Important Events for the Witch Hunts,
by Brian A. Pavlac,
Ph.D., Associate Professor of History
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Important Events for the Witch Hunts,
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Large Trends | Scholars | Sources | Hunters | Hunts | Accused
THE MIDDLE AGES: the period of history from the fall of the Roman Empire in the West (ca. A.D. 475) to the rise of modern European power with the Renaissance, Voyages of Exploration, etc. (ca. 1500). While often popularly considered to be a time of witch hunts, very few were carried out until about 1400. The official Church teaching usually was that witches did not exist. Yet, medieval procedures of law, including the inquisition of heretics (especially Waldensians and Albigenisans) and torture did pave the way for the later witch hunts.
Hundred Years War (1337-1453): A dynastic war between England and France over which growing state would control territories in the Lowlands, southwest France, and ultimately, the thrones of each country. Decisive military victories at Poitiers, Crecy and Agincourt kept the English at an advantage, as did constant raids by troops of mercenaries. The widespread destruction may have been a breeding ground for witch hunts. Joan of Arc, who turned the tide in favor of the French, was herself accused of witchcraft.
Waldensian and Albigensian Heresies (12th-13th Centuries): These groups of heretics provoked a response by the Christian hierarchies in Europe leading to the concerted evangelization and education efforts, and when those failed, crusades and the inquisition. Peter Waldo, a merchant from Lyons who turned to preaching, gave his name to the first group. The heresy of the Waldensians was an overemphasis on apostolic poverty: the idea that the church and its ministers should set an example by being poor as Christ and his Apostles allegedly were. Some Waldensian communities survive today. The word "Valdensis/vaudois" was used as a synonym for witches later. The Albigenians, or Cathars, were technically not heretics, but a rival religious group to Christians. Their core beliefs were dualistic: God who is of the spirit and good is at war with the Devil who is of the flesh and evil. This latter group was wiped out. The inquisition provided methodologies and ideologies that supported the witch hunts.
The Medieval Inquisition (12-14th centuries): The investigative judicial system set up by the medieval Western Latin "Catholic" Church to eliminate the threat of heretics to orthodox Christianity. Similar to the later Spanish Inquisition and Roman Inquisition, judges were authorized in secret proceedings to investigate, prosecute, judge, and sentence accused people who had no legal counsel. Thousands of condemned victims were executed over the centuries, often by public burning. Combined with preaching by mendicant orders (Dominicans and Franciscans) and even crusades (especially in the South of France), most heresies were eliminated or marginalized by 1400. During the 14th century, though, the authors of manuals on carrying out the inquisition, and various investigations began to become interested in sorcery and witchcraft. The methods of the medieval inquisition were then often carried over into the witch hunts.
Black Death (1347-1359): A great plague that swept through Europe killing as much as a third of the population in three years. The shock helped to spur the rise of modernity. Some, though, blamed this plague, and others that followed for the next several hundred years, on witches.
Commercial Revolution (1350-1650): the invention of the practice of capitalism helped to spur economic growth in Western Europe, making that region one of the wealthiest areas on the planet by 1650. But the inequalities created by economic change (job loss, more fluid transfer of wealth, rise in status of some groups but not others) may have created insecurities that helped promote the witch hunts.
RENAISSANCE (1400-1600): an intellectual revolution that promoted the careful reading of the authors of ancient Greece and Rome and applying their concepts to a changing society. Ironically, despite this growth in intellectual practice, this period also saw writers justify the witch hunts, which were just beginning to intensify.
Council of Basel (1431-1439): A meeting by the leaders of the Western Latin Church that sought reform. As the popes withdrew their support the council became increasingly radical,
Martin LeFranc, The Defender of Ladies (1440):
printing press (ca. 1450-): its invention encouraged an increase in literacy as people had more books to read. Unfortunately, witch hunting manuals and other books fostering ideas about witches were also published, adding to the intensity of the hunts.
French Invasion of Italy (1494): the attack by the French king to claim Italian possessions began decades of warfare over Italy, and its occupation by foreign powers. The disturbances created by such ongoing warfare and political instability may have fostered some witch hunts. The political turmoil also inspired Machiavelli to write his book The Prince.
Spanish Inquisition (1478-1834): The investigative judicial system set up by the monarchs of Spain, originally to guarantee that Jewish and Muslim converts to Christianity (Marranos and Moriscos) stayed orthodox and catholic. Similar to the earlier medieval inquisition of heretics or the later Roman Inquisition, judges were authorized in secret proceedings to investigate, prosecute, judge, and sentence accused people who had no legal counsel. Thousands of condemned victims were executed over the centuries, often in religious ceremonial public burnings, called autos-da-fe or acts of faith. Witches were only minimally investigated by this inquisition. See also Martín de Castañega, Tratado muy sotil y bien fundado (1529) and Alonso de Salazar Frias (1564-1635).
REFORMATION (1517-1559): The efforts of various religious leaders to reform the Western Latin Church, which resulted in the basic division in the West of Protestants (including Lutherans, Calvinists, etc.) and Roman Catholics. Unlike contemporary Eastern Orthodox Christians, many Protestants and Roman Catholics persecuted witches, although they only rarely used the charge against one another.
Emperor Charles V Habsburg (r. 1519-1556): The man who was both Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain during the crucial early 16th Century. The Wars of Charles V (1521-1559) were on many fronts. Against Luther and the Protestant reformers, against the Turks, and against France. His Carolina Law Code (1532) (from the Latin for Charles: carolus) provided a sound legal basis for jurisprudence. Article 109 punished witchcraft only if it killed someone. The code also gave rules to allow torture, which, unfortunately, were abused and fed the cruelty of the German witch hunts.
King Henry VIII of England (r. 1509-1549): He separated the Church of England from the jurisdiction of the pope, beginning the English Reformation. In 1542, he had parliament pass the first anti-witchcraft law for England.
English Reformation (1534-1559): Begun by Henry VIII so that he could marry Anne Boleyn. Some English church leaders soon took up witch hunting. It was completed by Henry's daughter by Anne, Queen Elizabeth I,
Anabaptists: A wide variety of religious groups who disagreed with the majority of other religious groups, Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant. As such, Protestants and Roman Catholics persecuted them in Western Europe. Oddly enough, Anabaptists themselves rarely persecuted witches.
Holy Office [of the Inquistion] (1542-1965): The investigative judicial system set up by the popes during the Reformation to combat the threat of Protestantism to Roman Catholicism. Similar to the earlier medieval inquisition and Spanish Inquisition, judges were authorized in secret proceedings to investigate, prosecute, judge, and sentence accused people who had no legal counsel. The inquisition also investigated witches, but generally was milder than other witch hunts, with its moderate use of torture and the death penalty. After the eighteenth century the Holy Office stopped hunting witches, and used more peaceful means to enforce Roman Catholicism.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Queen Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603)
English Civil War (1642-1648): A war that began as the leaders of Parliament argued with King Charles I over law and authority in the realm. Parliamentary forces won, partly inspired by the more radical Puritan representatives. The unrest and disturbances added to an atmosphere that allowed for some intense witch hunts, especially under Matthew Hopkins.
King Philip II of Spain (r. 1556-1598), Spanish Armada (1588):
70 Years War of Dutch independence (1581-1648):
Scientific Revolution (1543-1687), Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), Isaac Newton (1643-1727):
Emperor Rudolf II (1576-1612):
Russian "Time of Troubles" (1584-1613):
30 Years War (1618-1648), Peace of Westphalia (1648):
French Civil Wars (1562-1598):
King Louis XIII (1610-1643), Cardinal Richelieu:
King Louis XIV (1643-[1661]-1715), War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714):
Scientific Agricultural Revolution (1650-1800): As scientific ideas were applied to farming and domestic husbandry, agricultural production increased many times over. Thus Western Civilization began to eliminate famine and hunger as a widespread, endemic problem. Fewer famines also meant that fewer people blamed witches for bad weather, crop failures or animal illness.
ENLIGHTENMENT (1687-1789): The intellectual revolution which promoted concepts such as empirical reason, skepticism, humanitarianism, and progress within Western Civilization. These four concepts together, as applied to the ideas of witches and their alleged danger to society, helped to end the witch hunts. There was no empirical evidence that witches could actually work harm; torture to gather evidence or punish was inhumane; and progress required the elimination of superstitions like the belief in witches.
Voltaire (b. 1694-d. 1778):
Encyclopedia (1751-80):
"Enlightened Despotism" (18th cent.):
Maria Theresa Habsburg (r. 1740-1780): Archduchess of Austria, an "enlightened despot" whose revisions of the legal codes ended witch hunting in her territories. For more information on her, go to the Maria Theresa page.
Frederick II Hohenzollern (r. 1740-1786): King of Prussia, an "enlightened despot" whose revisions of the legal codes ended witch hunting in his kingdom.
French Revolution (1789-1815): The political transformation of France from an absolute monarchy to more constitutional and representative government. The movement's emphasis on Enlightenment reason, only further guaranteed that no more witch hunts would take place. Political persecution and torture did continue, however. A good site on the revolution is Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution, <http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/index.html>.
Caesarius of Arles (ca. 530): In a sermon, this bishop admonished people not to consult soothsayers or follow omens, although he did say that the Devil could not injure them. Printed in Kors & Peters #2.
Isadore of Seville, Etymologies (ca. 600): This book of word origins was an early form of encyclopedia. Its listing and classification of various forms of magic help illustrate the contexts of beliefs during his time and long after. Selections printed in Kors & Peters #3.
Regino of Prüm, Canon Episcopi (ca. 900): For an English language copy of the text, click here; for a Latin version, click here. Law in the collection of Regino, a monk from the abbey of Prüm, that condemns the belief in witchcraft, especially as connected to the Night Ride. It is adopted in later legal texts also. Its assertion that anyone who believes in such false opinions as witches deviates from the true faith, created a problem for those who wanted the Church to attack witches.
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274): the founder of scholasticism, the philosophical school of theologians influenced by Aristotelean logic. Aquinas asserted through logic that demons were real, although they could only act through the permission of God. But magic and sorcery could cause impotence and destroy a marriage.
University of Paris Pronouncements (1398)
Claude Tholosan, Ut magorum et maleficiorum errores (1437)
Errores Gazariorum (1437)
Johannes Nider, Formicarius (1435-1438)
Henry Krämer (Institoris) and James Sprenger, Malleus Maleficarum (1486): The Hammer of Witches is the classic Witch hunting manual. Probably written only by Institoris, it is based on his experiences at failed trials in Innsbruck in 1485 and elsewhere. It describes the reality of witches (mostly women, because of their simple minds and exaggerated sex drive), and how to put them on trial. For the full text in English, go to <www.malleusmaleficarum.org>. In Latin, click here.
Ulrich Molitor, De Laniis et Pythonicis (1489): Account of witch problem, based around a dialogue with Duke Sigismund of the Tyrol. Includes much-reproduced collection of 7 woodcuts about witches. For a brief essay and a few pictures, click here. More pictures can be found here.
Erasmus (1466-1536)
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
John Calvin (1509-1564)
Johann Weyer, De praestigiis daemonum (1563)
Lambert Daneau, De veneficiis (1564)
Jean Bodin, On the Demon-Mania of Witches (1580): For a selection of his text, click here.
Reginald Scot, The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584): For a full text, click here.
Michel de Montaigne, "Concerning Cripples" (1588)
Henri Boguet, Discourse on Witches (1602)
Martín Del Rio, Disquisitiones magicarum (1603):
Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
Friedrich Spee (b.1591-d.1635): involved as a confessor in the Witch Hunts (probably in Würzburg), he turned against them and wrote his book, Cautio Criminalis (1631) (in English roughly translated as "Precautions for Prosecutors"), which condemned the cruelty and injustice of the hunts. The Cautio gradually influenced many other works against the hunts. For a brief selection from the book, click here (then scroll down the page). For a picture of the frontispiece, click here.
Cyrano de Bergerac, "Letter against Witches" (1654)
Cotton Mather, "A Discourse on Witchcraft" (1689) For a letter by Cotton Mather on Witchcraft, click here.
Balthasar Bekker, The Enchanted World (1691): For a full text, click here.
Joseph Glanvil (b. 1636-d.1680): a clergyman and fellow of the Royal Society who, oddly enough, tried to place the witch hunts on a scientific basis. His book originally published as Some Philosophical Considerations Touching Witches (1666) was republished under the more well-known title: Sadducismus Triumphatus or, Full and plain evidence concerning witches and apparitions. In two parts. The first treating of their possibility. The second of their real existence (1666, 1700). It compared the deniers of witches to those who denied Christ. The book included material by Henry More, about the Dæmon of Tedworth [South Tidworth], concerning John Mompesson's house haunted by drumming noises and other poltergeist activities. For a good skeptical account by Charles Mackay, in Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841), click here; for a full text, click here. For a picture of the book, click here. Glanvil's ongoing support of witch hunting was an increasingly isolated opinion among intellectuals.
Christian Thomasius (1655-1728)
Large Trends | Scholars | Sources | Hunters | Hunts | Accused
Pope Alexander IV (r. 1254-61): When inquisitors against heresy asked that sorcery be included among their investigations, the pope expressly did not allow inquisitorial authority over sorcery or ritual magic. Only that which manifestly involved heresy should draw their attention. Since the decision did not absolutely forbid considering sorcery as heresy, it did create an opportunity to expand inquisitorial interests.
Pope John XXII (r. 1316-1334): He issued the bull "super illius specula" (ca. 1325) declaring to be heretics those who were involved in sacrificing to or making pacts with demons. He went further and hunted for magic and sorcery among bishops and in his own court, having his own nephew Jacques de Via executed. This pope's preoccupation with sorcery may have influenced Bishop Richard Ledrede of Ossory in the Alice Kyteler affair.
Pope Alexander V (1409-1410):
Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503): wanted the witches hunted in Lombardy, empowering inquisitors to do so.
Pope Eugenius IV (1434-1437)
Pope Innocent VIII, Summis desiderantes (1484): The pope and the papal bull that allegedly began the serious witch hunts, and sanctioned the activities of the Hammer of Witches (in which it is usually included). For a copy of the text, click here, or here.
Pope Paul IV (1555-1559):
Nicolau Eymeric, Directorium inquisitorum (1376): As a Dominican in Spain, Nicolas Eymerich (or Nicolau Eymeric) (b. 1320-d.1393) wrote this manual for the inquisition, which became the basis for many later manuals. He included serious sorcery involving demons under heresy, dividing it into two forms: dulia was only false veneration; while latria was a more serious false worship. For a later edition, click here. For a text in Portuguese, click here. For selections (with an anti-papal flavor), click here.
Bernardino of Siena (1427):
King James VI Stuart (1567-1625) of Scotland/ King James I Stuart (1603-1625) of Great Britain: As King of Scotland he became intimately involved in witch trials, see Scottish Persecutions (1591). He wrote the book Demonologie (for the full text, click here) which specifically argued against the skepticism of Johan Weyer, and introduced the more Continental concepts of the witch's sabbat to Scotland. After inheriting the throne of England from Queen Elizabeth, the unification of Scotland and England created Great Britain. In his English Kingdom he had written and passed by Parliament the English Witchcraft Law (1604), which was harsher than that of his predecessor, and gave great leeway for judges to interpret evidence. It became the basis for more intensive witch hunts, and remained on the books until the 20th Century. In his later years, though, James himself became more skeptical about witch hunting. He exposed the fraud of Anne Gunter in 1606.
Nicholas Rémy, Demonolatry (1595):
Martín de Castañega, Tratado muy sotil y bien fundado (1529)
Alonso de Salazar Frias (1564-1635)
Witch-Finder General Matthew Hopkins (1644-1646)
Large Trends | Scholars | Sources | Hunters | Hunts | Accused
Trials of the Templars (1307): When King
Philip the Fair of France wanted to destroy the military monastic Order of the
Knights Templar, he had them accused of diabolic conspiracies and blasphemous
practices, similar to what would be used against witches later.
Arras (1459-1462)
Innsbruck (1485)
1st Chelmsford Witches (1566)
Trier Persecutions (1581-1593)
Scottish Persecutions (1591)or the North Berwick Witches: The servant girl Gilly Duncan, was a local healer. Her master, however, suspected her of witchcraft, had her arrested, tortured, with thumbscrews (called pilliwinks), her head twisted and jerked in a rope. She confessed to witchcraft and named other several other people as witches, most famously Agnes Sampson and Dr. John Fian. King James VI examined Agnes himself, had her stripped, shaved, searched for the Devil's Mark, and tortured with the witch's bridle (four prongs that open the mouth). Dr. Fian, a local schoolmaster was tortured with pilliwinks, then the "bootes" (the confined legs were squeezed by wedges pounded in [see Urban Grandier]). After confessing and showing contrition, Fian managed to escape. But captured, and examined by the king himself, Fian remained obstinate in refusing to admit to witchcraft. The king had Fian tortured by having his fingernails pulled off, then two pins pushed into the wounds, up to their heads. Still refusing, he was once again put into the bootes, where his legs were permanently maimed, the blood and marrow gushing forth profusely. The king took a personal interest since a plot against his life seemed to be part of the witch conspiracy. Condemned for the crime of witchcraft, Dr. Fian and Anges Sampson, and others were strangled then had their bodies burned.
Bavaria (1589-1600)
Eichstätt (1611-1630)
Lancashire or Pendle Witches (1612): Old Demdike vs. Old Chattox.
Second(?) Bamberg Hunt (1626-1630): Led by Prince-Bishop John George II Fuchs von Dorrnheim, "the Witch-bishop" (r. 1623-1632). Working with his coadjutor bishop Frederick Förner, they built two speical prsions to carry out the investigation and torture. Victims of the hunt included the mayor of Bamberg, John Junius; the vice chancellor Dr. George Haan and his family; the bishop's cousin, the page Ernest von Eherenburg; Dorothea Flöckin the wife of a councillor; a nine-year-old witch-boy. This hunt killed perhaps 600.
Würzburg (1629): Led by Prince-Bishop Philip Adolf von Ehrenberg (r. 1623-1631), cousin of Prince-Bishop John George II Fuchs von Dorrnheim, "the Witch-bishop." Children were the main target. Number of executed was 160 to as many as 900. The hunt was stopped by intervention of the imperial court of Speyer. The hunt had an influence on Frederick Spee, who wrote against the hunts. For a primary source letter about the hunts, click here.
Bonn (1630)
Lancashire or Pendle Swindel (1633): ten-year-old Edmund Robinson accused women of meeting in the woods at a witch's sabbath. Authorities arrested and convicted more than a dozen persons, several of whom died in jail. But it all turned out to be a fraud encouraged by the boy's father.
The Devils at Loudun (1636): Accused the priest Urban Grandier of allowing the Devil to possess nuns in a local convent.
Scottish Persecutions (1661-1662)
Bury St. Edmunds (1661-1662):
Chambre Ardente Affair (1673)
Mora, Sweden (1668-1676): The Pastor of Elfdale near Mora heard stories about a girl kidnapping children for the Devil; the stories came to the attention of the King Charles XI who formed a commission to investigate, which, unfortunately only encouraged more fantastic tales. Soon dozens of people were implicated in alleged Sabbats taking place in the meadow of Blakulla or Blocula. 70 women and 15 boys over 16 wound up being burned, and forty children were beaten with rods every Sunday for a year. As the death toll and a new round of stories continued, the government finally carefully exposed the falsehoods, stopped the trials, and even prosecuted some accusers for making up evidence.
Bideford, England (1682): For a reproduction of an account of the hunt, click here.
Salem, Massachusetts (1692-1693):
Szeged (1728-1729):
Heretics of Rheims (ca. 1176): In a story
told by Ralph of Coggseshall, heretics (called "publicans") came under
investigation because of strange practices of vegetarianism and adult
baptism. One of the accused women allegedly escaped by tossing a string
out of a window and she flew away pulled by a demon. Printed in Kors &
Peters #11.
Lady Alice Kyteler (1324): The bishop of Ossory, Richard Ledrede
accused Alice and her son William of witchcraft, based on evidence gained from
their maid, Petronilla of Meath, whom he had whipped six times to get a
confession. After being fined Alice escaped to England, while her son did
penance and paid the fine. Petronilla, however, was burned--the first and
one of the few to be executed in Ireland for sorcery.
Joan of Arc (1431)
Gilles de Rais (1440)
John Dee (b. 1527-d. 1608): Court official of Queen Elizabeth and King James I who had a reputation as a magician, although he was not persecuted. For his text: A True & Faithful Relation of What passed for many Yeers between Dr. John Dee (A Mathematician of Great Fame in Q. Eliz. and King James their Reignes) and some spirits, click here.
Machiavelli, The Prince (1517): A Renaissance humanist from Florence who wrote a book of political advice for rulers on how to maintain power in a conquered territory. Its amoral point of view, focusing on the practicality of government in a dangerous world and lacking Christian sentiment, led later critics to accuse Machiavelli of being in league with the Devil. As such, Machiavelli became associated with witches.
Anne Boleyn (b. 1507?-d.1536): Anne Boleyn's reputation for being a witch has been unfairly held against her. In trying to find grounds to incriminate her, King Henry claimed that she had used witchcraft to make him fall in love with her. He also said he feared that she would harm him with poison -- a common accusation against witches. Her enemies also repeated charges of physical deformity, such as that she was too tall, had a sixth finger (which was probably just an extra finger nail), and had strange warts and growths on her body that could have been witch's teats. The allegedly deformed male fetus of her last birth in 1536 was also used against her. While raised as an issue, witchcraft did not end up among the charges used by the court, which instead found her guilty of treason in conspiracy with her alleged lovers (including her brother). That the first English law against witchcraft was passed just a few years after her trial, in 1542, reflects the growing fears about witches in England, in which Anne was also ensnared. Click here for more on Anne.
Walpurga Hausmannin of Dillingen (d. 1587): A licensed midwife, she was arrested and tortured to admitting making a pact with the Devil and killing over 40 children at birth by using a salve, pressing the brain, or sucking blood. The state confiscated her goods, tore her body with hot irons, cut off her right hand (symbolic of violating her oath as a midwife), and burned her at the stake.
Dr. Dietrich Flade (d. 1590): one of the highest ranked victims, a former mayor, judge and privy councillor to the Archbishop of Trier. He attempted to be a moderating force on the hunts that broke out in Trier in 1581. Accused himself in October 1588, he fled the territory, but was captured, tortured five times, and executed by burning.
Gilly Duncan, Dr. John Fian and Agnes Sampson (1591): See Scottish Witch Persecutions.
Pappenheimer family (1600): in Bavaria.
Marie Cornu (1611): Widow tried as witch under the jurisdiction of the Spanish Netherlands (today part of northern France and Belgium). Admitted to various crimes, strangled and burned. Court record in Kors & Peters #52.
John Junius (d. 1628): At age 55, the mayor or Bamberg was arrested and tortured until he confessed. An often-quoted letter to his daughter smuggled out from prison, gives his reason for confessing to crimes he had not committed as not being able to stand the pain. By special grace of the bishop, he was beheaded with a sword before his body was burned. For a description of his trial and a moving letter by him, click here.
Urban Grandier (1636): For a brief essay, click here.
Tommaso Campanella (b. 1568-d.1639): A Dominican friar who dabbled in magic, and astrology. He got himself accused of heresy by the inquisition, for which he was tortured and imprisoned in 1603. He briefly served as a consultant for the papacy again in 1626, but his interest in the heavens led him to support Galileo and lose favor at the Curia. For a brief article, see The Galileo Project .
Suzanne Gaudry (1652): Tried as a witch at Rieux in France, racked three times, she cooperated and signed confessions after the first two sessions, but recanted after the third. Hanged and burned. Interrogation in Kors & Peters #57. For an example of torture, click here.
Large Trends | Scholars | Sources | Hunters | Hunts | Accused
URL: http://www.kings.edu/womens_history/witch/wwtimlin.html
Questions, comments,
suggestions? Mail to: bapavlac@kings.edu
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