Legislation around Witches & Witchcraft (T1) Flashcards
When was the first law against witches passed (in England)
1542
How long did the first act against witches last for?
5 years (it was repealed in 1547)
When was the second law against witches passed?
1563
When was the third law against witches passed?
1604
What was the key difference between the first act and the others?
The second two acts transferred the trial from the church to the normal courts.
What was made illegal in the first witchcraft act?
Made the conjuring of spirits, witchcraft and sorcery in order to find treasure, cause harm to a person or their goods or to discover what had happened to stolen goods punishable by death
What did the second act do against witchcraft?
Made it a crime to invoke evil spirits for any purpose, where maleficium was involved or not. Punishment scaled to offence
What did the third act do against witchcraft?
The death penalty was retained for the killing of a person and it was reintroduced for a second offence in lesser kinds of magic.
When were witchcraft laws repealed in England?
1736
Also imposed fines against those who claimed to be witches
When was the Malleus Maleficarum published?
1486
Why did the Malleus Maleficarum have such an impact across europe?
Invention of printing press made mass production and translation easy.
How did the Malleus Maleficarum change people’s attitudes to magic?
It said that to practice any kind of magic, the witch had to have made a pact with the devil, making them unholy and worthy of death.
What did the Malleus Maleficarum say about gender in witchcraft?
Goes to great lengths to explain why women are much more likely to be witches than men, justified by the fact that women are more impressionable, have “slippery tongues and feeble minds”.
Why did people believe the Malleus Maleficarum?
- They were very religious
- The author added a reproduction of the pope’s seal at the start
