Open AccessReginald Scot and King James I: The Influence of Skepticism
Author(s) -
Kimberly Marie-Anne Bercovice
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
mount royal undergraduate humanities review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2562-4733
DOI - 10.29173/mruhr212
Subject(s) - skepticism , hoax , witch , deed , history , classics , art , philosophy , theology , law , political science , medicine , ecology , alternative medicine , pathology , biology
The witch trials were less robust in England than in contiental Europe and the efforts of England's first skeptic, Reginal Scot, may have contributed to the outcome. Scot's efforts to debunk witchraft in his book The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), were done so in a logical, methodical and theological manner. King James VI of Scotland felt the need call out the doubters of witchcraft, and named Scot specifially, in his own work Daemonologie (1597) and upon becoming King James I of England, he banned Scot's book. It is apparent, however, through the King's changing attitudes and eventual desire to reveal the hoaxes for what they were it becomes evident that the information Scot sought to reveal did in deed have an impact on the King.