When someone thinks of a witch, usually he or she thinks about Halloween or the movie The Wizard of Oz. However, during the 16th and 17th century, witches were feared by many. The accusations of witches during this time is the highest reported, more than 500,000 people were tried and more than 100,000 were executed. Many people of the modern era know and believe that witches are not real. This was not the case in the beginning of the 16th century to the end of the 17th century. Individuals were prosecuted as witches because people wanted money and to clean up their community, they were women, and the communities needed a scapegoat for their misfortune.
Firstly, the trying of people accused of witchcraft and their persecution made the local
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governors and officials wealthy. Many people during this time knew that if accused of witchcraft, it was almost impossible to get an innocent verdict. According to Johannes Junius, those who "[came] into the witch prison must become a witch or be tortured until he invents something out of his head and –God pity him—bethinks him of something…" This quote is very significant because it shows that even if they were innocent, the accused would be tortured into confessing that he or she was a witch. This made people hire lawyers in order to try to save their own lives because everyone knew that once one was in a witch prison, there was no getting out alive. According to Formicarius Nider of Augsburg, "this movement was promoted by many in office, who hoped for wealth from the persecution." Lawyers would try and "fight" for their client's freedom and most likely charged a handsome sum for doing so. Even though those accused may have had a lot of faith and trust in the lawyers they hired, many lawyers knew that there was nothing that they could do. Formicarius Nider of Augsburg stated that "The executioner rode a blooded horse, like a noble of the court, and went clad in gold and silver; his wife vied with noble dames in the richness of her array. The children of those convicted and punished were sent into exile; their goods were confiscated." Many things are brought into perspective from this quote. The executioner wore gold and silver while he was riding his blooded horse which also gives the reader the impression that the more he executed, the more the executioner made. Another horrible perspective brought into light by this quote is the simple fact that when mothers and fathers were killed, all of the possessions they had, no matter how little, were taken from their children and then they were banished. This not only indicates that the communities were obsessed with money but also that they may have been trying to purify their community. According to the statistics, more than half of the men accused and persecuted of witchcraft worked menial jobs and were part of the lower class. Very few men of higher social classes were accused of witchcraft. This is probably because those of higher social class were respected and probably feared because they had so much money. Those of the lower class worked hard but were most likely seen as rubbish. Even if one spouse had survived from his or her significant other being executed, he or she would still have nothing because the local officials would have taken it and they were most likely exiled. This shows the reader that not only were the local officials and governors trying to get wealthy from the persecutions and executions of those accused of being witches but that they were also trying to rid their community of the lower class. Moreover, if a family goes to the store to purchase Halloween costumes, the most common choice for the woman is the witch costume and this could be related to the past. During the 16th and 17th century, many of those persecuted and executed for being witches or associated with witchcraft were women. According to Heinrich Kramer, "a Women, which know no moderation in goodness or vice; and when they exceed the bounds of their condition they reach the greatest heights and the lowest depths of goodness and vice. When they are governed by a good spirit, they are most excellent a virtue; but when they are governed by an evil spirit, they indulge in the worst possible vices…." During this time, many women were under the watchful eye and guidance of their husbands. Their husbands introduced them to faith and under faith, women stayed pure and were an amazing benefit to their husbands as well as the community. However, at this time, it was believed that women became horrible assets once they had been taken over by an evil spirit; many people, during this time as well as in the present, refer this evil as the devil. Heinrich Kramer stated that "women are naturally more impressionable, and more ready to receive the influence of a disembodied spirit." This means that many people believed that women were witches because they were more susceptible to evil and more willing to receive its influence. This could mean that women who were acting out against their husbands or the community were most likely seen as witches because they had been seduced by the devil and were now acting out his evil schemes instead of what society deemed as acceptable behavior. Many women were prosecuted as witches for the simple fact that they were women and may have been acting against their husbands or in ways that the community saw as inappropriate because they have been taken over by the devil. Finally, many people had been persecuted as witches because witches were “everywhere” and it was easy to blame them for the mishaps and problems that the community may have had during the time.
Communities during the 16th and 17th century were very religious and believed wholeheartedly in the scripture. According to John Calvin, "Scripture makes known that there are not one, not two, nor a few foes, but great armies, which wage war against us." This means that the communities were aware that there were enemies among them which made citizens paranoid. They blamed these foes for all of the bad things that were happening in the community. Martin Luther explains that "Scorers and witches are the Devil's whores who steal milk, raise storms, ride on goats or broomsticks, lame or maim people, torture babies in their cradles, change beings into different shapes so that a human being seems to be a cow or an ox, and force people into love and immortality." Martin Luther was extremely influential during this time so when he stated this, it made his believers have faith that witches and sorcerers were responsible for all of the mishaps that plagued the community. Everything from stealing, to sickness, to natural disasters were being blamed on witchcraft and this made citizens accuse more people of witchcraft. Their reasoning may have been as simple as this, if the witches were causing all of these disasters and circumstances, then killing them would return their lives and communities …show more content…
back to the peaceful state it used to be in. Not only were people being accused of being witches, but these accusations could have made others believe that they were witches as well. Thomas Decker and John Ford wrote a poem and stated "this they enforce upon me; and in part make me to credit it" in it. People who accused others of being witches forced their opinions on the accused and tried to make them admit that they were witches even if they were not. Bridget Bishop was accused of being a witch during 1692. During her testimony, the judge asked her "Why do you seem to act witchcraft before us, by the motion of your body, which seems to have influence upon the afflicted." This may have been due to the simple fact that Ms. Bishop was nervous but the judge had already made up his mind during her trial and testimony that she was a witch. Even as Ms. Bishop was being examined by the magistrate, "the afflicted girls behaved as if they were tortured. It seemed that by casting her eye upon them, Bishop could strike them down into fits." The young girls were so afraid of being put under a spell by her eyes, that they would do anything in order to avoid them; the judge and others saw this as witchcraft instead of the coincidence and fear of the young girls that it truly was. Even art during this time depicted witches in ways that communities all over the world saw them. One image is of the devil carrying the witch to hell. This image shows that witches are the works of the devil and killing them is the best way to be rid of them and send them back to the devil. The second image is of several witches causing a hailstorm. This just emphasizes the beliefs of Martin Luther, that witches caused all of the mishaps that plagued the region. The next image is of witches kissing the anus of the devil. This may not be a literal picture but emphasizes that witches are dirty and disgusting people that most likely have an intimate relationship with the devil. The final image is of witches making a brew or stew. The interpretation of this image is that witches are seen as creative and resourceful, especially when it comes to creating ways to hurt others. All of these resources and quotes point to the idea that witches are responsible for all of the bad things that happen to communities and to citizens and this is the reason that they were executed. Executing them would return everything back to the way it was supposed to be. To many children, dressing up as a witch means candy and Halloween fun.
However, during the 16th and 17th century, being a witch was not a good or fun experience. Being a witch, or accused of being one, ended up in the execution of the accused. Many individuals were accused of witchcraft and executed because local officials and governors wanted to get wealthy as well as to clean up their community, they were women, and because the communities needed a scapegoat for all of the negative things that were happening at the time. Due to the fact that the communities during this time were so religious, the scripture may have been a major reason that so many people believed in witches and why a number of accusations, as well as executions, went up. There is little to no doubt that almost all of those executed were innocent of witchcraft even if they had been guilty of something else such as robbery or
adultery.
Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft is a concise, 231 page informational text by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum. Published in 1974, it explores the economic and social conditions present in the Salem village during the 1600s that led to the hysteria surrounding witchcraft. Multiple graphs and illustrations are present, as well as an average sized font, an abundance of footnotes typically on the left page, and a prominent voice from the authors. The book was written to serve as a more comprehensive informational piece on the Salem witch trials due to the authors finding other pieces written about the same topic to be inaccurate. Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum wanted to create something that utilized
In order to understand the outbreak of the witchcraft hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, authors of Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft, explore the social and economic divisions and tensions within Salem and the surrounding communities. Both Boyer and Nissenbaum have a strong background in history. Paul Boyer (1935-2012) was the Merle Curti Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as well as a cultural and intellectual historian who authored several other books. Stephen Nissenbaum was a Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst who authored several other books as well. In Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of
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.
Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft explores and breaks down the events that took place in the small village of Salem in 1692. Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, authors of Salem Possessed, use primary sources, both published and unpublished, to tell the crazy and eventful history of Salem. They go into great detail in why some folks were accused of being Witches, the arrests and the so popular Salem Witch Trials. The main reason for this book was to try and find out what caused the terrible outbreak of events that happened in Salem and they do so by looking into the History and Social life in the famed Salem Village. The history of Witchcraft in Salem is a well-known story from High School on and this book goes in depth about why things happened the way they did and how the social aspect played a big role is the story.
Upon Googling “witch” almost all the images are of women riding on broomsticks. This is today’s pop culture view of witches, however it has it’s roots in Early Modern stereotypes of witchcraft. It was probably easy to find the old, ugly hag down the street and accuse her of being a witch, but there is more to the story. In the case of Françette Camont, the stereotype of witches helped to put suspicion on her, however she wasn’t convicted because of the stereotypes that applied to her, but rather it was personal feelings toward her and a needed catalyst for the trial to start that led to her execution and the execution of many other witches.
Most of the accusations were made against innocent people for reasons of economic conditions, teenage boredom, and personal jealousies. Of course there was also the fact that people weren’t aware of the certain mental illnesses caused by their environment. For example the one of the first people to be accused of witchcraft was a young girl named Betty Paris who one day became very ill with convulsive erogtism. Ergot is a fungus that invades growing kernels of rye, so it is very likely that she got sick from simply eating bread. Since people were scientifically unable to explain her sudden seizures and hallucinations she was accused of witchcraft.
They also were forced into admission of guilt by torture, fear, or the hope for lighter punishment. “Most witches work by night, are capable of covering long distances very rapidly, temporarily assume an animal form and have the ability to fly.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Throughout the late 17th century and into the early 18th century witchcraft prosecutions had been declining. This trend was the result of a multitude of social developments which altered the mentality of society. One of the predominant factors in this decline was the Scientific Revolution, the most important effect of these advances was making society question concepts of witchcraft. Along with this new mental outlook, we see that the Reformation had a similar effect on social opinion concerning witchcraft and magic. These two developments changed societies view on the occult and this led to a wider scepticism concerning witchcraft, this favoured those who had been accused and therefore caused a decline in prosecutions. Beyond the two trends mentioned however, it is important to consider judicial reforms and an improved socio-economic situation which reduced tensions within society. These two changes were certainly not as influential as the Scientific Revolution and the Reformation but heavily altered the circumstances in which accusations were normally made. With the altered social attitudes and mental outlook these changes in living situations all contributed to bring about the decline in witchcraft prosecutions.
During the time of the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692, more than twenty people died an innocent death. All of those innocent people were accused of one thing, witchcraft. During 1692, in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts many terrible events happened. A group of Puritans lived in Salem during this time. They had come from England, where they were prosecuted because of their religious beliefs. They chose to come live in America and choose their own way to live. They were very strict people, who did not like to act different from others. They were also very simple people who devoted most of their lives to God. Men hunted for food and were ministers. Women worked at home doing chores like sewing, cooking, cleaning, and making clothes. The Puritans were also very superstitious. They believed that the devil would cause people to do bad things on earth by using the people who worshiped him. Witches sent out their specters and harmed others. Puritans believed by putting heavy chains on a witch, that it would hold down their specter. Puritans also believed that by hanging a witch, all the people the witch cast a spell on would be healed. Hysteria took over the town and caused them to believe that their neighbors were practicing witchcraft. If there was a wind storm and a fence was knocked down, people believed that their neighbors used witchcraft to do it. Everyone from ordinary people to the governor’s wife was accused of witchcraft. Even a pregnant woman and the most perfect puritan woman were accused. No one in the small town was safe. As one can see, the chaotic Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 were caused by superstition, the strict puritan lifestyle, religious beliefs, and hysteria.
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
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.
The term witchcraft is defines as the practice of magic intended to influence nature. It is believed that only people associated with the devil can perform such acts. The Salem Witch Trials was much more than just America’s history, it’s also part of the history of women. The story of witchcraft is first and foremost the story of women. Especially in its western life, Karlsen (1989) noted that “witchcraft challenges us with ideas about women, with fears about women, with the place of women in society and with women themselves”. Witchcraft also confronts us too with violence against women. Even through some men were executed as witches during the witch hunts, the numbers were far less then women. Witches were generally thought to be women and most of those who were accused and executed for being witches were women. Why were women there so many women accused of witchcraft compared to men? Were woman accused of witchcraft because men thought it was a way to control these women? It all happened in 1692, in an era where women were expected to behave a certain way, and women were punished if they threatened what was considered the right way of life. The emphasis of this paper is the explanation of Salem proceedings in view of the role and the position of women in Colonial America.
The epoch of Medieval European history concerning the vast and complicated witch hunts spanning from 1450 to 1750 is demonstrative of the socioeconomic, religious, and cultural changes that were occurring within a population that was unprepared for the reconstruction of society. Though numerous conclusions concerning the witch trials, why they occurred, and who was prosecuted have been founded within agreement there remains interpretations that expand on the central beliefs. Through examining multiple arguments a greater understanding of this period can be observed as there remains a staggering amount of catalysts and consequences that emerged. In the pursuit of a greater understanding three different interpretations will be presented. These interpretations which involve Brian Levack’s “The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe,” Eric Boss’s “Syphilis, Misogyny, and Witchcraft in 16th-Century Europe,” and Nachman Ben-Yehuda’s “The European Witch Craze of the 14th to 17th centuries: A Sociologist’s Perspective,” share various opinions while developing their own theories. The comparison of these observations will focus upon why the witch trials occurred when they did, why did they stop when they did, why did the witch trials occur when they did, and who was persecuted and who was responsible for the identification and punishing of witches.
What do you think when someone calls someone a witch? What comes to mind? Do you think of the movie, ‘Hocus Pocus’ or do you think of the black pointed hats and the long black, slit ended dresses? What about witchcraft? Does the term “Devil worshiper” ever cross your mind? Do you think of potions and spells? For many, many generations, we have underestimated what the true meaning of a witch and what witchcraft really is. What is the history that hides behind it? Witches and witchcraft have been in our history since the ancient times. There is a little bit more than the ghost stories told on Halloween, the movies shown on TV and dressing up on Halloween.
Witchcraft persecution peaked in intensity between 1560 and 1630 however the large scale witch hysteria began in the 14th century, at the end of the Middle Ages and were most intense during the Renaissance and continued until the 18th century, an era often referred to as the Enlightenment or Age of Reason. Representation of witches, nay, representation in general is a political issue. Without the power ot define the female voice and participate in decisions that affect women -similar to other marginalised groups in society- will be subject to the definitions and decisions of those in power. In this context, the power base lay with men. It can be said that the oppression of women may not have been deliberate, it is merely a common sense approach to the natural order of things: women have babies, women are weak, women are dispensable. However the natural order of things, the social constructs reflect the enduring success of patriarchal ideology. As such, ideology is a powerful source of inequality as well as a rationalisation of it. This essay will examine the nature of witchcraft and why it was threatening to Christianity.