Growth and Decline of Witch Hunting
- Created by: TaylorYS
- Created on: 16-05-19 21:58
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- Growth and Decline of Witchcraft
- Witchcraft Literature
- Papal Bull 1484
- Declared witchcraft an exceptional crime
- Legal limits on torture could be removed to obtain evidence
- Witchcraft persecution had progressed from maleficium to devil worship
- Devil's Mark
- Large meetings (Covern)
- Coming from the Pope, this had a huge influence on the majority of the population
- Increased spread of witchcraft literature
- Declared witchcraft an exceptional crime
- Malleus Malificarum 1486
- Written by Heinrich Kramer
- Established stereotypes for witches
- Invariably women
- Created an urgency about the issue of Witchcraft
- A third devoted to educated judges on how to prosecute witches
- Impact
- Had a long term effect on the type of people prosecuted
- Further reinforced by woodcuts such as 'Witch riding backwards on a goat', portraying women as the embodiment of sexual power
- Seduced by the deviil
- Further reinforced by woodcuts such as 'Witch riding backwards on a goat', portraying women as the embodiment of sexual power
- Did not spark the witchcraze, in fact resulting in an initial reduction in cases
- After 1560 prosecutions did increase, and more witchcraft literature was printed
- Bodin (one of Europe's finest thinkers)
- Remy (executed over 800 witches)
- Del Rio (Spanish Jesuit)
- After 1560 prosecutions did increase, and more witchcraft literature was printed
- Had a long term effect on the type of people prosecuted
- Daemonologie 1597
- Led to a stronger, inquisitorial response to witchcraft
- Helped to drive the North Berwick Witch Hunts
- Said to have influenced Hopkins in East Anglia
- Written by James VI of Scotland
- Led to a stronger, inquisitorial response to witchcraft
- Papal Bull 1484
- Religious Developments
- Martin Luther and John Calvin stressed the presence of the devil
- The Bible said "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live"
- Wanted to purify society
- Persecution was most intense in areas of intense religious division
- Political instability and violence
- Areas such as Italy, Spain, and Scandinavia with no religious divide saw smaller scale hunts
- However, correlations suggest that religion was more of a pre condition than a reason for prosecution
- Witchunting began well before the Reformation of 1517
- French 'Wars of Religion' saw a decline in prosecutions
- Fear of moral subversion
- Persecution was most intense in areas of intense religious division
- Catholics saw Protestantism as the work of the devil
- Wanted to purify society
- Persecution was most intense in areas of intense religious division
- Political instability and violence
- Areas such as Italy, Spain, and Scandinavia with no religious divide saw smaller scale hunts
- However, correlations suggest that religion was more of a pre condition than a reason for prosecution
- Witchunting began well before the Reformation of 1517
- French 'Wars of Religion' saw a decline in prosecutions
- Fear of moral subversion
- Persecution was most intense in areas of intense religious division
- Wanted to purify society
- Martin Luther and John Calvin stressed the presence of the devil
- Socio-Economic Factors
- Gender
- Patriarchal society
- Seen as more likely to succumb to the devil's temptations as they were morally weaker
- Single women even more likely to be seduced by the Devil
- Rise in single women as a result of wars/decline in nunneries
- Male witches were often prosecuted through denunciations when hunts got out of control
- 90% of witches in Iceland were men
- Patriarchal society
- Class Conflict
- Growth in Capitalism
- Undermined charity in times of poverty
- Lessened communal solidarity as the rich found commerical ways to get richer
- Growth in Capitalism
- Changing social structures
- Witches were thought to struggle in life, resorting to begging
- Feelings of resentment in times of economic crisis
- Arguments against:
- A lot of areas suffering from worse hardships saw no witch hunts
- Gender
- Wars and Natural Disasters
- War led to extreme loss of life and decline in general quality of life
- Also increased overall fear/anxiety
- Loss of life = more widows = more people fit the stereotype of witch
- Lower quality of life = more social tensions
- Often neighbors were accused due to interpersonal tensions
- Disease
- Plagues, coupled with a lack of education, meant scapegoats were sought out
- Often neighbors were accused due to interpersonal tensions
- Plagues, coupled with a lack of education, meant scapegoats were sought out
- Weather Magic
- Mini Ice-Age
- Impacted the amount of land that could be cultivated
- Ancient belief
- One witch wasn't strong enough to conjure weather magic, led to collective accusations
- Mini Ice-Age
- Arguments Against:
- War created a real enemy, no need for scapegoats
- Political instability meant prosecution of witches was halted
- War led to extreme loss of life and decline in general quality of life
- Top Down
- Growth in power of the authorities, and centralisation
- Took more of an interest in religion, wanted to impose moral conformity
- Weak central authorities encouraged prosecutions
- The elite were responsible through literature for the spread of diabolism
- Growth in power of the authorities, and centralisation
- Bottom Up
- The accused were often anti-social and unliked
- Anxieties from below forced action from those above
- Refusal of charity
- Decline
- Legal Changes
- Standards of Evidence
- Rules on torture
- Forbidden in the 1700s
- Confessions put down to mental illness
- Religious Changes
- Closer study of the bible found little reference to witchcraft/devil-worship
- Intellectual Changes
- Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment
- Greater level of rationalism
- Greater scientific understanding challenged supernatural ideas
- Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment
- Socio-Economic Developments
- Standard of living and economy improved
- Legal Changes
- Witchcraft Literature
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