Chp2 Witches Flashcards
What did 17C people believe were witches?
the personification of the devil
Who did they suspect could be a witch?
anyone who did not fit in society
Who were the puritans especially suspicious of?
women
Why did the Puritans not trust women?
they felt they were responsible for the “orginal sin’ and that they were less able to resist temptation than men!!!!
What was a witch hunt?
in the 17C a witch hunt hysteria too place, people were persecuted and executed for being witches
Most people persecuted as witches were not, why?
they were misfits, old women who were ‘wise’ and knew herb treatments, women who refused to marry
Why did witch hunting become a business?
people claimed special ability to find witches, special devices (pins) were created to find no pain
Who could be tortured?
anyone suspected of being a witch
Who was Mathew Hopkins?
the “Witch Finder General” who sentenced many to death, but was found out as a fraud and then sentenced to death himself
What happened to suspected witches?
ducked’ drowning proved innocence, hanged, burned, or pressed to death
Why did the trials, that should have protected the innocent fail?
Chief justices refused to stand up to mobs of hysterical people who believed and feared witches. Trials became proving guilt, not to determine guilt or innocence
What is the lesson to be learned from the witch hunts?
That human emotion can easily destroy institutions that have been created to protect us.
