In Europe's Inner Demons, Norman Cohn described the medieval witch craze as a 'supreme example of a massive killing of innocent people by a bureaucracy acting in accordance with beliefs which, unknown or rejected in earlier centuries, had come to be taken for granted, as self-evident truths'. Of course popular beliefs had to fall into line with the bureaucracy's position, and Cohn provides plenty of examples to show that they did: rural and small-town societies were rich in resentments, ancestral curses and fears of the unknown. But the dreadful machinery of retribution proceeded essentially from on high. 'The power of the human imagination to build up a stereotype' was exploited and channelled by 'the authorities, notably the magistrates'. Doubt and scepticism were dispelled, until everyone felt the presence of the devil on the doorstep each day, just waiting his chance.

LRB 23 October 2008 | PDF Download