From: "Dave Coull" <dave.coull-AT-organise.ezesurf.co.uk> Subject: Re: News Flash Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 12:43:55 +0100 I wrote about James the Sixth of Scotland and first king of the UK >> In fact, he was obsessed with witches, and not only did he >> have quite a lot of women executed as witches, he also wrote >> a book called the "Malleas Malificorum" , all about the threat >> posed by witches, which led to witch-hunts throughout Europe, >> and even in America (Salem) , in both protestant and Catholic >> countries. Catkawin responded >certainly you're the best candidate for the title >of list historian, Dave Aw, shucks..... >but I remember that the aforementioned book was >written by two Dominicanian (? sp, w?) monks of Grrman >nationality, Heinrich Institoris and Jacob Sprenger I have checked this out. T.C. Smout says "Jacob Sprenger and Heinrich Krammer", and, apart from Heinrich's last name, your version is a lot closer to that than mine. King James did indeed write a book on witchcraft, in response to sceptics who had expressed doubt that witches existed ; but it wasn't the "Malleas Malleficorum", it was the "Daemonologie" , which T.C. Smout describes as "frightening and learned" , and which did, like the Malleas Malificorum, have an international effect. >who else but Grrmans could have compiled a book >on how to detect witches, thoroughly and systematically, >with a lot of case files and descriptions how to torture >people? Hey, be fair. Okay, so the Germans showed Teutonic thoroughness. But it took a Scot to provide the intellectual justification. Dave
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