The decline of witchcraft prosecutions in early modern Britain is here examined through the theoretical lens of religious decentralisation as a necessary third pillar’ of Elias’s state formation process. Through analysis of trial pamphlets from the final phase of prosecutions (late seventeenth-early eighteenth centuries), this chapter argues that religious decentralisation, rather than secularisation, constituted both a cause and a consequence of the civilizing process. Analysis of sceptical discourse in pamphlets reveals how witch belief became increasingly associated with lower-class superstition rather than elite concern, whilst continuing popular belief indicated uneven sociogenic processes. The transformation from collective religious consciousness to individualised belief is traced through examination of vigilante violence, which by the eighteenth century was presented as threatening rather than supporting state monopolies on violence. The disparity between English and Scottish processes is attributed to the Kirk’s continued centrality in Scottish governance, hindering monarchical dominance and prolonging prosecutions. The continuation of gendered behavioural regulation in pamphlets, despite declining trials, reveals persistent patriarchal concerns whilst indicating reduced necessity for reinforcing threats of female violence. The institutional decentralisation of religious belief enabled the state to consolidate monopolies on violence and taxation, with the end of witch-hunts marking both symbolically and practically the advancement of European civilizing processes.