -- witch-hunt [remove one]; 270
• DOI: 10.1017/stc.2015.12
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0424-2084

Abstract

Abstract : The theory of diabolical witchcraft attracted serious doubts from its first formulation early in the fifteenth century. This essay focuses on the writings of a few lay jurists and lawyers who rejected the witch-hunters' claim that witchcraft was made possible by the Devil's ability to operate physically in the world, and argued instead that such acts as consorting sexually with demons, or being carried through the air to the Sabbat, were visions and dreams produced by the Devil. In this heated debate, both doubters and believers frequently crossed their respective disciplinary boundaries as they sought to prove their point. The essay analyses the works of lawyers who confuted the witch-hunters' interpretation of key biblical passages, using them to demonstrate that witchcraft was physically impossible, and that believing otherwise was unsound from both a legal and a religious point of view. It argues that their specific contribution was notable both for its content, as a particularly radical attack on demonological theories, and in itself, as an explicit challenge to ecclesiastical hegemony in the discourse on metaphysics. It concludes that their doubts had a significant, if belated, impact on the Roman Inquisition's policy vis-à-vis witchcraft.