Similarities Between The American And Catholic Witch Hunts

Lori Bramblett

HST361

Essay 3

While there is little doubt that both the Catholic Church and the Protestant religions provided the foundational work for the witch hunts that took place in Europe and America, it is the societal implications that fed the flames of the witch hunts. Both the Catholic and Protestant faiths sought ways of demonstrating people’s commitment to God through identified moral behaviors. Each side felt they had the high ground and identified the other’s practices as heresy, which became linked with demons, sorcery and magic. As these ideas migrated down to the educated elite and then to local communities a shift occurred regarding heretical behavior and the fear of magic, malificia, unseen evil, and the pact with Satan/the

The secular courts created laws and statues that defined witchcraft as a crime along with procedures on how to prosecute witches. Once the threat, based on shared understanding, was promulgated though the various levels of society the judicial machinery could take over and legally try witches. With a framework in place to handle witchcraft trials at all levels, the template of identifying witches in use, and a fearful populace seeking an outlet in turbulent times all it would take are trigger events to set witch hunts in motion. Wars, religious conflicts, and localized political issues factored into creating fear and anxiety because it created unstable situations that impacted people’s lives. Economic hardship stemming from drought, famine, limited resources for a growing population, and other natural disasters needed an explanation (Levack, 2016). It was much easier for people to believe these were an act of Satan and therefor outside their ability to control. They could however, seek out the Devil’s agents and remove their disruptive influence to help restore society while relieving their anxiety in the process. The most common method used at the local levels was accusations of maleficia resulting in the personal misfortune of the victim due to vengeance, finical gain for the accuser, or devil worshipping against an individual. Once the accusation was leveled the judges became involved to try the accused, seek more evidence using other witnesses, confession, the naming of accomplices, and method of punishment. Small witch hunts generally revolved around this method, were the most numerous, and handled relatively quickly. Medium hunts followed the same track, but torture was brought to bear and a second round of accusations took place. Large hunts involved multiple rounds of accusations, tortured confessions, naming of accomplices, many