Modern European Witch-Hunt

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.

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.

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.

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,

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 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

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.

During the 16th century, women started to become the subject of many harsh criminal allegations. Accusations of witchcraft and persecution took over many parts of Europe, especially German and French speaking lands. As widespread witch hunts began surfacing, the question of why they started became prevalent. Europe began experiencing economic troubles in the early modern period, with “population saturation, food scarcity, and runaway inflation”. As a result of this troubled society, a scapegoat was needed to draw attention away from all of the troubles that Europe was facing. Lords with political legitimacy as well as other people with authoritative roles, like the clergy, looked at this idea of scapegoating as a way to protect their image and ensure that they remained in power. The high levels of economic and political conflict in 16th century Europe led people in authority to draw attention to easy targets, by accusing them of witchcraft.

Many people focus on the Salem witch trials in the early times of the United States colonies. Not many people really learned much about all of the trials that happened in Europe before, during, and after the Salem witch trials. In Europe there were tens of thousands of people were accused and killed for witchcraft (Lochloinn). There were many tortures and ways to kill accused witches. Some punishments were cruel, grueling, and long. Other ways would be quick and less painful. The people that accused others of witchcraft were afraid because they thought witches would harm them (Lambert).

Levack has been criticised by Barstow because he fails to mention gender throughout his book , and therefore Levack as a historian may have taken an inaccurate approach to witchcraft as he avoided discussing gender as a factor. Thurston suggests that although the Malleus represented an ‘important strain in male attitudes towards women’, it doesn’t point to misogyny as a factor behind the witch-hunts . The extent of the Malleus’ influence is unclear due to the fact that it was printed in 1486-1520 and then 1574-1621, however the book was not reprinted during a 50 year span which included an increase in the number of witch-trials carried out. Hence, it could be argued that the Malleus wasn’t of extreme importance, due to the fact that there was an increase in witch-trials whilst the book wasn’t being printed. On the other hand, it could also be argued that the authors identified the increase in witch-trials as a reason to print the Malleus again.

The persecution of witches in the German town of Trier from 1581-1593 was one example of how witchcraft was condoned and encouraged by the upper elite class of the city. An account of the activities of the trial by an observer to the trials, canon Linden, tells of how “this movement was promoted by those in office, who hoped wealth from the persecution.”3 The torture and execution of people is being hastened by the money that can be made from the theft of the accused and condemns property. The trials are now only making the elite rich but also

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.

In The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe, Brian Levack attributes skepticism as a determining factor for the decline of witchcraft prosecutions in Europe. While it may seem as though doubt could hardly have that much of an impact, it is important to note that this skepticism grew from many different centers. It was the rise of doubt within the judicial, religious, and scientific spheres that began to collectively contribute to the decline. Levack’s claim is that skepticism is the common factor found within many contributing factors to the decline of the witchcraft trials and with that, I am inclined to agree.

For three centuries of early modern European history, diverse societies were consumed by a panic over alleged witches in their midst. Witch-hunts, especially in Central Europe, resulted in the trial, torture, and execution of tens of thousands of victims, about three-quarters of whom were women. A witch-hunt is a search for people labelled as witches or who have evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Europe and North America falls into the Early Modern period of about 1400 to 1700, spanning the upheavals of the Reformation and the Thirty Years' War. The belief in witchcraft has been shown to have similarities in societies throughout the world.

The witch panics and hunts of Europe occurred during a unique period in time. A period where religion wars, natural disasters, diseases, and nation building were occurring. The people looked for answers to why their world was turned upside and it was easy to blame unseen forces and create scapegoats in the form of witches which controlled these un-natural forces. Over the course of a few centuries the witch hunts grew and then eventually tapered off. Brian Levack in his book The Witch-hunt in Early Modern Europe makes a case for the growth of skepticism among the learned elite regarding witch craft and Satan’s power to manipulate the world. But was that the only, or even best, reason for the end of witch hunts