ABSTRACT
During the first half of the fifteenth century, the development of the concept of the witches' sabbat helped spread belief in the reality of a demonic conspiracy. Witches constituted a form of anti-Church frequently called a sabbat or synagogue, reflecting strong anti-Jewish sentiments in the late Middle Ages with the aim of blaspheming and abusing the Church's sacraments. Several accounts, with richly detailed sabbat descriptions, were written as early as the 1430s, starting in the Western Alps before spreading into France and Italy. Although clearly far removed from the sabbat concept as it emerged in the fifteenth century, the canon nevertheless served as a pretext for debating the vast issues surrounding demonic witchcraft. Jacquier was the most radical of all fifteenth-century demonologists in his insistence on diabolical realism, the physical reality of interactions between humans and demons. Their apostasy and the idolatrous rituals they conducted at the sabbat made witches the 'worst' of heretics.
