Undiscovered Scotland

 

"Witches: A King's Obsession" by Steven Veerapen is a remarkable book. It is a superbly researched history of witches, with particular reference to the role of King James VI and I in fermenting the wave of witch-hunting that swept across Europe from the late sixteenth to the early eighteenth centuries. The depth of the background research is hinted at in the notes at the back of the book and, as we've come to expect from Steven Veerapen, the story he tells is well organised and written in an approachable and accessible style that ensures this is a book that can be absorbed by anyone with an interest in the subject. The first draft of that last sentence initially said "enjoyed" rather than "absorbed" but that's hardly appropriate. Witch-hunting was a phenomenon that brought out the very worst in both individuals and wider society and as a result no well-researched book about it could ever be remotely enjoyable. It is, however, engaging, fascinating, and compelling.

You get a sense of the coverage of the book from the publisher's description: "Witches – whether broomstick-riding spell-casters or Wiccan earth-worshippers – have been culturally relevant for centuries. For centuries, too, belief in the potency of witchcraft has been debated, accused witches have been hunted and punished, and film and TV productions have brought the witch and the witch-hunter to big and small screens. But where did our perception of witches – good and bad – come from? What motivated wide-scale panics about witchcraft during certain periods? How were alleged witches identified, accused, and variously tortured and punished?"

"Steven Veerapen traces witches, witchcraft, and witch-hunters from the explosion of mass-trials under King James VI and I in the late sixteenth century to the death of the witch-hunting phenomenon in the early eighteenth century. Based on documents and the latest historical research, he explores what motivated widespread belief in demonic witchcraft throughout Britain as well as in continental Europe, what caused mass panics about alleged witches, and what led, ultimately, to the relegation of the witch – and the witch-hunter – to the realm of fantasy and the fringes of society."