The first set of witchcraft persecutions occurred during Elizabeth 1st reign, this was Around 1563. Commonly people associated witches with a woman and the beliefs were the following of that they have made a pact with the evil spirit Satan. The rush of the witch persecutions mainly happened after 1563 and by the time period of 1750 roughly 200,000 witches were tortured, burnt, or hung across the whole of Western Europe. Therefore, in this essay, I will be mainly focusing and arguing which of the hysteria surrounding witchcraft and witchcraft trials had a greater impact in Britain or the American colonies in the time period of the 17th century. And I will be arguing it following different factors which could contribute to this such as the social factors geographical factors, religious factors and also control law and order.
There are several incidences in history when someone was accused of witchcraft. Maybe they didn’t have anything to do with witchcraft but if someone said it, everyone believed them. Some many people’s lives were taken because of something they didn’t do not had a part in. From June – September 1692, 19 men and women have been convicted of witchcraft. They were carted to Gallows Hill, a barren slope near Salem Village for hanging.
INTRODUCTION: During the late 17th century, there were many accusations of witchcraft within the thirteen colonies. Many men and women of all ages and authority were accused of witchcraft. When the British were colonizing North America, the traditions of witchcraft were supposedly taken to the new land with the colonists. The Salem Witch Trials taught people that they shouldn’t believe everything they are told and that people shouldn’t assume something without having specific research that can prove it.
There was much superstition and ignorance in the 17th century England and hundreds of women were wrongly accused and punished. From 1484 until around 1750 some 200,000 witches were tortured, burnt or hanged in Western Europe and England. Most supposed witches were usually poor old women. Women who weren’t lucky enough to look beautiful. Any woman who was ‘crone-like’ with broken irregular teeth , sunken cheeks and a hairy lip was assumed to be a witch !
The European witch craze between 1563 and 1620 highlighted a variety of problems across society over how these individuals were treated and what the root cause of the increase of the sweeping paranoia of witchcraft and magic. Ultimately, like the beliefs of historians such as Anne Barstow and Marion Gibson, the sweeping paranoia increase was ruled by misogyny both as a direct and underlying cause. Justification for misogyny during trials came in many forms such as religious justification as female witches magic was viewed as the complete opposite to Christianity’s God and his holy power. Legislation against witchcraft didn’t really come into power in England until the 1563 Witchcraft Act created by Queen Elizabeth I and it “formally criminalised
Christianity was prevalent in the 1600’s and anyone who didn’t believe in God was seen as a heretic and put to death. In 1641 the colonists established a legal code and put witchcraft as the second one, the punishment for that, of course, was death. The Devil was highly feared and if there was word of somebody using witchcraft a big deal would be made out of it; as The Salem Witch Trials have proven. Women were mainly the ones who happened to be executed because they were also feared, if any woman had the same amount of power as a man she must’ve made a deal with the Devil. All of this made 1692 was an intricate time for the people of Salem Village, Massachusetts.
In medieval times, there was a widespread belief among Christians and others that witches had made deals with the devil to harm people. This led to the execution of tens of thousands of suspected witches, with the majority being women. It caused a "witchcraft craze" across Europe, highlighting the influence of superstition and fear during that dark period of history (Blumberg). To add on, showing the impact of hysteria, one editor claimed that “many in the community who viewed the unfolding events as travesties remained mute”, they felt this way because they were “afraid that they would be punished for raising objections to the proceedings” (Wallenfeldt). This fear arose because if they were to be punished, they would be “accused of witchcraft themselves” and could be hanged as well (Wallenfeldt).
The witch hunts nowadays may not be the same as they used to be in the 15th century, but they still exist. During the 1950’s witch-hunts, people who were
Analyze at least TWO factors that account for the rise and TWO factors that explain the decline of witchcraft persecution and trials in Europe in the period from 1580 to 1750. The European great witch hunt began before the Protestant revolution and continued until 1750. People were hunting the devil spirit which they believed lived is some people, or people that used dark power to get what they wanted. Mostly women were affected because of their beauty and lack of physical power.
Most witches were accused harming neighbor when unexplainable tragic event took place. Trials and execution were public event, for example, in France (1460) thousand people were in attendance in a witch trial. Legal weapon were wielded by courts to prosecute witches, like the Malleus Maleficarum, Hammer of the witches (by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, two Dominican
The witch-craze was brought upon by a variety of different factors, however, the most prominent factor and one that will be used to build an argument in its favour is judicial torture. This essay will give a brief description of judicial torture, describe some of the significant uses of this form of torture and why it was practised so universally across Early Modern Europe. Using Brian Levack’s The Witch-Hunt of Early Modern Europe, and a variety of other sources this essay will argue that judicial torture was the prime reason for the distinct rise of witchcraft, both the practice and of people being accused. It will further go into detail on why this reason is significantly better than other theories for the rise of witchcraft. Judicial Torture is the use of torture by the state or a judicial figure to gain information from victims and quite often gain a confession.
Witches and the practice witchcraft has been a part of Europe's history for hundreds of years. They have always been a present character in folklore, usually in the form of an elderly, ghastly, and evil women. The European witch hunts were a widespread moral panic suggesting that malevolent Satanic witches were operating as an organized threat to Christendom during the 15th to 18th centuries. Many argue the European witch hunts were misogynistic, as those faced with the accusation were mainly women. However, The popularization of the witch hunts did not come from a misogynistic origin.
Why was there a witch hysteria in Europe during the Middle Ages? The Perfect Scapegoat It's no doubt that witches are something we’re all interested in. In fact, According to Uchicago.edu witches date back to about 560 B.C, but during the Middle Ages witches became a problem in Europe. Nearly 100,000 people were accused of witchcraft, 70% of them being women; mainly widowed woman, elderly woman, and woman who dispensed herbal remedies were targeted and tried.
Approximately beginning during the 1400’s, witch hunts became prevalent throughout history additionally, as Heretics were beginning to be burned at the stake in Orleans, France it would later pave the way for the persecution of witches and would aid the rise of superstition. During the Reformation and the French wars of religion the rise of differing religions brought upon tensions that would fuel the witch craze which would originate from witch convents, where “sister” would declare themselves in possession of demons and were viewed as scandalous. Moreover, altered the view of women at the time due to various social and religious factors which would and society had not become acclimated to the change that would later occur subsequently,
The witch hunts nowadays may not be the same as they used to be in the 15th century, but they still exist. According to Wikipedia, A witch hunt is a search for people labelled “witches” or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic or mass hysteria. Whereas, the definition of a modern day witch-hunt is an intensive effort to discover and expose disloyalty, subversion, dishonesty, or the like, usually based on slight, doubtful, or irrelevant evidence. Many theories come about when people think of the causes of witch hunt.
