8. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
In the 1500s, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa was a scholar who devoted his life to writing about the occult. In his books, he mentioned the devil a lot, and breaks down exactly how witches perform magic spells. You may be wondering how, exactly, Agrippa got all of his information.
He claimed that when he was a young man, he gave in to the temptations of the devil, and learned how to perform magic by following around groups of witches. He apparently found Jesus, and managed to save his own soul. He wrote his books in order to teach others who to keep the Devil at bay. During his lifetime, he published 8 huge books about the occult.
Even though he was so public about being friends with the Devil, he was never killed for witchcraft. Perhaps he was seen as publishing such valuable information on how to battle the Devil, they just wanted to keep him alive to learn more. While it would seem that he would have been promoting witch hunts in the Church, he actually pushed for people to be more sympathetic and understanding. He wanted to try to help save them from the devil’s grasp and have God save them through prayer, rather than burning them at the stake.