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the history of witches essay
the increase in witchcraft accusations early modern europe
the history of witches essay
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The Encumbrance of Females Through Accusations of Witchcraft
Her feet dangle wildly beneath her, hoping to brush upon any stable object. Inches away, the platform beneath taunts her. All the blood is gushing to her head, at any moment she thinks it will explode. Her eyes are straining, searching for a friendly face in the crowd that has gathered around her, but there is not one. She sees the judge that convicted her, she sees the Inquisitor that accused her, and she sees her husband that once loved her. The last sight she sees is her husband bowing his head in shame and finally she gives in to the noose strangling her to death. She has no name; she represents one of the more than 100,000 women that were executed for their involvement in witchcraft (Clark).
Women were far more likely to be accused of being a witch than men were. Out of the 200,000 trials, 80% of the accused were female, and of the 100,000 executed, 85% were also female (Clark). This was do to the reason that society feared and resented independent women, therefore, this was an attempt at keeping the female gender at a status below that of males.
First of all, it is important to define what exactly a witch was:
Witches were no longer simply people who used magical power to get what they wanted, but people used by the devil to do what he wanted. Witchcraft was thus not a question of what one did, but of what on was, and proving that a witch had committed maleficia was no longer necessary for conviction. (Wiesner 265)
Because these witches were servants of the devil, they were thought to be the enemies of God and Christianity; they were the "ultimate heretics" (265). The "witch craze" era lasted for about 200 years, from 1560-1760 all over Euro...
... middle of paper ...
...man was accused of practicing witchcraft (Clark). This was an easy, and legal "disposal" of a potential problem to the traditions that had been established in society.
Gender equity has come a long way since the witch craze about 450 years ago, and it is good to know that just because a woman has an opinion, and stands up for herself does not mean that she will have the same fate as many of those women who were accused of witchcraft had.
Bibliography:
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Clark, Patricia. Class lecture. History 202. University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 26 September 2000.
Kramer, Heinrich and Jacob Sprenger. Malleus Maleficarum. Trans.
Montague Summers. 1928. New York: Dover,1971. 41-44,140-4.
Weisner, Merry E. Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe. 2nd
ed. Cambridge UP,2000.
Witchcraft was relentlessly thought as the work of the devil with only sinful and immoral intentions. Julio Caro Baroja explains in his book on Basque witchcraft that women who were out casted from society and unable to fulfill their womanly duties became witches as a way to compensate for her failed life. They were thought to be a threat to society as they dwindled in evil magic. This misunderstanding may have originated from the literary works of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, in their published book, “Malleus Maleficarum”. Accusations of being adulterous, liars and dealing with the devil materialized because of the...
The early modern era in Western Europe was a dangerous place for women with the rise of so called “witches” populating towns and country sides. With the peak of these witch trials happening between 1560 and 1640 in England (the making of the west 499). This caused the people of Europe to live in fear of the devil and his counterparts on earth. Over 80 percent of victims of these witch trials were women and thousands upon thousands of trials taking place all across Europe and the North American Colonies at the time as well (motw 500). Seeing that women are mostly accused of witches, it raises the questions as to why that is. Upon examining 2 specific cases in this essay, those being of Walpurga Hausmannin from Dillingen, Germany and Francatte Camont from Lorraine, France; one can see that both these cases are very similar in many aspects despite the fact that both these women were trialed in different countries in Western Europe. In this essay, the reader will explore the motivations, visions and the targets of these witch trials with specific evidence and focus on the trials of both Walpurga and Francatte. The reader will also be able see connections between both trials throughout as well.
The witch hunts in early modern Europe were extensive and far reaching. Christina Larner, a sociology professor at the University of Glasgow and an influential witchcraft historian provides valuable insight into the witch trials in early modern Europe in her article 'Was Witch-Hunting Woman-Hunting?'. Larner writes that witchcraft was not sex-specific, although it was sex-related (Larner, 2002). It cannot be denied that gender plays a tremendous role in the witch hunts in early modern Europe, with females accounting for an estimated 80 percent of those accused (Larner, 2002). However, it would be negligent to pay no heed to the remaining 20 percent, representing alleged male witches (Larner, 2002). The legal definition of a witch in this time, encompassed both females and males (Levack, 1987). This essay will explore the various fundamental reasons for this gender discrepancy and highlight particular cases of witchcraft allegations against both women and men. These reasons arise from several fundamental pieces of literature that depict the stereotypical witch as female. These works are misogynistic and display women as morally inferior to men and highly vulnerable to temptations from demons (Levack, 1987). This idea is blatantly outlined in the text of the 'Malleus Maleficarum' written by James Sprenger and Henry Kramer in the late fifteenth century. This book is used as the basis for many of the witch trials in early modern Europe (Levack, 1987). The text describes women as sexually submissive creatures and while remarking that all witchcraft is derived from intense sexual lust, a women is thus a prime candidate for witchcraft (Sprenger & Kramer, 1487). In this time period, men are seen as powerful and in control and thus rarely...
Witchcraft had always fascinated many people and been a very controversial topic in North America during (seventeenth) 17th century. Many People believe that witchcraft implies the ability to injure or using supernatural power to harm others. People believed that a witch represents dark side of female present and were more likely to embrace witchcraft than men. There are still real witches among us in the Utah whom believe that witchcraft is the oldest religion dealing with the occult. However the popular conception of a witch has not changed at least since the seventeenth century; they still caused panic, fear and variety of other emotions in people…………………….
... 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.
Whenever we think of witches, we think of shriveled up ladies who wear pointy hats with a big black drape over her. But in England, in the Renaissance era, that is not always how they were distinguished out among the crowd. Many citizens were put on trial and even killed if they were accused of being witches. Many times, these people were falsely accused and therefore murdered wrongfully. Witchcraft was a problem starting around the mid-1400’s and influenced many writers such as Shakespeare, and although it is not a big problem in today’s society, looking back at how this affected the renaissance era in England is something that had a huge impact on their society.
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.
...em Witchcraft Hysteria is that the women were trying to stand out and tried to prove social equality because of social and attention seeking. So basically, they wanted to be noticed. I feel the search for power is a common aspect of the human nature because everyone wants more than others and that is what brings dissatisfaction of what we have. Also, coming from my cultures point of view which is highly and greatly superstitious a culture, we know that every evil has consequences so therefore, I take it to be that the girls knew that witches would face several consequences. Moving further, the counter point in Laurie Winn Carlson's article has no substantial evidence to support her theory. Furthermore, they wanted to seek the power and respect they never had the opportunity of having and wanted to benefit from it. This argument supported by sociologist Dodd Bogart.
The witch-hunt that blazed a trail across Europe (and indeed the world) over the 15th to 18th centuries stripped women of much of the power they had historically held. Not 100% of all accused Witches were female but 75% to 90% of accused witches in Europe were in fact women (Levack, 1987, p.124).
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.
According to the history channel there was a story where three young women were accused of witchcraft. They were brought in front of the magistrates Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne who questioned them. on the day of the trial the accusers were screaming and withering in pain yet two of the three withes pled not guilty . While the last women pled guilty likely thinking that she would save herself from conviction by ratting out the other people. This brought on hysteria that spread through the community and on to the rest of Massachusetts. Soon the witch accusations started to overwhelm the local justice system so their was no focus on the other crimes that occurred in the towns. In May of 1962 the new appoin...
People during these time periods were very superstitious, and blamed unfortunate occurrences on witchcraft because it was easier and more convenient to explain. A few examples were poor crops, death of a child, and failing businesses. Additionally, people blamed cases of the bubonic plague on witches, because there was not a cure and nobody could
For many centuries to the present day, Christians have lived in fear of witches. They were known as to be the devils child who only practiced black magic and thought of as the Christians “persecution”. Witches have been known to mankind since the 1200’s. Throughout the 1400’s, the examination of witches was more focus and moved from the Jews. In the church’s law, it was stated that the belief of existence and practices of witchcraft was “heresy”. Because of what the Christians believed, churches would then torture and hunt down anyone who they thought were witches and killed the many women and only a few of the men. They even made them make the confession of flying through the midnight sky, being in love with the devil himself, practicing black magic and even turning into animals.
To a time period where being accused of witchcraft essentially meant you were sentenced to death. The time period I am referring to is between the years of 1542-1735, during this period of English history witchcraft was a statutory crime punishable by death. This time period is responsible for many of the misconceptions and misunderstandings we as a society have about witches, witchcraft and polypharmakas. The reason practicing witchcraft became a crime is a discussion for another paper, but what one should take away from this time period is that for almost two hundred years the practice of witchcraft was against the law and punishable by death. This means for two hundred years this very harsh legislation towards witches and witchcraft put them in the same category as killers, and thieves. This time period and very harsh legislation towards witches and witchcraft is heavily responsible for societies misunderstanding of the practice of witchcraft.
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.