Dbq Elizabethan Witchcraft

During the late fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries, thousands of individuals were persecuted as witches. It was thought that these individuals practiced black magic and performed evil deeds, the deeds of the devil. This all happened during a time of great change in Europe, during the time of the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and the consolidation of national governments. They were persecuted for a variety of reasons, but three major ones were religious reasons, social prejudices, and the economic greed of the people. Religious leaders such as Martin Luther and John Calvin influenced the ideas of their followers. Religion dominated the time period and it’s easy to see how many opinions

Early modern Europe was plagued by a number of woman accused of witchcraft, resulting in thousands being hanged. This is a large piece of history that is usually kept in the dark. Most know of the witch trials that happened in Salem, but even then, it is met with an almost humorous attitude. Is the fact there were hardly any male victims and that the event isn’t taken seriously due to sexism? Or is just a coincidence?

Witchcraft is the use of magical powers. Witchcraft is often regarded as “black” magic. The article called “The Salem Witch Trials: 1692-1693” states that “[s]ince the early fifteenth century, so-called witch panics had periodically swept across Europe, causing witch hunts, accusations, trials and executions” (“Salem” 1). Although some children and males were accused, the greater part of the arraigned individuals were female (“Salem” 1). A debatable amount of around forty thousand individuals were implicated and executed as witches between fourteen hundred and seventeen hundred and fifty (“Salem” 1). Although the causes of the witchcraft hysteria are debatable, there are three widespread and favored explanations for the hysteria within

Witchcraft wasn't new to the world, it had been occurring in Europe for hundreds of years. From the 14th-16th century, 40,000- 50,000 individuals in Europe were executed for the suspicion of witchcraft. Religion was very pertinent to the people of this era. Anything that was written in the bible or created by the church was law, it says in Exodus 22:18, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." By the year of 1231, Pope Gregory IX declared that it was legal to expose and punish any belief different from Roman Catholic doctrine. Pope Innocent the VIII deemed witchcraft a heresy, with the punishment being death. Everyone followed this decree as witchcraft was wrongful in the eyes of the church. ("Search")

In the 16th century, different societies with distinctive social and common religious views have assisted in the harsh treatment towards witchcraft. The accounts in Salem provided its reasoning on the unexplainable acts and questions being associated with the devil producing an execution of hanging. Whereas in Europe implemented its action of persecution and torture on the influential publication of Nicole's Remy and Jean Boldin. Depending on the social and religious components in a particular community, contributes to how one perceives a witch and how they will communicate and administer the participant of witchcraft.

Witch hunting was the persecution and possible execution of individuals considered to be ‘witches’ loyal to the devil. It was an all too common occurrence from 1603-1712 all over Europe. However in order to understand why this happened the context must be taken into account. It was a time of change, the Renaissance - the rebirth of culture, ideas and attitudes to living. The Reformation had also only been implemented in England in the last 80 years back from 1603, when it had previously been catholic for centuries. The English civil war from 1642 to 1651 is argued to have played a part in the intensification of the witch hunts in England due to the peak in executions whilst it was on going. Some historians have taken the view that in time of crisis certain groups can be victimised like in wars, famine, disease outbreaks and changes in society structure.

Beginning in the Middle Ages and through the seventeenth centuries, an infiltration of witchcraft persevered throughout Europe. The witch craze resulted in the torture and persecution of witches. More than 100,000 of witches who were tried were centered in the area of southwestern Europe. The mass hysteria of witches was denounced because of their rejection of God and their pact with the devil, which resulted in harsh punishments and accusations. One reason for the persecution of witches was they were thought to be the cause of bad harvests, epidemics, natural disasters, and personal tragedies. Witches also had a part in the religious aspect of Europe. The witches were persecuted because of the lack of a main religion, which was

Dating back to the bible and the development of structured religion anything pertaining to the devil and witchcraft was condemned. Witchcraft is known as the practice of magic and the utilization of spells and spirits. It was believed in the early times of societies that if you performed witchcraft you worked with the devil and were considered evil. England had ruled in 1641 that witchcraft was a crime, around this time in England and its surrounding countries in Europe there was an abundance of witch hunts and trials taking place. Witch hunting had become a phenomenon. In 1626, European Puritans migrated to the United States and established Salem. These same Puritans had the same ideals as when they were in Europe and were still very religious.

The beginning of the witch craze began in Europe in the start of the mid 1300’s. Over a hundred thousand people were executed after being accused of witchcraft. Most of these people were women and it was most common for witch trials to happen in Central Europe, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Belgium. Executing witches only became practiced around the 18th century during this time. This is when accused witches would be burned at the stake. It was common for people to be alive while being burned but they were usually beheaded or strangled before their bodies were burned. The estimated amount of people burned during this time were about 20,000 people. The hunt for witches soon declined when people started to realize that they were going to far with the executions and they became fearful that innocent people were dying. The demand for more evidence when someone was accused became bigger and the executions decreased. But Salem, Massachusetts became victim to the trials soon after.

Evidently, social and economic situations varied from country to country, as a result this can help explain the reasons why the spread of these prosecutions varied both chronologically and geographically; the early modern period saw great instability within religious, social and economic sectors of society. The instability and threat to community welfare caused by the economic decline due to food shortages, devastating losses caused by war and conflict and the ‘little ice age’ resulted in an increase in witchcraft accusations as a form of scapegoating. As throughout this period, it was believed that witches could control the weather. A comparison can be drawn from the areas which were greater affected by the meteorological changes particularly between 1586-1588 and the number of witch-hunts that took place in these areas; this includes the Scottish Highlands, the mountain regions of Lorraine and Trier. Likewise, England which had not been especially affected by the witchcraft prosecutions reached its climax during this period. It is also worth noting how witchcraft prosecutions varied from country to country. In England and Russia witchcraft was rarely associated with the diabolical pacts, witches Sabbaths or copulation with the devil, whereas these accusations were prominent in European trials; furthermore, English trials focused on minor maleficent acts.

The belief in witchcraft was a widespread epidemic in 16th century England. Elizabethans struggled to explain the cause of unnatural occurrences such as disease and famine due to a lack of scientific knowledge and consequently formed the belief that witches were a causation of such disasters. The witches were also accused of heresy and considered a threat to the ‘Christendom’. The victims of these accusations were often old impoverished women who were believed to have put charms and spells on people to control them. An example of this is the witches of Warboys trial (1593) in which a 76 year old woman, Alice, her husband, and daughter were accused of witchcraft by Jane the daughter of Robert Throckmorton. Subsequently a pamphlet named The Most

As stated previously, negativity was shown towards the individuals who believed and practiced witchcraft. Some great examples are African witchcraft and European witchcraft. According to Elliot Currie, author of ‘Crimes without Criminals: Witchcraft and Its Control in Renaissance Europe’, he stated, “witchcraft was usually prosecuted as a form of heresy… and as a felony whose essence was primarily mental” in Europe (Currie, pg. 8-9). This was during the Renaissance which was from the 14th century to the 17th century. During the Renaissance Europe, religion was extremely sensitive, but powerful. The people of the Roman Catholic Church were devoted to one god and no other higher being. They believed that everyone should worship the same god and

It wasn’t until the rise of the Catholic Church that witches soon became associated with black magic and the Devil, leading to mass prosecutions. In the Middle Ages there was a popular belief that demons walked the Earth leaving disease and devastation in their wake (Erzulie). The church, feeling threatened by the ideologies of Witchcraft, decided to link the old Pagan religion with that of Satanism. By doing so they were able to gather favor from the masses by taking advantage of the fear of the Devil by the public and using it to prosecute those who didn’t follow the Catholic faith.

Witchcraft in Early Modem Europe was perceived with mixed attitudes by the society. People in the 16th and 17th centuries accepted witchcraft when it worked to help them, but saw it as a satanic practice when it failed. Although it was socially acceptable for people to seek for advice or help from witches, it was taboo for witches to use magic as it was linked to devil worship and other beliefs that went against the Christian faith. Furthermore, women accused of sorcery were often unable to receive a fair trial as demonstrated by the leading questions that were posed and the acts of torture that led to forced confessions. During a period of religious and political turmoil, the Trial of Tempel Anneke illustrates the fact that society was not so much concerned with the truth, but rather convicted these women because of their marginalized role in society caused by social disposition. Furthermore, it can be suggested that while it was acceptable for people to inquire about magic, the law heavily punished those who would practice witchcraft.

In deciding the laws against witchcraft than against sorcery in the prosecution of the witches the courts finalized the separation ,although in England that distinction was never made. In England, witchcraft remained a civil crime, so that convinced witches were hung ( Russel 661). "Theology , then, made a logical connection between witchcraft and heresy. Heresy is any persistently held belief counter to orthodox doctrine" (Eliade 418). The worst imaginable heresy was if one used demons serves the Devil