Witches and Witchcraft by David Nash

Author:David Nash
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Witches and Witchcraft
ISBN: 9780747815341
Publisher: Osprey Publishing

This early sixteenth-century woodcut depicts a witch having intercourse with the Devil.

In a seventeenth-century Dutch court, a woman is weighed to prove whether she is a witch.

The story of Junius gives an unparalleled insight into how witch-hunting could spread and escalate at such an alarming rate and demonstrates how some of the beliefs and procedures dramatically fed this escalation. Those arrested for witchcraft, like Junius, had been implicated by others forced to ‘confess’ earlier in the cycle. From this point onwards it was considered their duty to confess, either voluntarily or if necessary through torture – which could be used progressively because witches were alleged to be able to resist such things. This made a further confession almost certain and the fortitude Junius showed in the face of such cruelty is something of an exception. Moreover when Junius finally did confess it was not enough to admit he was a witch. He had to confess his crimes – which he had to make up and make plausible to those interrogating him. Even this was not enough: victims like Junius had to also implicate others who would be arrested, beginning the entire cycle again.

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