An examen of witches

Compiled in the late sixteenth century by the chief justice who served as France's most ruthless inquisitor, this is the definitive witch-hunter's handbook. It recounts the trial proceedings and accusations--making pacts with the devil, shape-shifting, and other practices of sorcery--for which countless social outcasts were tortured and condemned. Between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, tens of thousands of Europeans were accused of witchcraft, tortured, and executed. This volume, based on Chief Justice Henry Boguet's extensive courtroom experiences, was published in 1603. Contemporary theologians and canonists hailed it as an excellent and timely treatise. The well-known, modern-day occult expert Montague Summers edited this edition and provides an informative introduction. Summers praises the author as "vivid and graphic in his details, keenly logical in his arguments, and elegant in his expressions." Occult and Wiccan scholars will find Boguet's testament an indispensable source of historic information.… (more)