Timeline Key Info (T1)

Question 1

What was the Malleus Maleficarum (1486)?

Answer 1

This book served as the basis for witch hunting guide books throughout the early modern period

Question 2

What was the First Witchcraft Act (1542)?

Answer 2

Made the Conjuring of spirits, Witchcraft or 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

Question 3

Why was Nicholas Copernicus’s “On the Revolution of Heavenly Spheres” (1543) significant?

Answer 3

The beginning of the scientific revolution

He challenged traditional views

Question 4

What were the main points of Nicholas Copernicus’s “On the Revolution of Heavenly Spheres”?

Answer 4

• Proposed the universe was heliocentric, with the sun at its centre rather than geocentric
• Agreed with Aristotle & Ptolemy that heavenly bodies moved in perfect circles & suggested each planet moved along a sphere with the sun at the centre
• Argued the earth revolves on its own axis with moon revolving round the earth

Question 5

Why does heliocentric mean?

Answer 5

The sun at the centre (in astronomy)

Question 6

What does geocentric mean?

Answer 6

The earth at the centre (in astrology)

Question 7

What was made illegal in the Second Witchcraft Act (1563)?

Answer 7

Made it a crime to invoke evil spirits for any purpose where maleficarum was involved or not

Question 8

How did the Second witchcraft act (1563) differ from the first act (1542)?

Answer 8

Was more lenient than the first Act

Due to the fact that the death penalty was only put into force if the act of witchcraft resulted in the death of a person

Question 9

What was Reginald Scot’s The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584)?

Answer 9

It questioned whether there was any biblical basis/foundation for witch hunting

Question 10

What was the Boy of Burton fraudulent case (1597)?

Answer 10

Alice Goodridge accused of causing hallucinations by Thomas Darling- a doctor confirms this.

John Darrell is brought into exorcise Darling (remove the demon).

During trial, Darling confesses the case is fraudulent- Darling and Darrell are imprisoned for a year.

Question 11

Was the diabolical pact mentioned in the second witchcraft act (1563)?

Answer 11

No, this reveals that the Diabolical pact had not yet entered English consciousness

The focus was on the harm caused by witches and not the witch themself

Question 12

Was the diabolical pact mentioned in the second witchcraft act (1563)?

Answer 12

No, this reveals that the Diabolical pact had not yet entered English consciousness

The focus was on the harm caused by witches and not the witch themself

Question 13

How was Gresham college founded (1597)?

Answer 13

Thomas Gresham left money in his will to set up a college specifically of maths and science

Question 14

What was Samuel Harsnett’s A discovery of the fraudulent practices of John Darrel (1599)?

Answer 14

It rejected all witchcraft, Harsnett was deeply suspicious about the boy of Burton case as he has first-hand experience of the case

He published multiple pamphlets claiming Darrel, the exorcist was fraudulent

Question 15

What was the third witchcraft act (1604)?

Answer 15

Death penalty was retained for the killing of a person & it was reintroduced for a second offence in lesser kinds of magic, such as the destroying of livestock & goods, or attempting to unsuccessfully kill a person

The act also made it an offence to consult with/feed any evil spirit

Question 16

What was the significance of when the third witchcraft act was passed (1604)?

Answer 16

It was passed during the reign of King James I of England who had a personal interest in witchcraft

Question 17

What was the significance of the last point in the third witchcraft act (1604)?

Answer 17

The last point to do with the act shows that the notion of the Diabolical Pact had now made it into English consciousness and law

Question 18

What was Francis Bacon’s Of the Proficience and advancement of learning divine and human (1605)?

Answer 18

In this, Bacon argued that empirical knowledge, learnt from experience & observation is the most superior form of knowledge

He stated that if men begin with certainties they end with doubts, but if they begin with doubts but observe known facts, they will end with certainties

Question 19

What was Johannes Kepler’s Astronomia Nova (1609)?

Answer 19

This became notable for kepler’s two laws of planetary motion:

1. FIrst law stated that planets travel in elliptical orbits around the sun
2. Second law is planets don’t travel at constant speed: they speed up when approaching the sun & slow down when moving away from it

Question 20

What was an elliptical orbit as theorised by Johannes Kepler?

Answer 20

The revolving of one object around another in an oval shaped orbit

Question 21

What was Galileio Galilei’s Dialogue Concerning Two Chief World Systems (1632)?

Answer 21

Was written as a defence on the copernican theory

In it he rejected the right of the Church to act as an authority over scientific matters & developed a system that fused maths + natural sceince - this inspired later scientists

Question 22

What was the Pendle Swindle case (1634)?

Answer 22

Edmund Robinson accused Jennett Device of participating in a sabbatt in the woods

Robinson & 3 local magistrates accused 17 more from local churches - the presiding magistrate was sceptical & referred it to the Privy Council in London

Evidence was questioned in London & Robinson confessed to fraud

Question 23

What effect did the pendle swindle case have on witches?

Answer 23

Increased scepticism as magistrates were seen as “crazed”

One of the accused, Margaret Johnson confessed despite being innocent - this undermined belief in confessions

Questions then raised over use of sleep deprivation & sanity of some accused

Question 24

What sort of beliefs did Thomas Hobbes’s De Corpore (1655) promote?

Answer 24

It promoted deductive resoning over the inductive reasoning that had been promoted by Bacon

Question 25

What were the key elements of Thomas Hobbes’s De Corpore (1655)?

Answer 25

He wanted a system of thinking that provided secure knowledge that was irrefutable

For example:

• Every man is a living creature
• Every living creature is a body
• Therefore, every man is a body

Question 26

Which author did Thomas Ady reference in his book A Candle in the Dark (1656)?

Answer 26

He referenced Scot’s (1584) argument - this reignited Scot’s popularity

Question 27

How was Thomas Ady’s A Candle in the Dark (1656) used to help witches?

Answer 27

The text was used as a defence in Salem to support innocence but failed to free the accused/victims

Question 28

What was Thomas Ady’s A Candle in the Dark (1656) on?

Answer 28

• Ady argued witches do exist but definition is wrong - they don’t have a pact with the devil
• Used the bible to jutify his argument - lack of text relating to witches
• Criticised James I - claimed he failed to back up arguments in his book & that Daemonologie was written by Bishop James Montague

Question 29

What was Thomas Hobbes’s De Homine (1658)?

Answer 29

Part of hobbes’s trilogy, brought together all his work on natural science, politics & psychology - then ranked them in a hierarchy of most general to most specifc

This was materialism

Question 30

What was the Royal Society (1660)?

Answer 30

A formal & recognised, by Charles II’s Royal Charter, institution that promoted intellectual study & set out to “extend the boundaries” of the arts & sciences