The Number Of Persons Found Guilty Of Witchcraft Throughout Europe?

The European witch-hunting craze, which occurred between 1300 and 1850, involved thousands of people being tried and executed. The exact number of people executed is unknown, but estimates range from tens of thousands to thousands. In some parts of Europe, such as Germany, the majority of accused witches were executed. Between 1500 and 1660, up to 80,000 suspected witches were put to death in Europe, with around 80% of them being women believed to be in cahoots with the Devil and filled with lust. Historian Ronald Hutton estimated that in Germany, 26,000 may have been executed as witches, while England and Wales had around 1,000.

By the fall of 1692, the witch hunting hysteria began to die down as more people began to doubt the guilt of so many people. The total number of witch trials in Europe known to have ended in executions is around 12,000.

In the early modern period, from about 1400 to 1775, about 100,000 people were prosecuted for witchcraft in Europe and British America. In Germany, 16,474 people were put on trial for witchcraft, and close to 7,000 were put to death. Over the course of a century and a half, 80,000 people were tried for witchcraft, and half were executed, often burned alive. Between the 15th and 18th centuries, an estimated 50,000 people, mostly women, were executed for witchcraft across Europe.

Over the entire duration of the trials, an estimated total of 40,000–100,000 people were executed. Nearly 4,000 Scots were put on trial on charges of witchcraft, with two-thirds of those accused being executed. The remaining accused and convicted witches were released from prison in May 1693.

What country in Europe had witchcraft?

Witch-hunts were prevalent in early modern Europe, with central and southern Germany being the most significant area. Germany was a late starter in witch trials, with the peak years occurring from 1561 to 1670. The first major persecution of witches occurred in Wiesensteig, southwestern Germany, in 1563. These witch-hunts spread across Europe, with learned European ideas about witchcraft and demonological ideas strongly influencing the North. Economic pressure also played a significant role in these witch-hunts, as seen in regions like Bavaria and Scotland.

In Denmark, the burning of witches increased following the reformation of 1536, with Christian IV of Denmark encouraging this practice. In Finnmark, northern Norway, severe witchcraft trials took place between 1600-1692. The Witchcraft Act 1541 in England regulated penalties for witchcraft. In Scotland, over 70 people were accused of witchcraft due to bad weather when James VI of Scotland visited Denmark in 1590.

James VI personally presided over the torture and execution of Doctor Fian, and published a witch-hunting manual, Daemonologie, which contained the famous dictum: “Experience daily proves how loath they are to confess without torture”.

The Pendle witch trials of 1612 became the most famous witch trials in English history. In England, witch-hunting reached its apex in 1644 to 1647 due to Puritan Matthew Hopkins’ efforts. Hopkins charged towns hefty fees during the English Civil War and had 300 convictions and deaths attributed to his work. His book, The Discovery of Witches, became an influential legal text, and it was used in the American colonies as early as May 1647, when Margaret Jones was executed for witchcraft in Massachusetts.

How many people were executed for witchcraft?

The Salem witch trials in 1692 were part of a long series of witch hunts in Europe that began between 1300 and 1330 and ended in the late 18th century. The trials occurred late in the sequence, after the abatement of European witch-hunt fervor, which peaked from the 1580s and ’90s to the 1630s and ’40s. Around 110, 000 people were tried for witchcraft, with between 40, 000 to 60, 000 executed. Witches were believed to be followers of Satan who had traded their souls for his assistance.

They were believed to use demons for magical deeds, change from human to animal form, and ride through the air at night for secret meetings and orgies. While some individuals worshipped the devil and attempted sorcery with harmful intent, no one ever embodied the concept of a “witch”. The process of identifying witches began with suspicions or rumors, which often led to convictions and executions. The Salem witch trials and executions were a result of church politics, family feuds, and hysterical children, all unfolding in a vacuum of political authority.

How many people are accused of witchcraft?

The Salem witchcraft events, which began in February 1692 and lasted until April 1693, resulted in at least 25 deaths, with 19 executed by hanging, one tortured to death, and five in jail due to harsh conditions. Over 160 people were accused of witchcraft, most of whom were jailed, and many deprived of property and legal rights. Accused persons lived in Salem and Salem Village, now Danvers, and in two dozen other towns in eastern Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Nearly fifty people confessed to witchcraft, most to save themselves from trial. In October 1692, Governor William Phips ended the special witchcraft court in Salem, and the new Superior Court of Judicature began to try the remaining cases. After the Salem trials, no one was convicted of witchcraft in New England.

What European country had the most witch trials?

Witch hunting in Early Modern Europe was a frenzy that occurred in two waves: the first in the 15th and early 16th centuries and the second in the 17th century. The most significant area of witch hunting was southwestern Germany, where the highest concentration of trials occurred between 1561 and 1670. The 1692-1693 Salem Witch Trials were a brief outburst of witch hysteria in the New World, occurring when the practice was already waning in Europe.

In February 1692, a girl became ill and her playmates exhibited unusual behavior. A supernatural cause was suggested, leading to suspicions of witchcraft. Three townswomen were accused of witchcraft: Tituba, a slave, Sarah Good, a poor beggar, and Sarah Osborne, a quarrelsome woman. During the trial, Tituba declared herself a witch and flew through the air on poles, silenced skeptics, and witch hunting began in earnest.

Who was the last person executed for witchcraft in Europe?

Anna Göldi, an 18th-century Swiss housemaid, was one of the last people to be executed for witchcraft in Europe. Born in Sennwald, she began working as a domestic servant at age 18. At 31, she was impregnated by a mercenary who left Switzerland before giving birth. Her baby died the night it was born, and she was pilloried and sentenced to six years of house arrest.

Göldi escaped and found employment with the Zwicky family in Mollis, where she had a son with Johann Melchior Zwicky, the son of her employer. In 1780, she began working as a maid for the Tschudi family, and was reported for putting needles in the bread and milk of one of his daughters. Initially escaping arrest, Göldi was arrested and tortured under torture, admitting to entering a pact with the Devil. She withdrew her confession after the torture ended but was sentenced to execution by decapitation.

The charges were officially of “poisoning” rather than witchcraft, but the law at the time did not impose the death penalty for non-lethal poisoning. Göldi was posthumously exonerated by the government of the canton of Glarus in 2008.

How many witches were killed in Russia?

In 1906, Nikolai Iakovlevich Novombergski published a collection of 17th-century protocols from the Moscow witchcraft trials, which remains the most comprehensive source of knowledge about Russian witchcraft. The true scale of Russian witch trials is unknown due to little other documentation. Some scholars speak of 99 cases between 1622 and 1700, while others of 136. The majority of cases were small trials with only one accused sorcerer, but there were bigger trials, such as three with over one hundred witnesses.

Russia, along with Scandinavian countries, is an exception, with 68 of those accused between 1622 and 1700 being men. One theory suggests that the predominance of men among the accused relates to the specific nature of the legal system in Russia, which introduced a new legal definition of magic in 1716 in the military code. After this legislation, the number of accusations of witchcraft increased significantly among soldiers and government officials.

Witch-hunts in Russia can be interpreted as a political rather than a religious phenomenon. Tsar Peter the Great kept the death penalty for sorcery in the law of 1716. In 1731, Empress Anna of Russia legally redefined sorcery as a form of fraud, but did not remove the death penalty as punishment for this type of fraud. Empress Catherine the Great later made it clear that the death penalty should no longer be used against people convicted of the fraud of sorcery and transferred the crime to be handled only by a so-called trial of conscience, sovestnye sudy, which dealt with insignificant crimes such as superstition.

How many witches died in Europe?

Witchcraft was a common practice in medieval Europe, with witches often being called upon to assist the sick or deliver babies. They held positions of spiritual power in their communities and were often questioned for their intent to inflict harm. Current scholarly estimates range from 35, 000 to 60, 000 people were executed for witchcraft, with around 12, 000 known witch trials in Europe ending in executions.

Critics of witch-hunts include Gianfrancesco Ponzinibio, Johannes Wier, Reginald Scot, Cornelius Loos, Anton Praetorius, Alonso Salazar y Frías, Friedrich Spee, and Balthasar Bekker. Notable witch trials include the Trier witch trials (1581-1593), Fulda witch trials (1603-1606), Würzburg witch trial (1626-1631), and Bamberg witch trials (1626-1631).

Witches hunts were also conducted by vigilantes, who may or may not have executed their victims. In Scotland, cattle murrains were blamed on witches, usually peasant women, who were punished. A popular method called “scoring above the breath” involved slashing across a woman’s forehead to remove her magic power.

Denunciations were another important element of the persecution of witches, with most accusers and those making written complaints against witches being women. Informers did not have to be revealed to the accused, and appeals were made to other witnesses to the crimes. In cases of conviction, the informer received a third of the accused’s assets but at least two guilders.

A well-documented example is Katharina Kepler, the mother of astronomer Johannes Kepler, who was held captive for over a year and threatened with torture but ultimately acquitted due to her son’s efforts.

Where were the worst witch trials in Europe?

The Würzburg witch trials of 1625-1631 were one of the largest mass trials and executions in Europe, and one of the largest witch trials in history. The trials took place in the self-governing Catholic Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg, present-day Germany, during the Thirty Years War between Protestants and Catholics. The trials resulted in the execution of hundreds of people, including women, children, and men, who were burned at the stake, sometimes after being beheaded or alive.

The trials were conducted by a Catholic Prince Bishop who aimed to introduce the Counter-Reformation in his territory. The trials were one of the four largest witch trials in Germany, along with the Trier witch trials, Fulda witch trials, and Bamberg witch trials.

How many people were charged with witchcraft in Europe?

From 1400 to 1775, around 100, 000 people were prosecuted for witchcraft in Europe and British America, with between 40, 000 and 60, 000 executed. The witch-hunts were particularly severe in parts of the Holy Roman Empire. Prosecutions reached a high point from 1560 to 1630, during the Counter-Reformation and European wars of religion. Lower classes usually made accusations of witchcraft by neighbors, and women made formal accusations as much as men did.

Magical healers or “cunning folk” were sometimes prosecuted for witchcraft, but seem to make up a minority of the accused. Around 80 of those convicted were women, most over the age of 40. In some regions, convicted witches were burnt at the stake, the traditional punishment for religious heresy.

Throughout the medieval era, mainstream Christian doctrine denied the belief in witches and witchcraft, condemning it as a pagan superstition. Some argue that the work of Dominican Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century helped lay the groundwork for a shift in Christian doctrine, where certain theologians began to accept the possibility of collaboration with devils, resulting in real supernatural powers. Christians were not of the belief that magic in its entirety is demonic, but witchcraft was still assumed as inherently demonic, leading to backlash against witches.

How many people were executed for witchcraft in Germany?

The objective of this chapter is to provide an explanation for why approximately 50 witchcraft executions occurred in Germany, despite the fact that only about 20 individuals of the total population of early modern Europe were residing in that country.

How many witches were killed in Germany?

Approximately half of all executed witches were German, with nearly 25, 000 individuals put to death in German-controlled territories, according to Friedrich Spee, a prominent German opponent of witch hunts who referred to Germany as “the mother of so many witches.”