the decline of witchcraft prosecution in the 17th-18th centuries

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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 begin studying the decline of witchcraft prosecutions it is important to note the changes in judicial methods. Levack addresses this 'because in most cases it was the objections to witchcraft prosecutions on legal and judicial grounds that first led to their reduction in numbers.' This suggests that the Scientific Revolution and Reformation were actually less significant in initiating the decline. However, the nature of judicial reform actually relied heavily on a new mental outlook. This is highlighted by a growing... ... middle of paper ... ... 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. Works Cited Edward, Bever, 'Witchcraft Prosecutions and the Decline of Magic', Journal of Interdisciplinary History vol.11 no.2 (Autumn 2009) Brian, Levack, The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe (2nd Edition), Longman 1995

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