Witchcraft as an Essential Female Crime

Witchcraft as an Essential Female Crime How far do these sources support the idea that witchcraft was an

essentially female crime?

All the sources support the idea that witchcraft was essentially a

female crime but some to a lesser extent. However there is one

exception, source 10, which states that in some countries for example

Russia, Estonia and Scandanavian countries, the prosecution of men was

nearly on par with women.

Source 1 strongly agrees with the question ‘that witchcraft was an

essentially female crime’. The source is an extract from the malleus

maleficarum, which was written by two monks in 1486. The malleus

maleficarum was a very influential piece of literature in much of

Europe. It spread the message throughout much of Europe to be wary of

witchcraft and warned people that witches lived amongst them in their

very villages. The malleus maleficarum was very mysogenistic, for

example, “But the natural reason is that she is more carnal than man”.

This quote showed that them monks believed that women tended to have

more sexual partners than men. The source also claims women have

“slippery tongues” implying that they tend to expose themselves easily

by simple gossiping. The source cleary agrees with the idea that

witchcraft was a female crime as it also says, “a greater number of

witches is found in the fragile feminine sex than among men”. This

source is also intersting as it is written by two monk, who ofcourse

are members of the church. The source therfore shows the view of the

church and how christian writings were very mysogenistic.

Source 2 strongly agrees with the question that witchcraft was a