- Title Pages
- Abbreviations
- 22 From Baptism to the Requiescat in Pace
- 23 Liturgical Worship
- 24 Sermons
- 25 The Curé's Prône and Parish Missions
- 26 Religious Practice
- 27 On the Margins of Official Religion
- 28 Confraternities
- 29 Popular Religion and Clerical Reformers
- 30 The Dark Side of the Supernatural
- 31 The Confessional
- 32 Commercial Loans and Lotteries
- 33 Sexual Passion
- 34 The Theatre
- 35 The Jansenist Quarrel
- 36 Unigenitus
- 37 The Appeal to a General Council
- 38 From the Regent to Fleury
- 39 The Changing Face of Jansenism
- 40 Fleury's Repression and the Interventions of the Parlement
- 41 The Mid‐Century Crisis
- 42 The Jesuits of France
- 43 The Fall of the Jesuits
- 44 The Huguenots: The Great Persecution
- 45 Cruelty and Compromise, 1700–1774
- 46 Lutherans and Jews: Routine Intolerance
- 47 Towards a Grudging Toleration, 1774–1789
- 48 The Twilight of Jansenism
- 49 The Political Role of the Bishops
- 50 The Revolt of the Curés
- General Index
The Dark Side of the Supernatural
The Dark Side of the Supernatural
- Chapter:
- (p.221) 30 The Dark Side of the Supernatural
- Source:
- Church and Society in Eighteenth-Century France Volume 2: The Religion of the People and the Politics of Religion
- Author(s):
John McManners
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
After the ‘crisis of Satanism’ in seventeenth‐century France, eighteenth‐century churchmen, without denying the reality of witchcraft and demonic possession, took a sceptical attitude towards the existence of a ‘witch cult’ and the fears that had led to the witch craze. Despite the elaborate theories of a minority of die‐hard believers in organized Satanism, the bishops followed a policy of ‘quiet containment’, treating each case on its merits. The use of spells to gain material rewards, for example, in treasure hunting, persisted, especially but not exclusively, in the rural areas, but when such cases came before the courts, the secular judges were more severe than their ecclesiastical counterparts.
Keywords: church courts, demonic possession, Enlightenment, Satanism, superstition, witchcraft
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- Title Pages
- Abbreviations
- 22 From Baptism to the Requiescat in Pace
- 23 Liturgical Worship
- 24 Sermons
- 25 The Curé's Prône and Parish Missions
- 26 Religious Practice
- 27 On the Margins of Official Religion
- 28 Confraternities
- 29 Popular Religion and Clerical Reformers
- 30 The Dark Side of the Supernatural
- 31 The Confessional
- 32 Commercial Loans and Lotteries
- 33 Sexual Passion
- 34 The Theatre
- 35 The Jansenist Quarrel
- 36 Unigenitus
- 37 The Appeal to a General Council
- 38 From the Regent to Fleury
- 39 The Changing Face of Jansenism
- 40 Fleury's Repression and the Interventions of the Parlement
- 41 The Mid‐Century Crisis
- 42 The Jesuits of France
- 43 The Fall of the Jesuits
- 44 The Huguenots: The Great Persecution
- 45 Cruelty and Compromise, 1700–1774
- 46 Lutherans and Jews: Routine Intolerance
- 47 Towards a Grudging Toleration, 1774–1789
- 48 The Twilight of Jansenism
- 49 The Political Role of the Bishops
- 50 The Revolt of the Curés
- General Index
