unit 2: what were the main causes of the hunts and who were the sceptics?

Question 1

diabolism - devil worship

Answer 1

different views of witchcraft/different accusations:
> maleficium and diabolism were two different activities, but both attributed to witchcraft
> same charged with only one. judges more concerned with diabolism
> maleficium charges came from below - due to self interest
> diabolical ideas trickle to the peasantry - usually through clergy

Question 2

difference between maleficium and diabolism

Answer 2

maleficium is acts of evil while diabolism is pacts of/with the devil

Question 3

main causes of witch-hunts

Answer 3

> mass hysteria
reformation/ counter reformation
anthropology
ignorance/delusion

Question 4

mass hysteria

Answer 4

> crude concept (historians)
small german states occurred - suspicion grew into accusations into trials

Question 5

anthropology

Answer 5

> macfarlane 1970 and thomas 1971 compare modern witch hunts and early modern europe
sceptical as cultures are too far removed
early modern witches were viewed as a sect out to overturn christian believes

Question 6

ignorance/delusion

Answer 6

> do not underestimate the people of the day
too simplified to see people as backward
different cultural reality
both educated and illiterate believed in witchcraft
evidence to support - confessions for magic and the devil’s pact
misfortunes - undeserved/unjust, tendency to make links to witchcraft

Question 7

reformation/counter

Answer 7

> religious developments encouraged the growth of witch hunting
martin luther and john calvin emphasised a ‘godly lifestyle’
protestantism became the dominant religion in many parts of germany, england and scotland
the battle for the souls became a real war - internal and international conflicts
thirty years war
hugh trevor roper 1961 - believes religion is the cause of witch hunts
1520 - 1560 few prosecutions for witchcraft. difficult to establish a direct cause or connection

Question 8

the sceptics

Answer 8

> johann weyer
renaissance humanism
reginald scot

Question 9

johann weyer - 16th century

Answer 9

> physician to the duke of cleves and he said ‘the killing of witches is nothing but a massacre of innocents.’
best seller in germany and france - ‘the deceptive tricks of evil spirits’ - alleged maleficia of witches could be explained by natural causes and the confessions of witches were to a large extent the result of mental disorder

Question 10

renaissance humanism - 16th century

Answer 10

> the great dutch scholar, erasmus, ridiculed zealous inquisitors who sacrificed innocent victims
italian andrea alcati branded the witch hunts in the alps as inhumane. he claimed the papal inquisition was not so much fighting against witchcraft as creating it
german philosopher agrippa attacked the ‘fantasies’ of malleus

Question 11

reginald scot

Answer 11

> published discoverie of witchcraft’ 1584
first major book on witchcraft in england. his scepticism was in part based on the absence of any biblical foundation for witch-hunting
believed in the sovereignty of god - therefore wrong to attribute supernatural powers to witches