Expelling demons and the Reformation. Echoes of the Darrell-Harsnett debate in English witchcraft treatises (c.1580-1630)

Abstract

This article studies the features and repercussions of the debate about demonic possession in England leaded by Puritan exorcist John Darrell and conservative clergyman Samuel Harsnett between the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century. The aim of the research is to demonstrate that the authors of witchcraft treatises published during the period vindicated Darrell´s dispossessions while at the same time attacked other aspects of the religious statu quo defended by the Church of England.