How far was the witch-hunt in Early Modern England caused by popular fear and superstition?

Authors Avatar

How far was the witch-hunt in Early Modern England caused by popular fear and superstition?

There has been long established belief about witchcraft, which has never been disputed. The belief in maleficium, which is the practice of harmful magic, has been entrenched in popular belief since before the Middle Ages. However, the idea of diabolism didn’t really arise in English popular fear, because there was no specific torture involved in the prosecution of witches in England. With European elements, such as diabolism and Sabbath missing, it can be assumed by the process of elimination that the English public themselves were at the heart of the witch-hunts and this was down to superstition mainly, although the witch-hunt was multi-causal.

The first piece of literature that provided information on the witchcraft on a large scale on witchcraft was the Malleus Maleficarum. It was first published in 1486 and was written by two Dominican monks, Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. It defined the crimes of a witch, but it didn’t include diabolism, which was to make a pact with the devil. However, there was no English translation of the Malleus until modern times, and therefore this shows why European ideas may have been very slow to take effect on the English people. Also literacy in England was very low and the only real way of European ideas reaching England, would have been the elite, who were not really that keen to promote witch-hunts on the basis of diabolism.

Join now!

Therefore the accusers of a witch could not try her solely on suspicion and in England more evidence was required for proceedings to go ahead. This meant that in England there wee less cases of witchcraft of witchcraft and lower conviction rates than compared to Europe.

In England, there were no legal reforms like the ones in Europe. If a person was accused of a crime, the lay-jury would intiate the proceedings and the trial jury would dwell over the facts, and the judge focussed at the evidence, before making decision. It was an accusatorial system in England, ...

This is a preview of the whole essay