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Henningsen, Gustav.
The Witches' Advocate;
Publisher: University of Nevada Press, Reno;
Date of Publication: 1980
Stock Code: 14310
First edition. Octavo, pp., 607. Monochrome illustrations within text with decorative drop capitals. Grey cloth covers with gilt titles to spine and gilt motif to upper board. In an illustrated unclipped dust-jacket. A slightly dusty top edge. The dust-jacket is toned, particularly to the spine with shelf wear to the edges. It is generally agreed that the thousands of women and men persecuted and burned at the stake as witches were innocent victims of a terrible miscarriage of justice, based on collective delusions, corrupt judicial systems and distorted ideologies. There was however something particularly egregious about the Basque witch trials, now considered an especially sophisticated and cruel social experiment. While the French authorities regarded the entire Basque population to be a sect of witches, burning many obviously innocent people to their deaths, Alonso de Salazar, a junior Spanish official undertook a systematic, rational and empirical investigation, concluding that witches did not exist. Unfortunately it was not published, with the Spanish Inquisition suppressing the report for over 300 years. Their one concession was to stop burning people alive as a form of execution. This book reveals Salazar as a great humanist who deserves to be rescued from obscurity. £80.00