The Causes of Witch Hunting Hysteria

The Causes of Witch Hunting Hysteria

From the late fifteenth century until the seventeenth century, Europe experienced a hysterical religious movement, centered on the persecution of individuals as witches. The movement was born during a period of considerable economic, religious, and social upheaval. The Protestant Reformation challenged the old structures of the Catholic Church; as a result, many parts of Europe had broken away from papal authority. Yet, the Catholic Church was far from defeated, it still held the attention of avid followers especially those in Spain and Italy. Certainly the Inquisition was in part responsible for instigating the witch craze and also for creating social tensions, which contributed to its propagation. Moreover, there were great socio-economic changes resulting from imperialism, mercantilism, and the deterioration of the manor. The main causes for the witch craze lie in the Reformation, the socio-economic changes, the scientific ambiguities indirectly endorsing mass hysteria and the failure of the justice system to deal effectively with preposterous claims.

A witch is a person with supernatural knowledge and powers, usually acquired from the Devil in exchange for his or her soul. Witches are believed to be able to change shape, transform others, cause illness and death, concoct charms, and tell the future. In Europe from the late fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries, people accused of practicing witchcraft were generally poor, working class people. In addition to being poverty stricken, they were for the most part female and between the age of 24 and 50. As the lower class, unemployed, old, and women were collectively seen as the doormat of society, they were easy targets in this time of instability. Many parts of Europe (e.g. Germany, France, England, and Switzerland) employed this widespread discriminatory policy. Persecution was most prevalent in those areas where Protestant friction heightened religious tensions.

Witchcraft predates the reform period. All religious authorities of the time believe in witchery. Pope Innocent VIII's policy stated that, "Ð'... it shall be permitted to the inquisitors to exercise their office of inquisition and to proceed to theÐ'...punishment of the aforesaid persons for their said offences and crimes," (Document 9) in 1484 establish the problem of witchcraft. The pope commissioned his inquisitors to punish witches, in doing so the pope gave them a wide range of powers to question, imprison and execute those, who were believed to be witches. The same inquisitors doling out the law in the name of Christianity found willing volunteers to accuse witches, so as to efface suspicion from themselves. By 1555 it was clear that Christianity would never return to being a unified religion under the Catholic Church and the papacy. In spite of this, the rift in the various religious theologies was not the root of the witch craze. Although, they did not agree upon the specific nature of witches, one of the few things that most religious leaders agreed upon was the concept of witches and their persecution. Under the religious scrutiny of the Inquisition all strange or different behavior could be interpreted as an act of sorcery; especially, in the religiously charged atmosphere of Reformation Europe, where Protestants and Catholics alike were still trying to determine exactly what their religion demanded of them. Acts that otherwise would have warranted merit were denounced as sorcery, "Ð'...Alice PraburyÐ'...help[s] Christian people with a variety of diseasesÐ'..." (Document 4) Luther and Calvin also espoused the witch craze. Luther claimed that, "Ð'...witches are the Devil's whoresÐ'..." (Document 10) and Calvin feared the "Ð'...infinite number of enemiesÐ'..." (Document 12). All of Europe, Protestants and Catholics alike, were being told to hunt down witches. Everyone was perpetually examining themselves and others. "I suffered terrible from fear of Hell and the devils, whom I thought I saw [everywhere]Ð'...(Document 11)" This introspection led to the unnerving of the masses and a witch craze born of religious tension. Although the Pope may have unleashed the inquisition upon Europe in an attempt to solidify the Catholic faith by weeding out heretics, he only succeeded in creating a hysterical religious reaction. Most people in Europe, at the time of the witch craze, were religious. To this end they listened to their respective religious leaders for instruction and examples of how to live their lives.

The force of the hysteria also manifested itself within in the sciences. Rather than the sciences providing a voice of reason amidst the chaos, it made public poorly evidenced claims. Within the scientific community, "scientists" were inventing explanations for witchcraft. Johan Wier argued that the elderly and women accused of witchery had "small brains" and thus, "Ð'...the Devil easily affects and deceives their minds with illusions and apparitions that so bewilder them they confess to action that they are very far from having committed" (Document 14). Furthermore, it was believed by the scientific community that the impact of age upon the body made people weak and susceptible to the devil. Scientific conclusions were no longer solely based upon reason and logic, but they were also subtly affected by religion. Fulbecke further endorses the witch craze by condemning women (as the Devil's instruments of "contagion and destruction of others") and allowing them to face wrath of an unnerved people. Therefore, both the scientific and religious communities had affirmed the presence of witches and as such propagated religious hysteria.

Alongside scientific and religious change, were the changing socio-economic conditions