This essay Witchcraft has a total of 610 words and 7 pages.
In the modern world witchcraft is a form of nature religion that
emphasizes the healing arts. The term is also applied to various kinds
of magic practiced in Asian, African, and Latin American communities.
Little is known about the history of witchcraft in Europe, and what is
known comes from hostile sources. In traditional European society
witchcraft was believed to be a kind of harmful sorcery associated with
the worship of Satan, or the devil (a spirit hostile to God).
The European doctrine of witchcraft was formulated in the late Middle
Ages. Just how many of the beliefs about witches were based on reality
and how many on delusion will never be known. The punishment of supposed
witches by the death penalty did not become common until the 15th
century. The first major witch-hunt occurred in Switzerland in 1427, and
the first important book on the subject, the Malleus maleficarum (Hammer
of Sorceresses), appeared in Germany in 1486. The persecution of witches
reached its height between 1580 and 1660, when witch trials became
almost universal throughout western Europe.
Geographically, the center of witch-burning lay in Germany, Austria, and
Switzerland, but few areas were left untouched by it. No one knows the
total number of victims. In southwestern Germany alone, however, more
than 3,000 witches were executed between 1560 and 1680. Not all witch
trials ended in deaths. In England, where torture was prohibited, only
about 20 percent of accused witches were executed (by hanging); in
Scotland, where torture was used, nearly half of all those put on trial
were burned at the stake, and almost three times as many witches (1,350)
were killed as in England. Some places had fewer trials than others. In
the Dutch republic, no witches were executed after 1600, and none were
tried after 1610. In Spain and Italy accusations of witchcraft were
handled by the Inquisition, and although torture was legal, only a dozen
witches were burned out of 5,000 put on trial. Ireland apparently
escaped witch trials altogether. Many witch trials were provoked, not by
hysterical authorities or fanatical clergy, but by village quarrels
About 80% of all accused witches were women. Traditional theology
assumed that women were weaker than men and more likely to succumb to
the devil. It may in fact be true that, having few legal rights, they
were more inclined to settle quarrels by resorting to magic rather than
All these aspects of witchcraft crossed over to the Americas with
European colonists. In the Spanish and French territories cases of
witchcraft were under the jurisdiction of church courts, and no one
suffered death on this charge. In the English colonies about 40 people
were executed for witchcraft between 1650 and 1710, half of them in the
famous Salem Witch Trials of 1692.
Witch trials declined in most parts of Europe after 1680; in England the
death penalty for witchcraft was abolished in 1736. In the late 17th and
18th centuries one last wave of witch persecution afflicted Poland and
other areas of eastern Europe, but that ended by about 1740. The last
legal execution of a witch occurred in Switzerland in 1782.
Beginning in the 1920s, witchcraft was revived in Europe and America by
groups that considered it a survival of pre-Christian religious
practices. This phenomenon was partly inspired by such books as Margaret
Murray's The Witch Cult in Western Europe (1921). Some forms of modern
witchcraft follow the traditions of medieval herbalists and lay healers.
The term witch-hunt is used today to describe a drive to punish
political criminals or dissidents without regard for the normal legal
Topics Related to Witchcraft
Witch trials, Witchcraft, Magic, Folklore, Supernatural, Witch-hunt, Witch-cult hypothesis, Malleus Maleficarum, Salem witch trials, Witch trials in the early modern period, European witchcraft, latin american communities, witchcraft in europe, history of witchcraft, persecution of witches, witch burning, witch trials, witch hunt, nature religion, southwestern germany, dutch republic, malleus, healing arts, germany austria, 15th century, sorcery, inquisition, delusion, western europe, death penalty, middle ages
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