Content area
Full Text
Gary K. Waite, Eradicating the Devil 's Minions: Anabaptists and Witches in Reformation Europe. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007. Pp. 319. $65.00.
It is widely accepted that the concept of the satanic witch, which included devil worship, blasphemy, and deviant behavior, emerged from late-medieval preoccupations with heresy. In Eradicating the Devil's Minions, Gary Waite uses this premise as a starting point for looking at the social dynamics of the Reformation. He argues that the suppression of Anabaptists as heretics, and the propaganda directed against them, contributed to the intensification of witchcraft fears in central Europe in the last half of the sixteenth century. Reformation propaganda was notoriously virulent and Anabaptists were at the receiving end of the worst of it. By examining the writings of all groups involved-Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, and Anabaptists-Waite demonstrates that the language used to characterize Anabaptists as satanic helped to convince local communities that satanic witches were also real.
Waite identifies a number of intriguing parallels in the accusations leveled against both groups. The focus of Anabaptist persecution was, of course, me issue of infant baptism, a ritual which held apotropaic properties in this era. By refusing to baptize their babies and thereby save mem from harmful influences, Anabaptists were suspected of being...