Witch Trials

Starting as early as after the middle ages, common folk were under mass hysteria. Theories of conspiracy from: Jews, lepers, and Muslims came up at trying to bring down the Catholic Church through magic and poison. After the Bubonic Plague these whispers got louder and focused primarily at these herbal healers, or witches, “plague-spreaders” Slow and steady witch craft cases increased into the 15 century. In the 16th century, when the reformation hit, the numbers of cases actually plummeted. But by 1550 they skyrocketed again. The clash between Catholicism and emerging Protestantism contributed to the unstable conditions in Europe which led to a wide spread panic and scapegoat era. It has been noticed that in countries where Catholic influence was weak such as Germany, France and Switzerland the witch hunt was alive and affected thousands of people, but in countries like Spain and Italy, hardly any witch “craze” occurred at all. Actually both Catholics and Protestants persecuted witches. Both groups felt threatened by these “evil” influences. But by the time the Thirty Year’s War ended with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, most of the witch hunts’ momentum was lost. Due to the treaty since it gave official recognition of religious pluralism. That comes to the point that most witch hunts occurred when there was growing power of the state, (France, England, Spain) tensions in smaller states, (German states) peasant unrest, waning power of the nobility, capitalism, inflation, etc. These conditions created the perfect atmosphere for these trials to occur. It was easy for them. And having this elite view of women was the tipping point.
Since biblical text confirms that Eve was the one who disobeyed God’s wishes, women have been seen as associated with original sin. Discrimination was obvious during this time period, and of course the role of women in early modern Europe as midwives, and herbal healers and widows or spinsters were seen as wicked. It is easy to see...