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How Witchcraft Changed Essay

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institutional view if witchcraft changed.Satanism and heresy were joined together and became inextricable, whereone was found so too was the other. Those who were heretics were also inleague with the devil. When witches became associated with Satanism itbecame part of the understanding of witchcraft that all witches, knowingly or unknowingly, formed a pact with the Devil. This was to become the main issuewith witchcraft, the devil pact. This pact was dwelt upon by academics andclergy; maybe it’s not surprising that the first instance of sex between witchesand the devil as an initiation ritual was made by those under the monasticvows. This made witches inseparable from the devil, bound to his purposeand under his authority. This also would have an impact on the understandingof magic in general, especially village healers.The sectarian strife caused by the reformation, especially within Germany,helped to greatly increase the number of executions for …show more content…

Until thenwitchcraft for the most part was a rare crime and rarely did a conviction stickupon the suspect. Conviction rates for witchcraft were less than 30% thoughexecution was always the sentence given. With heresy and Satanism nowlinked in the minds of the early modern age, and witchcraft inextricably andpermanently linked with Satanism, it was not long until witchcraft and heresywas also linked.It was easy for people on every side of the arguments and conflicts to say thatthe others were witches or linked with Satan. Not only did this discredit their opposition but it also set a new level of fear for witchcraft. The more theleaders of the people spoke about it and charged others with it the morepeople in general became fearful of it. This in turn led to a rise in the number of prosecutions for witchcraft. In Germany, the country most stricken withsectarian strife, the execution rate for witchcraft between 1500 and 1565

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