Not A Witch, By The Sound Of A Grievous Witch

Upon meeting some of the accused I felt very surprised that these reputable women would ever be suspected of witchcraft. Never had I seen such pure women be convicted as witches, never the less there were suspicions and I must investigate it to my full potential.

Most observers now agree that witches in the villages and towns of the late Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century New England tended to be poor. They were usually not the poorest women in the community, but the moderately poor. Karlsen tries to show that a woman who was vulnerable was most likely to be accused of being a witch. Even women who had gained wealth because of the death of a husband were prime candidates.

When learning of witchcraft in the seventeenth century, it is important to understand the faith at the time. Knowing the what the people, at the time,

There are countless different assumptions about witches. The majority of individuals in the sixteenth and seventeenth century presumed that God and Satan were real (Lambert 1). They also assumed that “witches” were in allegiance with Satan and made a vow to bow down and serve him (Lambert 1). Furthermore, another common belief was

John Demos’s nine point portrait of a witch is one way to analysis the case of Rebecca Nurse. To do so, one must first evaluate and understand the history of Rebecca Nurse and her role in the Salem in the late 1600’s. Rebecca Nurse was the wife of Francis Nurse, a farmer who became wealthy after buying and tending a large plot of land between Salem Village and Salem Town. Together they had eight children, and as a family they were prosperous. Connecting this information to Demos’s portrait of a witch, Rebecca Nurse falls under the first four points made in his sketch. These first two points are that she was “female” and that she was of “middle age”. However, the latter point is slightly inaccurate because Nurse was older than sixty years. The final two points that Rebecca Nurse falls under in Demos’s portrait of a witch are that she was of “English” and “Puritan” descent and culture, and that she was “married”, with little or no children. Again, the latter point is not fully accurate because Rebecca Nurse, while married, had, in fact, eight children in her lifetime. The significance of these traits of Rebecca Nurse agree, for the most part, with the

Carol Karlsen 's "The Devil in the Shape of a Woman” was written to provide the reader with an understanding of the role of the “witch” in colonial New England. During the early colonial period, pilgrims lived in a male-dominated society and the classical witch hunts were conducted in an attempt to maintain this societal structure. Since these hunts were placed under a religious guise, it was simple for these individuals to act as if they were maintaining the safety and justice of society. Karlsen explains that in many instances, women who were labelled as witches were often females that had managed to acquire great economic and social status and society. In fear of these women, the neighborhood targeted them and called them witches to weaken their power. Independent of guilt, women who were accused of witchcraft could not possibly recovered. If they claimed their innocence, they would be stoned or burned to death because the counsel would decide that they were not being truthful. If they admitted to their guilt, their place in society would be marred and they would be embarrassed for partaking in these evil acts. Through this violence, men have been able to maintain their place in Puritan society. In her book, Karlsen aims to provide the reader new insight into the witch trials, demonstrating the societal, rather than religious causes for this well-known historic tragedy.

is a witch and, “she sends her spirits on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer” and “she

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,

Throughout the 1600s, Puritan (protestant christians) chiefs lead their English immigrants to New England to practice their religion in a respectful environment. This group of people set high standards for themselves due to the strict rules given from their beliefs, and also strictly referred to the Bible believing every word from the text was the word of God. Although the positive spirits are not the only power they believed in, such as the Devil. The Devil has an intoxicating, dark power, such as taking over a weak body through the mind and recruiting it to become a witch, so throughout the 17th century people were hanged for the crime of witchcraft. There were certain characteristics that presented evidence was admissions, unusual physical

The witchcraft phenomenon of the Renaissance period was shaped by a wide range of cultural factors; witchcraft was not necessarily subject to a single cohesive idea or concept, and it was often instead a conglomeration of many different societal concerns, concerns which spanned through all spheres of society. Textual evidence from this period provides insight into the way in which witches were conceived, and how witches were dealt with, while visual images present a companion visualisation of the tensions, which influenced created the witch, and the imagery, which came to be associated with 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.

When people think of witches today, there is an image of the characteristics of an old, haggard woman. The connotation of women and witches is significant throughout history especially in early modern Europe. The early modern period was the beginnings of the witch- hunt panics and rooted the characterization and oppression of witches. The moral righteousness through the patriarchal system in place led a clear disportionate between females persecuted as witches. The patriarchal system in place was misogynistic which led to characterizing and stigmatizing of women through the values of the church.

Topic Title: “Fear and Fascination: Witches in the Public Eye and in Popular Culture in Early Modern England.” The existence of witches and sorcery in Early Modern England is, almost surprisingly, still debated: what did a witch look like? What did she (or, less often, he) have to do to draw accusations of witchcraft? Did they ever really exist, or were the accusations merely the result of people desperately looking for scapegoats and explanations? How much did religion play into it?

As a healer, midwife, advice giver and fortune teller she was sought after. “People turned to witches as well as turned on them.” (Barstow, 1994, p.

For the greater part of Christianity the popular belief was that magic did not exist and while those who did were diluted. By the end of the Inquisition there was an estimated 90,000 witch trials occur with an estimated 50% of them resulting in executions (Levack, The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe 1987, 2006, 23). So what dramatic turn did Europe take during the Inquisition? In the late sixteenth century the great witch hunt was beginning, and this was fueled by the European elites believing that witches were actively harming their neighbors and conspiring with the Devil against the Catholic Church.