Throughout the years, witchcraft has been the common fear of mankind. In England, the legal definition of a witch was “a person who hath a conference with the devil to consult with him or to do some act”. In early modern Europe, women were thought to be witches due to their biblical association with the devil, the superstitions and misunderstanding of the people of Europe, and the negative perceptions of those who deviated from the social norm. As a result, these beliefs and superstitions led to the death of thousands of alleged witches. (Witch Hunts) Witches were thought to be consults of the devil who gave up their bodies and led others away from the church for the devil in exchange for otherworldly power.
Many try to explain or rationalize the bizarre happenings of the witch hunts and the causes that contributed to them. To understand the trials and how they came to be, we must first examine the ideals and views of the people surrounding the events. Although religious beliefs were the most influential factor, socioeconomic tensions, and ergot poisoning are also strongly supported theories The Ergot Poisoning Theory The Salem witch trials have fascinated historians for centuries, largely because of their bizarre nature and the great uncertainty that surrounds them. One of the most intensely debated topics is the question of why the girls began to accuse seemingly random townspeople of witchcraft. However, there is little evidence to support any theory, and consequently historians
The witch trials in Early Modern Europe came in waves and then subsided. There were trials in the 15th and early 16th centuries, but then the witch scare went into decline, before becoming a major issue again and peaking in the 17th century. During the 17th century, belief in witchcraft was very popular. Due to the spread of witch hunting books such as the Malleus Maleficarum, people quickly became engrossed with the thought of witchcraft. What had previously been a belief that some people possessed supernatural abilities (which were sometimes used to protect the people) now became a sign of a pact between the people with supernatural abilities and the devil.
If the declaration had been functioning during those past moments, it would have occured, most likely, that the victims of the illegal charge of witchcraft, might have been given a life-time jail sentence and not the death-penalty by being hanged or crushed. Another article that had been clearly violated during the Salem witch trials was article five, which states that "everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law". Many thought of the women accused of practicing witchcraft to be diabolic and inhuman ; in fact, they were thought of human figures of the devil. This would clearly interfere with the judge´s veredict and it would be almost impossible for the victimis to save themselves from being condemned to death. If these victims of whom most were in their late fifties, had been seen as people who are just like us, they would have been saved from such destiny.
Witchcraft attracts attention, especially at this time of year; everyone "knows" something about it. As a historian, I'm interested to see my subject, the past, being put to all kinds of uses in the present. Here are some ideas about witch-hunting that are distinctly dodgy. It's sometimes suggested that witch-hunting was a more or less conscious male device for repressing women. In fact, although there is a relationship between women and witch-hunting, it's a complex one.
The main factors that started and fueled the trials were politics, religion, family feuds, economics, and the imaginations and fears of the people. The following essay on these causes and the events surrounding the Salem witch trials of 1692 is divided into four sections: 1) Salem Politics 2) Cold Winter Days 3) Salem Witchcraft 4) Aftermath. Salem Politics Salem Village had a very colorful history before the famous witch trials. It was not exactly known as a bastion of tranquillity in New England. The main reason was its 600 plus residents were divided into two main parts: those who wanted to separate from Salem Town, and those who did not.
Witchcraft and Salem Witchcraft in general, and Salem in particular, have long been a focus of interest and study in American history. The circumstances triggering witchcraft accusations in the Salem witchcraft trials and the longevity of those trials are a long standing subject of debate. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman, by Carol Karlsen, examines witchcraft as a complicated, religiously lead, male dominated social structure. Women were held in dual roles, subservient to, and agents of spiritual leadership, using events in Salem as one aspect of a global analysis to promote a feminist view of female persecution by a patriarchal and Puritanical social system prompted by fear of social change in gender relationships. In Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft, a study of the events of Salem specifically, Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum minutely examine the economic byplay of the Salem Village inhabitants, unearthing social tensions while also detailing the personal histories of the leaders.
During the early decades of the 14th century to 1750, Europeans executed between 200,000 and 500,000 witches, most of which were women. (Ben-Yehuda, The European Witch Craze of the 14th to 17th Centuries: A Sociologist's Perspective). The nature and timing of the executions and the persecutions that preceded these women were based upon the changes of the Inquisition, as well as their distinct differences played within the medieval society. In conclusion to these changes within the medieval social order, the witch craze accounted for the need of a redefinition of moral boundaries. The fact that these executions and the accompanying demonological theories were accepted and popular amongst society can be further explained through the lack of social and ethical standards of people, which spread throughout society at that time.
The Civil Rights Movements and The Salem witchcraft trials Since the witch trials times in Salem and before, fear and persecution have acted on people’s life. It doesn’t matter if the person was one of the involved or not, it affected indirectectly everyone around. Arthur Miller in the Crucible showed a perfect fear and persecution scenery using the Salem witchcraft trials as and example. Arthur Miller used the Crucible to represent the Mc Cartheism, when the communists were been “persecuted” and everyone was pointing fingers to the enemies. As in Salem, it started with a small portion of people trying to accuse people for personal reasons and ended with a big mass of ruined lives without any evidence.
The Salem Witch Trials took place only in America, but the idea of witches has existed in many parts of the world. In Europe witches were believed to be anti-Christian, and to have sold his or her soul to the devil in order to obtain magical abilities, usually to harm others. However, witches in Africa and the West Indies involved concepts other than the devil. From the 1400’s to the 1700’s, the annihilation of witches and witchcraft in England, France, Germany, Italy, Scotland, and Spain was promoted by church officials. Between 1484 and 1782, around 300,000 women were accused of practicing witchcraft, and were put to death.