Podcast Episode Summary
Podcast: New Books Network
Episode: Steven Veerapen, "Witches: A King's Obsession" (Birlin, 2025)
Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher
Guest: Dr. Steven Veerapen
Release Date: September 3, 2025
Episode Overview
This episode dives deep into Dr. Steven Veerapen’s new book, "Witches: A King's Obsession", which explores the entwined histories of witchcraft, religion, and monarchy in early modern Scotland and England. Focusing particularly on King James VI & I and his infamous obsession with witchcraft, the discussion unpicks the personal, political, and cultural forces driving witch hunts and their legacies in Britain. Veerapen offers a nuanced perspective on how witchcraft became a political tool and how the phenomenon developed—and eventually unraveled—under James's reign.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Background: Why Write This Book? (02:41–03:47)
- Veerapen was inspired while writing a biography of King James ("The Wisest Fool") to take a deeper dive into James’s fascination with witchcraft—an area much larger and more complex than a biography's scope allowed.
"There are a lot of rabbit holes that you don't really have the opportunity to dive down... witchcraft and witches in the occult was really one of them." — Steven Veerapen (02:58)
2. Medieval & Early Modern Witchcraft: Religious Contexts (03:47–07:41)
- Contrary to common belief, large-scale witch hunts were not a medieval Catholic pursuit. The 15th-century Catholic Church was, in fact, criticized for not being tough enough on witches—a charge leveled later by Protestant reformers.
- The drive for clear doctrinal stances pushed both Catholic and Protestant authorities to articulate their positions on witchcraft in the 16th century.
"One of the big criticisms against the Catholic Church, believe it or not, was that they hadn't been tough enough on witches." — Steven Veerapen (04:17)
3. Protestant Scotland and Witchcraft (05:30–07:41)
- In both Scotland and England, witchcraft became a legalized crime in the 1560s. Yet, it initially resulted in scattered, not systematic, prosecution.
- Reformist pressure in Protestant areas made witch-hunting an opportunity to define new religious and national identities.
"It was a big opportunity for Protestant denominations to establish an identity. We need a position on witches. We need to stake out what the official position is." — Steven Veerapen (06:40)
4. The Elizabethan Approach (07:41–09:12)
- Witchcraft in England under Elizabeth I was prosecuted mainly when linked to murder ("murderous witchcraft"), but did not spark national panics.
- It lay alongside other crimes, sensational but not exceptional in judicial terms.
5. The Birth of James’s Obsession (09:37–11:25)
- James's witchcraft obsession can be traced to his marriage to Anna of Denmark and the subsequent North Sea storms that delayed her voyage—widely attributed to witches.
- The North Berwick trials (1590–91) in Scotland followed, igniting James’s personal involvement and serving his political image as God’s champion.
"He saw this opportunity really to present himself as God's hero, God's champion and Satan's enemy. And that became part of his identity..." — Steven Veerapen (12:10)
6. Demonology and Public Intellectualism (11:25–13:25)
- James wrote and published "Demonology," a treatise that became influential in shaping both policy and popular culture.
"The guy never had an unexpressed thought... when the king is sharing his opinions, people take them seriously." — Steven Veerapen (11:46)
- The book combined true crime, horror, and the occult—genres that retain popular interest today.
7. Popular and Political Resonance (13:25–15:19)
- Witch-hunting became a unifying endeavor for otherwise conflicting powers (Kirk, King, Catholics, Protestants) due to its capacity to frame a common enemy.
- The mass witch panics were exceptions, not the rule, and always required leadership or sustained political will to escalate.
"No one wanted to look soft on witches. They were the common enemy. So the Kirk and the King could absolutely unite in leading a charge against them." — Steven Veerapen (16:43)
8. Explaining Witch Panics and Their Decline (17:56–20:23)
- Most accusations did not snowball; mass panics were rare, triggered by concerted leadership rather than inevitability.
- After James left for England (1603), witchhunts in Scotland diminished, as no one else took up national leadership of prosecutions.
"He did it twice, two distinct times. Other times he had other things going on. He was busy with other things." — Steven Veerapen (18:39)
9. James as King of England: An Anti-Climax (20:23–24:56)
- James did not replicate witch panics in England; he viewed it as "the promised land" and considered it less vulnerable to Satanic machinations.
- His political agenda as King of England emphasized unity and peace among Protestant sects and with Catholics—pursuits undermined by witch-hunting.
"He did not think that England had a witch problem or a Satan problem... He was quite happy with the English Church." — Steven Veerapen (21:22)
- James referred officials to his own book, "Demonology," but did not push new panics.
10. After James: Legacies and Popularity (25:13–28:48)
- The English witch-hunt panics most remembered (e.g. those led by Matthew Hopkins) occurred after James’s death but were influenced by his writings.
"He had educated Scotland and the people of Scotland into thinking they had a witch problem." — Steven Veerapen (26:40)
- Scotland experienced national witch panics much later than other European regions, even into the 1690s.
- The “legal machinery” James implemented—centralizing prosecutions—enabled mass panics, and the cultural climate fostered generational fear.
11. How Did the Witch Panics End? (28:48–33:22)
- The decline was triggered by changing legal standards: once courts started doubting confessions, peer accusations, bodily marks, and swimming tests, the judicial foundation of witch-hunting collapsed.
- With the law revised, witchcraft accusations became illegal, but belief did not disappear overnight. Vigilante “justice” sometimes filled the gap.
"One day it was illegal to be a witch and practice witchcraft. The next day it was illegal to even claim that witchcraft existed and was a real phenomenon." — Steven Veerapen (32:36)
12. Key Takeaways: Not 'Backward Thinking'—But a Cautionary Tale (33:32–36:19)
- Veerapen cautions against viewing James and his peers as merely misguided villains, noting that within their context, they saw themselves as heroes purging societal evils.
- History, he emphasizes, is not a straight line of progress—sometimes, "progressive" thinking leads down dark alleys.
"To people like King James, hunting witches was progressive. They were getting rid of what they thought was a problem." — Steven Veerapen (36:04)
13. Next Project Teaser (36:19–37:55)
- Veerapen’s next scholarly focus is Henry VIII—not just as King of England but as a figure in British (including Scottish, Welsh, Irish) context.
Memorable Quotes & Key Timestamps
-
On the myth of medieval witch-hunting:
"People have a perception that [witch hunting] was a medieval pursuit… it wasn't." — Steven Veerapen (04:19) -
On the Kirk and King as 'unhappy bedfellows':
"On this subject, they could absolutely unite and make kind of unhappy bedfellows... because witches were the common enemy." — Steven Veerapen (16:03) -
On James's personality:
"The guy never had an unexpressed thought. Everything that went on, he had an opinion on it and he wanted everyone to know his opinion." — Steven Veerapen (11:46) -
On historical progress:
"History is not just a straight line of things getting better. There are a lot of blind alleys and it goes off in horrible directions and wrong directions and things." — Steven Veerapen (36:15) -
On legal change and the end of witch-hunting:
"One day it was illegal to be a witch and practice witchcraft. The next day it was illegal to even claim that witchcraft existed and was a real phenomenon." — Steven Veerapen (32:36)
Episode Structure & Timestamps
- 01:36–03:47 — Introductions & impetus for the book
- 03:47–07:41 — Medieval, Reformation and Counter-Reformation context
- 07:41–09:12 — Elizabethan legal context
- 09:37–11:25 — The genesis of James’s obsession & North Berwick trials
- 11:25–13:25 — James’s "Demonology" and self-presentation
- 13:25–17:18 — Political utility of witch-hunting; unity against a common enemy
- 17:56–20:23 — The structure of panics and what caused/dampened them
- 20:23–24:56 — James as King of England; Witch-hunting subsides
- 25:13–28:48 — Post-James witch panics and legacy in courts and culture
- 28:48–33:22 — How the panic ended: the law’s transformation
- 33:32–36:19 — Reflections on historical understanding, mindset and progress
- 36:19–37:55 — Veerapen’s next project: Henry VIII in British context
Final Thoughts
"Witches: A King's Obsession" challenges simplistic narratives about early modern witch-hunting, showing it as a product of its cultural and political moment—one shaped profoundly by the personality and ambitions of King James. Veerapen’s scholarship urges us to see both the banality and the horror of the period, and reminds us that “progress” is always a matter of perspective.