Witchcraft and Pastoral Fears

Indianapolis, IN

Using the basis for later stereotypes of witchcraft, in particular 15^th century demonology and early judicial proceedings against witchcraft in the Swiss Alps, as case-studies, the following presentation examines how purported elements of the witches' Sabbath, including the pact with the devil and accusations of sexual depravity and cannibalism, convinced elites to abandon their skepticism and begin prosecuting suspected witches. Prior to the 15^th century, elites remained largely skeptical about the efficacy of sorcery and characterized Satan as an unwilling subordinate to God. Changing theological notions of both Satan and witchcraft created a more power being who directly aped and worked against God with his conspiratorial band of witches. Witchcraft therefore became a direct threat to social and spiritual order. Fears of such a threat reverberated onto everyday conflicts where the expanding state encountered everyday accusations of magic. Upon encounter such conflicts, clerical and lay elites used their juridical powers to investigate and persecute accusations of sorcery. In short, the mechanism through which witchcraft persecutions occurred, newfound elite beliefs in the efficacy of sorcery, was a product of genuine religious concerns with ultimately disastrous human costs.