[2] L'incrédulité sçavante et la crédulité ignorante: au sujet des au sujet des magiciens et des sorciers (1671) was a reply to Gabriel Naudé's Apologie pour tous les grands personnages, qui ont été faussement soupçonnés de magie.
[6] Chevanes quotes De civitate Dei book 15 on demonology.
[7] It was addressed to the Parlement of Dijon, and was written largely from a legalistic point of view, though with lengthy digressions, for example on astrology.
Lynn Thorndike suggests that its title may derive from the English anti-sceptical work On Credulity and Incredulity in Things natural, civil and divine (1668) by Méric Casaubon[8] The appearance of this work has been noted as a milestone for the French judicial attitude;[9] it asserted that there were witches, but few of them.
[10] The work also moves to a general conclusion on the occult, namely that while it should be avoided for reasons already given by the Church Fathers, its practitioners should not be executed.