End of Witch Hunting

Question 1

Reasons for the Decline in Witch-Hunting: Legal Changes

Answer 1

New Legal Procedures:

• Brian Levack: Main cause for decline was new rules for conducting Witchcraft trials
• Declined in most places when judicial authorities took measures to control the local courts e.g. Paris Parlement intervening and reversal of many death sentences
• In 17th and 18th centuries the use of torture came under attack, argued that evidence obtained under torture was unreliable, thought Witchcraft trials should conform to more exacting legal requirements
• Torture abolished in many areas: France (1788), Sweden (1782)

New Standards of Evidence:

• Growing reluctance to accept confessions as sufficient proof of guilt
• Greater caution in handling cases after realising that most of those who had been ‘possessed’ had faked it.
• Judges increasingly unwilling to accept the testimony of children

Question 2

Change in Religious Climate
and
Social and Economic Changes

Answer 2

Religious Change:

• Growing tendency to stress the sovereignty of God, if God was supreme then Witchcraft could only occur with their permission
• New religious tolerance between Protestant and Catholic communities
• Reformation led to closer study of the bible and found that there were few references to Witchcraft

Social and Economic Change:

• Some improvements in wages and Inflation levelled off
• Effects of Warfare on civilian populations were greatly reduced

Question 3

Change in Intellectual Climate

Answer 3

Change in Intellectual Climate:

• Number of changes in Intellectual world created disbelief in Witchcraft
• Scientific revolution undermining belief that Devil could intervene with natural world’s operation
• Nicolas Copernicus: Polish mathematician, theory that Sun was at centre of universe and Earth revolved around it
• René Descartes: Argued that the world was a pure mechanism, governed by its own physical laws and without the further intervention of God or any spirits

Spread of Scientific Thinking:

• Scientific Academies began appearing in Italy and France in 16th century
• England played an important role in the spreading of scientific knowledge in the 17th century
• Gresham College: London college and members included many great thinkers
• The Royal Society: Royal Society of London for Improvement of Natural Science granted a Royal Charter by Charles II in 1662, many members- some linked to Gresham College, conducted meetings where scientific experiments conducted, details of experiments published and reached a wide audience

English Influence:

• Number of English Intellectuals influenced both British and European thought
• Isaac Newton: Theories on mathematical laws of the universe

Impact of New Ideas on Witchcraft:

• No place for demons, spells and covens in a universe governed by laws and mathematical proofs
• Period of enlightenment and rationalism eventually spread ideas to wider public

Question 4

End of Witch-Hunting in England

Answer 4

English Writing on Witchcraft:

• Thomas Ady: Attacked the delusion of Witchcraft using Bible as the base of his argument
• John Webster: Book drew on medical and scientific knowledge and said it was better to wait for a natural explanation than to blame things on demons

1736 Witchcraft Act:

• Repealed 1563 and 1604 statutes against Witchcraft and Scottish statute of 1563
• Made it impossible to prosecute Witches in an English or Scottish court and made it an offence to pretend to use sorcery
• Cunning Folk could still be prosecuted , but as frauds rather than as agents of the Devil

Withdrawal of Elite:

• Most educated people now understood world more, declining sense of the miraculous and less fear of Satan
• Witchcraft no longer fashionable among the elite, greater force in persuading people to reject Witchcraft beliefs
• However, elite did not completely reject belief in Witches