De la demonomanie des sorciers was published in 1580 by French philosopher Jean Bodin and it became the Malleus Maleficarum of the next 100 years. It was very influential work fusing inquisitor's fantasies and obsessions with charges against the accused.
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| French philosopher - Jean Bodin |
Bodin based his belief in the reality of a witch cult on the uniformity of witches' confessions. By extracting confessions, usually under torture, to the activities that he believed the witch had engaged in, the inquisitor received confirmation of his suspicions, and so the beliefs acquired validity.
Witches broke natural and divine laws - by infanticide, cannibalism, killing by poisoning or charms, blighting crops, slaughtering animals, creating sterility and famine - and had to be punished to appease divine anger.
Jean Bodine believed in the mystical authority of the divine right of monarchs. The monarch was seen as a God's divine representative on earth.
His condemnation of witches was anchored in the Jewish tradition, and their punishment was supported by texts in the Old Testament ( Deuteronomy 13,15,19 Leviticus 12,14 ).
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| De la Demonomanie des sorciers 1850 |
Bodin claimed that no magic in the world would work against the officials of the law and that is impossible to kill judges.
He asserted that witchcraft utilized evil spirits, though these were not evil of themselves but ultimately vehicles for the good because they served God's design.
Humans have free will and the harmony of the world is sustained by the friendly rivalry between good and evil.
He wrote De la demonomanie des sorciers because he saw French society out of harmony. The bad was much stronger than the good.
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