The Role Of The Witches In The 17th Century

A few centuries ago in Europe, the fear of witchcraft led to witch hunts and executions. These occurred mostly in France, Germany, northern Italy, and Switzerland. “Tens of thousands of people in Europe and European colonies died,” and “millions of others suffered from torture, arrest, interrogation, hate, guilt, or fear,”. It is estimated that the early modern witch trials claimed the lives of nine million Europeans, 80% of whom were women which led early feminists such as Margaret Murray, Mary Daly and Barbara Ehrenreich, among others, to wonder: “Was the witch-hunt an intentional woman-hunt”. Back then, women were accused of being witches since Accusations of witchcraft required no evidence of guilt. The trials were “intended only to produce

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.

In this study she addresses the accused and the accusers, the young, the old, the poor, and the cute. In chapter seven she constructs an interesting analysis and a statistically significant interpretation of those females who were possessed, and why these particular females responded to their possession in Puntan society. In order to prove her case she used evidence associated with those who were the accusers and the accused during the witchcraft trials. On the whole, she proved that women who were out of the social norms of colonial society were more likely to be suspect of witchcraft. In Puntan New England this was mainly non-married women, widows, and non-conformist females. These distinctive behaviors and demographics were seen as potential threat to New England Society, especially during a period of great change or social upheaval.

From the 1400’s to the 1800’s, around forty thousand individuals were executed for witchcraft, most of which occurred throughout central Europe. Constant religious and political upheaval caused elites to attempt to harness control over populations, which led to multiple laws being passed in regards to witchcraft. Torture was allowed and women and children were called to testify in the court room. Individuals who were seen to be outcasts on the outer edge of society were immediately targeted and easily suspected of sorcery. The Trial of Tempel Anneke: Records of Witchcraft Trial in Brunswick, Germany, 1663 gives its readers an inside perspective of the many different attitudes that existed towards witchcraft at the time. Because 17th century Brunswick townspeople were driven by deep Christian beliefs, they greatly feared all forms of magic, thinking them to come from the devil. Yet despite these fears, they did not completely reject witchcraft as they often sought out purported “witches” for magical solutions.

Were the witch-hunts in pre-modern Europe misogynistic? Anne Llewellyn Barstow seems to think so in her article, “On Studying Witchcraft as Women’s History: A Historiography of the European Witch Persecutions”. On the contrary, Robin Briggs disagrees that witch-hunts were not solely based on hatred for women as stated in his article, “Women as Victims? Witches, Judges and the Community”. The witch craze that once rapidly swept through Europe may have been because of misconstrued circumstances. The evaluation of European witch-hunts serves as an opportunity to delve deeper into the issue of misogyny.

Before exploring the reasons that the number of executions of witches was so low in England, we should first explore the English conceptualization of a witch. During the witch craze of the 16th to 17th

Reginald Scot explores the common perceptions towards witches in the late sixteenth century, which he claims they were commonly old, lame, full of wrinkles, poor (Levack 2004: ?), although not necessarily solitary (Larner 1984: 72). Scot claims that their appearance often caused alarm among many in the community and caused the neighbours to find truth in witches utterings. One could argue women were often ascribed with such stereotypes, for they were both physically and politically weakened, and were unable to distance themselves from accusations (levack 1984: 127). It is apparent the oppression of these women could represent an attempt to maintain hegemony in a patriarchal society in the late sixteenth century. Coincidentally, most women accused of sorcery often lived out of the constraints of male authority, where they would live alone, perhaps for the rest of her life.

The witch trials in continental Europe, which lasted from the late 1300s until around 1650, resulted in an execution of "between 200,000 and 500,000 witches, 85% or more of whom were women."1 There is wide debate between historians arguing about whether or not this is a mass act of sexism—some stating that large groups of men gathered together to blame women for all of their village 's misfortunes, while others state that there were still a high number of males executed for witchcraft, and that anybody could be considered a witch. There is no getting around the fact that gender was a very important factor in the European witch trials, seeing as a majority of victims across the country were women. That being said, the idea of witch-hunts being sexist and specifically targeted towards women is false, rather, the label of "witch" was more frequently added onto powerful women who were viewed as sinful threats to society, resulting in the high number of executed females.

Throughout the history of humankind, women’s bodies and sexuality have been critiqued, chastised, and judged by society. During the witch craze of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, many women were accused of being evil beings. Over 60,000 women were wrongfully executed by their accusers . It was believed that woman who were midwives, challenged male authority, or were sexually promiscuous and given themselves to Satin and were now evil and immoral beings. The more “feminine” senses, touch, smell, and taste were often associated with being a witch . By accusing women who were sexual agents or who were associated with women’s bodies or sexuality (such as midwives) of being evil and executing them, men were able to use gender to

Also, women were most commonly accused because witches were viewed as a feminine role. Some men were accused of being sorcerers, which are basically the same concept as

The witchcraft crisis through colonial New England is visualized through the work of Mary Beth Norton and Carol F. Karlsen. The scholars demonstrate deep understanding in the subject, and both present valid information through their overall theses. In order to understand the complete story of witchery in the seventeenth-century, these two books intrigue the reader in what the authors want to present. Although, their research seems bias, both historians similarly delve into the topic with an open mind, and successfully uncover information that has not be presented before. Not only does Norton’s In the Devil’s Snare and Karlsen’s The Devil in the Shape of a Woman both represent the study of witchcraft through feminist ideals, Karlsen’s

Witch persecutions began in Europe where countless numbers of women were put to death due to religious and moral beliefs of witch hunters. Of the few hundred thousand of people that were executed for witchcraft, 85% were women. When this is examined closely, both Europe and colonial New England shared a common agenda, the suppression of the female sex. Most were women who were considered ‘outside the norm’ due to their religion, attitudes, and those who did not consider themselves less than a man. Furthermore, the sexuality of women was probably the most significant issue involved during the witch persecutions. During those times, in an era when sex was viewed as sinful.

It has been more than three hundred years from the time when fourteen women, and five men were executed for the crime of witchcraft on Gallows Hill in Salem, Massachusetts. Another man was pressed to death with stones for refusing to enter a plea. This was a time when panic and chaos were already prevalent due to the French and Indian war and that the devil was looming not so far away. Women happen to be targeted more than men for the practice of witchcraft, at a ratio of about three to one.

Witchcraft was, and still is the practice of magic, especially black magic with the use of spells. Although many people did practice witchcraft (male or female), old, poor, single or widowed ladies were usually accused to be witches in the Middle Ages. Witchcraft in the Middle Ages was a controversial crime that was equally punishable by poisoning. If one was accused of witchcraft, the charges could be dropped by a relative’s defence in a trial by combat, or by twelve people swearing an oath of the accused’s innocence. Witchcraft in the Middle Ages was feared throughout Europe.

The witch-hunt that blazed a trail across Europe (and indeed the world) over the 15th to 18th centuries stripped women of much of the power they had historically held. Not 100% of all accused Witches were female but 75% to 90% of accused witches in Europe were in fact women (Levack, 1987, p.124).