Ap Euro Witch Dbq

These conditions created an environment in which the hunting of witches was very likely to occur; the society encouraged people to believe in witchcraft. This created tension and often caused witchcraft accusations. This established a common goal for the elite and the rest of the people to prosecute these so called witches. The years 1820-1950 was a period of intense persecution of witches, some historians claimed that the reformation served as the mainspring of the entire European witch hunt. The protestant reformation was brought about due to religious conflict, one major change was the translation of the bible from latin

(Many of the people who were persecuted as witches from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries were those of a seemingly inferior mindset, those who are blamed for problems in the community and those who were social outcasts.) This time period occurred throughout the Protestant, Catholic and Scientific revolutions. The victims of the witch trials were usually persecuted in Europe as a whole however focused on areas like South Western Europe.

The century of 1550-1650, encompassing a portion of the reign of the Stuart Dynasty, has become known as “‘The Burning Times’ – the crazes, panics, and mass hysteria.” This time period has been recognized as the peak of “witch-hunting” and persecution of witches within early modern England and as well as Europe. By accusing certain outcasts of witchcraft within the villages, it often provided the common people of England a “logical” reason when trying to rationalize unexplainable events, such as a premature death or a bad harvest. This paper will display what sorts of people, mainly women, were being persecuted for witchcraft and the reasoning behind why these women were accused. Women at the time were viewed as more susceptible to evil,

While many people accepted the change that was brought during the Renaissance, many Catholic conservatists, mostly male rebelled against the changes. Many of the ideas to persecute supposed witches were made by people in the nobility and the papal society. The beginning of the witch-hunts become apparent during the first half of the 15th century in south-eastern France and western Switzerland, in communities of the Western Alps, in what was at the time Burgundy and Savoy. (Jones Gendercide Watch: European Witch Hunts). Soon the persecution of witches spread throughout most of Europe and extended into some parts of North America. Although in total there were the estimated executions of40,000, with only 12,454 recorded deaths. The witch hunts reached their peak after the biggest witch trials were held in Europe, notably the Trier witch trials (1581–1593), the Fulda witch trials (1603–1606), the Würzburg witch trial (1626–1631) and the Bamberg witch trials (1626–1631). (Hutton Counting the Witch Hunt).

During my study of witchcraft I looked into a number of sources to help me gain insight into the period of 1560-1660 in order to put forward a strong argument in my coursework. A valuable source was Levack “The witch-hunt in early modern Europe”. It offers the reader a thorough and objective examination of witch-hunts and is consistent with the numbers of explanations given from religion to the misogynistic argument. The explanations provided are both easy to understand and therefore have been beneficial to help me form my own conclusions. His book is easily followed with its layout of various tables, charts and references to specific witch-hunt episodes in addition to a bibliography provided for further research.

Even though The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 was one of the most well-known witchcraft trials over the world, the idea of witchcraft stretches over a long period of time and spreads throughout the world. One of the earliest known witch hunts according to (witchcraftandwitches.com) were in the mid 15th century, where Pope Innocent VII claimed that Satanists in Germany were meeting with demons, casting spells that destroyed crops and aborting infants, and he complained that the clergy were not taking the “threat” of witchcraft seriously enough. So Pope Innocent VII asked two inquisitors of a Catholic Church to publish a full report on

During the 17th century and a time when there was a strong belief in the devil (Sutter, 2003) a very well-known incident took place, The Salem Witch Trials. What started out as innocent meetings in the kitchen of the town minister, Samuel Parris, with the slave from the Caribbean and some of the towns young girls, one of which was his young daughter and another his niece, turned into the accusations of witchcraft by means of an unknown illness and spectral evidence. The town of Salem Massachusetts would forever be changed in 1692 where one hundred forty people were accused of witchcraft, 19 hanged and one man pressed to death.

Although the Salem Witch trials are commonly referred to as the start of the witchcraft persecution, witchcraft can be found the early civilizations. Evidence of this is easily found in the societies that had Shamans or Healers of the village, where healing or blessings were done through spiritual connections. Back then, people were more accepting of it in their daily lives because they depended on it, but things were different in Europe during the Middle AGes. With the added influence of Christian faith, and the advancement of technology, many Europeans developed a fear of the unknown, and fear for the forces that they believed were supernatural and influenced by the devil. This terror and fear for the scientifically advanced confusion resulted in the persecution and hunt of all of the unknown, the witches of Europe. Although Witchcraft is mainly associated with The Town of Salem, Witchcraft had a presence and effect in Europe by the ways it changed everyday life for commoners, how it forced the European Government to react to its development, and the way it challenged the Catholic Church.

The witch craze rapidly spread around Europe from 1480 to 1700, especially during the time of both the Protestant and Catholic Reformation. From accusations to trials to persecution, over a million Europeans were tried due to witchcraft suspicions. The trials were often rigged in favor of the accusers, and torture was used as a method for confession in certains areas of Europe. The witch craze had many contributing factors that allowed it to last for almost three hundred years. Three major reasons for the persecution of individual witches were influence from religious superstitions promoted by the Church, lack of advanced knowledge in science and medicine and social prejudice against the lower socioeconomic class.

During the 16th century, women started to become the subject of many harsh criminal allegations. Accusations of witchcraft and persecution took over many parts of Europe, especially German and French speaking lands. As widespread witch hunts began surfacing, the question of why they started became prevalent. Europe began experiencing economic troubles in the early modern period, with “population saturation, food scarcity, and runaway inflation”. As a result of this troubled society, a scapegoat was needed to draw attention away from all of the troubles that Europe was facing. Lords with political legitimacy as well as other people with authoritative roles, like the clergy, looked at this idea of scapegoating as a way to protect their image and ensure that they remained in power. The high levels of economic and political conflict in 16th century Europe led people in authority to draw attention to easy targets, by accusing them of witchcraft.

Through the fifteenth to the eighteenth century many components of society overlapped in witchcraft. As political, economical, and religious standings became unstable the witch craze grew exponentially, becoming an industry. Typically older women were accused as witches due misogyny and stereotypical uselessness. The persecution of witches in modern Europe was caused by blame, religious ideology, and personal and industrial gain.

In 1692, The village of Salem were being accused of witchcraft and worshiping the devil. For 300 years, France, Italy, Germany and England have been witch hunting. Between the 14th century – the 16th century 40-50 thousand people were excused. The early Christians were tolerated witchcraft and other things people practiced, but the roman catholic saw people who practiced witchcraft as an enemy. In 1231 Pope Gregory the 9th practiced and ordered to expose and punish the enemies. In 1481 Pope Innocent the 8th believe the witchcraft was evil and punishment was death. Many people started witch hunting; some people hunted them enemies and accused them of witchcraft. The church/ authority did very little because the authority made the village afraid

Topic 1: The Witch Hunts Witch Hunts during the post middle ages were a tragic event that led to many people to be falsely accused for the act of witchcraft and devil worship. During the 15th to the 18th centuries Europe experienced a dramatic changed in socitity as it faced the Renascence, the Protestant Reformation, and the culmination of diverse societies, this would lead to the Church and many other Europeans weary of the supernatural to find and purge anyone who would be in league with the Satanic Cult. Since those who were accused of portraying to be a servant of the Devil, would be put on trial for their crime and would be subject to many forms of punishing trials that led to over 40,000 people were put to death. Since the belief of magic was popular during those times, the higher social class would be involved in developing the idea of Devil

The hunting of witches was a tremendous issue in Europe, especially in the time period from the year 1450 to the year 1750. It was mainly targeted towards women and led to the execution of numerous individuals. Witch-hunting was frowned upon due to its association with the devil. Evil acts (including devil worship and black magic) were considered crimes, therefore the government and its courts became involved. Women were punished because of the accusations made about them, leading to the chaos of the witch-hunting era in Europe.

The Church is seen as the center of knowledge and the religious thought becomes rampant. Despite the progress made in previous centuries by Greeks mental illness is the means of something supernatural and beyond corporeality. Any negative or immoral event was