A Defence of Witchcraft Belief - by Eric Pudney (Paperback)

About the Book

This edition of a previously unpublished manuscript defence of witchcraft belief offers a unique insight into learned opinion on the subject in Elizabethan England. It includes a comprehensive analytical introduction and will appeal to scholars with an interest in witchcraft across disciplinary boundaries.

Book Synopsis

This is the first published edition of a fascinating manuscript on witchcraft in the collection of the British Library, written by an unknown sixteenth-century scholar. Responding to a pre-publication draft of Reginald Scot's sceptical Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), the treatise represents the most detailed defence of witchcraft belief to be written in the early modern period in England. It highlights in detail the scriptural and theological justifications for a belief in witches, covering ground that may well have been considered too sensitive for print publications and presenting learned arguments not found in any other contemporary English work. Consequently, it offers a unique insight into elite witchcraft belief dating from the very beginning of the English witchcraft debate. This edition, which includes a comprehensive analytical introduction, presents the treatise with modernised spelling and relevant excerpts from Scot's book.

From the Back Cover

This is the first published edition of an extraordinary manuscript on witchcraft in the collection of the British Library, written by an unknown sixteenth-century scholar. Responding to a pre-publication draft of Reginald Scot's sceptical Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), the treatise represents the most detailed defence of witchcraft belief to be written in the early modern period in England.

The manuscript rejects the arguments presented in Scot's work, covering ground that may have been considered too sensitive for print publications and presenting learned arguments not found in any other contemporary English work. Rather than merely asserting the existence of witches, it highlights the scriptural and theological justifications for belief. Perhaps more importantly, it also argues for the unacceptability of disbelief. It therefore offers a unique insight into elite witchcraft belief dating from the very beginning of the English witchcraft debate.

This edition presents the treatise with modernised spelling for ease of reading. It is fully annotated, with translations provided for passages in Latin, and includes a comprehensive analytical introduction that discusses the provenance, date, authorship and significance of the treatise and sets it in historical context.

Review Quotes

'In sum, in his excellent introduction to this treatise and in his thoughtful and careful editing of it, Eric Pudney has made a marvellous contribution to the study of early modern English witchcraft. From this point on, further studies of Reginald Scot's The Discoverie of Witchcraft will undoubtedly be indebted to it.'
Philip Almond, Folklore

''Eric Pudney deserves nothing but praise and gratitude for his excellent editorial work, demonstrating this manuscript's complex interaction with Scot's Discoverie and illuminating the origins of both texts. We are very much in his debt.'
Jan Machielsen, Journal of Ecclesiastical History

'Eric Pudney's edition of a hitherto virtually unnoticed anonymous response to Scot's famous The discoverie of witchcraft (1584) [is] extraordinarily significant.'
Stuart Clark, Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft

About the Author

Eric Pudney is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Lund University