15th Century American Witchcraft Hysteria

There are many speculations of how the Witchcraft hysteria began, in 15th century Europe, Christians believed in magic. They believed that there was good magic, which was acceptable and created by GOD and bad magic, which was used to harm others, that was created and came from the devil. They believed that their enemies practiced this bad form of magic or witchcraft to harm them and others. One such phenomenon that they associated with witchcraft was the Black Death. The Black Death was a widespread plague that struck across Egypt, Persia, China, India, and Syria in the early 1340s. This disease infected women as well as men with symptoms of puss filled swellings along with fever, chills, vomiting, diarrhea, terrible aches and pains and eventually

Through this purging process many Jews were killed because they were viewed as trouble-makers and sinners. Whilst some blamed the onset of the Black Death on God’s punishment, others blamed it on witchcraft. Many, including Christians, believed that the Black Death were the result of their enemies using the works of the devil to kill them. Since they did not understand the disease or where it actually came from they concluded it must have come from the devil worshippers that was amongst them that wanted to destroy the Christian kingdom.
After the Black Death epidemic subsided, rumors of devil worshipping increased and the focus on witchcraft began to rise as many people began to be accused.
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The accused could be men or women but the majority were women, in fact over 75% that were accused and convicted were women. One reason why women were targeted more than men was because they thought women had the power to control men sexually and mentally. One woman that was accused of witchcraft was Joan of Arc. Jeanne d’Arc was born in 1412 in northeastern France, she was known by her English name as Joan of Arc. A devout Christian, she claimed to hear voices from God that told her to a way to save France and return Charles of Valois as the rightful king of France. She told Charles of Valois about her dream. Charles of Valois was disinherited the French crown by the peace treaty in 1420. Because of her claims of hearing a message from God she was accused of practicing witchcraft and later burned at the stake on May 30, 1431 at the age of 19 for witchcraft as well as heresy and dressing like a man. But 20 years later in a new trial Charles VII cleared her name. After those accused were found they were then put on trial for their lives, these trials lasted for many years and ended up with many