14th November – Witchcraft

 The European Witch Craze was from 1560-1650

 Why there was such a huge number of women and men suspected and persecuted for
witchcraft?
 Between 1450-1700, an estimated 100k to 200k people were officially tried for
witchcraft in Western Europe.
 Of these, an estimated 40k to 60k were found guilty and executed.
 Of those executed, 75-85% were female.

What Europeans believed witched did and were, and their fears:
 Early modern Europe was a space for Christianity, superstitions, and folklore.
 Mysteries like the arrival of a comet, or the unexpected outbreak of a disease, or
monstrous births like conjoined twins all needed to be explained using folklore.
 All these events were considered as warnings for things to come from God.
 White magic (good magic to help people) and black magic (bad magic to bring illness
and death).
 Black magic is what authorities wanted to bring down during the witch craze.
 MALEFICIA – ‘evil deeds.’ : physical damage, injure farm animals, ruin commercial
operations, control weather.
 Prior to 1400s, prosecution for witchcraft wasn’t codified much and there were no
hunts.
 The late 1400s with the introduction of the printing press and spread of key
demonological treatises gave an understanding of witches as making a pact with the
devil. These books were written by learnt men trained in universities and scholarly
work experience with theology.
 Women were thought to be more witches because they were the ones who were easily
tempted by evil, like Eve and the apple.
 The frontispiece of Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger -> Malleus Maleficarum
(The Hammer of FEMALE witches).
 This book made witchcraft a Christian crime, as well as a secular crime. Was so
popular that it was reprinted 14 times.
The European Witch Craze (1560-1650):
 Because witches and sorcerers appear in the Old Testament saying that they should be
put to death, even Protestants were convinced of the threat that witchcraft posed to
Christianity.
 Witchcraft trials and executions were mainly carried about by secular authorities, so
the ‘state.’
 Executions were also a way for the ‘state’ to display its dominance and for religious
leaders to gain favor with the church.
 Spanish Inquisition executed a handful of witches.
 The Portuguese Inquisition only executed 1 witch.
 The Roman Inquisition executed none, coz they wanted to educate, instead of
executing.
 20k to 25k people were executed for witchcraft in the German speaking lands of the
Holy Roman Empire
 “The Carolina” was the imperial legal code of the Holy Roman Empire Charles V.
 Climate change, freak hailstorms, drought etc. was widespread in German speaking
regions of the HRE, and that had a huge impact of the populace’s belief.

Scotland:
 Under a monarchy under King James VI (1567-1625)
 More than 4k trials, as many as 2500 executions.
 Large waves of witch hunting: 1590-91, 97, 1628-31, 1649-50, 1661-62.
 King James VI also wrote a witchcraft treatise.
 In Scotland, there was more widespread belief of the diabolical pacts made with the
devil by witches among the laity.
 Use of torture in investigations against witches.
 Nov 16 – Catholic Church as an Institution
- Church positions itself as the official and necessary ‘gateway to heaven.’
- Clergy, nuns, friars as the ‘necessary intermediaries’ who will get you there. They do
this through the 7 sacraments.
Martin Luther (1483-1546):
- His parents wanted him to be a lawyer.