On the Demon-Mania of Witches by Jean Bodin (review)

326 LETTERS IN CANADA 1995 It is to be hoped that the beauty of this English translation and the helpfulness of the introductory material will tempt readers to take up a closer study of Guillaume's original poem, readily available in a Johnson Reprint (1965) of Hoepffner's edition. (ROBERT TAYLOR) Jean Bodin. On the Demon-Mania of Witches. Translated by Randy A. Scott, Introduction and abridgment by Jonathan L. Pearl Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies. 218. $15.00 This is the first English translation of a French work which, in the decades after its 1580 publication, was also a much-read handbook on the theory, practice, and punishment of witchcraft. Its author, a lawyer in the service of the Duke of Alen<;on, was known for his Six Books ofthe Commonwealth, often considered 1the first modern study of the state/ as Jonathan Pearl points out in his thorough and useful introduction, and for his posthumously published Colloquium, a survey of various religions and philosophies . Bodin's Demon-Mania displays the underbelly of the Renaissance. The same class of men who invented the term Jrenaissance' to describe their own time, and 'middle ages' to dismiss the previous thousand years separating themselves from the grandeur that was Rome, were largely responsible for the witch-hunts that killed probably sixty thousand people (about 80 per cent of them women) in early modern Europe. Ecclesiastical inquisitors prosecuted witches in Spain and Italy, but in France and elsewhere it was judges, lawyers, civil servants, and humanistic scholars who provided the theory, circulated the anecdotes, presided at the trials, and imposed the punishments. Theirworkserved the centralized absolutist secularstate as much as it did the clericalinstitution (Catholic or Protestant, ,depending on the country) with which they collaborated. This is Bodin's social circle and his audience, as he often remarks. The theory is not innovative but draws on what was already present in both Catholic and Calvinist doctrine. If God is good, there must be a devil to account for evil;ifmiracles are possible, then so is diabolical intervention including lycanthropy; rationalistic or sceptical doubt is impiety; moreover, all earlier cultures have reported the existence of witches. Bodin distinguishes the heretic, who makes a religious mistake, from the witch, who denies religion and knowmgly accepts diabolical assistance. This assis'tance vitiates anything a witch may do, 'for evil spirits never do good, except by accident or in order that a greater evil might come of it, when for example they cure a sick person to attract him to their devotion' or give a correct prediction. Many rationalistic authorities - ancient, medieval, and modem - come in for stern reproof because of their failure to separate natural from supernatural and hence to recognize diabolical influence. HUMANITIES 327 As for practice, we find that the devil often appears as a tall black man; that witches never cry; that witchcraft is much more common in rural areas than in cities and that it is o~ten a family phenomenon. Much attention is paid to the genitals, for witches lack 'the power to remove a single member from a man except the virile organs,' and often reduce a man or woman to impotence, frigidity, or sterility in order to preventprocreation, exterminate marital affection, and encourage adultery. Books 1 and 2 cover the theory as outlined above; book 3 turns to prevention - pray often, don't fear witches or Satan, give copious almsand exorcism whether by holy water, conjuration, or music, which is 'a divine thing ... [and] cures the body through the souL' Book 4, the last, treats the investigation, trial, and punishment of witches. This is the most horrific portion, for it lays out the harsh reality based on the theoretical fantasy. No punishment is too great for witches, whose crime is worse than patricide or treason. In fact, the main goal is not to punish witches but rather to 'reduce their number, surprising the wicked and preserving the elect.... Otherwise there is a danger that the people will stone both magistrates and witches.' Normal legal procedures are suspended: informers remain anonymous, prosecutors may be plaintiffs, accomplices may be informers with immWlity, familial denunciation is sought, psychological intiinidationis recommended,spies are planted, circumstantial evidence suffices as proof, disreputable witnesses are admitted, guilt is by association, forced confession under torture is valid. The abridgment in this volume is tactfut the translation fluent and readable; there are plentiful explanatory notes throughout, and a good bibliography. The Renaissance and Reformation Texts in Translationseries is to be commended for reminding us of this chilling and sickening episode in modem European cultural history. (SHEILA DELANY) Valerie Frith, editor. Women and History: Voices of Early Modern England Coach House Press. xxiv, 264. $19.95 Women and Histon;: Voices of Early Modern England is an elegant and scholarly collection of eleven essays by historians and critics working in North America. The book, published in the Illuminated Texts series by Coach House Press, is attractive, well illustrated, and appealing to academic as well as general readers. It presents vignettes of women in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England rarely seen in standard historical or literary texts. Subject matters range widely from disorderly women, wife-beating, and female criminals to accounts of being a widow and cross-dressing. One of the most interesting features of the work is its structure. Rather than a monologic account, it offers sets of perspectives on each topic. The book is a nice balance of public transcripts and private ...