Paradoxical as it may appear, such emperors as Augustus, Tiberius, and Septimius Severus, while banishing from their realms all seers and necromancers, and putting them to death, in private entertained astrologers and wizards among their retinue, consulting their art upon each important occasion, and often even in the everyday and ordinary affairs of life. The trials were often rigged in favor of the accusers, and torture was used as a method for confession … Belief in and practice of witchcraft in Europe can be traced to classical antiquity and has continuous history during the Middle Ages, culminating in the Early Modern witch hunts and giving rise to the fairy tale and popular culture "witch" stock character of modern times, as well as to the concept of the "modern witch" in Wicca and related movements of contemporary witchcraft. The Renaissance is often seen as a rational cultural movement, but there was a strain of the irrational in it. How did the Bubonic Plague make the Italian Renaissance possible? At the end of the Middle Ages (about 1450), the fear became a craze that lasted more than 200 years. 9). Then there were the genuine social tensions because of the endemic warfare, inflation, economic changes, and social change. By 1500 sorcery was deemed to be heresy and the Church had become much more concerned about any deviant practices. It was called Daemonologie. The talk, moderated by History Professor Fabrizio Conti, traced the origins and nature of the witch craze in Western Europe in the late 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. In this way, they were able to strengthen their hold over a given community. Anthropologists have argued that these witchcraft trials served an important function in early modern society. Harner, Michael J., ed. At the time of the witch craze, Europe was in a state of religious instability. The British and the American navies on the Great Lakes were eliminated. Witches may also be depicted as essentially good, as in Archie Comics' long running Sabrina the Teenage Witch series, Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, in Hayao Miyazaki's 1989 film Kiki's Delivery Service, or the television series Charmed (1998–2006). With eye-witness accounts, these women were further convicted, and not able to appeal their sentence. The population of Europe had grown, and this was putting pressure on scarce agricultural resources. In 1995, Professor Ruiz was named “Outstanding Master’s Universities and Colleges Professor of the Year” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and in 2008 he received UCLA’s Distinguished Teacher Award. It was considered necessary to kill them in a barbarous way to deter others from following their example. Witches were often believed to fly on broomsticks or distaffs, or occasionally upon unwilling human beings, who would be called 'hag-ridden'. This text is considered to have ushered in witch-hunts. However, it was also a period of religious intolerance and mass hysteria, and this is exemplified in the witch-craze that occurred in Europe in the period from 1550-1700. Witch Craze: A New History of the European Witch Hunts (San Francisco: Pandora,1994), p. 119, https://dailyhistory.org/index.php?title=What_were_the_causes_of_the_Witch_Craze_in_Europe,_1550-1700%3F&oldid=20178. “Swimming” potential witches involved stripping them and tying their thumbs to their toes and dunking them in the water. King James would send out his men to find such women in England and Scotland, to take them out by having them burnt at the stake in Scotland, but not in England since they did not burn witches. Monter, E. William. There was not one town of Salem, but rather Salem Town and Salem Village. In 1486, the Summis desiderantes affectibus was published as part of the preface to Heinrich Kraemer and Jakob Sprenger’s The Malleus Maleficarum, a treatise on witchcraft. The witch craze rapidly spread around Europe from 1480 to 1700, especially during the time of both the Protestant and Catholic Reformation. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. What are the Origins of the Abolitionist Movement? They practice indiscriminate sexual activity, worship the head of an ass, worship the genital organs of their priests, and initiate novices by making them kill infants and cannibalize them (chap. The clergy had instructions to make their congregations comply with the doctrines of the Churches. In the late 15th century in Europe, over 80 thousand people were put to death because they were thought to practice witchcraft. The population of Europe had grown, and this was putting pressure on scarce agricultural resources. Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century England. It was widely believed that there were groups of people who served the devil and were engaged in black magic. [2], There had been a widespread belief in the existence of witches and the power of black magic in much of Europe as the beliefs of the Church had failed to change the folk-beliefs of the country-people, who often remained half-pagan. This was known as the Diabolic Pact. Learn how your comment data is processed. Greg Jenner, Cariad Lloyd and Prof Suzannah Lipscomb discuss the dark days of the European Witch Craze. By the 15th century, Europe which had been relatively open and tolerant began to become reactionary. In 1615 Katharina, mother of the great scientist Johannes Kepler, was accused of witchcraft. Horses found sweating in their stalls in the morning were also said to be hag-ridden.