Witch Craze Dbq Essay

Hunting for witches has been going on for more than four centuries (from the 14th to the 17th century) and was a deeply rooted social phenomenon. It was born in feudalism and lasted until the "age of reason". It took different forms at different times and places, but never lost the essential character of the terrorist campaign of the ruling class against the female population. The witches were perceived as a political, religious and sexual threat to both Protestant and Catholic churches, and to the

In the article by Kamensky, once again the role of the woman in Puritan society is put under scrutiny, this time not for disrupting the order of land transfer, but for the patterns of speech, which by virtue of being spoken by a female could indicate a demonic presence. The tone, content, order and style of speech was important in determining a witch from a devout follower of God. Certain verbal traits were ascribed to Satan's followers. Kamensky gives examples of women who spoke as if they knew too much about the Bible. The gender biases of the time led people to assume that they had to be witches since only men could have attained that level of verbal prowess. This meant that women could never defy the all male authority of the church. Another common indicator of witchcraft was speaking out against authority. To defend one's self against the charges of consorting with the devil was seen as a challenge; men were allowed to speak aggressively, women

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

The persecution of witches started in the fourteen hundreds and carried on into the seventeen hundreds. This persecution happened only in the Catholic and Protestant Countries. They were not just endorsed by the churches, but the entire craze was caused by the churches; which gave its full support behind the cause. While the persecution of witches effected every type of person the most effected people where older women, poor, and usually considered outsiders by their society.

For more than two hundred years, individuals were persecuted as witches throughout the continent of Europe, even though the witch hunt was concentrated on Southwestern Germany, Switzerland, England, Scotland, Poland, and parts of France. In a collective frenzy. witches were sought, identified, arrested, mostly tortured, and tried for a variety of reasons. The total number of witches tried exceeded 100,000 people. This essay is supposed to identify three major reasons for the witch craze in sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe.

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.

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,

The notion of witchcraft has been around long before the witch trials in Early Modern Europe. Different cultures have different images and stereotypes on what a witch is and what “magical” abilities he or she may possess. Many people however, did not look at these “magical” men and women as bad until the Holy Roman Empire began to look negatively on those people who were different, and opposed the norm set by the elites. Driven by fear, those living under the control of the Holy Roman Empire would began to blame other people for diabolical actions, or malicious activities. Women and some men, were tortured and tested in cruel ways in attempt of finding evidence or gaining a confession that the accused was a witch. Laws about how which were persecuted

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.

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.

If you are a witch, then you should be killed not to suffer the life of one. Puritans believe that if you are of a weak mind, it is easier for the Devil, Satan, or the Prince to get in your head and corrupt you. They believed that there were evil spirits, demons, that wandered the earth, to look for the corrupted minds and help ruin them. The Devil has a army of these creatures and used them for his own uses. If we go along with this belief, than it would seem that out of all of this, women would be the weakest in the mind and be easier for Satan to come in. This explains why there were so many women accused to be witches, but is it

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.

Witchcraft accusations in the sixteenth and seventeenth century saw a dramatic increase in the sheer amount of accused witches that were tried and executed. “Between about 1450 and 1750 maybe 40,000 of Europe’s inhabitants, most of them women, were executed, many of them by burning at the stake, as witches.” (Sharpe 65) The vulnerability of society to so blindly accuse others of witchcraft stemmed from not knowing about certain types of illnesses or why horrible things sometimes occurred. Some accusations were brought about for the social gain by the ‘bewitching’ of one’s child, such as in the case of Anne Gunter. Using the case of Anne Gunter, we can identify some of the reasons that the English people were accused of witchcraft.

Discoverie of Witchcraft was published in 1584. During this period in English history, accusations of witchcraft were rampant. People were so cynical about random events such as sickness and accidents. Scapegoats seemed to be a favorable option for the public. Many innocent people, mainly older women, were suspected as the prime offenders of many of the mysterious events that occurred. These victims were tried and executed for their ‘crimes’.

In England, during the 15th and 16th centuries, the previously underground and ignored practice of witchcraft became an offense that was punishable by death. Women were the majority of the citizens who were tried for the crime of witchcraft. The belief that they were given their supernatural powers by the devil and aimed to crush all Christian values and people caused their excessive persecution.1 This paper will explain why most individuals accused of witchcraft in England were women and will be backed by primary sources from a variety of historical individuals and also secondary sources from various historical backgrounds. King James I was particularly interested in witchcraft and through his life changed his opinion about how those