FROM 15TH CENTURY TO THE 17TH CENTURY IS THE PERIOD OF WITCH TRIALS AND MURDERS
over three centuries powerful people use superstition, to satisfy their political agendas and to suppress women, they normalized brutality and murders in England in the name of the witch hunt.
The estimated death was between 500-1000 people of which 90 percent were women. the intense stage of witch-hunting was during the civil war and puritan era in the mid-17th century.
Witchcraft - real or superstitious?
witchcraft had been illegal since 1563, over centuries people mostly women were accused, tortured, and killed. so many innocents were wrongly accused and punished, the majority of them elderly women, some middle-aged, and a few teenagers.
The witch trials were based on some superstitious proof, It says, the suspect must have an unusual scar or birthmark a boil or growth, or even own a cat or other pet, or based on their appearance and style( looks like evil or witch familiar) all these points were enough for accusation and torture.
victims were often forced to confess by practicing severe punishments on them. suspects were tied up and thrown in the river or pond and if the body floats and doesn't drown then that's proof of guilt and after that victim was hanged.
The beginning
witchcraft cases were there from the middle ages in England but the cases were very few, it was mostly a common gossip towards the elite or with ties to the elite, powerful families sometimes use these stories for their political agendas.
the term witch-hunting came into the spotlight during the second world war, and the widespread witch-hunting took place in England. It was the time of succession of James IV to the throne.
James was very much interested in witch trials, his interest was becoming his obsession since the 'Copenhagen which trails in 1589'(It was the first major witch trial in Denmark which resulted in the execution of 17 people by burning them alive) that inspired the 'North Berwick witch trials in 1590'
Beliefs
It was said that witches made a pact with Satan.
majority of women were accused of being a witch because it was believed that women are weak so they are the easy target of Satan.
witches make a pact with Satan by having sex with him and that's how Satan marks the witches' bodies and communicates with them. so that's why people believed that witches are responsible for every disaster or misfortune that occurred in/around the villages, by following Satan's command.
The Witch Trials
The most brutal and bizarre process starts with the random accusation of any random poor old woman who had a bad reputation or who had an anger issue, villages accused her of attending witch sabbath or having made a pact with Satan.
one of the popular witch trials was the Salem witch trial. It was a series of prosecution and hearings of people accused of witchcraft
between February 1692 and May 1693, more than thousands of people were accused thirty were found guilty and nineteen of them were executed by hanging, many of them were beaten to death for refusing to plead and others died in jail.
The End of the witch trials
During the second half of the 17th century, the witch trial cases became fewer. it was said that Mary hicks and Elizabeth hicks were the last people executed for witchcraft in England in 1716.
The history and the tales of witchcraft are huge and tragic. there are lots of events that took place in the name of witch-hunting. do let me know in the comment section below if you need a detailed blog on witch-hunting. it would encourage me to write such blogs in the future.
Very Informative, kudos to you 👏👏
ReplyDelete