Born: 1663 Boston, Massachusetts

Died: 1728 Boston, Massachusetts

Clergyman, scientist, and writer

Puritan minister Cotton Mather was instrumental in escalating the witch-hunts in New England during the late 1600s. Along with his father, Increase Mather (1639–1723; see primary source entry), who was also a prominent minister, he published works providing evidence that witchcraft was being practiced in Massachusetts communities. In 1693, after the start of the Salem trials, Cotton Mather wrote The Wonders of the Invisible World, in which he claimed that the devil was testing Puritans by bringing witches into their midst (see The Wonders of the Invisible World in the Primary Sources section). He advocated (supported) waging a holy war against the forces of evil by tracking down and eliminating witches. Yet Mather's involvement in the trials continues to intrigue modern historians: although he was one of the great colonial American theologians (reliogious scholar) and readily accepted such...