Witchcraft Was The Ultimate Trigger Of Violence During The Elizabethan Era

Subtopic #1: Witchcraft

The idea of witchcraft was the ultimate trigger of violence during the Elizabethan Era. Society had superstitions about people who were single, about people who were living on their own, about those who housed animals and possessed knowledge of herbs (Bloomquist). Such people were either regarded as witches or were simply an area of suspicion for surrounding neighbors. Furthermore, once a person was identified as a witch, they were thought to have supernatural powers like flying and turning into animal form. Witches were also known to understand magic through the potions that they mixed (Elizabethan Era Superstitions, Beliefs). Naturally, superstition came into play when people tried identifying which of the witches

Essentially, when powers became associated with a particular subject, the person automatically became the source of external force rather than the one affected by the force. For example, once trees became linked to magical powers, people started coming in contact with the wood as a protection against evil (Bloomquist). Interestingly enough, supernatural powers had such a substantial effect on the people that they started the idea of superstitions during the Elizabethan Era. The common folk began fearing acts like sneezing, convinced that Satan could set foot into the body during this process. This very superstition assigned further superpowers to surround people; as, it was suggested that those surrounding the sneezer could interfere with the process by saying ¨bless you¨ (Elizabethan Era Superstitions, Beliefs). While certain supernatural powers were exclusively assigned to unique individuals, like Edward Kelly, who had the power of consulting the dead, others were associated with random things like birth order. For example, being born the seventh male child to another man who was also seventh in his family automatically guaranteed the newborn supernatural powers. Similarly, when a cowś breath touched other humans, the cow was granted the power of giving good luck. Supernatural powers essentially created an unbelievably strong connection between two areas that were once extremely separated, the areas being magic and