Witchcraft In The Middle Ages

Prior to the age of religious reformation and the Late Middle Ages, witchcraft did not hold such a negative connotation. In fact, it was divided into two – white magic and black magic. White magic was used by healers, wise men and women, as well as others who fit this category. Black magic, on the other hand, were practiced by those who sought to harm others, thus used their abilities for evil. It was this kind of magic that got a person labelled as a witch rather than the titles used for the practitioners of white magic. A witch was someone who used magic to cause harm unto others, including animals. Being a witch was based on the actions that a person did, not what they were. Witchcraft originated largely from Pagan beliefs, and so when …show more content…
After the late medieval era, a witch became someone who was used by the devil to do what he wanted. However, not all who were connected to the Roman Catholic Church believed witchcraft equaled devil worship. Inquisitors, particularly, believed that witches were just ignorant and superstitious peasants who should be educated rather than executed. Representatives of both genders were liable to be accused of witchcraft. Surviving records from after the year 1500 show that approximately 100,000 to 200,000 people were tried, and 40,000 to 60,000 were executed. 80% of those accused of witchcraft who were questioned and subsequently executed were women. Both men and women could be practitioners of magic, but the medieval stereotypes of women played a key role in the increasing accusation of female witches rather than male ones. Women were more likely to …show more content…
There were many contributions to why this particular time period was the most dangerous time to be accused of witchcraft, mainly of political and cultural nature. Witch hunts largely occurred during the creation of nation-states, because rulers of said new nations were required to prove their faith, not only to the people, but to the church as well. The popularization of the printing press helped put documents such as Malleus Maleficarum into circulation, so the contents of them were readily available across Europe to anyone who could read them. They provided communities with means of ridding themselves of harmful persons within their community by simply accusing them of witchcraft. Two different types of witch hunting are known; smaller hunts that involve one or two individual targets, and larger hunts with hundreds of targets, often referred to as “witch panics”. Large-scale witch hunts often occurred following a climatic disaster. However, these witch hunts did not always necessarily involve the ignorant and uneducated who mindlessly followed documents that had previously been stricken down by the authorities. King James I and VI of England and Scotland was well-known for conducting his own witch hunts. Despite his love for hunting witches, he was also fair when it came to those who had been accused, depending upon the accused’s predicament. A