Diabolical men: reintegrating male witches into English witchcraft

Abstract

ABSTRACT In recent years male witches have come to the forefront of historical scholarship, with many historians attempting to explain why some men were accused of witchcraft. This article argues that by focusing on two under-examined factors – representations in popular pamphlets, and the role of the Devil in English witchcraft – we can reincorporate male witches into a broader paradigm of English witchcraft as a diabolical crime. This article argues that the behaviour of both male and female witches was portrayed remarkably similarly in print and that, rather than being defined by their gender, witches of either sex were increasingly described in popular discourse as those men and women who had entered into a pact with the Devil. In doing so, this article re-incorporates male witches into a larger framework of English witchcraft belief and stresses the importance of the demonic to our understanding of English witchcraft.