Editing Witch hunt (section)

===Early Modern Europe and Colonial America===
{{Main|Witch trials in the early modern period}}The witch trials in [[Early Modern Europe]] came in waves and then subsided. There were trials in the 15th and early 16th&nbsp;centuries, but then the witch scare went into decline, before becoming a major issue again and peaking in the 17th&nbsp;century; particularly during the [[Thirty Years' War]]. What had previously been a belief that some people possessed supernatural abilities (which were sometimes used to protect the people), now became a sign of a pact between the people with supernatural abilities and the devil. To justify the killings, some [[Christians]] of the time and their proxy secular institutions deemed witchcraft as being associated to wild [[Satanism|Satanic]] ritual parties in which there was naked dancing and [[Blood libel|cannibalistic infanticide]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Ellerbe |first=Helen |title=The Dark Side of Christian History |publisher=Morningstar & Lark |year=1995}}</ref> It was also seen as [[heresy]] for going against the first of the [[Ten Commandments]] ("You shall have no other gods before me") or as [[Lèse majesté|violating majesty]], in this case referring to the divine majesty, not the worldly.<ref>{{cite book |last=Meewis |first=Wim |year=1992 |title=De Vierschaar |publisher=Uitgevering Pelckmans |page=115}}</ref> Further scripture was also frequently cited, especially the Exodus decree that "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Exodus&nbsp;22:18), which many supported.

[[File:Examination of a Witch - Tompkins Matteson.jpg|thumb|[[The Examination of a Witch (painting)|Examination of a Witch in the 17th century]] (1853), by [[T. H. Matteson]]]]
Witch-hunts were seen across early modern Europe, but the most significant area of witch-hunting in modern Europe is often considered to be central and southern Germany.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historytoday.com/MainArticle.aspx?m=12341&amid=12341 |title=The History Today Archive |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071112102609/http://www.historytoday.com/MainArticle.aspx?m=12341&amid=12341 |archive-date=12 November 2007}}</ref> Germany was a late starter in terms of the numbers of trials, compared to other regions of Europe. Witch-hunts first appeared in large numbers in southern France and Switzerland during the 14th and 15th centuries. The peak years of witch-hunts in southwest Germany were from 1561 to 1670.<ref>{{cite book |first=H.C. Erik |last=Midelfort |title=Witch Hunting in Southwestern Germany 1562–1684 |url=https://archive.org/details/witchhuntinginso0000unse |url-access=registration |year=1972 |page=[https://archive.org/details/witchhuntinginso0000unse/page/71 71]|publisher=Stanford, Calif., Stanford University Press |isbn=9780804708050 }}</ref> The [[Wiesensteig witch trial|first major persecution]] in Europe, when witches were caught, tried, convicted, and burned in the imperial lordship of Wiesensteig in southwestern Germany, is recorded in 1563 in a pamphlet called "True and Horrifying Deeds of 63&nbsp;Witches".<ref>Behringer (2004), p. 83.</ref> Witchcraft persecution spread to all areas of Europe. Learned European ideas about witchcraft and demonological ideas, strongly influenced the hunt for witches in the North.<ref>{{cite book |title=Witches of the North |last=Willumsen |first=Liv Helene |publisher=Brill |year=2013 |isbn=9789004252912 |location=Leiden |pages=1–13}}</ref> These witch-hunts were at least partly driven by economic factors since a significant relationship between economic pressure and witch hunting activity can be found for regions such as Bavaria and Scotland.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Baten|first1=Joerg|last2=Woitek|first2=Ulrich|title=Economic determinants of witch-hunting|journal=University of Tübingen Research Paper}}</ref>

In Denmark, the burning of witches increased following the [[Protestant Reformation|reformation]] of 1536. [[Christian IV of Denmark]], in particular, encouraged this practice, and hundreds of people were convicted of [[witchcraft]] and burnt. In the district of Finnmark, northern Norway, severe witchcraft trials took place during the period 1600–1692.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Witchcraft Trials in Finnmark, northern Norway |last=Willumsen |first=Liv Helene |publisher=Skald |year=2010 |isbn=978-82-7959-152-8 |location=Bergen |page=13}}</ref> A memorial of international format, ''Steilneset Memorial'', has been built to commemorate the victims of the Finnmark witchcraft trials.<ref>{{cite book |chapter='Introduction' |title=Steilneset Memorial. Art Architecture History |last1=Andreassen |last2=Willumsen |publisher=Orkana |year=2014 |isbn=978-82-8104-245-2 |location=Stamsund |pages=1–10}}</ref> In England, the [[Witchcraft Act 1541]] regulated the penalties for witchcraft. In the [[North Berwick witch trials]] in Scotland, over 70&nbsp;people were accused of witchcraft on account of bad weather when [[James I of England|James&nbsp;VI of Scotland]], who shared the Danish king's interest in witch trials, sailed to Denmark in 1590 to meet his betrothed [[Anne of Denmark]]. According to a widely circulated pamphlet, "Newes from Scotland," James&nbsp;VI personally presided over the torture and execution of Doctor Fian.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/kjd/index.htm |title=Daemonlologie by King James the First and Newes from Scotland |website=Sacred Texts}}</ref> Indeed, James published a witch-hunting manual, [[Daemonologie]], which contains the famous dictum: "Experience daily proves how loath they are to confess without torture." Later, the [[Pendle witch trials]] of 1612 joined the ranks of the most famous witch trials in English history.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/lancashire/hi/things_to_do/newsid_8316000/8316766.stm|title=Follow the Pendle Witches trail|date=21 October 2009|via=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>

[[File:Bamberger Malefizhaus 1627 Staatsbiblithek Bamberg.jpg|thumb|left|The ''Malefizhaus'' of [[Bamberg, Germany]], where suspected witches were held and interrogated. 1627 engraving.]]In England, witch-hunting would reach its apex in 1644 to 1647 due to the efforts of Puritan [[Matthew Hopkins]]. Although operating without an official Parliament commission, Hopkins (calling himself Witchfinder General) and his accomplices charged hefty fees to towns during the [[English Civil War]]. Hopkins' witch-hunting spree was brief but significant: 300&nbsp;convictions and deaths are attributed to his work.<ref name="sharpe">{{cite book |last=Sharpe |first=James |year=2002 |article=The Lancaster witches in historical context |editor=Poole, Robert |title=The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-6204-9 |pages=1–18}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=July 2017}} Hopkins wrote a book on his methods, describing his fortuitous beginnings as a witch-hunter, the methods used to extract confessions, and the tests he employed to test the accused: stripping them naked to find the [[Witches' mark]], [[Cucking stool|the "swimming" test]], and [[Pricking|pricking the skin]]. The swimming test, which included throwing a witch, who was strapped to a chair, into a bucket of water to see if she floated, was discontinued in 1645 due to a legal challenge. The 1647 book, ''The Discovery of Witches'', soon became an influential legal text. The book was used in the [[Thirteen Colonies|American colonies]] as early as May 1647, when [[Margaret Jones (Puritan midwife)|Margaret Jones]] was executed for witchcraft in [[Massachusetts]],<ref name="Jewett">{{cite book |author=Jewett, Clarence F. |title=The Memorial History of Boston: Including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630–1880 |url=https://archive.org/details/memorialhistory04wins |publisher=Ticknor and Company |year=1881 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/memorialhistory04wins/page/133 133]–137}}</ref> the first of 17&nbsp;people executed for witchcraft in the Colonies from 1647 to 1663.<ref name="Fraden" />
[[File:Salem witch2.jpg|thumb|[[Lithography|lithograph]] depicting Salem witch trials, 1892]]
Witch-hunts began to occur in North America while Hopkins was hunting witches in England. In 1645, forty-six years before the notorious [[Salem witch trials]], [[Springfield, Massachusetts]] experienced America's first accusations of [[witchcraft]] when husband and wife Hugh and Mary Parsons accused each other of witchcraft. In America's first witch trial, Hugh was found innocent, while Mary was acquitted of witchcraft but she was still sentenced to be hanged as punishment for the death of her child. She died in prison.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.masslive.com/history/index.ssf/2011/05/springfields_375th_from_puritans_to_presidents.html |title=Springfield's 375th: From Puritans to presidents |work=masslive.com |date=10 May 2011}}</ref> About eighty people throughout England's [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts Bay Colony]] were accused of practicing witchcraft; thirteen women and two men were executed in a witch-hunt that occurred throughout [[New England Colonies|New England]] and lasted from 1645 to 1663.<ref name="Fraden">{{cite book |last1=Fraden |first1=Judith Bloom |first2=Dennis Brindell |last2=Fraden |title=The Salem Witch Trials |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |year=2008 |page=15}}</ref> The [[Salem witch trials]] followed in 1692–1693.

Once a case was brought to trial, the prosecutors hunted for accomplices. The use of magic was considered wrong, not because it failed, but because it worked effectively for the wrong reasons. Witchcraft was a normal part of everyday life. Witches were often called for, along with religious ministers, to help the ill or deliver a baby. They held positions of spiritual power in their communities. When something went wrong, no one questioned either the ministers or the power of the witchcraft. Instead, they questioned whether the witch intended to inflict harm or not.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wallace |first=Peter G. |title=The Long European Reformation |url=https://archive.org/details/longeuropeanrefo00pete |url-access=limited |year=2004 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=New York |isbn=978-0-333-64451-5 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/longeuropeanrefo00pete/page/n222 210]–215}}</ref>

Current scholarly estimates of the number of people who were executed for witchcraft vary from about 35,000 to 60,000.{{efn|name=victim_stats}} The total number of witch trials in Europe which are known to have ended in executions is around 12,000.<ref>{{cite web |title=Estimates of executions |url=http://www.summerlands.com/crossroads/remembrance/current.htm}} Based on [[Ronald Hutton]]'s essay ''Counting the Witch Hunt''.</ref> Prominent contemporaneous critics of witch-hunts included Gianfrancesco Ponzinibio (fl. 1520), [[Johannes Wier]] (1515–1588), [[Reginald Scot]] (1538–1599), [[Cornelius Loos]] (1546–1595), [[Anton Praetorius]] (1560–1613), [[Alonso Salazar y Frías]] (1564–1636), [[Friedrich Spee]] (1591–1635), and [[Balthasar Bekker]] (1634–1698).<ref>Charles Alva Hoyt, ''Witchcraft'', Southern Illinois University Press, 2nd ed., 1989, pp. 66–70, {{ISBN|0-8093-1544-0}}.</ref> Among the largest and most notable of these trials were the [[Trier witch trials]] (1581–1593), the [[Fulda witch trials]] (1603–1606), the [[Würzburg witch trial]] (1626–1631) and the [[Bamberg witch trials]] (1626–1631).{{citation needed|date=September 2018}}

In addition to known witch trials, witch hunts were often conducted by vigilantes, who may or may not have executed their victims. In Scotland, for example, cattle murrains were blamed on witches, usually peasant women, who were duly punished. A popular method called "scoring above the breath" meant slashing across a woman's forehead in order to remove the power of her magic. This was seen as a kind of emergency procedure which could be performed in absence of judicial authorities.<ref>{{cite book |title=The lore of Scotland: A guide to Scottish legends |author=Westwood, Jennifer |year=2011 |publisher=Arrow |others=Kingshill, Sophia |isbn=9780099547167 |location=London |oclc=712624576}}</ref>

[[File:Hexenprozess gegen Katharina Kepler, 14. Juli 1621.jpg|thumb|Witness testimony from the witch trial against Katharina Kepler, 14 July 1621]]
Another important element of the persecution of witches were [[denunciation]]s. "In England, most of the accusers and those making written complaints against witches were women."<ref>{{cite web |title=Witchcraft: Eight Myths and Misconceptions |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/histories/eight-witchcraft-myths/ |website=English Heritage |access-date=8 August 2024}}</ref> Informers did not have to be revealed to the accused, which was important for the success of the witch trials. In practice, appeals were made to other witnesses to the crimes, so that the first informer was followed by others. In the event of a conviction, the informer sometimes received a third of the accused's assets, but at least 2 [[guilder]]s. A well-known and well-documented example is the case of [[Katharina Kepler]], the mother of the astronomer [[Johannes Kepler]], for being in a pact with the devil and using witchcraft. In 1615, she was called a witch by a female neighbor in the [[duchy of Württemberg]] following a dispute with her of having given her a bitter drink that had made her ill. She was held captive for over a year and threatened with torture, but was finally acquitted thanks to her son's efforts.<ref name="solitude">Akademie Schloss Solitude: [https://www.akademie-solitude.de/de/online-publications/on-the-occult-and-the-supernatural/keplers-witch-trial/ Kepler’s Witch Trial], retrieved: 21 April 2024</ref>

====Execution statistics====
[[File:Witches Being Hanged.jpg|thumb|An image of suspected witches being hanged in England, published in 1655]][[File:William Powell Frith The Witch Trial.jpg|thumb|''The Witch Trial'' by [[William Powell Frith]] (1848)]]

Modern scholarly estimates place the total number of executions for witchcraft in the 300-year period of European witch-hunts in the five digits, mostly at roughly between 35,000 and 60,000 (see table below for details),{{efn|name=victim_stats|The ''Encyclopedia Britannica'' sets a limit of "no more than 40,000 to 60,000."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia	|last1=Russell |first1=Jeffrey Burton |last2=Lewis |first2=Ioan M. |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |title=Witchcraft |year=2000 |access-date=2021-08-27 |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/witchcraft}}</ref> The high end of that range originates with [[Brian P. Levack]]'s first edition of ''The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe'', which he revised down to 45,000 in the third edition.<ref>{{cite book |first=Brian P. |last=Levack |author-link=Brian P. Levack |title=The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe |year=1987 |url=https://archive.org/details/witchhuntinearly0000leva |url-access=registration |page=21}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Brian P. |last=Levack |author-link=Brian P. Levack |title=The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe |year=2006 |edition=3rd |url=https://archive.org/details/witchhuntinearly0000leva_l1l1 |url-access=registration |page=23|publisher=Pearson Longman |isbn=9780582419018 }}</ref> William Monter estimates 35,000 deaths; [[Malcolm Gaskill]] and Richard Golden both estimate 40,000–50,000.<ref>{{cite book |first=William |last=Monter |chapter=Witch Trials in Continental Europe |title=Witchcraft and Magic in Europe |editor1=Ankarloo, Bengst |editor2=Clark, Stuart |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |place=Philadelphia|year=2002 |pages=12 ff |isbn=0-8122-1787-X}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Gaskill |first=Malcolm |authorlink= Malcolm Gaskill|title=Witchcraft, a very short introduction |url=https://archive.org/details/witchcraftverysh00gask_191 |url-access=limited |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |page=[https://archive.org/details/witchcraftverysh00gask_191/page/n92 76]|isbn=978-0-19-923695-4 }}</ref><ref name=":0" /> [[Anne Lewellyn Barstow]] adjusted Levack's first estimate to account for lost records, estimating 100,000 deaths.<ref>{{cite book |first=Anne Lewellyn |last=Barstow |author-link=Anne Lewellyn Barstow |title=Witchcraze|year=1994 |url=https://archive.org/details/witchcrazenewhis0000bars |url-access=registration}}</ref> [[Ronald Hutton]] argues that Levack's estimate had already been adjusted for these, and revises the figure to approximately 40,000.<ref>{{cite book |first=Ronald |last=Hutton |title=Triumph of the Moon |year=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-820744-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/triumphofmoonhis00hutt |url-access=registration}}</ref> [[James Sharpe (historian)|James Sharpe]] concurs: "The current consensus is that 40,000 people were executed as witches in the period of the witch persecutions, between about 1450 and 1750."<ref>{{cite book |last=Sharpe |first=James |year=2001 |title=Witchcraft in Early Modern England |place=Harlow, UK |publisher=Pearson |page=6}}</ref>}} The majority of those accused were from the lower economic classes in European society, although in rarer cases high-ranking individuals were accused as well. On the basis of this evidence, Scarre and Callow asserted that the "typical witch was the wife or widow of an agricultural labourer or small tenant farmer, and she was well known for a quarrelsome and aggressive nature."

According to Julian Goodare, in Europe, the overall proportion of women who were persecuted as witches was 80%, although there were countries and regions like Estonia, Normandy and Iceland, that targeted men more.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goodare |first1=Julian |title=The European Witch-Hunt |date= 2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-19831-4 |pages=267, 268 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eM4mDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA268 |access-date=21 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref> In Iceland 92% of the accused were men, in Estonia 60%, and in Moscow two-thirds of those accused were male. {{citation needed|date=August 2021}} In Finland, a total of more than 100 death row inmates were roughly equal in both men and women, but all [[Åland]]ers sentenced to witchcraft were only women.<ref>[https://www15.uta.fi/yky/arkisto/historia/noitanetti/kuolemantuomiot.html Noituus – Kuolemantuomiot] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301000229/https://www15.uta.fi/yky/arkisto/historia/noitanetti/kuolemantuomiot.html |date=1 March 2021 }} (in Finnish)</ref>

At one point during the Würzburg trials of 1629, children made up 60% of those accused, although this had declined to 17% by the end of the year.<ref>Scarre, Geoffrey; Callow, John (2001). Witchcraft and Magic in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Europe (second ed.). Basingstoke: Palgrave, pp. 29–33.</ref> Rapley (1998) claims that "75 to 80 percent" of a total of "40,000 to 50,000" victims were women.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rapley |first=Robert |title=A Case of Witchcraft: The Trial of Urbain Grandier |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FMpRAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA99 |year=1998 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-5528-7 |pages=99}} {{unreliable source? |date=April 2015}} <!--the figure is attributed to "endnote 27" which cannot be recovered from google books (p. 245).--></ref> The claim that "millions of witches" (often: "[[nine million witches]]") were killed in Europe is spurious, even though it is occasionally found in popular literature, and it is ultimately due to a 1791 pamphlet by [[Gottfried Christian Voigt]].<ref name="Gaskill.p.65">Gaskill, Malcolm ''Witchcraft, a very short introduction'', Oxford University Press, 2010, p. 65</ref>
{| class="wikitable"  style="width:70%; text-align:right;"
|+ Prosecution of witchcraft in regions of Europe 1450–1750<ref name=Monter>William Monter: ''Witch trials in Continental Europe'', (in:) ''Witchcraft and magic in Europe'', ed. Bengst Ankarloo & Stuart Clark, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia 2002, pp 12 ff. {{ISBN|0-8122-1787-X}}; and Levack, Brian P. The witch hunt in early modern Europe, 3rd ed., London and New York: Longman, 2006.</ref>

! Region|| Trials (approx)||  Executions (approx)
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| '''British Isles''' || 5,000 || 1,500–2,000
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| '''Holy Roman Empire''' (Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Lorraine, Austria, Czechia)|| 50,000 || 25,000–30,000
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| '''France'''|| 3,000 || 1,000
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| '''Scandinavia'''|| 5,000 || 1,700–2,000
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| '''Central & Eastern Europe''' (Poland-Lithuania, Hungary, Russia) || 7,000|| 2,000
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| '''Southern Europe''' (Spain, Portugal, Italy) || 10,000|| 1,000
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| '''Total''' ||80,000  || 35,000
|}