Throughout the era of the European

witch trials in the Early Modern period Witch trials in the early modern period saw that between 1400 to 1782, around 40,000 to 60,000 were killed due to suspicion that they were practicing witchcraft. Some sources estimate that a total of 100,000 trials occurred at its maximum for a s ...

, from the 15th to the 18th century, there were protests against both the belief in

witches Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have use ...

and the trials. Even those protestors who believed in witchcraft were typically sceptical about its actual occurrence.

Forms of protest

Legal

Various objections to the

witch hunts A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern per ...

were raised on the basis of their abuses of the law.

Andrea Alciato Andrea Alciato (8 May 149212 January 1550), commonly known as Alciati (Andreas Alciatus), was an Italian jurist and writer. He is regarded as the founder of the French school of legal humanists. Biography Alciati was born in Alzate Brianza, nea ...

(1515) and

Johann Weyer Johann Weyer or Johannes Wier ( la, Ioannes Wierus or '; 1515 – 24 February 1588) was a Dutch physician, occultist and demonologist, disciple and follower of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa. He was among the first to publish against t ...

(1563) both objected that torture could lead to false confessions.

Johann Georg Gödelmann Johann Georg Gödelmann, (also Godelmann) (May 12, 1559 – March 20, 1611) was a German jurist, diplomat and demonological writer. He was born in Tuttlingen, and died, aged 51, in Dresden. Selected works * ''Disputatio de magis, veneficis ...

(1591) objected to legal abuses and improper methods of trial, while

Friedrich Spee Friedrich Spee (also ''Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld''; February 25, 1591 – August 7, 1635) was a German Jesuit priest, professor, and poet, most well known as a forceful opponent of witch trials and one who was an insider writing from the epic ...

(1631) argued that there was no empirical evidence for allegations of witchcraft, even self-confessed. In 1635 Roman Inquisition acknowledged that "the Inquisition has found scarcely one trial conducted legally". In the middle of the 17th century, the difficulty in proving witchcraft according to legal process contributed to the councilors of

Rothenburg ob der Tauber Rothenburg ob der Tauber () is a town in the district of Ansbach of Mittelfranken (Middle Franconia), the Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. It is well known for its well-preserved medieval old town, a destination for tourists from around the w ...

(German), following advice to treat witchcraft cases with caution. In 1652 jurist Georg Christoph Walther advised the Rothenburg council in the case of two women accused of witchcraft, insisting that unless the women could be found guilty by proper due legal procedure they should be released without punishment.

Ethical

Anton Praetorius Anton Praetorius (1560 – 6 December 1613) was a German Calvinist pastor who spoke out against the persecution of witches (witchhunts, witchcraft trials) and against torture. Life and writings Praetorius was born in Lippstadt as the son o ...

(1598) and

Johann Matthäus Meyfart Johann Matthäus Meyfart, also Johann Matthaeus Meyfahrt, Mayfart (9 November 1590 – 26 January 1642) was a German Lutheran theologist, educator, academic teacher, hymn writer and minister. He was an opponent fighter of witch trials. Career M ...

(1635) objected to the witch hunts on the basis of the cruelty with which they were carried out.

Theological

Martin LeFranc (1440) objected that witchcraft could not take place in reality due to the sovereignty of God, and that even witches who confessed to witchcraft were being deceived by illusions of the devil. LeFranc blamed the clergy for permitting such beliefs to flourish. Antonino, Archbishop of Florence (1384–1459), insisted that common beliefs concerning witches were mere foolishness, and required those who held such beliefs to make confession and repent of them. Ulrich Müller, writing as "Molitoris" (1489), believed in witchcraft but opposed common beliefs on the subject on the basis of the theological arguments of the

Canon Episcopi The title canon ''Episcopi'' (or ''capitulum Episcopi'') is conventionally given to a certain passage found in medieval canon law. The text possibly originates in an early 10th-century penitential, recorded by Regino of Prüm; it was included ...

Gianfrancesco Ponzinibio Gianfrancesco Ponzinibio () was a European jurist who criticized the relatively new change in Christian doctrine that had become popular in the 15th century especially among Dominican Order, Dominican inquisitors and that espoused a belief in the ...

(1520) extended this argument to deny the reality of all diabolical witchcraft. Reginald Scot (1584) put forward similar arguments and cited

John Calvin John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...

numerous times.

Cornelius Loos Cornelius Loos (1546 – February 3, 1595), also known as Cornelius Losaeus Callidius, was a Roman Catholic priest, theologian, and professor of theology. He was the first Catholic official to write publicly against the witch trials raging throughou ...

(1592) claimed that belief in witchcraft was mere superstition.

Skeptical

Skeptical protests took a number of forms; scientific, medical, or attribution of alleged sorcery to fraud. Some medical practitioners insisted that the apparent evidence for witchcraft had medical causes, rather than supernatural. The physician Symphorien Champier (c.1500) believed that many reports of alleged witchcraft could be explained by means of medical conditions. Bishop Antonio Venegas de Figueroa (1540) cautioned against confusing witchcraft with mental illness. When French surgeon

Pierre Pigray Pierre Pigray was a French surgeon born in Paris in 1531. He was a student of the famous surgeon, Ambroise Paré before qualifying as a master surgeon in 1564. In addition to his service to the wounded in the Battle of Dreux (1562), Pigray was be ...

(1589) was asked by the Parliament to examine several people accused of being witches, he dismissed the allegations on the basis that the accused were deluded and in need of medical care. Physician Johannes Weyer (1563) argued that women accused of being witches were suffering from an imbalance of the

humors Humorism, the humoral theory, or humoralism, was a system of medicine detailing a supposed makeup and workings of the human body, adopted by Ancient Greek medicine, Ancient Greek and Medicine in ancient Rome, Roman physicians and Greek philosoph ...

, resulting from the devil's interference, and viewed their beliefs as imaginary. Weyer's approach has been considered a precursor to modern psychiatric methods. Accusations of witchcraft, especially by traveling witchfinders, were sometimes opposed by locals whose skepticism of profiteering witchfinders was stronger than their belief in witches. In 1460 a Frenchman named Asseline (also known as Jehan de la Case) was assaulted by "Master Jehan" with a spear. Asseline had angered Jehan (a witchfinder) by opposing his claims that two of Asseline's relatives were witches. In a later fight Asseline struck Jehan fatally with a halberd. Local people, skeptical of Jehan's claims, successfully petitioned the king to have Asseline pardoned, insisting that Jehan had been a fraud. Skeptical objections were raised in a range of ways. Samuel de Cassini (c. 1505) objected to witchcraft on logical grounds. Andrea Alciato was skeptical of allegations of witchcraft, which he said was more easily believed by theologians than jurors. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1519) believed that witchcraft was merely superstitious delusion.

Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne ( ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a liter ...

(1580) objected to witchcraft on the basis of skepticism concerning the trustworthiness of the senses. The skeptic Samuel Harsnett (1599) rejected all belief in witches."Bancroft and Harsnett had no belief in witches. The most famous passage of Harsnett's Declaration, the description of a witch in Chapter 21, is proof of that.", Brownlow, "Shakespeare, Harsnett, and the devils of Denham", p. 65 (1993).

References