Witchcraft

Question 1

Why did witchcraft become a serious crime? (3 points)

Answer 1

Civil war - led to tensions in community, people blaming others for bad things, needed a ‘scapegoat’
Religion - after the reformation witchcraft became a crime against state, not just religion
Social changes - families left old women behind, they had to turn to charms for luck or herbs/medicine for money

Question 2

Why were women blamed for witchcraft? (3 points)

Answer 2

Religion - Christianity portrayed women as easily tempted by devil, give in easily.
Misogyny - men hated and feared women, they lived alone, old, poor.
Puritans - saw women as ‘temptresses’ (untrustwotrthy)

Question 3

Why did witchcarft stop being a crime? (3 points)

Answer 3

Science - more experimentation, explanations for works of witchcraft (crop failure, illness).
Economic changes - less poverty reduced social tension and meant less old women begging/left alone.
Less superstition - less believed it was the work of the devil, less believed in witches, less influence of religion.

Question 4

Tests to identify witches (3 points)

Answer 4

Pricked with a needle - to find devils mark, area not sensitive to pain, didn’t bleed.
If they floated when thrown into water.
Unusual marks on body, eg. third nipple to feed familiar.