Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM


Top Flashcards (Certified)
All Flashcards

History - Witch-Craze and Popular Culture > Who were the accused? > Flashcards

Who were the accused? Flashcards

1
Q

Give an example of somewhere that had a high % of female victims

A

Essex, 1560-1675, 93%

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Give an example of somewhere that had a high % of male victims

A

Normandy, 1560-1664, 78%
Russia, 1601-1701, 74%
Iceland, 1625-1675, 92%
Estonia, 1520-1729, 60%

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What % of victims from Normandy were male?

A

78%

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What % of victims from Russia were male?

A

74%

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Give an example of somewhere that had an equal split between male and female victims

A

Finland, 1520-1699, 51%
Aragon, 57%

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What made women vulnerable to suspicion?

A

Their traditional roles in society gave them more opportunities to practice harmful magic

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What jobs made women more vulnerable to accusation?

A

Cooks, healers, midwives and lying in maids

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Why were cooks accused?

A

Opportunity to gather herbs for magical purposes
Skills to turn herbs into potions
Links to images of women stood over cauldrons, men would rarely have been seen cooking in such a way

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Why were healers accused?

A

Wisewomen used herbs and ointments in their work which should be regarded as magical as they were created with superstitious prayers spoken over them
Generally tolerated as they were useful but they were vulnerable to the charge of white magic and could be accused of maleficium if someone they had tried to help died unexpectedly
- malleus makes reference to witches as women who could cure as well as injure
- studies of witchcraft prosecutions in France, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, England, Scotland and New England were actually wise women
- half of all cases that reached the Parlement of Paris involved accusations of magical healing

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What does malleus maleficarum make reference to?

A

Witches who could heal as well as injure

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

half of all cases reaching what involved accusations of magical healing?

A

Parlement of Paris

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Why were midwives accused?

A
  • Easily blamed for the death of infants - offered bereaved parents a means of revenge in an age where 1/5 infants died
  • Midwives could become a victim after years of cumulative suspicion
  • Easy to apply demonological beliefs of cannibalistic infanticide to midwives once trials reached the court and ears of elite/intellectual judges
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Give an example of a midwife who was accused?

A

Dillingen, Germany - Walpurga Hausmanin was accused in 1587 of having caused the death of 40 children in 12 years
Hungary - a midwife was burned at the stake for baptising 2000 children in the name of the Devil in 1728

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Hungarian midwife, date and accusation

A

baptising 2000 children in the name of the Devil in 1728

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Walpurga Hausmanin - where? accusation? date

A

Dillingen, Germany - Walpurga Hausmanin was accused in 1587 of having caused the death of 40 children in 12 years

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

in what region and when did prosecutions for witchcraft occur at the same time as heresy trials? What did this lead to?

A

Jura, 15th century
More men and women were tried

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

4 reasons why men were accused?

A
  • witchcraft was defined as a heresy
  • links to political sorcery
  • tradition of male sorcery
  • hunts got out of control
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Evidence for men being accused as witchcraft as defined as heresy

A
  • Jura, 15th century, more men than women were tried
  • % of male witches tried by the Inquisition of Castile and Venice was way above the average
  • Kingdom of Aragon - 72% of those tried in ecclesiastical courts were men
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

give an inquisition area that had more male witches

A

Castille and Venice

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

what % of those tried in ecclesiastical courts in the Kingdom of Aragon were men?

A

72%

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Give an example of men being associated/accused of political sorcery

A

Scotland 1590-91 accusations of treason against the king. The ringleader was believed to be the Earl of Bothwell and the most prominent witch was Dr Fian

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

2 male witches accused in Scotland 1590-91

A

Dr Fian and the Earl of Bothwell

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Which areas had a tradition of male sorcery?

A

Russia, Estonia, Iceland and Finland

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What was the typical witch in Normandy?

A

Male shepherd

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Give an example of men being accused as hunts got out of control
Wurzburg - 1629 - confessing witches implicated 400 other witches 'of every rank and sex' Salem - prominent merchants and judges in witchcraft courts were accused
26
Where were witches 'of every rank and sex' accused? When?
Wurzburg 1629
27
T or F? the majority of witches were older than 50
True!
28
What was the median age of witches in Geneva and Essex?
60
29
how old were some of the witches in Musselburgh in Scotland in 1661?
60s
30
why should we not assume that all those accused were older?
- evidence from Barvaria, Germany suggests a wide range of people were accused - depictions of witches show more young women - only 41% of those accused in Scotland were over 50 - when hunts got out of control young people and children were accused
31
what % of those accused in Scotland were over 50?
41%
32
Why were older women prosecuted?
took a long time to bring someone to trial often healers and midwives because they could no longer bare and care for their own children manifested eccentric or antisocial behaviour physically weak and less powerful lustful
33
give an example of area/time when an old person was accused because they had been suspected for years and a trial was a last resort
Essex 1648-1649 - John Lowe, Elizabeth Clarke
34
Why were healers and midwives usually older women?
they could no longer bare and care for their own children
35
what kind of behaviour was common amongst older women that led to their accusation?
eccentric and antisocial behaviour
36
why were older people more likely to use sorcery as a means of protection or revenge?
they were physically weak and less powerful
37
what did the depiction of a witch as an old hag come from?
young men's fear of experienced, sexually independent women
38
why were older, widowed women the primary target for the Devil seeking out female partners?
they were not under the protection of their husbands
39
3 reasons why young people were accused
witch mania/witch craze children of known witches love magic
40
how many witches executed in Wurzburg were children?
1 quarter
41
where and when were 77 out of 102 males executed under the age of 21?
Salzburg, Austria
42
give an example of children of known witches being vulnerable to accusation
Saxony, 1660, a magician's two children were executed with him
43
how many of the 1800 confessors in the Basque region in 1609-11 were minors?
1300
44
give examples of cases that had disproportionately high numbers of child witches
Wurzburg, 1627-1629 Salzburg, Austria, 1675-1690 Basque, 1609-1611 Mora, Sweden, 1668
45
did witches tend to be younger in north, west, south or east Europe?
south
46
what was the typical age for those accused of love magic?
twenties and thirties
47
what age bracket did the Venetian Inquisition focus on? why?
twenties and thirties they were concerned with love magic
48
give an example of an area which never put children on trial
Geneva
49
what was significant about the prosecutions of children occurring mainly in the 17th century after hunts peaked?
increase in the prosecutions of children contributed to the overall decline of hunts
50
give an example of prosecution of children leading to the decline of hunts?
Sweden
51
Who was more likely to be accused? Unmarried/widowed or married women?
Unmarried/widowed women
52
Where was the % of married witches astonishingly low?
Kent, England Toul, Lorraine
53
Why were unmarried or widowed women vulnerable to accusations?
They were not under the control of a husband or father and it was believed that they were more likely to be seduced by the devil
54
What led to the % of widows and independent unmarried women rising?
War Plague Reformation leading to the closure of nunneries and convents
55
Vagrants (homeless poor) were rarely featured in prosecutions except in X and Y. What are countries are X and Y?
Russia and Austrian Habsburg lands
56
Who said that witches were 'for the most part beggars'? When?
Remy, 1595
57
When did Remy claim that witches were mostly beggars?
1595
58
What was significant about the witches imprisoned in Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1649?
They could not provide for themselves
59
In what year and where couldn't witches who had been imprisoned provide for themselves?
Dunfermline, Scotland 1649
60
In what country were many of the accused 'extremely poor'?
Norway
61
Why were the poor accused?
- they were weak and vulnerable - became scapegoats - most likely to resort to magical methods to survive and exact revenge - most likely to make pacts with the Devil to improve their circumstances - communities experiencing economic hardship became less tolerant in their dealings with the poor
62
who were most likely to resort to magical methods to survive and exact revenge, and make pacts with the Devil to improve their circumstances
the poor
63
in the early years was of hunts, what was witchcraft linked to?
political conspiracy and treason
64
why were wealthy people accused?
- witchcraft was linked to political conspiracy in the early period - stereotypes broke down in chain reaction hunts - political rivals accused each other or their wives - desire to acquire the property of a witch
65
3 areas where wealthy people were accused as stereotypes broke down
Bamberg, Trier and Wurzburg
66
how did conflict over economic resources play a role in the hunts in New England?
most of the women from this area who were accused inherited property or stood to inherit it because they had no sons or brothers and so stood in the way of the 'orderly' transmission of property from male to male'
67
give an example of high status individual who was accused and executed in Bamber, 1623-1632
John Junius - mayor of Bamberg Hans Langhans - mayor of Zeil Members of 17 different, well-respected households on the main street in Bamberg
68
what behaviour characteristics led to witches being accused?
sharp-tongued, bad tempered, quarrelsome, 'village scolds', threatening speech, signs of dementia
69
those accused in X often had a reputation for 'disorderly' or threatening speech. Where is X?
New England
70
what condition could explain the behaviour of many older witches?
dementia
71
give an example of someone whose personality led to their accusation
Elizabeth Clarke, England, 1648-9
72
what role did religious reputation play in the hunts?
many of those accused already had prior records of religious or moral deviance which made them more vulnerable to suspicion
73
give some examples of immoral behaviour that many of the accused had already been suspected of
non-attendance at church, cursing, prostitution, fornication, homosexuality, adultery, abortion, sabbath breaking
74
give an example of a witch who had a poor moral/religious reputation
an English woman tried in 1613 had given birth to 3 illegitimate children
75
where were the accused known to have spoken about sexual activity openly?
Lucerne

History - Witch-Craze and Popular Culture (3 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions