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- Title
King James I and the Burning of Reginald Scot's The Discoverie of Witchcraft: The Invention of a Tradition.
- Authors
Almond, Philip C.
- Abstract
The article focuses on the tradition of burning all the copies of Reginald Scot's "The Discoverie of Witchcraft," first published in 1584 on the order of King James I of England on his accession to the English throne in 1603. It explores the intellectual history of the invention of a tradition. King James singled out the author and German physician Johann Weyer as two of the chief instigators of scepticism about witchcraft. The tradition of burning Scot's book cannot be traced beyond Brinsley Nicholson's edition of the "Discoverie" in 1866.
- Subjects
SCOT, Reginald; DISCOVERIE of Witchcraft, The (Book); JAMES I, King of England, 1566-1625; WEYER, Johann, 1515-1588; SKEPTICISM; WITCHCRAFT
- Publication
Notes & Queries, 2009, Vol 56, Issue 2, p209
- ISSN
0029-3970
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/notesj/gjp002