National Geographic History - 09.10 201

T

The Case Against Witchcraft

not everyone in the 16th and 17th

centuries believed witches to be a real

threat to society. In 1584, the decade

before the first major Scottish witch

panic took place, The Discoverie of

Witchcraft was written by Reginald

Scot from the county of Kent in south-

ern England. Scot argued that many of

the “proofs” of witchcraft were merely

superstitions incompatible with Protes-

tant belief. Scot considered those who

had been accused of witchcraft to be

innocent. He denied that the devil had

power to affect the physical world, and

offered natural explanations for phe-

nomena thought to be supernatural.

So-called witches, Scot argued, were

really harmless old women. King

James VI published his book Daemon-

ologie in 1597 partly as a riposte to Scot.

Scot’s book remained influential well

after its publication, and new editions

were published in 1651 (the edition

shown above), 1654, and 1665.

WELLCOME COLLECTION