The Witch Hunts Of The 17th And 17th Centuries

In response to The Hammer of Witches and the papal bull issued by Pope Innocent VIII, major witch hunts broke out in Europe. Moreover, these were aided by new technology, the printing press, which helped to spread the mania, even across the Atlantic to America. It is not surprising that the witch hunt started around the13-15th century. During this time, Europe was overpopulated and in a poor condition with dirty streets, crime and diseases everywhere. There had to be a scapegoat for all of the mess which the church decided was witchcraft. A complex social matrix was created once an accusation was made: the accusers would try to prove the source of what had been troubling them, and ideally to gain control over that source by forcing her to back away and remove the

Beginning in the Middle Ages and through the seventeenth centuries, witch trials occurred in Europe. Many people were accused of being witches some of these people were accused of being witches for not following Christian beliefs at that time and others followed witch prosecutions for goods and money. Furthermore, the stereotypes of witches at this period also had a role in causing witch prosecutions. In this essay I argue how these three components led to the death of so-called witches. Firstly, I will discuss how the Catholic Church had an impact on most prosecutions. Secondly, I will explain how social stereotypes of that period have also influenced with the causes of prosecution of many alleged witches. Thirdly, I will discuss how

Written in 2003, Marc Aronson’s Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials tells of the truths and misconceptions of the horrors that occurred in 1692. In this book, Aronson examines the stories of the accused witches, the people who persecuted them, and the ones harmed by the supposed witchcraft.

The author’s purpose in writing this article was to inform the reader of the rise and decline of witch prosecutions, along with their lasting effects on the society. The author’s central argument is that historians do not usually focus on

Robert Calef was a merchant in Massachusetts during the witch hunts of 1692. The primary source that is being analyzed isn’t about him but is from many stories that he collected and put them together in a manuscript. This manuscript that contains true accounts about the trial and it included the attempted escape of Mrs. Cary of Charlestown Massachusetts told from her husband Nathaniel Cary’s viewpoint. I believe that Nathaniel Cary wanted this account to be written in order to highlight and expose how the puritans handled the witch trials and specifically the trial against his wife and to inform people of what was truly happening in New England at the time. In this primary source analysis, I will be discussing what this document tells us

The hysteria, craze, trials, and deaths, still rest an unsolved case. The theories of politics, rivalries, religion and the “circle girls” seem the most believable, in my eyes. However, as the happenings in Salem village still continue to mislead and amaze not only historians, but many others, the witch trials lie a great turning point for Salem, and the lives of many; let alone

The idea of witchcraft seems preposterous now, but it pulled me into its issues with its bony hands. The renowned play and film The Crucible, by eminent author Arthur Miller, is a great tale of deceit, religious persecution, justice/injustice and paranoia, which shows the ignorance and the perplexing nature of the 17th Century Puritan society. The mysterious world of witchcraft and witch hunts is the centrepiece of this story, which parallels to the Senator Joseph McCarthy communist ‘witch hunts’ in the 1950s. Similarly, I can create a link to contemporary issues in society, whether it takes place in the school playground or politics. As we can all recall, abusive power was a severe problem in the villages of Salem. It afflicted on a person’s ideologies and how they were represented and symbolised by others. My curiosity is conveyed through Abigail. This protagonist is seen as inhumanly diabolical, as she does not express any remorse, via the motif of manipulation and accusations. This is all refracted through the lenses of my own attitudes, values and beliefs of an egalitarian society. So today I am here to explain and engage with you why I entirely believe this story, from many years ago, can reproduce the same apprehensions of abusive power in society today.

The large-scale witch-hunts that occurred from 1638 to 1651 gathered momentum via major happenings in the political, societal, and religious domains developing at the time. Individuals who had either political, religious or economic power in society, also known as elites, together had absolute control over the pursuit and prosecution of individuals who partook in witchcraft. The clergy played a crucial role in the witchcraft prosecutions and were slower than the state and localities to desert their beliefs in the reality of witches as the prosecution of witchcraft was, in their eyes, an effective tool to eradicate social deviance. Though local authorities and the Parliament did contribute to the witch-hunts significantly, without the kirk of Scotland declaring and encouraging this sanction on witchcraft, both other parties would not have taken the actions they ultimately did. This essay will provide a brief description of events that took place from 1638 to 1651 and then utilize evidence from a multitude of sources to argue that the religious elites were the most influential of these forces during the witchcraft prosecutions that occurred in the 1640s.

History shows the remarkable things that society has done over the years, it also shows where society failed and mistakes were made. This is the case of the Salem Witch Trials. The people of Salem experienced an event that would change them and the course of this country forever. The mass hysteria and rampant paranoia that swept New England in 1692, is what turned neighbor against neighbor. The Salem villagers would accuse one another of casting spells, consorting with the devil, and being witches, all of which was a punishable crime in the 17th century. ("Search")

The events which took place in Salem in 1692 could be described as awful and unjust. 19 innocent people were hanged, another person pressed to death and 4 others died in jail. Witches or Wizards are what they called these people, people who made pacts with the devil. The idea of witches provoked fear into the puritan fundamentalist society. Further more, two young girls, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, were said to have been acting strangely.

The authors discredit the claim that the witch trials were merely an excuse to eliminate the poor. In fact, the witch accusations, while they did begin with less wealthy members of the community, made their way to the top of the social ladder effecting members of the church and government. The majority of accusations were of women and girls, but once a female member of a family was accused it was common for other members of that family to be accused too regardless of their sex. Looking at the patters of the accusations, it becomes clear to the reader that all social classes were involved. From the early stages of accusations, the “fist three women accused could be seen as “deviants” or “outcasts” in their community” (31) which later spread to ministers, people of all ages, and both genders. Ministers however took a different approach to the accusations. Instead of being afraid of being put on trial, they viewed their accusation as a sign from God to help heal others. “By encouraging and even exploiting the usual behavior of the young people in their communities, both ministers had managed to turn a potentially damaging situation to their own benefit” (29). Although exploiting many people. the ministers were the only group who tried to see a light in the witch trials situation. Many members of the community lived in fear of being

The evidence of witchcraft and related works has been around for many centuries. Gradually, though, a mixture a religious, economical, and political reasons instigated different periods of fear and uncertainty among society. Witchcraft was thought of as a connection to the devil that made the victim do evil and strange deeds. (Sutter par. 1) In the sixteenth, seventeenth, and twentieth century, the hysteria over certain causes resulted in prosecution in the Salem Witch Trials, European Witchcraft Craze, and the McCarthy hearings. These three events all used uncertain and unjustly accusations to attack the accused.

Witch hunts blazed across Europe over the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries not just killing innumerable innocent people, but stripping women of much of the power they had once held, and changing society's perceptions of women all together. The economic hardships, religious rivalries, and troubled politics of the time made accusing your neighbors of witchcraft convenient. Where there was war and poverty, or merely bad luck, peasants would assume witchcraft and rush to blame an old, defenseless woman in trials which involved unbelievable cruelty and horrible sadism. As religion and the Catholic Church began to complement and perpetuate the increasing hysteria, European society as a whole could do nothing but

The Rise of Witch Hunts in Europe During the Early Modern Period Tens of thousands of people were persecuted and put to death as witches between 1570 and 1680 – known as the great age of witch-hunts. Europeans had an extensive range of magical beliefs and practices, mainly due to the Christian belief that magic exists. The elite believed in magic as fervently as the most ignorant peasant. It was believed that some members of the society sold their soul to the devil giving them power to inflict pain on others and take part in supernatural performances.

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).