Why Are The Myths Important In The 16th Century

16th Century Myths and Folktales Folktales and myths have been told for centuries around the globe. In which 16th century folktale and myths are known the most in literature. 16th century folktale and myths impacted history through the several cases of witchcraft, influenced their way of romantic love, and their superstitious beliefs of explanation.
There were many cases of witchcraft that appeared in the 16th century. Women accused of being a witch usually were known to be old and poor. Also, women assumed of having the “Evil Eye”, usually were “crone like”, snaggle toothed, sunken cheeked, having a hairy lip, and if they had a cat it was proof they were a witch. According to Matthew Hopkins, known as the Witchfinder General, you could tell if a woman was a witch if she possessed a devil’s mark. A devil’s mark is a wart, mole, or a flea bite, and to test if it was a devil’s mark, they poked the mark with a needle to see if they felt pain in that area. Another way to test if they were a witch was a swimming test, they had their thumbs tied to their opposite big toes, and were flung into a body of water. If the female floated she was guilty, and if she sank she was innocent. …show more content…
Writers promoted others to marry for love and not arranged marriage in their work. Of course the idea spread like wildfire and has now become what love is today. For example, in A Renaissance Storybook by Morris Bishop there was a man named Fra Stefano, a friar, who fell in love with Emilia, a married woman. Over time she fell in love with him, and her husband found her cheating on him with Fra. Emilia’s husband embarrassed Fra in front of his whole church and never allowed his own kind or the friar into his house again. Another example is Romeo and Juliet, but always at the end there was sacrifice for love, that’s why the idea wasn’t as popular at