The Rise of the Witchcraft Craze in 17th Century Britain

The Rise of the Witchcraft Craze in 17th Century Britain

Accusations of witchcraft date back to 900 AD, but killing following

accusation reached a fever pitch in the late 16th century Europe, and

late 17th century Britain. Germany and Scotland were the areas that

were most heavily purged, with an estimated 4000 witches dying in

Scotland and 26 000 dying in Germany (Gibbons). The Inquisition in

Britain happened against a backdrop of new ideas competing with

established traditions which created a sense of confusion and

religious hysteria amongst the general population. A number of

theories have developed from historians as to what sparked the

witchcraft craze; ideas of the Reformation and rise of Puritanism have

been published alongside beliefs of the witch hunt being a

'gendercide' (Katz).

The transformation of the established church in Britain alongside the

rise of Puritanism created a sense of disorder and fear. The church

was an integral part of the British society in the 17th century, and

the Reformation which featured the split of the Catholic church under

Henry VIII provoked feelings of uncertainty amongst the general

population. The weakness of the established church had been revealed,

generating disunity among the highly conservative and religious

population. Nachman Ben-Yehuda describes the effect of this

transformation in relation to the witchcraze: "Where the Catholic

Church was weakest {they} experienced a virulent witch craze. Where

the Catholic Church was strong hardly any witch craze occurred". This

correlates to the figures for Italy, Spain and Portugal, countries

where the church was strong, having much lower fi...

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... ignorant and "religiously indoctrinated" public perhaps had been more

stable, the craze would never have reached the level it did.

Identification of witchcraft with Hopkins and Stearne personalised the

witch hunt, and most of the population used the charges of sorcery as

a way of ridding their communities of evil, whether to create a

Puritan 'land of saints' or as a scapegoat to explain the frightening

scientific and religious reforms. The craze was allowed to develop

because of ignorance and fear, but it is certain that the reason it

started was religion. Because of the Papal Bull of 1484, the

religiously commissioned "Malleus Maleficorum", Hopkins and Stearne's

puritan fundamentalism and the general indoctrination of religion into

society legitimised the hunt in a time of religious transformation and

uncertainty.