The Salem witch trials began with the accusation of people in Salem of being witches. But the concept of witchcraft started far before these trials and false accusations occurred. In the early Christian centuries, the church was relatively tolerant of magical practices. Those who were proved to have engaged in witchcraft were required only to do penance. But in the late Middle Ages (13th century to 14th century) opposition to alleged witchcraft hardened as a result of the growing belief that all magic and miracles that did not come unambiguously from God came from the Devil and were therefore manifestations of evil. Those who practiced simple sorcery, such as village wise women, were increasingly regarded as practitioners of diabolical witchcraft. They came to be viewed as individuals in league with Satan. Nearly all those who fell under suspicion of witchcraft were women, evidently regarded by witch-hunters as especially vulnerable to the Devil’s blandishments. A lurid picture of the activities of witches emerged in the popular mind, including covens, or gatherings over which Satan presided; pacts with the Devil; flying broomsticks; and animal accomplices, or familiars. Although a few of these elements may represent leftovers of pre-Christian religion, the old religion probably did not persist in any organized form beyond the 14th century. The popular image of witchcraft, perhaps inspired by features of occultism or ceremonial magic as well as by theology concerning the Devil and his works of darkness, was given shape by the inflamed imagination of inquisitors and was confirmed by statements obtained under torture. The late medieval and early modern picture of diabolical witchcraft can be attributed to several causes. First, the church’s experience with such dissident religious movements as the Albigenses and Cathari, who believed in a radical dualism of good and evil, led to the belief that certain people had allied themselves with Satan.
As a result of confrontations with such heresy, the Inquisition was established by a series of papal decrees between 1227 and 1235. Pope Innocent IV authorized the use of torture in 1252, and Pope Alexander IV gave the Inquisition authority over all cases of sorcery involving heresy, although local courts carried out most actual prosecution of witches. At the same time, other developments created a climate in which alle...
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...urse was accused as well, but found not guilty in the trial. Over 40 friends and neighbors testified in her favor, telling of her good faith and character. But the verdict from the jury caused such an outcry of fear, that the jury was asked to re-consider and she was then found guilty and hung. Mary Esty, Rebecca Nurses sister was also accused of being a witch, but she argued her case so well and in such a convincing manner, that the girls relented and she was found not guilty. She was released, a first in the witch-trials, but before long she was arrested once again on the claim that the girls had been haunted by her ghost. She was convicted and hung on September 22, 1692. Although all of the "witches" were hung, a certain man named Giles Cory was killed in a traditional English manner. He was pressed, pressing was where they would place heavy stones on a person till they died. Cory died two days later, crushed. 25 lives were taken during these Salem trials. 19 "witches" were hung at Gallows hill. One was tortured to death by pressing. And five others died in prison, including an infant. The Salem witch trials were mainly caused by these two girls imagination.
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Show MoreWomen 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”
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).
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
On February 29, 1692, Tituba, Sarah Osborne, and Sarah Good were accused of The Devil’s Magic by the group of girls (Linder). Women were thought to have been more likely to be a witch, because women were considered lustful towards the Devil by nature (Blumberg). Tituba confes...
More than a few centuries ago, many practicing Christians, and those of other religions, had a sturdy belief that the Devil could give certain people recognized as witches the control to mischief others in return for their loyalty. A "witchcraft craze" rippled through Europe from the 1300s to the end of the 1600s. Tens of thousands of thought to be witches (mostly women) were executed. Nonetheless the Salem trials came on just as the European obsession was winding down, resident circumstances explain their onset. In 1689, English rulers William and Mary started a war with France in the American colonies, known as King William's War to colonists; it wasted regions of upstate New York, Nova Scotia and Queb...
The Salem Witch Trials began during the spring of 1692 in Salem Village (now Danvers), Massachusetts (Salem Witch Trials, 2014). There were over two hundred people accused of practicing witch craft and nineteen were executed for it. Religion was extremely important to the Puritans, regardless of age, and individual differences were frowned upon (Source 4). Puritans were expected to live by a strict moral code. They believed that all sins deserved a punishment and that if something bad happened such as their neighbor having a sick child or a failed crop, they did not help because it was God’s will. It is important to note, that at this time, the Puritans believed that the Devil gave weak people special, evil powers if they pledged their loyalty to him. These people were called witches (Blumberg, 2007).
...g in over twenty deaths, hangings and sacrifices. In a time where the fear of God was stronger than the fear of death, women and superstition were the victims. The thought process of people in Puritan New England is not as acceptable as it is now. Psychologists have determined that the symptoms expressed by victims of witchcraft match the symptoms commonly shown by one who suffers from Bolus Hystericus or a hysteria. Most of the judges and accusers were thought to have had Bolus Hystericus which is part of the reason why it got so out of hand. Beyond psychology the trials had other contributing factors. The Salem Witch Trials, fueled by fear and influenced by hardship of Puritan life and deep religious integration led to mass hysteria in the New England Colonies in 1692. The Puritans of New England were lucky they never found a real witch, real witches don’t burn.
In 1962 everything went wrong when two girls became very ill. The Puritans were becoming very worried they had very strong belief in god and they feared the devil. A couple of weeks later and the girls went to see a doctor to see if they could figure out why they were so ill. The doctor said that they had to be under an evil hand. So the Puritans believed that all witches could use the devils power to harm other people. Since they thought all witches had power to harm other people they went around and found people that they thought or they were doing witchcraft. They would blame other people for doing witchcraft and they wouldn't even be doing it. They had said that if you wrote in the devils book you have the power. These girls were asked by many people if they had came in contact with the devil. If you were accused of doing witchcraft you had to go to trial. If you don't confess that you have done or you do witchcraft you will be hung. At the end of May there were more than 60 people that were accused of doing witchcraft. The Salem Witch Trials was the biggest American witch hunt ever. There were 19 people that were killed and hung as witches. The witch hunt started in a small farming community of Salem. At one point there was 150 people in prison for being accused. There was one man that was pressed to death with stones because he didn't confess. In New England there were 16 people hung before 1962. Still in 1963 one year later there were still many people in prison waiting for their trial. They believe that the witchcraft had came from New England. The Salem Witch Trials are a series of hearings and prosecutions of people being accused of witchcraft. Many of the people that were accused of witchcraft was in Colonial Massachuse...
The Inquisition founded in 1199 is a tribunal from the Christian faith of the Holy office to expose and punish religious unorthodoxy. ?From that time until its decline in the late 1600?s and the early 1700?s, the number of executions for witchcraft reached an appalling total of 100,000? (Hart, pg. 63). These executions from France, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe have a record number of considerable injustice, prejudice and cruelty. The Inquisition and the witch trials were all part of a time when the panic from the Holy Church was committing a harsh extreme to the cleansings of anything unorthodox. Educated people like lawyers, doctors, bishops, and scholars all participated in witch hunt. ?Some Historians have shown that the movement as a whole was a revival of the pagan superstition and cult whose origin lay in the ancient world, which cause a rebirth of learning? (Hart, pg. 65). The witch paranoia was an old chapter in history reborn during the 12 century causing the Great Witch Panic. The Christian churc...
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 WITCH-HUNT IN MODERN EUROPE By: Brian Levack The Witch-Hunt in Modern Europe by Brian Levack proved to be an interesting as well as insightful look at the intriguing world of the European practice of witchcraft and witch-hunts. The book offers a solid, reasonable interpretation of the accusation, prosecution, and execution for witchcraft in Europe between 1450 and 1750. Levack focuses mainly on the circumstances from which the witch-hunts emerged, as this report will examine. The causes of witch-hunting have been sometimes in publications portrayed differently from reality. The hunts were not prisoner escapee type hunts but rather a hunt that involved the identification of individuals who were believed to be engaged in a secret activity. Sometimes professional witch-hunters carried on the task, but judicial authorities performed most. The cause of most of these hunts is the multi-causal approach, which sees the emergence of new ideas about the witches and changes in the criminal law statutes. Both point to major religious changes and a lot of social tension among society. The intellectual foundations of the hunts were attributed to the witch’s face-to-face pact with the devil and the periodic meetings of witches to engage in practices considered to be barbaric and heinous. The cumulative concept of witchcraft pointed immediately to the devil, the source of the magic and the one most witches adored. There was strong belief then that witches made pacts with the devil. Some would barter their soul to the devil in exchange for a gift or a taste of well being.
...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.
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.
To better understand the events of the Salem witch trials, it is necessary to understand the time period in which the accusations of witchcraft occurred. There were the ordinary stresses of 17th-century life in Massachusetts Bay Colony. A strong belief in the devil, factions among Salem Village fanatics, and rivalry with nearby Salem Town all played a part in the stress. There was also a recent small pox epidemic and the threat of an attack by warring tribes created a fertile ground for fear and suspicion. Soon prisons were filled with more than 150 men and women from towns surrounding Salem.
First, witchcraft has a very fascinating history, which is fairly important to discuss. Because much of its history is shrouded in superstition and has not properly been recorded, its exact history is hard to explain. It is easier to see witchcraft as a mindset or belief than an organized institution. According to Montague Summers, 'witches can be described as heretics and anarchists,'; most of which follow the chief of demons, also known as the Devil. Obviously Mr. Summers, along with many other people, takes a pessimistic view towards the realm of witchcraft. Among these anti-witch enthusiasts was Henry VIII, who was the first king of England to pass Statute against the practice of witchcraft. Many kings who ruled after Henry VIII also created statutes against witchcraft. James I made one in 1604, which was repealed over a century later in 1736. Throughout the centuries in England, strict laws and numerous trials were held against suspected witches. Some of the more notable trials include the Chelmsford trials in 1566, 1579, and 1589, the trials in Lancashire in 1612, and the Staffordshire trials in 1597. Some cases even tried people posing as witches like Thomas Darling, John Smith, and William Perry. Many books had been written at the time about the subject of witchcraft like Demonology, Discovery of Witches, Discovery of Witchcraft, and Dr. Lamb's Darling. (Wysiwyg://7/http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2962/witchcraze/time_england.html)