Belief in witchcraft seems to be almost universal in human societies. In Europe's early society, many Europeans developed a heightened concern with the phenomenon/occurrence of witchcraft. This belief led to widespread persecutions in which thousands of Europeans, both women and men, were executed as witches. Governments and society organized "hunts" for these alleged witches, torturing, accusing more than 100,000, and executing thousands of people in a period known as the European witch craze, lasting from about 1480 to 1700. Although witches were oppressed throughout most of Europe, the mass of trials and executions were centralized in southwestern Germany, Switzerland, England, Scotland, Poland, and parts of France. During this time such events as the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution occurred, leading to a variety of reasons for the persecution of individuals as witches.
Many of the alleged witches were accused as such through superstitions and fear. People creates superstitions as a way of explaining what witches were and the evils deeds they performed. Their fears came from these superstitions, and from being harmed by witches. According to Thomas Ady, one English househ
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However, he felt that they should not be thrown into unfit conditions so easily or without thought. He wrote, "Innocent have I come into prison, Innocent have I been tortured, Innocent must I die. " He claimed that he thought he saw devils everywhere, "and sometimes with great rolling flaming eyes like saucers, having sparkling firebrands in one of their hands. C1) Additionally, Johan Wier, a Belglan physician, concluded that "witches are usually old women of melancholic nature and small brains. "A Parallel or Conference of the Civil Law, the Canon Law and the Common Law" written in 1618 by W. B3) Scientific superstitions also arose during this time. Furthermore, it stated that since their bodies and minds were corrupted to a higher extent, it was quite rational that they could carry out such evil deeds. B3) One who did not believe in witches was said not to have religion, so most accepted the propaganda they were told. Others Europeans believed that they saw witches all around them. B2) In this statement, Pope Innocent legitimized the persecution of witches, in the name of the Catholic religion. Fulbecke stated that an elderly person's body was impure, and more likely to be taken by the Devil, to vex and harm others. C2) In 1563, a woman by the name of Alice Prabury, was accused of witchery, because she took it upon herself to help people and animals with diseases.
Approximate Word count =
939
Approximate Pages =
4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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