Servants of Satan: The Age of the Witch Hunts

by Joseph Klaits

This is the first book to consider the general course and significance of the European witch craze of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries since H.R. Trevor-Roper's classic and pioneering study appeared some fifteen years ago. Drawing upon the advances in historical and social-science scholarship of the past decade and a half, Joseph Klaits integrates the recent appreciations of witchcraft in regional studies, the history of popular culture, anthropology, sociology, and psychology to better illuminate the place of witch hunting in the context of social, political, economic and religious change.

"In all, Klaits has done a good job. Avoiding the scandalous and sensational, he has maintained throughout, with sensitivity and economy, an awareness of the uniqueness of the theories and persecutions that have fascinated scholars now for two decades and are unlikely to lose their appeal in the foreseeable future." ―American Historical Review

"This is a commendable synthesis whose time has come. . . . fascinating . . . " ―The Sixteenth Century Journal

" . . . comprehensive and clearly written . . . An excellent book . . . " ―Choice

"Impeccable research and interpretation stand behind this scholarly but not stultifying account . . . " ―Booklist

"A good, solid, general treatment . . . " ―Erik Midelfort

"Servants of Satan is a well written, easy to read book, and the bibliography is a good source of secondary materials for further reading." ―Journal of American Folklore

Genres: History, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published December 1, 1985

Reviews

[David Nichols · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps the most important observation in Joseph Klaits's 1985 study of the European witch craze is that witch-hunting did not extend over the course of centuries, but instead concentrated in a fairly narrow period, roughly 1560 to 1680 CE. During these 120 years western European states conducted over 7,500 witchcraft trials and sent thousands of convicted witches, 80-90 percent of them women, to the stake. Klaits adduces several persuasive reasons for what one might otherwise see as “popular delusions and the madness of crowds.” The early-modern witch trials occurred during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, and religious and political elites had heightened anxieties about heresy and moral self-control. Images and descriptions of early-modern witchcraft portrayed it not merely as the practice of magic but as diabolism, a kind of spiritual and sexual communion with the Devil. Magistrates and religious leaders viewed diabolism as arch-heresy, a threat to both church and state. They assumed that commoners, with their raucous and quasi-pagan festivals and customs, were particularly susceptible to heresy and witchcraft, and that women, whom early-modern elites considered weak and sinful, found sexual congress with Satan irresistible. Moreover, accusations of witchcraft performed a useful psychological function for the accusers, insofar as they allowed them to displace their guilt over lack of charity to the poor (accused witches were often poor women...), to explain the death of a child (...or midwives), or to alleviate anxiety over hallucinations or mental imbalance. Finally, witchcraft convictions appear to have grown in parallel with the legal reconstruction of European nation-states in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Klaits reminds readers that many if not most witches confessed their “crimes” under torture, which early-modern magistrates used to promote fear of the state. He further notes that the German principalities, where the most trials occurred, were revising their law codes in this period, and local officials tended to defer to dogmatic jurists in witch trials.

This is on the whole a learned and thoughtful book, which draws upon contemporary legal and visual evidence as well as a host of secondary sources. The author's explanation of why witch hunting declined after 1680, however, seems a bit thin. Klaits attributes the dearth of witch trials in the eighteenth century to the scientific revolution and growing elite skepticism about the methodology of witch hunting, and to nation-states' growing self-confidence and willingness to accept religious toleration. There is much truth to this, but I am inclined to think that we can over-estimate European religious tolerance in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, as the French Huguenots and Irish Catholics could attest. I suspect that the decline of witchcraft prosecutions stems in part from a shift in elite thinking toward a more Providential view of God, one which emphasized his role in the real world (usually for good) and de-emphasized the Devil's. We may also note that the Enlightenment saw the rise not only of interest in science but also in elite fascination with occult paths to knowledge, which in turn stimulated membership in Masonic and other quasi-magical orders. European elites may have been hypocritical, but I don't think most of them could have endured the cognitive dissonance that would have resulted from burning witches by day and performing the Sacred Rite of the 33rd Order of Illuminated Mystery by night.

[Jonathan]

It was a really well done book about the period. If you are into the reasons and history of the Witch Trials then this is the book for you.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for a college class and really enjoyed it. I thought the author presented the material in such a way that the reader didn't need any previous knowledge of witchcraft or the witch trials. I felt this book was written in an approachable style that kept me interested the entire way through. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about the European witch hunts.

[Josephine · Rating 4 out of 5]

really like it. I wish it would have flowed better. Even for research, it's a little rough.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, a word of warning. This book is bright yellow with its title in large print black letters on the cover. True story: I got a lot of very strange looks from passers-by when reading it in a coffee house. It took me a few minutes to figure out what all the sidelong glances were for from the other patrons. One gal actually bumped into a table she was staring at me so hard, spilling her over-priced java. So, if you read in public and don't want people to think you're doing research for your Saturday night Satanic bacchanal, make sure you keep the cover out of sight.... Apparently, we're not nearly as far away from the fear of the witch trials as I had thought. "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to drink cappuccino!"

This is a good, solid overview of the witch hunts from an historiographical perspective. The language and methods might be a bit unapproachable for someone looking for a general introduction to the topic, and it might be a little light for someone looking for a detailed overview of the phenomenon as it transferred into North America from Europe. However, if you're looking for something in the middle, Goldilocks, then this might be the thing for you. Klaits does a good job describing the socioeconomics of the witch hunts, their role in the social hierarchy and the general cultural significance of both the concept of witchcraft and the ideas that surround their execution.

In his introduction, Klaits notes that the book is an "extended essay" on that topic. As such, it is a "light" read about a rather heavy topic. If one is looking for something to bridge between "soft history" (that is, a more casual, dramatic presentation of events) and a more in-depth then one really needs to see Salem in the context of the Western European witch trials, and that requires a more extensive context than Klaits addresses, but overall I would recommend this one to someone interested in understanding a bit more about the "hard history" of the phenomenon.

[She Reads What? · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my textbooks for Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe. Very interesting, looks at all the contributing factors for a particularly terrifying time in history. Society could learn alot of lessons by taking a closer look at this phenomenon...Klaits tied in the influences of the arts well also, as opposed to only looking at the more "offical" causes, i.e. religion, social conflict, politcal powers...very interesting for a required text!

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating, well-researched history undermined by unquestioned assumptions.