Chapter 1B - Introduction Flashcards

1
Q

What were the two main types of witchcraft?

A
  • maleficium = witches committed evil deeds such as killing livestock and crops or interfering with nature. People were cursed by witches
  • Malleus Maleficarum = a book published in 1486 that stated that witches held a covenant with the devil. Acted as a guidebook for witch hunters
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2
Q

Who was martin Luther? What impact did he have?

A
  • Born in 1483 in Germany
  • openly criticised the catholic church’s focus on salvation through good works and rituals rather than through faith alone
  • Henry VIII broke away from catholic church in 16th century
  • during 16th and 17th century an puritanism evolved from Protestantism. Many witch hunters were puritans
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3
Q

What are familiars?

A
  • supernatural creators associated with witches as representatives of the Devil
  • take form of dogs, cats, toads and mice
  • could sometimes take shape of man
  • Believed to have used the Devils mark on the witch to feed and suckle blood
  • witches got their familiar after meeting with devil
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4
Q

Who were cunning-folk? How do they link with familiars?

A
  • folk-healers
  • distinguished from witches because they generally carried out good deeds
  • familiars had long been associated with them as harmless fairies
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5
Q

What did the witches gain from having a familiar?

A
  • witches were protected by familiar after initiation

- sometimes the familiars had shape shifting powers and were often given affectionate names

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6
Q

How did witches meet familiars?

A
  • suddenly appear when witch was alone urging them to make a pact with the devil or cause harm
  • could be given by someone else. A mother would sometimes be charged with giving familiar to daughter
  • familiars promised to give witches wealth and take revenge on their enemies
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7
Q

What did familiars do?

A
  • caused harm to others
  • damaged property
  • fed from the witch
  • did not belong to one witch
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8
Q

What was the first witchcraft act?

A
  • 1542 during reign of Henry VIII (repealed in 1547)
  • made conjuring of spirits, witchcraft and sorcery in order to find treasure, cause harm to a person or their goods, or to discover what had happen to stolen goods a capital offence
  • focused on the crime of witchcraft consisting of acts of hostility against the community rather than pacts with the devil
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9
Q

What was the second witchcraft act?

A
  • passed in 1563 under reign of Elizabeth I (repealed in 1604)
  • more severe in some ways, more lenient in others
  • made it a crime to invoke evil spirits for any purpose, weather maleficium was involved or not
  • death penalty only applied if witch had killed a person with witchcraft. If animal killed only sent to prison for a year
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10
Q

What was the third witchcraft act?

A
  • passed in 1604 by James I and repealed in 1736
  • more severe than 1563
  • death penalty for killing a person still stood
  • death penalty reintroduced for lesser offences (such as destroying livestock)
  • offence to consult or feed evil spirit
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11
Q

What was the assize circuit?

A

-Assize courts were courts that travelled in six “circuits” around the country, hearing the most serous cases

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12
Q

What impact did the witchcraft laws have?

A
  • hundreds of trails carried out under the laws

- used most often in relation to accusations of damage caused to neighbours and their goods

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13
Q

How were witches ID in the general community?

A
  • people who were physically deformed
  • those who were withdrawn or socially arkward
  • women (especially older ones) were most often accused
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14
Q

What tests did suspects undergo to discover if they were witches?

A
  • swimming test = right thumb tied to left big toe and vise versa. Thrown into lake, if they floated they were guilty, if they sank they were innocent
  • asked to recite the lords prayer
  • Devil marks
  • suspects watched for several days and nights. Derive suspects of sleep or rest and force them to go hungry
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