Eradicating the Devil's Minions: Anabaptists and Witches in Reformation Europe, 1535-1600

by Gary K. Waite

As a religious sect, the Anabaptists were seen to practice unusual rituals and follow an eccentric set of beliefs. One story, for instance, purports that an Anabaptist prophet, claiming to have visited heaven, persuaded his followers to run naked through the streets of Amsterdam. Eradicating the Devil's Minions investigates these beliefs in the context of Reformation Europe, a time in which persecution, religious intolerance, and witch-hunting were rampant. Focusing primarily on the Habsburg-controlled regions of Europe, Gary K. Waite argues that the persecution of Anabaptists did not go hand in hand with the outbreak of witch-hunts in the mid-sixteenth century. Rather, distrust of Anabaptists predated the first major witch panic of 1562-3, and Waite suggests that the virulent propaganda against Anabaptist heretics helped convince governments of the existence of a diabolical threat. Although Anabaptists rejected religious magic, they were consistently demonized by Catholic and Lutheran polemicists. Eradicating the Devil's Minions is an investigation into the roots of religious intolerance in Reformation Europe, and a unique examination of mass hysteria and social extremism.

Genres: History

384 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2007

Reviews

[Flynn Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tightly-argued comparative synthesis that positions the persecutions of Anabaptists in sixteenth-century Europe in tight relation to the rise of the widespread witch-hunts.

[Logan Streondj · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book shedding light on the fact that the whole mythology of witches arose from the Catholic Church attempting to suppress Waldensian and Anabaptist saints who demonstrated miraculous powers due to their Jesus discipleship. The magistrates would then burn them at the stake for the same reasons as Catholics would be heralded as saints. When they would run out of Anabaptists, they often turned to torturing women who had a spine, and getting them to say silly things they didn't even believe just to put an end to the torture.

So really the Catholic and at times Protestant people persecuting Anabptists and Witches were persecuting the legitimate desciples of Christ.