From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Discoverie of Witchcraft
Title page of the 1651 edition
|
Author
| Reginald Scot
|
---|
Country
| England
|
---|
Language
| English
|
---|
Genre
| Expose
|
---|
Publication date
| 1584
|
---|
Media type
| Print
|
---|
The Discoverie of Witchcraft
(1584) is a book by
Reginald Scot
. It treats
witchcraft
with
skepticism
. Scot's purpose in writing the book was to prevent the
persecution
of the poor, the aged, and the simple for
witchcraft
. Scot blames the
Roman Catholic
church for keeping alive the belief in
witches
.
[1]
Shakespeare found a description of Puck in the book while he was writing
A Midsummer Night's Dream
.
[2]
The book created much
controversy
. King
James I of England
believed in witches. He ordered all copies of the book to be burnt.
[3]