Witchcraft and Whigs

The first detailed account of the life and work of Bishop Francis Hutchinson (1660-1739), author of one of the most important witchcraft texts of the early modern period, An historical essay concerning witchcraft (1718). This work has captivated readers for centuries and still a vital source for those investigating witchcraft trials of the period -- .

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This ground-breaking biography of Bishop Francis Hutchinson (1669–1739) provides a detailed and rare portrait of an early eighteenth century Irish bishop and witchcraft theorist. Drawing upon a wealth of printed primary source material, the book aims to increase our understanding of the eighteenth-century established clergy, both in England and Ireland. It illustrates how one of the main sceptical texts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Historical essay concerning witchcraft (1718), was constructed and how it fitted into the wider intellectual and literary context of the time, examining Hutchinson’s views on contemporary debates concerning modern prophecy and miracles, demonic and Satanic intervention, the nature of Angels and hell, and astrology.

This book will be of particular interest to academics and students of history of witchcraft, and the religious, political and social history of Britain and Ireland in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. -- .