[3] Johann Georg Gödelmann (1591) objected to legal abuses and improper methods of trial,[4][5] while Friedrich Spee (1631) argued that there was no empirical evidence for allegations of witchcraft, even self-confessed.
[10] Anton Praetorius (1598) and Johann Matthäus Meyfart (1635) objected to the witch hunts on the basis of the cruelty with which they were carried out.
[15] Ulrich Müller, writing as "Molitoris" (1489), believed in witchcraft but opposed common beliefs on the subject on the basis of the theological arguments of the Canon Episcopi.
[17] Reginald Scot (1584) put forward similar arguments and cited John Calvin numerous times.
[20] Skeptical protests took a number of forms; scientific, medical, or attribution of alleged sorcery to fraud.
The physician Symphorien Champier (c.1500) believed that many reports of alleged witchcraft could be explained by means of medical conditions.
[24] Physician Johannes Weyer (1563) argued that women accused of being witches were suffering from an imbalance of the humors, resulting from the devil's interference, and viewed their beliefs as imaginary.