Edward Poeton: The Winnowing of White Witchcraft

Edward Poeton’s The Winnowing of White Witchcraft was written in the 1630s and has never been printed. Poeton, a physician, was one of few non-clergymen to write about magic during the early modern period, and the treatise offers new insights into the problem of popular errors concerning the nature of witchcraft. As well as advancing a number of standard and not-so-standard arguments for the sinfulness of white witches, the treatise offers fascinating insight into Poeton’s practice as a physician and his own youthful dalliance with magic. It is thus a significant new source in the history of early modern medicine and witchcraft belief. This edition includes an introduction and explanatory notes.

Edited with an introduction and notes by Simon F. Davies