Witchcraft in the 17th Century Essay

Their private parts would be searched multiple times for the devil’s mark, or they would have to go through various tests to prove themselves guilty or innocent. If witch-hunters struggled to find obvious evidence of the “devil’s marks” on a suspect’s body, they might resort to the even more horrifying practice of “pricking”. It was noted in many witch hunting books that the devil’s marks were insensitive to pain and couldn’t bleed, so examiners would use specially designed needles to repeatedly stab and prick at the accused person’s flesh until they discovered a spot that produced the desired results. In England and Scotland, the torture was performed by well-paid professional “prickers”. It is hard to believe that many of them even used dulled needlepoints to identify fake witch’s marks. Along with pricking, the unfortunate suspect might also undergo the scratching test. Victims that suffered from the witch’s curse were told that they would find relief by scratching the accused person with their fingernails until they drew blood out of the accused. If their symptoms improved after clawing at the accused’s skin, it was seen as an evidence of

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

In the mid-seventeenth century there was a great increase in the number of witchcraft accusations, more precisely in a little country located in southern Europe called Malta. At this time in Europe there was a system of tribunals, a court of justice, created by the Catholic Church called the Roman Inquisition (Carmel. 1993: 316-317). According to Caramel Cassar, the purpose of these tribunals at first was to keep the Catholic faith alive and to eliminate the spread of the Protestant faith (Carmel. 1993: 316-317). Unfortunately at the start of the seventeenth century the Catholic Church had a bigger

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.

Witchcraft wasn't new to the world, it had been occurring in Europe for hundreds of years. From the 14th-16th century, 40,000- 50,000 individuals in Europe were executed for the suspicion of witchcraft. Religion was very pertinent to the people of this era. Anything that was written in the bible or created by the church was law, it says in Exodus 22:18, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." By the year of 1231, Pope Gregory IX declared that it was legal to expose and punish any belief different from Roman Catholic doctrine. Pope Innocent the VIII deemed witchcraft a heresy, with the punishment being death. Everyone followed this decree as witchcraft was wrongful in the eyes of the church. ("Search")

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 origin of witches and magic can be traced back to ancient times, as well as the belief in magic and supernatural order being ubiquitous throughout societies around the world. Most historians have attempted to trace the history of witchcraft through the “theology of history,” (in which the devil had, in any case, a primordial and constitutive role), as well as add and contribute to the ambiguous history. The result was an “apocalyptic interpretation of witchcraft.” Meaning where the negative connotation of witches originated. During the “Burning Times,” the influx of trials started to take off with the enactment of the Witchcraft Act of 1542, which resulted in the severe punishments if a person was convicted of witchcraft. The punishment was elevated to the death penalty in 1563 with the “Act Against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcrafts” with Queen Elizabeth. The increased persecution of witches was also contributed to the reform of the English Church to a more Protestant path. When King James came to power due to the death of Queen Elizabeth I, he was known to be raised a Protestant. Protestant Leaders Martin Luther and John Calvin both believed in the power of magic and sorcery. Additionally, Luther also believed that all unorthodox biblical interpretation was considered witchcraft. So with the spread of Protestantism, the belief of witchcraft increased as

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

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

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

There were several methods of killing witches. One way of executing a witch is “ducking”, meaning that hands and feet are tied to a stool and submerged in deep water. If the witch was deemed guilty floated God had rejected the witch. Although, if she drowned she was deemed innocent. Another way to execute a witch was by pricked all over with a pointed

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

For nearly two centuries, witchcraft seemed to have disappeared. Although it was driven underground for a time, it is now the fastest growing religion in the United States. There are several reasons for its disappearance and now, for its return.

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).

The use of witchcraft and magic became a taboo in early modern Europe. Most individuals living in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries believed that these witches could connect with a different realm to influence the world they found themselves in, the natural world. There was no way of pointing out a witch and so these arbitrary guidelines made by looking at stereotypes that outcasts had, led them early modern Europe into the witch hunts, where unfair trials meant the lives of innocent individuals were lost. Through the documents found in The Trial of Tempel Anneke, the use of witchcraft and other forms of sorcery were sought after to aid in time of need, but the actual practice of witchcraft and use magic were frowned upon by Christians who linked this practice to Satan and would culminate with the witch’s death after an unfair trial.