4.

James VI and I and Witchcraft

CHRISTINA LARNER

I N primitive societies two types of witchcraft are identified: white

witchcraft or the craft of healing, and black witchcraft or maleficium.
The distinction was known to Roman law, and dominated all dealings
with witchcraft accusations in Europe until the late fifteenth century.
It is also common ground in most studies of contemporary primitive
societies. Historians of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries however
have to add a third witchcraft which existed only from the fifteenth to
the early eighteenth century and which has no contemporary equiva-
lent. It differed from the simple concepts of black and white wItchcraft
in its origins. Far from being an experience of village life, it was evolved
by churchmen and lawyers from Christian theology, canon law and cer-
tain philosophical ideas. It differed also in content. Christian witch
theorists gave a central position to the idea of the demonic pact. The
witch became a witch by virtue of a personal arrangement with the devil
who appeared to his potential recruit in some physical form. At this
meeting, in return for renunciation of baptism, services on earth and the
soul of the witch at death, the devil promised material advantages and
magical powers. In addition an integral part of the Christian witch
theory was that the witch did not operate alone. Witchcraft involved
midnight meetings to worship the devil, to receive his orders and to have
sexual intercourse with him or his subordinate spirits.
The development of this theory in Europe, and its application in
witchcraft trials, had a drastic effect on the rate of prosecutions. The
change from the isolated local harrying of individuals to a widespread
crusade against witchcraft, to a recognisable mania and persecution,
began fairly abruptly in northern Italy and southern Germany in the
late fifteenth century, and spread widely through the Continent during
the following century. There are three main reasons why the introduc-
tion of the Christian witch theory had such a catastrophic effect. The
first is that it was developed by the ruling classes. If we except the
traditional vulnerability of rulers to soothsayers and astrologers, there
had previously been a fairly sharp contrast between village credulity
For Notes to Chapter 4, see pages 232-3; for Bibliography, see pages 219-20.

A. G. R Smith (ed.), The Reign of James VI and I

© Alan G. R. Smith, Jennifer M. Brown, Gordon Donaldson, S. G. E. Lythe,
Christina Larner, John Bossy, Brian Dietz, Louis B. Wright, Menna
Prestwich, W. J. Jones, G. C. F. Forster 1973
 JAMES VI AND I AND WITCHCRAFT 75
and intellectual scepticism. Now the power of the local witch was heav-
ily reinforced by the conviction of the authorities that her power was real
and to be feared. At the same time the capacity to punish her was inten-
sified by the codification of laws against witchcraft, both in canon law
and later in the statute law of Protestant countries. The other reasons
are connected with the theory itself. The logical conclusion of the idea
of the demonic pact was the abolition of the traditional distinction
between black and white magic. The power of the witch sprang from the
demonic pact and was therefore evil, whether it was used for healing or
harming. This meant that the village healer was as likely to be prose-
cuted as the local scold. Above all the idea that witchcraft was organised
and that witches worked in groups, was responsible for the way in which
witch prosecutions, once initiated, spread rapidly. An accused witch
would be invited under torture to name colleagues, and would do so.
Figures for executions for witchcraft in Europe in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries are not very precise, but estimates are always in
thousands.
The mania reached different places at different times. An important
factor appears to have been geographical proximity to the area in
which it originated. The most severe persecution was in Germany and
France. Scotland, Ireland, Scandinavia and America, acquired the per-
secution late; Spain, apart from the Basque country, and southern Italy
avoided it almost altogether. England was a special case. Witchcraft
entered statute law in 1542 and witches were prosecuted in large num-
bers, but, by virtue of a different legal system, without the full logic and
relentlessness of continental law. English witches were rarely tortured;
English lawyers maintained throughout the distinction between black
and white magic in the severity of the punishments they meted out, and
the demonic pact was scarcely heard of.
Scotland, although it might well like England have remained a special
case, did receive the full continental demonology and become a persecu-
ting state, but not until the winter of 1590-91 by which time the theory
had already been current and the persecution endemic in parts of
Europe for over a century. The two reigns of James VI and I in Scot-
land and England, so far as witchcraft is concerned, cover three phases.
The first is the period of his minority and early manhood in Scotland.
During this period witchcraft was a criminal offence, but it was not pur-
sued with much ferocity or with any reference to the demonic pact. The
second was the last thirteen years of his resident reign in Scotland dur-
ing which continental demonology was applied in Scotland and witches