Reginald Scot, The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584)
Boy of Burton (1597)
Samuel Harsnett, A Discovery of the Fraudulent Practices of John Darrel (1599)
The Pendle Swindle (1634)
Thomas Ady, A Candle in the Dark (1656)
The Demon Drummer of Tedworth (1662)
John Webster, The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft (1677)
Holt become chief justice (1689)
Balthasar Bekker, The Enchanted World (1691)
Case of Jane Wenham (1712)
1736 Witchcraft act repealed
Recognised as the first major work of English scepticism
Key Points
Doubt over more far fetched charges such as cannibalism
Claimed women who genuinely believed they were witches suffered from melancholia
Witches who did do harm to people or animals did so through natural means such as poison
Includes the sacraments of the catholic church as magic tricks, which he claimed increased the fear of witches
In the short term the book did more harm than good
James VI of Scotland ordered all copies to be destroyed
His Demonologie (1597) was a response which stated his clear and unwavering belief in witches
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1599 17 year old boy Thomas Darling confessed he had lied about his witchcraft accusations
Feb 1596 he went hunting with his uncle when he supposedly met a strange women and was bewitched
Hr had hallucinations and fits especially when the new testament
Everyone might have believed his story so quickly because he seemed to have serious symptoms
Harsnetts books were very focused and less obtrusive to the general idea of witchcraft in England. Instead of trying to disprove witchcraft as a whole he instead focuses on John darrell who he believes is a fraud and tries to discredit him. He may have choses John Darrel as his Arminian sympathies went against Darrell's puritanism causing Harsnetts to focus in more closely and see the inconsistencies. The book is very focused in its attempt to discredit Darrel rather than witchcraft as a whole, meaning that it is much more readable and absorbable to individuals who still believe in witchcraft. This means that a much wider breath of people gain some scepticism of witchcraft accusations due to the fact that one of the most famous people Darrel ended up not being truthful. This would have planted a seed of doubt in many people's heads. Harsnetts includes a survey of all the people Darrell had claimed to exercise and an interrogation of Darrell himself. He tries to paint Darrell as a sinful liar who cannot achieve what he has stated. He then outlines how Darrel instructed Sommers to feign possession and much more. The point is he uses the book to ruin the image of one of the most prominent figures in witch hunting and therefore damages the image of witch hunting as a whole for everyone.