Witchcraft In Early Modern Europe

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

Salem Witch Trials: The witch trials were a series of hearings, and prosecutions of people being accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692, through May 1693. The primary source of the trials is unknown, but it was most recognized when a group of young girls, from the village Salem, started to speak of the devil invading their home and try to take over through his “minions” that he persuaded to write in his book. This group of girls accused over 200 people for working for the devil, or being witches, and

Furthermore, another cause for the witchcraft frenzy was religious uncertainty (Spielvogel 439). There were numerous witchcraft trials in the region where “Protestant-Catholic” arguments still fumed (Spielvogel 439). According to Spielvogel, “[a]s religious passions became inflamed, accusations of being in league with the devil became common on both sides” (Spielvogel 439). Additionally, another contributing factor to the widespread witchcraft hysteria was the escalating amount of trials and executions of alleged witches (Spielvogel 437).

Nineteen were hung, one was pressed and tortured to death, hundreds were imprisoned, and five had died while waiting to be trialed in prison. They were just a victim of being someone’s personal vendetta. The witch trials were revolved around a group of women that were said to of witnessed witchcraft. These young women were thirsting after their enemies to get the type of justice they thought to believe was reasonable for things certain people had done in the past that enraged them. Witch hunts like these root back far, all the way back to New England. During the 17th century europe was swarmed with accusations of

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 late 15th century to the 17th century, a flow of fear for witches swept through Europe. This all happens during a period of change in Europe, such as scientific revolution and the Reformation took place around this time period. Germany has one of the largest executions and trials. A witch was an individual who mysteriously injures other people. Women mainly widows are often accused of practicing witchcraft.

Religious, I am a very religious person, I go to church as much as possible and know a lot about the bible, I believe at one time when jesus walked the earth there was miracles or some may call magic taken place. He performed these miracles to show everyone who he was and the power he had through his father God. He raised people from the dead, fed thousands of people with five loaves of bread and two fish, gave blind people sight. However once he went back to heaven he said “It is written” which means he was done performing miracles, I think at that point the power to do things like that were over. Non religiously, well witchcraft is considered to be spiritual as its self, so there is no ways to describe it but other than explain it as close to a religion which is the belief in yourself as being the one with the god like powers and performing these magic miracles. However I personally do not believe in these or that they couldn't even be

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,

High numbers of executions for crimes of witchcraft in Europe primarily took place over 160 years, from 1500 up through 1660 and finally ending in about the 1680s. During this period in time, England reached a total of 1,000 executions for crimes of witchcraft. This is a significantly lower number than the 26,000 deaths in Germany and the 10,000 deaths in France at this time. The English legal system helped to significantly lower the number of executions for the crime of witchcraft in England over the 160 year period known as the witch craze.

The punishments for witchcraft could be exceedingly severe if you were to be found guilty of murder. Minor offenses resulted in being pilloried. Pillorying is being publicly humiliated and ridiculed while in a wooden framework that held your head and your hands. If you were convicted of murdering someone by witchcraft in England, you were publicly hanged in the town square. In France or Spain if you were found guilty of murdering someone by witchcraft, you were burned at the stake. Religion was never associated with the persecution of witchcraft in England due to the law passed by Queen Elizabeth I that stated that sorcery could not be defined as heresy. (1

Flaming sermons, bewitched girls, accusations being thrown here and there, and executions terrified colonists during the Salem witch trials. The Salem witch trials are well known, but they are not the first in America and are very small compared to other witch hunts. In 1648 Margaret Jones was hanged for witchcraft in Massachusetts (Brooks). In Europe 110,000 people were questioned during the 1300s to the 1700s, and 40,000 to 60,000 people were executed (New World Encyclopedia).

The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials resulted in the executions of twenty people, but most of them women.

The Salem Witch Trials started in 1692 when a group of young girls claimed to be possessed by the Devil, Which was essentially being a witch. The punishment of being a witch was death. After the girls trials were done they were all hung at the Salem gallows. After That 150 women and children were accused. But in the end only 18 people were killed by the state of Massachusetts.

One of the most interesting aspects of the European witch trials between 1450 and 1750 is the frequency with which accused witches confessed to the crime of witchcraft throughout the legal proceedings. While some confessions were offered voluntarily, most were not, and extreme measures were often employed by prosecutors to force confessions from the accused. Among the questions this raises, a prominent one is why obtaining confessions to witchcraft was so crucial. This paper argues that confessions were so important in continental Europe because of the critical developments they facilitated: namely, confessions allowed prosecutors to secure convictions of witchcraft within a judicial system that required high standards of proof; they produced information that was invaluable to the creation and spread of the concept of witchcraft; and they validated the guilt of the accused, the reality of

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.