More handpicked essays just for you.
Summary of the 1692 Salem witch trials
Witch trials through the 1450's-1750
The history of witch trials arthur miller
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Scotland 10 August 2015
Scotland had a high number of casualties in their witch trials, with thousands of supposed witches tried, convicted, and executed. The number of accused is estimated to be 3,837. Sixty-seven percent of people accused were executed mainly by strangling followed by burning. Some were simply burned alive. A select few were beheaded or hanged. Those beheaded or hanged typically committed more crimes than just witchcraft. The percentage of executed is based on 305 cases where the outcome is known. “205 of these were to be executed, 52 were acquitted, 27 were banished, 11 were declared fugitive, 6 were excommunicated, 2 were put to the horn (outlawed), 1 person was to be kept in prison and 1 person was to be publicly humiliated” (“Survey of Scottish Witchcraft”). Therefore, it is not thought to be very accurate. 84% of the accused were women, 15% were men, and for the
…show more content…
remaining 1%, the gender is unknown (“Survey of Scottish Witchcraft”). The main reason for accusation was being declared a witch by neighbors and people who knew the accused through gossip and fights. If someone had bad fortune after a disagreement, it was thought that they were cursed by the other. Evidence used in the trials include confessional evidence, testimonies by neighbors and other accused witches, and having the “Devil’s Mark.” The Devil was said to have marked his followers and a physical search was done. The mark was thought to be a blemish or insensitive spot, which was found by pricking the accused with pins. The witches were often tortured during the trial, to elicit confessions. The most common form of torture was sleep deprivation because it usually resulted in hallucinations. Physical torture was occasionally used (“Survey of Scottish Witchcraft”). The famous “swimming test” was hardly used in Scotland. The test, which involves dropping witches into water with their hands tied to their feet was supposed to determine whether the accused was a witch or not. Witches were said to float and the innocent sank. Some sources report that those who sank would drown, but other sources contradict this, saying a rope was tied to them to prevent drowning (“The Witch Trials”). The witch trials in Scotland, in my opinion, were very similar to the common witch trials. The reasons for accusation were similar, the percentages of men versus women followed the same pattern, and the methods of execution were the same. The witch hunts of Scotland were large-scale and brutal. I think that these hunts were one of the most horrific in all of Europe. The source I used for Scotland was extremely helpful. It seemed to be very trustworthy and it provided me with all the information I was searching for in an organized fashion. I used a few other sources for background information. They had good common information, but not necessarily the specifics I was looking for. Ireland 12 August 2015 Ireland had a significantly low number of witch trials. There is only evidence of three or four trials. There was a large belief of witchcraft in Protestant settler Islands and mainland Ireland. The settlers from England and Scotland had brought their beliefs about witches with them, which led to the trials (“Details of Sensational”). There were 11 people accused and put on trial in Ireland. The reasons for accusation were mainly victim testimonials, rumors, and reputations. All 11 accused were women. There were 4 executions. Three out of four were hanged (“Details of Sensational”). One woman was burned at the stake (“On Trial”). One trial occurred in an English settler community. A teenager, Mary Dunbar, claimed to have been possessed by eight women. The women accused had poor local reputations. They were not wealthy, some had claimed to have done witchcraft in the past, and fit the stereotypical description of a witch. They were found guilty, put in the stocks, had stones and rotten fruit thrown at them, and were jailed for a year (“Details of Sensational”). Another famous trial involves Alice Kyteler. She was the first person accused of witchcraft in Ireland, accused in 1324. Alice was very wealthy, having been married four times to wealthy men. Each of her husbands died under “mysterious circumstances” and left her with a great deal of money. Her children had her charged with “using poison and sorcery, favoring her first born, denying the faith, blasphemy and animal sacrifices to the demons of the underworld” (“On Trial”). Alice escaped, was declared guilty, and was never seen again. Her maid was burned at the stake. Ireland mainly avoided the witch hunt craze, only having four casualties, but the belief in witches was unavoidable and spread throughout the country by settlers from countries more severely affected by witch hunts. I think the witch hunts that did occur in Ireland were very similar to the common witch hunts in Europe. Reputations and neighbor testimonials were usually the cause and women were typically the target. They differed in execution methods, though. Most of the convicted were hanged, while in other countries, most were strangled and burned. The sources I used gave me the information I needed, while also providing very interesting and more in-depth accounts of the trials. They included the stories of the specific trials that occurred in Ireland. Europe 24 August 2015 Witch trials were most common to German speaking countries and central Europe. It is thought that 75% of witches executed spoke a dialect of German and 86% of witches lived in the pre-1648 Holy Roman Empire (Ankarloo 16). Witch hunts, in general, occurred from 1400 to 1700. It is interesting to note that extreme witch hunts could occur in one village, while a neighboring village would be unaffected. Witch hunts often happened where central political authority was weak. “Many studies have discussed a rise in social and economic tensions or in the ambitions of civil and church authorities during the late medieval-early modern period. The new anxiety and aspirations have sometimes been identified as the key factors, if not the cause of the witch hunts” (Thurston 13). The estimated number of trials in Europe is 110,000. An estimated 60,000 were executed (Ankarloo 13). It is believed that 75% or more were women (Thurston 10). In Iceland, however, the majority of the accused were men. In the 120 trials, 20 were women. Of the 22 executed, only one was a woman (Thurston 84). The rest of Europe mainly had a majority of women being accused as witches. Sex, social background, behavior before arrest, and religion were huge factors taken into account during trials. The way people viewed the accused and their reputations had a large impact on the accusations and sentences. Neighbors’ testimonials were the main reason for accusation. In many countries, witches were also said to have had the “Devil’s Mark,” which was typically a mole, scar, birthmark, skin tag, blemish, or insensitive spot. In many countries, torture was common in trials to force confessions. Methods of torture include thumbscrews, leg vices, whipping stocks with iron spikes, scalding lime baths, prayer stools with sharp pegs, racks, and the strappado (“The Witch Trials”). Methods of execution include strangling and burning, burning at the stake, hanging, pressing, drowning, and beheading. Witch hunts in Europe were brutal.
The death toll is estimated to be in the tens of thousands. The accused were killed due to reputation and circumstance. Witchcraft was the infliction of harm with diabolic help. This means that there were problems in that time. People were just using women as scapegoats with witchcraft being the explanation as to why. In my opinion, witchcraft was a bit of the church’s fault. People were fearful of the Devil because of church teachings and therefore blamed misfortune on the works of the Devil. The ideas spread and evolved into vicious hunts of those suspected of working with the Devil. This was a terrible time in history and many women were persecuted against. Unfortunately, witch hunts are not over. They still occur, even to this day. For example, two people were beheaded in Saudi Arabia for “witchcraft and sorcery” in 2011 (“The Witch Trials”). The sources I used were very informative. I used a variety of sources to collect common knowledge about the trials in Europe. The books I read were very compelling and had useful
information.
Witchcraft burned tens of thousands of people in the Middle Ages. Just in Salem, Massachusetts, the citizens accused over one hundred and fifty people of witchcraft. As a result of these accusations, the court hanged twenty of these supposed witches. How much evidence was there to convict the supposed witches? Not enough to select death as the punishment. However, the court sentenced the accused to be hanged if they did not confess which causes another problem: why hang when one could confess to a lie and live? Indeed, the court system broke down during these witch trials.
More than 200 people were accused of the begin witches and of the two hundred, about twenty of them were killed. Eventually the people of Massachusetts realized that what they were doing was wrong. Many times the reason for someone to be accused of witchcraft as because if they were found guilty, then the court would receive the land that they had owned. If the court did not want the land, which they usually did not want, it was given to the person who had accused them of witchcraft.
The future is yet to come, but past is what we learn from. The present is what we have become. All the formal students (alumni) have work so hard to keep the Scotlandville family alive and going over the past years. Most do not look at the bigger picture and the history of the present, therefore, presented to you are the historical facts of Scotlandville as a whole for future awareness.
...in their family to become sick and possibly die. Many people were accused of witchcraft. More than twenty people died all together. One person was flattened to death because he was accused of witchcraft. When people were accused they had to go to jail, which the conditions were terrible. Then, they had to get a trial from the Court of Oyer and Terminer. After an accused witch had their trial, and went to jail, they would be carted off to Gallows Hill. This was the hill where all the witches were hanged. After a witch was hanged, later that night, their family would usually take the body down and give it a proper burial. The Salem Witchcraft Trials were one of the most terrible times in the history of America. As you can see the chaotic Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 were caused by superstition, the strict puritan lifestyle, religious beliefs, and hysteria.
First, the Puritan values and expectations were strict, and those who had defied their teachings would have been at a much higher chance of being accused as a witch. Second, economic struggles within Salem Town and Village had further divided the two, by crop failure and livestock death. Ultimately causing economic damages. Third, personal opinions and disputes had contributed to the trials and accusations. The law system was unfair during the trials, so when or if someone was accused the court would side with the accuser, unless of course, they were a witch themselves. In conclusion, the people who died and who were accused of witchcraft were not really witches, Salem and it’s inhabitants were under the influence of mass hysteria, personal beliefs and grudges that eventually became the chaos of the Salem witch hunts of
Once the accusations began, many innocent people in the community were taken away. They were then either forced to admit that they were witches, to free themselves from a public hanging, or deny that they were witches, saving their integrity, but subjecting themselves to an unjust public hanging.
Women started to accuse other women and they also accused a few men. Murrin details that this caused a challenge in the local judical system: “…a number of judicial irregularities, including an unusual heavy dependence by the courts on spectral evidence ( when an accused witch’s spirit or specter, supposedly tormented the victim) and the use of open confessions by the accused to escape punishment” (339). New England had a organized way of doing things when it came it witches, but once accusations arose in Salem they started a new system which led their town into hysteria. “The Salem witch panic stands out, in part, because the judicial execution of twenty people within three months became an event of enormous drama in a region that hanged comparatively few offenders and in a colony that hanged only five people for witchcraft before 1692 and only one before 1656”
Religious influence, the manipulation of fear, and the frightening aspects of witchcraft all are very influential to the popular belief of witchcraft during this time period. The popularity of witchcraft in this time period is important because it has shown how in the past when there is no logical explanation they would automatically blame Satan and say it was Satan’s doing. It also shows that history repeats itself because during the Cold War many individuals were accused of being communist even though there was no hard evidence proving this accusation; however, out of fear people will still be convicted, just like during the witch trials. Moreover, witch trials were not only influenced by many things but they have been influential; therefore, showing that they influenced things in our time
The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 were the largest outbreak of witch hunting in colonial New England up to that time. Although it was the largest outbreak, it was not something that was new. Witch-hunting had been a part of colonial New England since the formation of the colonies. Between the years 1648 to 1663, approximately 15 witches were executed. During the winter of 1692 to February of 1693, approximately 150 citizens were accused of being witches and about 25 of those died, either by hanging or while in custody. There is no one clear-cut answer to explain why this plague of accusations happened but rather several that must be examined and tied together. First, at the same time the trials took place, King William's War was raging in present day Maine between the colonists and the Wabanaki Indians with the help of the French. Within this war, many brutal massacres took place on both sides, leaving orphaned children due to the war that had endured very traumatic experiences. Second, many of the witch accusations were based on spectral evidence, most of which were encounters of the accused appearing before the victim and "hurting" them. There were rampant "visions" among the colonies' citizens, which can only be explained as hallucinations due to psychological or medical conditions by virtue of disease, or poisoning.
The European witch-hunts that took place from 1400 to 1800 were complete monstrosities of justice, but the brutality seemed to have been concentrated more in certain parts of Europe than other parts. This is especially true in the British Isles during the witch trials of 1590-1593, where Scotland, a country with a fourth of the population of England, experienced three times as many executions as them. Before these particular trials, England and Scotland were both only mildly involved in the hunts, but a Scottish witch’s confession in late 1590 unveiled a plot to kill King James VI by creating a storm to sink his ship. This confession led to the implementation of others and quickly festered into the widely publicized hunts throughout Scotland in the late 16th century.
When other people heard about all of what was going on in Salem they started turning on their neighbors thinking and mostly believing that these people were witches because of the way they would go about their everyday activities. During this time of panic and disorder, people started finding ways to torture these “witches” with many different tactics to see if they were real witches or if they were innocent. Most of the people involved in the horrible torture devices were killed because no human could stand these horrible tests
The Salem Witch Trials took place in the summer and into the fall of the year 1692, and during this dark time of American history, over 200 people had been accused of witchcraft and put in jail. Twenty of these accused were executed; nineteen of them were found guilty and were put to death by hanging. One refused to plead guilty, so the villagers tortured him by pressing him with large stones until he died. The Salem Witch Trials was an infamous, scary time period in American history that exhibited the amount of fear people had of the devil and the supernatural; the people of this time period accused, arrested, and executed many innocent people because of this fear, and there are several theories as to why the trials happened (Brooks).
This essay earned a 89/100. it was a lot of work considering the lines from macbeth for textual support.
The witchcraft trials became a significant event in Salem. There were 20 innocent people that died and many more accused. There is a debate on whether who was the main reason for the witchcraft trials and all the deaths of the accused. There are good arguments on about every side. Judge Danforth, Abigail Williams, John Proctor, Reverend Hale, Reverend Parris, Elizabeth Proctor and Mary Warren are all the main arguments for the blame. Personally, I believe that Abigail Williams is the main reason why the witchcraft trials came about and that so many people have died and were accused.
HIST303 Witch Hunting 1400-1700 Essay 1: Describe the nature of "witchcraft"and explain why it was threatening to Christianity. Prepared by: Sikiki Angela Lloyd Due: 4 April 2014 Student Number: 203139861 Image: The Witches' Sabbath.