Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index

Francis Hutchinson

Francis Hutchinson (1660-1739) was an English parson. He studied several cases of witchcraft and witch trials, criticising some procedures.

He opposed the idea that children and young teenagers acted as accusers in cases of bewitching after having reached the conclusion that they feigned demon possession and several innocents had died for that reason, and wrote a book that ended the persecution of witches in England.

Hutchinson was later named bishop in Scotland and continued writing on the subject, and criticised severely the works of Jean Bodin, whom he considered a very foolish man.