In the fifteenth century many authorities did not believe Inquisitors' stories of a supposed Satanic witch sect. However, the religious conflict of the sixteenth-century Reformation - especially popular movements of reform and revolt - helped to create an atmosphere in which diabolical conspiracies (which swept up religious dissidents, Jews and magicians into their nets) were believed to pose a very real threat. Fear of the Devil and his followers inspired horrific incidents of judicially-approved terror in early modern Europe, leading after 1560 to the infamous witch hunts.
Bringing together the fields of Reformation and witchcraft studies, this fascinating book reveals how the early modern period's religious conflicts led to widespread confusion and uncertainty. Gary K. Waite examines in-depth how church leaders dispelled rising religious doubt by persecuting heretics, and how alleged infernal plots, and witches who confessed to making a pact with the Devil, helped the authorities to reaffirm orthodoxy. Waite argues that it was only when the authorities came to terms with pluralism that there was a corresponding decline in witch panics.

Gary K. Waite is Professor of History at the University of New Brunswick, Canada.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
The Devil, Magic and Heresy in the Later Middle Ages
The Reformation and the End of the World
Heresy, Doubt and Demonising the 'Other'
The Reformation, Magic and Witchcraft 1520-1600
Religious Conflict and the Rise of Witch Hunting 1562-1630
Religious Pluralism and the End of the Witch Hunts
Conclusions
Notes
Annotated Bibliography
Index.