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European witch hunts in the 1600s
Witch hunts in the middle ages
Witch hunts in the middle ages
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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.
Concerning why the witch hunts occurred when they did the agreed upon opinion by all three author’s is the social unrest and uncertainty felt due to the Protestant Reformation and the schism it created amongst the populace, the effects of recovering from plague and war, and the enforced patriarchal structure of a society that was changing. It was during the Reformation that Christian...
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...nt of the world with a broader awareness and accepting of the world without a “reliance upon supernatural explanations...and encouraged...scientific manner,”8 abolishing the need for scapegoats. A view that both Levack and Ben-Yehuda share is the result of religious changes. There emerged a new religious tolerance attributed by Ben-Yehuda to the Peace of Westphalia, stating that
“once stability was achieved and religious pluralism accepted, the witch-hunts weakened, finally disappearing altogether.”9 Though Boss does not exclusively establish a view it can be inferred through the understanding of disease and medicine, the end of persecution due to death and illness would cease.
Works Cited
1 Nachman Ben-Yehuda The European Witch Craze of the 14th to 17th Centuries: A Sociologist’s Perspective. The University of Chicago, 1980. 15. 2 Levack! 123.3 Levack 164.
There are many things in history in which may relate to one another but have happened in different times and eras. From the begging of Jamestown, to the Salem Witch Trials in Salem, Mass., all things in history have a relation. In this essay, we will be linking Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformation, the Salem Witch Trials, the Puritans, and the term 'ethnocentrism '. While these may seem like they will not connect with each other, but there is always a way to colligate these events in history.
... see things more rationally led to a mechanical philosophy which contradicted the major concepts concerning witchcraft. It is therefore inevitable that the developments throughout the period led to a decline in witchcraft as they largely focused on increasing awareness throughout society and thus leading to wide spread questioning about magic and witchcraft. This questioning created a situation in which witchcraft prosecutions were much rarer and took much longer to reach. Finally, therefore the changes in attitudes across the period were the most important consequence of the factors described and led to the decline in witchcraft prosecutions.
The next major mass hysteria in the society of the United States today and in Salem would be Religion. The difference between religion in Salem and the United States would be that in Salem they are all one religion, but in the United States we have a bunch of different religions. To compare the religion in the United States and in Salem would be that we the people in the United States believe in Christianity and in Salem the people have a...
One of such factor was to restore moral balance and insecurities in the society. The two notorious witch hunters in the book John Stearne and Matthew Hopkins are presented hunting witches in East Anglian mainly through interrogating the suspects. The main method that is used in the interrogation is torture and some suspects mainly the elderly women confess of being witches. Some of them are killed as an act of removing these evil acts from the society. Generally, witches are associated with evil acts in the society and therefore them being wiped from the society was a sign of ensuring morals are maintained in the in the society and eliminating insecurity issues related to witches. Another short term factor that led to witch hunt was to ensure that the society lived and uphold Christians’ values. The witch hunters used the teachings of the Bible in hunting the witches with the objective of hunting them out from the society. This was aimed at wiping out evil acts from the society and ensuring the people lived the Christian
Author Hartmut Lehmann attributes much of the witchcraft crazes in Germany to the attempted restoration of religious harmony within the world. The dominant view of the time, held by both the Catholics and newly reformed Protestants of Germany, was that God brought an equilibrium and order to the world, diminishing the evils of the world and bringing a balanced order. This harmony brought by God also extended to peasant interpretations of life, as “farmers had been given the means to produce enough food, artisans the ability to produce all other necessary goods, and merchants the capability to provide everyone with what he or she needed.” The bliss of the mid 16th century and the apparent bounty God provided to all ended, following a series of cold winters, poor harvests, and the resulting famines beginning in the 1570s. The ‘mini ice-age’ greatly affected agricultural productivity, first in mountainous areas where agricultural productivity was already in lower, but eventually came to affect even the most productive of lands within Germany. Thus, a correlation can be created between the decrease in crop production which led to the decrease in economic condition of peasantry, and the rise of witch trials in 16th and 17th century Germany. Harsh winters forced common folk and intellectuals to develop new ways of
Hinds, Maurene J. Witchcraft on Trial: From the Salem Witch Hunts to the Crucible. Library ed. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2009. Print.
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 notorious witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts occurred from June through September. It is a brief, but turbulent period in history and the causes of the trials have long been a source of discussion among historians. Many try to explain or rationalize the bizarre happenings of the witch hunts and the causes that contributed to them. To understand the trials and how they came to be, we must first examine the ideals and views of the people surrounding the events. Although religious beliefs were the most influential factor, socioeconomic tensions, and ergot poisoning are also strongly supported theories. A combination of motives seems the most rational explanation of the frenzy that followed the illness of the two girls. This paper looks closely at the some of the possible causes of one of the most notable occurrences in history.
Although witch trials were not uncommon in Puritanical New England, none had reached such epidemic proportions as Salem. In 1691 the mass hysteria began when several young girls dabbled in witchcraft and began acting strange. When villagers took notice the girls were seriously questioned and so they began naming people, mainly woman, who had supposedly bewitched them (Boyer, p66). Several other who had been accused were woman displayed ‘unfeminine’ behavior and those who
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.
John M. Murrin’s essay Coming to Terms with the Salem Witch Trials helps detail the events of these trials and explains why they might have occurred. The witch trials happened during a “particularly turbulent time in the history of colonial Massachusetts and the early modern atlantic world” (Murrin, 339). Salem came to be in 1629 and less than seventy years later found itself in a mess of witch craft.
The book begins with a brief history of the colonial witchcraft. Each Chapter is structured with an orientation, presentation of evidence, and her conclusion. A good example of her structure is in chapter two on the demographics of witchcraft; here she summarizes the importance of age and marital status in witchcraft accusations. Following this she provides a good transition into chapter three in the final sentence of chapter two, “A closer look of the material conditions and behavior of acc...
The Salem Trials took place between the 10th of June and the 22nd of 1692 and in this time nineteen people. In addition to this one man was pressed to death and over 150 people where sent to jail where four adult and one infant died. Although when compared to other witch-hunts in the Western world, it was ‘a small incident in the history of a great superstition,’ but has never lost its grip on our imagination’ . It’s because of this that over the last three centuries many historians have analysed the remaining records of the trials in order to work out what the causes and events were that led to them.
Sidky, H. Witchcraft, lycanthropy, drugs, and disease: an anthropological study of the European witch-hunts. New York: Peter Lang Publishing Inc., 1997.
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.