Early Modern Europe and North America

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

 

An image of suspected witches being hanged in England, published in 1655.

The witch trials in Early Modern Europe and North America, which were also known by a number of titles such as the Great Witch Hunt, the Witchcraze and the Burning Times, refers to a period between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries, when across Christian communities, there was a widespread hysteria that malevolent Satanic witches were operating as an organised threat to Christendom. This led to tens of thousands of people across the European continent and the American colonies being put on trial for the crime of witchcraft, with approximately 40,000 to 60,000 being executed. During this era, witches were viewed as being worshippers of the Devil, who engaged in such acts as malevolent sorcery, cannibalism and orgies at meetings known as Witches' Sabbaths: the majority of historians however concur that there never were any such organised group of witches.

The witch trials originated in south-eastern France during the 14th century, before spreading through central Europe and then into other parts of the continent and also amongst European colonies in North America. Whilst the earliest trial was in 1324, the peak of the witch hunt was between 1580 and 1630 and the last known trial occurred in 1782. Amongst the most well known of these trials was the Scottish North Berwick witch trials, Swedish Torsåker witch trials and the American Salem witch trials. Among the largest and most notable was the Trier witch trials (1581–1593), the Fulda witch trials (1603–1606), the Würzburg witch trial (1626–1631) and the Bamberg witch trials (1626–1631).

Historians and other scholars have long debated the reasons for the witch trials. Theories have ranged from them being an attempt by the male-based authorities to subjugate women to the idea that there really had been a Witch-Cult, which had been pagan, rather than satanic, in nature. Neither of these have been accepted by mainstream historians who have specialised in the subject of the witch trials, such as Norman Cohn, Keith Thomas, Carlo Ginzburg, Robert W. Thurston and Brian Levack.

History

Origins: 700 to 1500

Whilst the witch trials only really began in the 15th century, with the start of the Early Modern period, many of their causes had been developing during the previous centuries, in the Late Mediaeval period. During this period, the idea of witchcraft or sorcery gradually changed and adapted, whilst at the same time the authorities in Christendom became more concerned with heresy and threats from other non-Christian faiths such as Norse paganism, Judaism and Islam.

Magic, Cunning Folk and Ceremonial Magicians

During the Mediaeval period, there was widespread belief in magic across Christian Europe, and as the psychologist Gustav Jahoda noted, "the world as people saw it [in the Mediaeval] included witches, devils, fairies and all kinds of strange beasts… magic and miracles were commonplace." The Mediaeval Roman Catholic Church, which then dominated a large swath of the continent, divided magic into two forms: natural magic, which was acceptable because it was viewed as merely taking note of the powers in nature that were created by God, and demonic magic, which was frowned upon and associated with demonology, divination and necromancy.

Witches by Hans Baldung Grien (Woodcut, 1508)

At the time, sorcery was employed by both practitioners of folk magic, now commonly known as cunning folk, as well as ceremonial magicians who adhered to philosophies like Hermeticism and the Qabalah. Whilst the Church disapproved of demonic magic, which was practiced by both certain cunning folk and ceremonial magicians, and condemned it in Early Mediaeval texts, they did little to actively suppress those that they believed practiced it, not believing them to be any significant threat to Christendom. This was expanded on by Robert W. Thurston, who stated that "One of the most persistent features of European world views… was the presence of humans who used magic to help or hurt their neighbours.

Diana-worshippers

In the Early Mediaeval, the idea of the witch was one that was largely separate from the cunning folk and the ceremonial magicians. The 10th century document, the Canon Episcopi, had described how there were groups of women who met at night to worship the pagan goddess Diana. According to the text, these women believed that at such night meetings they would ride in processions upon beasts led by Diana across "great spaces of the earth" - however, the author commented that these were only tricks of the Devil placed into the women's minds and that the rides did not really happen. Whether any such Diana-worshipping cults did exist in this period or not, the idea of a night journey of supernatural entities was one found across many parts of Europe, leading the historian Carlo Ginzburg to believe that they were a part of an "ancient stratum of beliefs" in Europe, that had been found in pre-Christian paganism. According to Thurston it was these descriptions of women's nocturnal travels which were "clearly the cultural forerunner of the witches' sabbath."

Satan

The Obscene Kiss, an illustration of witches kissing the Devil's anus from Francesco Mario Guazza's Compendium Maleficarum (1608).

It was also during the Mediaeval period that the concept of Satan, the Biblical Devil, began to develop into a more threatening form. Around the year 1000, when there were increasing fears that the end of the world would soon come in Christendom, the idea of the Devil had become prominent, with many believing that his activities on Earth would soon begin appearing. Whilst in earlier centuries there had been no set depiction of the Devil, it was also around this time that he began to develop the stereotypical image of being animal-like, or even in some cases an animal himself. In particular, he was often viewed as a goat, or as a human with goat-like features, such as horns, hooves and a tail. Equally, the concepts of demons began to become more prominent, in particular the idea that male demons known as incubi, and female ones known as succubi, would roam the Earth and have sexual intercourse with humans. As Thurston noted, "By about 1200, it would have been difficult to be a Christian and not frequently hear of the devil… [and] by 1500 scenes of the devil were commonplace in the new cathedrals and small parish churches that had sprung up in many regions."

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the concept of the witch in Christendom underwent a relatively radical change. No longer were they viewed as sorcerers who had been deceived by the Devil into practicing magic that went against the powers of God, as earlier Church leaders like Saint Augustine of Hippo had stated. Instead they became the all-out malevolent Devil-worshipper, who had made a pact with him in which they had to renounce Christianity and devote themselves to Satanism. As a part of this, they gained, new, supernatural powers that enabled them to work magic, which they would use against Christians. It was believed that they would fly to their nocturnal meetings, known as the Witches' Sabbath, where they would have sexual intercourse with demons. On their death, the witches’ soul, which then belonged to the Devil, would subsequently go to Hell.

Heresy and "the Persecuting Society"

It was in the Late Mediaeval period, around the year 1400, that across Western Europe, something referred to by Thurston as "the persecuting society" began to take hold. This persecution had been inspired by various threats to Christendom from the fringes of Europe: the Viking raiders of the north, the Magyars of eastern Europe, the Mongols of Asia, and the Muslim peoples, particularly of the Ottoman Empire, who occupied the Middle East and increasingly made inroads into south-eastern Europe. It was not only these outside threats that the Church felt that they had to deal with, but inside threats that they began to fear as well; according to Thurston, it was during this period that "the western church became a different creature". Prior to this, Christian "society was relatively open and tolerant", but around this time, it began to persecute three major groups: Jews, heretics and lepers, and to a lesser degree "deviants" like homosexuals as well. According to Thurston, "the idea became popular that one or more vast conspiracies were trying to destroy Christianity from within. The plotters were reputedly financed and abetted by an outside, evil force, often the Muslims." This fear was only exemplified by the arrival of the Black Death, which killed a large percentage of the European population, and which many Christians believed had been caused by their enemies. Many thousands of Jews, lepers and also members of heretical sects like the Cathars and Waldensians were murdered or executed during the Late Mediaeval - they had been accused of not only spreading diseases, but of committing orgies (sometimes incestuous), cannibalising children, and following Satanism - all charges which would be levelled at the witches only a few centuries later.

Initially, the Church had not considered witchcraft to be heresy, but this changed in 1320, when Pope John XXII authorised the Inquisition, an organisation designed to root out heresy, to persecute witchcraft as well.

Early Trials: 1324 to 1579

During the 13th century, a number of heretical Christian groups, such as the Cathars and also the Knights Templar had been accused of performing such anti-Christian activities as Satanism, sodomy and malevolent sorcery in France. Indeed, it would be in this country, which had seen several centuries of persecutions, that the model for the witch trials first arose, however "the first real witch trial in Europe" instead occurred in southern Ireland, a nation then under the control of the English monarchy. It was here that a French bishop, Richard Ledrede, had been posted in 1317, where he had proceeded to fall foul of an important local family, and in 1324 accused its senior member, Alice Kyteler, of performing witchcraft. Obtaining evidence by having his men whip one of her servants, Petronilla de Meath (who was subsequently executed), he claimed that she had met with a group of eight women and four men at night to deny Christianity and cut up living animals in order to scatter their remains at crossroads, as offerings to a demon. Kyteler fled to England in order to survive punishment, but many of the influential locals were angry at Ledrede’s activities, and in 1329 the Bishop of Dublin excommunicated him, forcing his return to France. Ireland itself would not see any further witch trials for several centuries.

1533 account of the execution of a witch charged with burning the German town of Schiltach in 1531

Whilst there had been the brief event in Ireland, the witch trials began more fully in south-eastern France, where the cause of eliminating the supposed Satanic witches from society was taken up by a number of individuals; Claude Tholosan for instance had tried over two hundred people accusing them of witchcraft in Briançon, Dauphiné by 1420.A number of these "witch hunters" also wrote books on the subject at the time, including Nicholas Eymeric, the inquisitor in Aragon and Avignon, who published the Directorium Inquisitorum in 1376. Soon, the idea of identifying and prosecuting witches spread throughout the neighbouring areas of northern Italy, Switzerland and southern Germany, and it was at Basel, Switzerland that the Council of Basel assembled from 1431 to 1437. This Church Council, which had been attended by such anti-witchcraft figures as Johann Nider and Martin Le Franc, helped to standardise the stereotype of the Satanic witch that would be propagated throughout the rest of the trials.

Following the meeting of the Council and the increase in the trials around this area of central Europe, the idea that malevolant Satanic witches were operating against Christendom began spreading throughout much of the Holy Roman Empire and several adjacent areas. According to historian Robert Thurston, "From this heart of persecution the witch stereotype spread, both through a flood of new writings on the subject and through men who had been at the Council of Basel and now went elsewhere to take up new assignments in the church." The most notable of these works was published in 1487, written by the German Dominican monk, Heinrich Kramer - allegedly aided by Jacob Sprenger - known as the Malleus Malificarum (The Hammer of the Witches) in which they set down the stereotypical image of the Satanic witch and prescribed torture as a means of interrogating suspects. The Malleus Malificarum was reprinted in twenty-nine editions up till 1669.

Peak of the Trials: 1580-1630

The height of the European trials were between 1580 and 1630, with the large hunts first beginning in 1609.

During this period, the biggest witch trials where held in Europe, notably the Trier witch trials (1581–1593), the Fulda witch trials (1603–1606), the Würzburg witch trial (1626–1631) and the Bamberg witch trials (1626–1631).

In 1590, the North Berwick witch trials occurred in Scotland, and were of particular note as the Scottish king, James VI, himself got involved. James had developed a fear that witches planned to kill him after he suffered from storms whilst travelling to Denmark in order to claim his bride, Anne, earlier that year. Returning to Scotland, the king heard of trials that were occurring in North Berwick and ordered the suspects to be brought to him - he subsequently believed that a nobleman, Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell, was a witch, and after the latter fled he was outlawed as a traitor. The king subsequently set up royal commissions to hunt down witches in his realm, recommending torture in dealing with suspects, and in 1597 he subsequently wrote a book about witches entitled Daemonologie.

Decline of the Trials: 1631-1811

Whilst the witch trials had begun to fade out across much of Europe by the mid 17th century, they continued to a greater extent on the fringes of Europe and in the American colonies. In Scandinavia, the late 17th century saw the peak of the trials in a number of areas; for instance, in 1675, the Torsåker witch trials took place in Sweden, where seventy-one people were executed for witchcraft in a single day. In the nearby Finland, which was then under the control of the Swedish monarchy, the hunt peaked in that same decade.

The clergy and the intellectuals began to speak out against the trials from the late 16th century. Johannes Kepler in 1615 could only by the weight of his prestige keep his mother from being burnt as a witch. The 1692 Salem witch trials were a brief outburst of witch hysteria in the New World at a time when the practice was already waning in Europe. Winifred King was the last recorded person tried for witchcraft in New England.

During the early 18th century, the practice subsided. Jane Wenham was among the last subjects of a typical witch trial in England in 1712, but was pardoned after her conviction and set free. The last execution for witchcraft in England took place in 1716, when Mary Hicks and her daughter Elizabeth were hanged. Janet Horne was executed for witch craft in Scotland in 1727. The Witchcraft Act of 1735 saw the end of the traditional form of witchcraft as a legal offence in Britain, those accused under the new act were restricted to people who falsely pretended to be able to procure spirits, generally being the most dubious professional fortune tellers and mediums, and punishment was light.

Helena Curtens and Agnes Olmanns were the last women to be executed as witches in Germany, in 1738. In Austria, Maria Theresa outlawed witch-burning and torture in the late 18th century; the last capital trial took place in Salzburg in 1750. In Poland, the Doruchów witch trial occurred in 1783 and the execution of additionally two women for sorcery in 1793, trialed by a legal court but with dubious legitimacy. Meanwhile the last known official execution for witchcraft that is known to have occurred in Europe was in 1782, and occurred in Switzerland.

The Historians L. M. Baynes and B. Flower built on the theory of G. liljebakk suggesting that improved diet amongst the common people resulted in a decline of people being accused of witch-craft. Following colonisation of the new world in the 15th and 16th century the import of fruits high in vitamin C such as lemons, limes and pineapples meant there was fewer cases of nutrient deficient diseases such as scurvy. This meant that people where less willing to search for scapegoats regarding their physically deforming conditions, leading to less accusations of witch-craft.

In the later 18th century, witchcraft had ceased to be considered a criminal offense throughout Europe, but there are a number of cases which were not technically witch trials which are suspected to have involved belief in witches at least behind the scenes. Thus, in 1782, Anna Göldi was executed in Glarus, Switzerland, officially for the killing of her infant, a ruling at the time widely denounced throughout Switzerland and Germany as judicial murder. Like Anna Göldi, Barbara Zdunk was executed in 1811 in Prussia not technically for witchcraft but for arson.

Despite the official ending of the trials for Satanic witchcraft, there would still be occasional unofficial killings of those accused in parts of Europe, such as was seen in the cases of Anna Klemens in Denmark (1800), Krystyna Ceynowa in Poland (1836), and Dummy, the Witch of Sible Hedingham in England (1863). In France, there was sporadic violence and even murder in the 1830s, with one woman reportedly burnt in a village square in Nord. Meanwhile, the persecution of those believed to perform malevolent sorcery against their neighbours continued right into the 20th century, for instance, in 1997 two Russian farmers killed a woman and injured five other members of her family after believing that they had used folk magic against them.