Dbq Witch Hunt

The period of witch-hunting existed from around 1450 to 1750, with the height of the European movement between 1560 and 1630. Whilst many have tried to argue that witch-hunting was women-hunting this comment cannot be justified, women were the primary victims of the witch craze but not the only ones, as one in five witches were men. The high percentage of women was not because of a vendetta against the sex but rather the patriarchal understanding that women were more vulnerable to the wills of the devil and therefore more likely to become witches.

It cannot be ignored that the large majority of those accused of witchcraft were women, although regions fluctuated on average 80 percent of witches were women. This may be used to argue that witch-hunting

Associations were made between witchcraft and mental weakness, a person had to be mentally weak to become to the devil or willing to let him in. Both of these ideas were more closely enforced with women, continuously seen throughout the Malleus Maleficaium, which was hinged on the idea of female mental frailty, they were presented as a more popular contender for an allegiance with the devil as their weakness made them easier to approach. As an immensely influential text during the early modern period Malleus Maleficaium can be seen to provide a general idea of society’s view on witches. Malleus Maleficaium provides three reasons as to why women are more susceptible to the devil; their female traits make them ‘naturally more impressionable’ and convert other women in the neighbourhood. The description of women as the ‘fragile female sex’ shows the link between women and vulnerability, whilst both men and women could be seen to be weak, it was primarily a female fault. The idea of women’s susceptibility to sin and her need for guidance was reinforced by society. Tales of women’s wrongs were passed down, beginning with Eve’s original sin, women inherited a unstable nature that could easily fall prey. Pierre de Lancre, a French magistrate during the witch hunts, explained the larger number of female witches by referring to the primarily female names for witches which had been used throughout history, such as fate and nimphe. Similarly the Bible contains many negative examples of female witches such as the Witch of Endor, enforcing the idea of women’s need for guidance to remain on the right path, the idea of the deceptive women was established throughout history and society’s ideas on women made them more likely candidates for witchcraft. The mythology surrounding witchcraft could be