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.
This Francis Hutchinson must be distinguished from the Francis Hutchinson who was connected with John Nelson Darby, Edward Cronin, and John Bellett in the movement of the late 1820s later known as "Plymouth Brethren".