Reginald Scot

The Discovery of Witchcraft

Reginald Scot

The Discovery of Witchcraft is an exposé of the early modern witchcraft. Originally published in 1584, the book was written against the belief in witches, to show that witchcraft did not exist. Part of its content exposed how feats of magic were done, and the book is often deemed the first textbook on conjuring. Moreover, the book contains a small section which describes how the charlatans were able to fool the public and why the prosecutions of the accused were unwarranted for and un-Christian. The author also provocatively held the Roman church responsible to the prosecutions. The book became highly popular as an exhaustive encyclopaedia of contemporary beliefs about witchcraft, spirits, alchemy, magic, and legerdemain. William Shakespeare also drew from his study of Scot's book hints for his picture of the witches in Macbeth, and Thomas Middleton in his play of The Witch likewise was indebted to this source.

The Discoverie of Witchcraft

Reginald Scot

"The Discoverie of Witchcraft" by Reginald Scot. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.