By the sixteenth century, Europe had experienced a great deal of change. People had rediscovered the works of ancient Greek and Latin writers, causing an explosion of art and culture. People were exploring the world, information was being spread faster than ever before thanks to the invention of the printing press. This also helped Europe to go through a religious reawakening, the reformation. Yet despite all of these advancements, one of the tragedies of history took place; the Witch hunts. What pushed Europe to burn over 30,000 people on the charges of witchcraft? Well the answer is still discussed, but a combination of social, political, and religious conflict combined with a healthy dose of misogyny is a good start.
To begin, Europe was at this time was "fraught with wars and rebellions, with economic depression and famine, and with social violence" to quote Drogin. Although many wars occurred during this time, one of the most influential and devastating was the 30 years war. in this long and complicated war, over a third of the German population was killed. Around this time there many farming issues, caused in part by what has been called the "little ice age," which caused colder winters and shorter crop growing seasons.
At this same time, there was a great deal of religious instability caused by the reformation. The reformation may not have directly caused the witch hunts, since both Catholics and Protestants conducted witch hunts. There was certainly fear-mongering on both sides though, starting with the protestants who were more wary of witches. It should be noted that the common people had fostered a belief in witches for centuries, but during this time period people had an increased fear in the devil and that the devil could affect the world around them.
It should also be noted that before this time period, both men and women were accused of witchcraft, but during the witch hunts, it was primarily women that faced the blame. This was due in part to a book called Malleus Maleficarum. It was not the only book published about witchcraft and did not start the Witch hunts, but it created a foundation for treating witchcraft as a heretical offense. It was the best known of its kind, thanks to invention of the printing press, which enabled people to widely distribute the book. This book claimed that witchcraft was mostly found among women because women were more extreme in both good and evil, had weak intellects and that women's lust is the cause of witchcraft.
All of these factors let to a climate where all kinds of difficulties made people try to find a reason for them all and witches were the perfect target to blame. The Witch trials would have its greatest impact during the seventeenth century, but continued into the early eighteenth century.
Photo credit: The Witch, No. 1 by Joseph E. Baker in 1892 is under public domain
Witch trials are something that have always fascinated me. I had no idea about the books being circulated that said witchcraft was more common among women for those, obviously false, reasons. It is great to see how we have come so far along in the modern day in regards to gender equality, yes we're far from perfect but still much farther ahead now than then.
ReplyDeleteYour blog caught my eye because I have relatives who were burned in the Salem Witch Trials. I am now inspired to look into my genealogy more deeply and see what I can find. In some ways, yes, we have come a long way, but in others, we are still not kind enough to those we fear. The more knowledge we acquire about most things, the less fear we possess.
ReplyDeleteI think it is fascinating how fear can cause of to do such drastic things. Even though we are burning "witches" at the stake now, I think that fear is still at the root of so many horrific things that we do in the world.
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