Accused - The Salem Witch Trials

Witch hunts have been a facet of humanity since before Antiquity. From an anthropological standpoint most of these events come down to a mixture of irrational fear and a persecution mentality.

In the West, around the 14th century, the concept of witchcraft began to change, with the rise of the Christian belief that Satan was a threat, witchcraft became more and more associated with Devil worship.

Heresy and Diabolism

By the 14th century, fear of Satan and heresy had added charges of diabolism to the usual indictment of witches. It was this combination of sorcery and its association with the Devil that made Western witchcraft unique. From the 14th through the 18th century, witches were believed to repudiate Jesus Christ, to worship the Devil and make pacts with him, to employ demons to accomplish magical deeds, and to desecrate the crucifix and the consecrated bread and wine of the Holy Communion. This fabric of ideas was a fantasy.

Although some people undoubtedly practiced sorcery with the intent to harm, and some may actually have worshiped the Devil, in reality no one ever fit this concept of the “witch.”

Misfortune

Charges of witchcraft were prompted by a wide array of suspicions. It might have been as simple as one person blaming his misfortune on another. The most common suspicions concerned livestock, crops, storms, disease, property and inheritance, rivalry, family feuds, marital discord, and local politics. Accusations of witchcraft were a threat not only to individuals but also to public order, for a community wracked by suspicions about witches could split in half.

A bad harvest could lead to tensions.

Many believed natural disasters were punishments for sins.

Rival families would often accuse each other for witchcraft.

Middle Ages and Beyond

It is impossible to say exactly when the first official witch trial occurred. Even generally judges in the Middle Ages were skeptical of accusations of witchcraft, the period 1300–30 can be seen as the beginning of witch trials. In 1374 Pope Gregory XI declared that all magic was done with the aid of demons and thus was open to prosecution for heresy.

Witch trials continued through the 14th and early 15th centuries, but with great inconsistency according to time and place. By 1435–50, the number of prosecutions had begun to rise sharply, toward the end of the 15th century they were at an all time high. The hunts were most severe from 1580 to 1630, and the last known execution for witchcraft was in Switzerland in 1782. Many justices soon admitted that their methods had been “too violent and not grounded upon a right foundation”; were they to sit again, they would proceed differently.

Drawing of a witch and group of small creatures.

Geography

Three-fourths of European witch hunts occurred in western Germany, the Low Countries, France, northern Italy, and Switzerland, areas where prosecutions for heresy had been plentiful and charges of diabolism were prominent. In Spain, Portugal, and southern Italy, witch prosecutions seldom occurred, and executions were very rare.

The English colonies repeated the European stereotype with a few minor differences, after the witch hunts had already mostly abated in Europe

Witch hunts occurred all
over Europe

Witch hunts happened in many varied terrains.

Similar witch hunts would repeat in British Colonies.