Document Detail


Thinking with Montaigne: evidence, scepticism and meaning in early modern demonology.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  22213884     Owner:  HMD     Status:  In-Process    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
In 1612 the Bordeaux witchcraft inquisitor Pierre de Lancre (1556–1631), himself linked by marriage to Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592), revealed that the essayist and sceptic was related on his mother’s side to a leading authority on magic and superstition, the Flemish-Spanish Jesuit Martin Delrio (1551–1608). De Lancre confounded historians' expectations by using the revelation to defend Montaigne against his cousin's criticism. This article re-evaluates the relationships of De Lancre, Delrio and Montaigne in the light of recent scholarship, which casts demonology as a form of "resistance to scepticism" that conceals deep anxiety about the existence of the supernatural. It explores De Lancre’s and Delrio’s very different attitudes towards Montaigne and towards evidence and scepticism. This, in turn, reveals the different underlying preoccupations of their witchcraft treatises. It hence argues that no monocausal explanation linking scepticism to witchcraft belief is plausible.
Authors:
Jan Machielsen
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  French history     Volume:  25     ISSN:  0269-1191     ISO Abbreviation:  Fr Hist     Publication Date:  2011  
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2011-11-29     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  101518525     Medline TA:  Fr Hist     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  427-52     Citation Subset:  Q    
Affiliation:
Balliol College, Oxford, UK.
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