Archival analysis reveals intense witchcraft prosecutions and executions in Reformation Geneva, challenging historical claims of early Protestant legal leniency.
Key Points
To re-evaluate the historical extent and severity of witchcraft prosecution in Reformation Geneva between 1560 and 1571.
Archival analysis of hundreds of previously overlooked Genevan witchcraft trial records spanning 1560 to 1571.
Historical examination of religious orthodoxy, moral policing, and civic anti-sin campaigns initiated after 1555.
Documented the execution of over 100 individuals burned at the stake for witchcraft in Geneva during the height of the Reformation.
Identified an acute institutional panic in 1571 regarding suspected witches' sabbats conducted in major city squares.
Established that demonic witchcraft persecution was deeply tied to mainstream civic and religious policing rather than lenient jurisprudence.