Witches: A King's Obsession with Steven Veerapen

Steven Veerapen is the author of The Wisest Fool: The Lavish Life of James VI and I, described by Philippa Gregory as "a real page-turner for lovers of history."

He joins us for his new book Witches: A King's Obsession, tracing witches, witchcraft, and witch-hunters from the explosion of mass-trials under King James VI and I in the late sixteenth century to the death of the witch-hunting phenomenon in the early eighteenth century.

Based on documents and the latest historical research, he explores what motivated widespread belief in demonic witchcraft throughout Britain as well as in continental Europe, what caused mass panics about alleged witches, and what led, ultimately, to the relegation of the witch - and the witch-hunter - to the realm of fantasy and the fringes of society.

Witches - whether broomstick-riding spell-casters or Wiccan earth-worshippers - have been culturally relevant for centuries. For centuries, too, belief in the potency of witchcraft has been debated, accused witches have been hunted and punished, and film and TV productions have brought the witch and the witch-hunter to big and small screens.

But where did our perception of witches - good and bad - come from? What motivated wide-scale panics about witchcraft during certain periods? How were alleged witches identified, accused, and variously tortured and punished?