Eradicating the Devil's Minions

Up to now there has been very little integration of research into the realm of magical beliefs with that of Anabaptism, in large measure because the Anabaptists themselves had come to reject much of the preternatural or "superstitious" beliefs of their contemporaries. Yet this does not mean that their persecutors had done the same, nor that the Anabaptists themselves were completely successful in this endeavour. We must therefore do justice to the magical and demonic beliefs that provided at least part of the explanation for the often irrational viciousness of the heresy persecutions. Comparing the sixteenth-century persecution of real religious dissidents with that of the largely fictitious sect of devil-worshipping, magic-performing witches, this book focuses on how the educated leadership portrayed Anabaptists and how these beliefs intersected with older notion about magic and witchcraft. Book jacket.