The Massive Witch Hunt Of The Early Modern Period

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The massive witch hunt of the early modern period came to be due to the concept of witchcraft becoming more and more present with reality. Religious Reformations officially started the illusion of witches and demons walking among society. This is the case when the concept of the devil gets molded with the gods of norse mythology, which are Pagan gods. This caused society to fear Pagans and view them as devil’s servants walking the earth alongside them. This illusion was vivified when the concept of Sabbath, a ceremonial gathering of witches to worship the devil, was introduced and non-Christian religious groups got targeted for practicing their religion secretly. The witch hunt was taken a step further in the 13th, 14th, and 15th century, when Europe began to adopt inquisitorial law, law that protects the accuser from any responsibility and allows the accused witch to be tortured. All in all, the witch hunt of the …show more content…

The inquisitorial law was a judiciary system that allowed witchcraft trials in the legal system. Inquisitorial law allows for torture to get confessions from the accused witches. The law additionally allows the accuser to be free from all responsibility regarding the case. The Inquisitorial law was adopted all around europe. These prosecutions were excessive and many died, if not by execution, by being tortured to death (Lecture 1/26/23). According to Fearless Wives and Frightened Shrews: The Construction of the Witch in Early Modern Germany, “alleged witches left no records other than their trial confessions, which were often extorted by means of Inquisitorial procedures ranging from leading questions to torture.” Many confessions that came from the accused witch on trial were from being worn out as torture went on and the prosecuting went on(Brauner 10). To elaborate, the torture additions to the protection of the accusers created a mass witch