浅析近代早期英国中央政府与巫术诉讼的关系

On the Relationship between Central Government and Witchcraft Prosecution in Early Modern England

大规模的巫术诉讼是近代早期欧洲史上最荒诞的一页。有学者认为,巫术诉讼的泛滥与近代主权国家的兴起及有意推动密切相关。但就笔者考察的英国来看,情况并非如此。当时的英国中央政府并没有刻意推动或造成巫术诉讼的泛滥,它更多是从社会秩序考虑出发,力图将巫术纳入国家的管理和控制之中,这在一定程度上反而阻止了巫术诉讼的无限扩大。

Witchcraft prosecution on a large scale was a prominent and ridiculous historical phenomenon in early modern Europe. Some historians hold that there is a close relationship between the craze for witchcraft prosecution and the rise of the modern sovereign state.However, according to the facts of England that the author has explored, it is not necessarily the truth. In fact, the central government of England did not intend to stimulate or provoke the craze for witchcraft prosecution,but rather,to a large extent, supervised and controlled witchcraft in consideration of social order.This on the contrary prevented unlimited expansion of witchcraft prosecution to some extent.