It investigated whether the charges resulted from personal animosity toward the accused; it obtained physicians statements; it did not allow the naming of accomplices either with or without torture; it required the review of every sentence; and it provided for whipping, banishment, or even house arrest instead of death for first offenders. Youll also hear how archives themselvesare evidence of the past. Very broadly speaking, a witch is a person who employs magical entities, which may include powers she carries within her body, to harm other people. The theory best supported by the evidence is that the increasing power of the centralized courts such as the Inquisition and the Parlement acted to begin a process of decriminalization of witchcraft. An examination of witches in the 17th century. She has to be like the dead: hard, infertile and she has to hate. The gradual demise during the late 17th and early 18th century of the previous religious, philosophical, and legal worldview encouraged the ascendancy of an existent but often suppressed skepticism; increasing literacy, mobility, and means of communication set the stage for social acceptance of this changing outlook. Anyone willing to feed them on blood can hope to put them to work in a series of worrying deals. Witchcraft was a felony in both England and its American colonies, and therefore witches were hanged, not burned. Colchester Castle served as the place where he jailed and interrogated the women and men believed to be witches. Black masses are almost entirely a fantasy of modern writers. Beliefs and SuperstitionsColonial PeriodDevianceParentingWitchcraft. In Greco-Roman civilization, Dionysiac worship included meeting underground at night, sacrificing animals, practicing orgies, feasting, and drinking. Use witch marks to stop her from crossing into your house or from allowing her familiars to cross into your house. [Next time, I should proof-read!]. Some societies regard a witch as a person with inherent supernatural powers, but in the West witchcraft has been more commonly believed to be an ordinary persons free choice to learn and practice magic with the help of the supernatural. The inquisitorial eye began to fix itself on aspects of folklore that had been smiled away or incorporated into Christian worship in earlier periods. Sign up to our newsletter to discover Historic England's work and findout about news and projects near you. 6 Pages. Neither were witches (with the exception of some targeted by the Spanish Inquisition) generally persecuted by the church. No wonder the term witch hunt has entered common political parlance to describe such campaigns as that of the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy in his attempt to root out communists in the United States in the 1950s. Diane, youre an expert in witchcraft beliefs and their representation in popular culture. To the learned in the 17th century, however, the familiar was simply a devil. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. 5. In practice this was usually done in cases of treason, the most famous example being the Gunpowder Plot. Witch Hello thanks for your question. However, many of those early laws were really laws against sorcery, which unlike witchcraft can be beneficial, and which requires special skills, tools and words. The accounts of the Barber-Surgeons company from the period carefully noted the disbursement of 10s 6d for the examinations of the four women, brought to our hall by the Kings command to be searched 5. Although accusations of witchcraft in contemporary cultures provide a means to express or resolve social tensions, these accusations had different consequences in premodern Western society where the mixture of irrational fear and a persecuting mentality led to the emergence of the witch hunts. A panel nearby says that they are prehistoric burial mounds. Men and women imprisoned as witches are believed to have died in the cells of Colchester Castle. See our extensive range of expert advice to help you care for and protect historic places. The people continued to practice magic to heal and protect themselves, and some even used it to harm others. This is where the familiar of the witch begins to take shape: like the dead, fed on blood, and like the dead, malevolent. The pagan dead are like nuclear waste. Mother Shipton's Cave in Knaresborough and a nearby 'petrifying well' are among the country's oldest visitor attractions. Sorry! Your email address will not be published. Vitchcraft of Seventeenth-Century New England Witchcraft The actual numbers are far lower, but still striking: between 1482 and 1782, around 100,000 people across Europe were accused of witchcraft, and some 4050,000 However, the elves are still dangerous, especially if crossed. Its unlucky to see them, but if you catch the eye of one of the riders, you might be able to win supernatural powers of healing and prophecy that will make your fortune. 4. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. For example, if something bad happened to John that could not be readily explained, and if John felt that Richard disliked him, John may have suspected Richard of harming him by occult means. Although these figures are alarming, they do not remotely approach the feverishly exaggerated claims of some 20th-century writers. Among the main effects of the papal judicial institution known as the Inquisition was in fact the restraint and reduction of witch trials that resulted from the strictness of its rules. (The terms West and Western in this article refer to European societies themselves and to post-Columbian societies influenced by European concepts.) Please be aware that this blog includes some graphic content and may not be suitable for all readers. A sorcerer, magician, or witch attempts to influence the surrounding world through occult (i.e., hidden, as opposed to open and observable) means. When you look at the intellectual, social and cultural world of the 17th century, witchcraft made perfect sense, says Professor Owen Davies, author of America Bewitched: The Story of Witchcraft After Salem. But why were these women being subjected to this examination in the first place? We have the Langbein volume in our reference library at Kew so I will have a look at it. The difficulty is even greater with the relevant words in African, Asian, and other languages. Omissions? WebThe same dichotomy between sorcery and witchcraft exists (sometimes more ambiguously) in the beliefs of many peoples throughout the world. Part of the Alfred Newton and Sons collection. About 30,00060,000 people were executed in the whole of the main era of witchcraft persecutions, from the 142736 witch-hunts in Savoy (in the western Alps) to the execution of Anna Goldi in the Swiss canton of Glarus in 1782. From the Salem Witch Trials to the witches ofMacbeth, the figure of the witch is embedded in our culture. She doesnt have to be female. SP 16/270 f.134. It is also an episode of European history that has spawned many myths and much inaccuracy. Professor Diane Purkiss debunks eight of the most common myths about witchcraft. The overwhelming majority of processes, however, went no farther than the rumour stage, for actually accusing someone of witchcraft was a dangerous and expensive business. There is no particular moment when this popular idea is formulated. Consequently, witchcraft became almost synonymous with social deviance. WebSeventeenth-Century New England JOHN DEMOS IT is faintly embarrassing for a historian to summon his colleagues to still another consideration of early New England witchcraft. The execution of Alse Young of Windsor Before the 14th century, witchcraft was much alike in villages from Ireland to Russia and from Sweden to Sicily; however, the similarities derived neither from cultural diffusion nor from any secret cult but from the age-old human desire to achieve ones purposes whether by open or occult means. By the 14th century, fear of heresy and of Satan had added charges of diabolism to the usual indictment of witches, maleficium (malevolent sorcery). As an accused witch, you could be tried in a church court, at quarter sessions (local courts), or at an assize court, where you could be condemned to death. Somebody would complain to the local justice of the peace (JP) that you had bewitched an animal, or a foodstuff, or a child. Witchcraft In The 1600s Like the Spanish colonies, the English colonies repeated the European stereotype with a few minor differences. However, folk magic flourished among the colonies. You can follow Lipscomb on Twitter @sixteenthCgirl or visit her website suzannahlipscomb.com. Visit this page for family history and other research enquiries, Young filmmakers at The National Archives, Getting to know our users: Reflecting on our first year of publishing judgments, part two, Find Case Law: Reflecting on our first year of publishing judgments, part one, Greasy poles, jam tarts and music hall songs: Celebrating the Coronation of Edward VII, Friends of The National These norms varied with prevailing class, gender, and racial assumptions, which construed behavior appropriate for some social groups as inappropriate for others. Consequently, witchcraft became almost synonymous with social deviance. Matthew Hopkins, Puritan Witch-Hunter General, The Discovery of Witches, 1647. The Devil, whose central role in witchcraft beliefs made the Western tradition unique, was an absolute reality in both elite and popular culture, and failure to understand the prevailing terror of Satan has misled some modern researchers to regard witchcraft as a cover for political or gender conspiracies. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Moreover, the evidence does not indicate a close correlation between socioeconomic tension and witchcraft, though agrarian crises seem to have had some effect. At the trial, those who submitted written complaints will take the stand and give their evidence aloud and under oath. We place some essential cookies on your device to make this website work. The modern English word witchcraft has three principal connotations: the practice of magic or sorcery worldwide; the beliefs associated with the Western witch hunts of the 14th to the 18th century; and varieties of the modern movement called Wicca, frequently mispronounced wikka.. Crude practices such as pricking witches to see whether the Devil had desensitized them to pain; searching for the devils mark, an oddly-shaped mole or wart; or swimming (throwing the accused into a pond; if she sank, she was innocent because the water accepted her) occurred on the local level. In England, most of the accusers and those making written complaints against witches were women. The assizes were by no means swamped with witchcraft cases, but there was a steady stream of trials of accused witches which passed off with no intervention from central government. Find out more about Heritage Apprenticeships. Read about the remarkable lives of some of the women who have left their mark on society and shaped our way of life from Anglo-Saxon times to the 20th century. The dead yearn for the lives they enjoyed, which means they may want to take back from the living. European Witch-Hunting (A Brief History) - TheCollector The next stage is that all this evidence is put to a jury, who decide whether to take it to trial or not. Top image: An illustration from a 1619 pamphlet showing Anne Baker of Bottesford, Joan Willimot of Goodby and Ellen Greene of Stathern, who were all tried for witchcraft (Hulton Archive/Getty Images). To improve security and online experience, please use a different browser or. The legal use of torture declined in the 17th and 18th centuries, and there was a general retreat from religious intensity following the wars of religion (from the 1560s to 1640s). (London. But there was one element of English witch beliefs that did provide the possibility of physical evidence the belief in familiars. Witches were burned at the stake. Witch trials were equally common in ecclesiastical and secular courts before 1550, and then, as the power of the state increased, they took place more often in secular ones. Web1. Nine million witches died in the years of the witch persecutions. The history of witchcraft is complex, and often raises more questions than it answers. And why was the Privy Council, the elite group of advisors around the king, interested in four women from rural Lancashire? Is there any record of what happened in later life to the poor women who were examined ? Witchcraft thus defined exists more in the imagination of contemporaries than in any objective reality. I just looked up Topcliffe in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography what a career! Only 25 per cent of those tried across the period in England were found guilty and executed. The people, who saw no difference in the origin of the power they drew upon and focused more on theresults, paid no mind and continued using thepractices with which they were accustomed. How Medieval Churches Used Witch Hunts to Gain More Followers.. Nevertheless, because women were believed to be morally and spiritually weaker than men, they were thought to be particularly vulnerable to diabolic persuasion. Historic England Ref EAW008091. Little Ice Age, Big Consequences., https://www.history.com/news/little-ice-age-big-consequences, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/early-modern-witch-trials/, Lambert, T. A History of the Witch Trials in Europe., Lanchester, J. Magic was used to heal the sick, protect people and their families from harm intended towards them by others with whom they had disagreements; protect their livestock and economic stability from natural and deliberate causes; and to ease daily difficulties such as aiding in finding lost belongings. The cave of Mother Shipton who was believed to have been a Yorkshire witch and oracle. Whether or not the complaint is taken any further depends on how energetic the JP is and how much he believes in witchcraft. After that, the jury will decide on your guilt. The problem is that most of what we think we know is wrong. According to traditional Navajo belief, when a witch travels at night, he wears the skin of a dead animal in order to A bizarre set of accusations, including the sacrifice of children, was made by the Syrians against the Jews in Hellenistic Syria in the 2nd century bce. Magic was so much a part of daily life that people would practice it in their own homes, especially given that many magical rituals did not require any training. The process began with suspicions and, occasionally, continued through rumours and accusations to convictions. Webthis date, witchcraft was simply believed to be a sect of heresy, which would firstly be tried by the Church and then by the State; however the growing number of witch trials on the continent of Europe alarmed Henry. Archaeologist Dr David Neal discussing his illustration of the mosaic being excavated at Rutland Roman Villa with members of the University of Leicester Archaeological Services team, IMAGE OF THE MONTH: Jacob Epstein's sculpture of the Devil being delivered to Coventry Cathedral on the back of a lorry. If you suspect one of your neighbours is a witch, do not ever let her have the last word in a conversation. Upon the arrival of the Puritans in New England, ecclesiastical magic was no longer accepted. We see evidence of this in the following examples: In his paper Diabolical Duos: Witch There were additional hunts in Spanish America, where the European pattern of accusations continued even though the differences between the folklore of the Europeans and Native Americans introduced some minor variations into the accusations. These thinkers rejected the idea that elderly women could do magic that flouted the will of God. The surgeons and midwives thus knew exactly what they were looking for yet, as we have seen, found nothing that they considered to be sinister or only explicable as a mark of witchcraft. You are using an old version of Internet Explorer. Older women were more frequently accused of casting malicious spells than were younger women, because they had had more time to establish a bad reputation, and the process from suspicion to conviction often took so long that a woman might have aged considerably before charges were actually advanced. Save 70% on the shop price when you subscribe today - Get 13 issues for just $49.99 + FREE access to HistoryExtra.com, A very brief history of witches by Suzannah Lipscomb, Enjoying HistoryExtra.com? WebAbout 140 witch trials were held in Finnmark in the 17th century between 1601 and 1692 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] in what is sometimes considered as the worst persecution in times of peace in Norway according to Rune Hagen. For many years during the 16th century, the market place in King's Lynn was the scene of public executions of alleged witches. One thing is certain: the emphasis on the witch in art, literature, theatre, and film has little relation to external reality. Although some people undoubtedly practiced sorcery with the intent to harm, and some may actually have worshiped the Devil, in reality no one ever fit the concept of the witch. Nonetheless, the witchs crimes were defined in law. The emphasis on personal piety exacerbated the rigid characterization of people as either good or bad. It also aggravated feelings of guilt and the psychological tendency to project negative intentions onto others. It mainly took place in Germany, but also took place in England. Now Im going to put you in a time machine and take you back 400 years. The certificate stated that they had made diligent searches and inspections on those women and find as follows: On the bodies of Jenett Hargreaves, Frances Dicconsen and Mary Spencer, nothing unnatural neither in their secrets or any other parts of their bodies On the body of Margaret Johnson we find two things may be called Teats the one between her cervix and the fundament the other on the middle of her left buttock. Delve into our history pages to discover more about our sites, how they have changed over time, and who made them what they are today. Allegations of witchcraft frequently blamed the accused for naturally-occurring events the illness or death of people or livestock, the failure of crops, even sexual dysfunction. Even though the clergy and judges in the Middle Ages were skeptical of accusations of witchcraft, the period 130030 can be seen as the beginning of witch trials. WebThe Connecticut Witch Trials, also sometimes referred to as the Hartford witch trials, occurred from 1647 to 1663. The large-scale persecution, prosecution and execution of witches in these centuries was an extraordinary phenomenon. Witchcraft in Shakespeare's England | The British Library She Because accusations and trials of witches took place in both ecclesiastical and secular courts, the law played at least as important a role as religion in the witch hunts. Read about the remarkable lives of some of the women who have left their mark on society and shaped our way of life from Anglo-Saxon times to the 20th century. Those people say that if you do get any power from the riders, its the power of hell and devils. Source Historic England Archive BB98/02592. Her dry, twisted and ageing body was a kind of poison, and she was believed to be able to harm people and animals simply by speaking to them or looking at them. Children were often accusers (as they were at Salem), but they were sometimes also among the accused. WebHow was the practice of witchcraft viewed in seventeenth century New England? And did they always arrive on broomsticks? Documentary evidence shows that three of the women Jennet Hargreaves, Mary Spencer and Jennet Dicconson were still in prison in Lancaster jail in August 1636 (alongside six of others convicted in the case). Most recently we haveinvestigatedfour deadly pandemics and epidemics thatchanged livesinthe UK over the last 600 years. Photographer: Unknown photographer for John Laing plc, Historic England Archive John Laing Collection. The number of trials and executions varied widely according Witches are everywhere. False ideas about witchcraft and the witch hunts persist today. facts about the European witch craze For further discussion of this case and others, please tune into the latest series of our On the Record podcast. Literature about It may not display all the features of this and other websites. To quote L A Parry (1933): Under Henry VIII it [torture] was frequently employed; it was only used in a small number of cases in the reigns of Edward VI and Mary. Witches were considered Satans followers, members of an antichurch and an antistate, the sworn enemies of Christian society in the Middle Ages, and a counter-state in the early modern period. This was one witch-hunt that did not discriminate; people of all ages, genders, and classes were killed during the Bamberg Witch Trials. Suspected witches were occasionally subjected to ordeals such as swimming, whereby the accused was dunked into a river in an attempt to prove guilt or innocence. This article was first published on HistoryExtra in 2015, Suzannah Lipscomb is Emeritus Professor at the University of Roehampton, and the author of several books about the 16th century, Enjoying HistoryExtra.com? Among the girls in the village, its whispered that if you come to this place at midnight on All Hallows Eve, you can see the dead rise and ride along the road to the market cross. Since 1970 careful research has elucidated law codes and theological treatises from the era of the witch hunts and uncovered much information about how fear, accusations, and prosecutions actually occurred in villages, local law courts, and courts of appeal in Roman Catholic and Protestant cultures in western Europe. The answer to the old question Are there such things as witches? therefore depends upon individual belief and upon definition, and no single definition exists. Delve into our history pages to discover more about our sites, how they have changed over time, and who made them what they are today. Witchcraft - The witch hunts | Britannica Anything she says must be thrown back at her, before it infects you. Historic England Ref AA96_04839. Nevertheless, the reasons for the decline in the witch hunts are as difficult to discern as the reasons for their origins. In other words, they had found nothing odd at all on the bodies of three of the women, and on the fourth there were a couple of growths but nothing that the examiners thought sinister. The Pendle witches were kept in Lancaster Castle's damp cells in 1612. Familiars may also be related to the Norse fylgia, or fetch a persons double, which can also shapeshift to animal form. It is estimated there were between four and six thousand witchcraft trials in Scotland, most of which were in the lowland areas of the country, especially Aberdeenshire. In France in 1022 a group of heretics in Orlans was accused of orgy, infanticide, invocations of demons, and use of the dead childrens ashes in a blasphemous parody of the Eucharist. SP 16/270 f.134. Nobody was goddess-worshipping during the period of the witch-hunts, or if they were, they have left no trace in the historical records. Torture was I believe not illegal if authorised by the King. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. In England, witchcraft became a crime in 1542, a statute renewed in 1562 and 1604. She has to be marred, lopsided. What caused the behavior of the afflicted witnesses? But who could such women be? Witchcraft - Witchcraft in Africa and the They provided a certificate, place dated at the Surgeons Hall in Mugwell Street and signed by themselves, some surgical colleagues, and a number of midwives, which outlined the results of their examination. For example, it was believed that a fields fertility could be increased by ritually slaughtering an animal. Local courts were more credulous and therefore more likely to be strict and even violent in their treatment of supposed witches than were regional or superior courts. Century An examination of witches in the 17th century The Christian church coexisted peacefully with folk magic for a time, and even incorporated some magical practices into their religious traditions. Do you imagine a realm of the dead? No matter that in this case nothing sinister was found; for Jenett Hargreaves, Frances Dicconsen, Mary Spencer and Margaret Johnson, the examinations themselves must have been a degrading and traumatic ordeal. Pendle Hill in Lancashire is well known for its associations with witches. Whats in the earth below the humps of stone? There was neither a witch-cult nor any cult, either organized or disorganized, of a Horned God or of any Goddess; Western witches were not members of an ancient pagan religion; and they were not healers or midwives. It is these marks that the surgeons and the midwives were looking for in the inspection certificate mentioned above. The origins of witchcraft may have begun as a continuation of using magic as a normal and essential part of life, but its evolution shows the practice of magic turned into a disrespect towards God and Puritan values. Once accused, a witch had no chance of proving her innocence. Most judges and many jurymen were highly sceptical about the existence of magical powers, seeing the whole thing as a huge con trick by fraudsters. Weve looked at the beliefs of ordinary people. Thats correct; it could be authorised by the monarch or the Privy Council. Also printed in Sidney Young ed.. In our latest three-partpodcastseries we are exploring stories from our collection which tell the history oftrials;from witch trials and trial by combat to todays legal system. Dan Browns Da Vinci Code is one of the purveyors of such erroneous hype, stating: The church burned at the stake an astounding 5 million women, which would be astounding if true.