Who Was The First Person In Europe To Be Executed For Witchcraft?

This list of people executed for witchcraft, many of whom were executed during organized witch-hunts, particularly during the 15th–18th centuries. Large numbers of people were prosecuted for witchcraft in Europe between 1560 and 1630. In Windsor, Connecticut, Alse Young was the first person in America executed for witchcraft in 1647. Before Connecticut’s final witch trial took place in 1697, forty-six people were accused.

The Bamberg Witch Trials ended in 1631 when Johann Georg Fuchs von Dornheim was replaced as Prince-Bishop. However, the European witch-hunting craze continued for several centuries. In Western Europe, the first witch hunts were held in France and Germany in the 15th century. In the early modern period, from about 1400 to 1775, about 100,000 people were prosecuted for witchcraft in Europe and British America.

The events in Salem in 1692-1693 were a brief outburst of witch hysteria in the New World at a time when the practice was already waning in Europe. The events in Salem were but one chapter in a long story of witch hunts that began in Europe between 1300 and 1330 and ended in the late 18th century.

The height of the German witch frenzy was marked by the publication of the Malleus Maleficarum (“Hammer of Witches”), a book that became the handbook for witches. Witchcraft is an area of history that most people feel familiar with, from the Salem Witch Trials to the witches of Macbeth. James VI of Scotland wrote a book on witchcraft, and Scotland executed its last witch 42 years after England.

The Valais Witch Trials are the first systematic European witch, and about half of all the women and men ever executed for witchcraft were German.

Were there witch hunts in the Netherlands?

The Netherlands, which became independent after the Dutch War of Independence in 1579, experienced several high-profile witch trials in the late 16th century. Provincial courts in Zeeland and Frisia maintained strict central control and emphasized due process. In June 1593, the High Court repealed a death sentence for witchcraft in Schiedam, leading to a case of precedence in Holland. This practice was followed by Utrecht, Groningen, and Gelderland.

The total number of victims from witch trials in the Northern Netherlands is estimated to be 164 to 200 people killed, including executed victims, tortured victims, and those who died in prison. The number rises to at least 200 to 300 if including casualties from parts of the Spanish Netherlands that the Republic conquered later. Out of 164 documented victims, 155 were women. In the western provinces, only women were accused and killed, while about half of the accused in the eastern provinces were men accused of being werewolves.

Who was the first person executed for witchcraft?

In May 1647, Alse Young, also known as Achsah or Alice, was the first person executed for witchcraft in America. He was hanged at the gallows by Meeting House Square in Hartford, which is now the site of the Old State House. The panic over witchcraft in Connecticut began four decades earlier than in Salem and continued for several decades. Alse Young was one of over ten people accused and hanged for witchcraft in Connecticut.

Mary Johnson of Wethersfield was executed in 1648 after confessing to entering into a compact with the devil, the earliest confession of this kind in the colonies. Joan and John Carrington, the first of several accused couples, were executed in 1651. Some of the accused were acquitted or exonerated with damages, while others fled the colony.

John Winthrop Jr. became Connecticut’s governor and chief magistrate in 1657 and was given an official royal charter from King Charles II. This charter established Connecticut as an independent colony and granted Winthrop the right to pardon offenders. He overturned the conviction of Elizabeth Seager of Hartford at her third witchcraft trial in 1666 and saved Katherine Harrison from a death sentence in 1669. Harrison’s trial changed the way evidence was used in Connecticut, determining that there should be a plurality of witnesses and that the burden of proof should be on the accusers.

What are male witches called?

The term “witch” is primarily used in colloquial English, with women being the male equivalent. Modern dictionaries distinguish four meanings of the term: a person with supernatural powers, a practitioner of neo-pagan religion, a mean or ugly old woman, or a charming or alluring girl or woman. The term “witch” was first used to refer to a bewitching young girl in the 18th century, and “witch” as a contemptuous term for an old woman is attested since the 15th century.

Where do witches originate in Europe?

Thessaly, a region known for witches, was a significant part of ancient Roman society. Legends of witches, drugs, poisons, and magical spells persisted throughout the Roman period. During the pagan era, laws against harmful magic were established, such as the 5th century BC laws of the Twelve Tables, which laid down penalties for uttering harmful incantations and stealing someone else’s crops by magic. The only recorded trial involving this law was that of Gaius Furius Chresimus in 191 BC.

The Classical Latin word veneficium meant both poisoning and causing harm by magic (such as magic potions), although ancient people would not have distinguished between the two. In 331 BC, a deadly epidemic hit Rome, with at least 170 women executed for causing it by veneficium. However, some individuals were tested and killed by being made to drink their own medical potions, indicating the charge was straightforward poisoning.

Under the Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis (“Cornelian law against assassins and poisoners”) of 81 BC, killing by veneficium carried the death penalty. During the early Imperial era, the Lex Cornelia began to be used more broadly against other kinds of magic, including making love potions, enacting rites to enchant, bind or restrain, possession of books containing magical recipes, and the “arts of magic” in general.

Sacrifices made for evil purposes could be punished under the Lex Cornelia, as well as giving potions to induce an abortion or to induce love. Magicians were to be burnt at the stake.

What was the worst witch hunt in history?

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.

Who were the first three accused witches?

The Putnams accused three women, Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborn, of witchcraft. Tituba was chosen due to her social status and her ability to withstand being housed by someone. Good, a beggar, was a social misfit who lived in a place where someone would house her. Osborn, an old, quarrelsome man, had not attended church for over a year. The Putnams brought their complaint to county magistrates Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne, who scheduled examinations for the suspected witches on March 1, 1692.

The girls described attacks by the specters of the three women and their contortions when in the presence of one of the suspects. The magistrates repeatedly asked the girls if they were witches, had they seen Satan, and how they explained the contortions. Tituba’s confession transformed her from a possible scapegoat to a central figure in the expanding prosecutions. Her confession silenced most skeptics, and local ministers began witch hunting with zeal.

As the spectral forms of other women began attacking the afflicted girls, Martha Corey, Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Cloyce, and Mary Easty were accused of witchcraft. Ann Putnam, Ann Putnam, Sr., and Dorcas Good, the four-year-old daughter of Sarah Good, became the first child to be accused of witchcraft when three of the girls complained that they were bitten by the specter of Dorcas. Dorcas Good was arrested, kept in jail for eight months, and watched her mother go to the gallows.

The girls’ accusations and their polished performances, including the new act of being struck dumb, played to large and believing audiences.

When was the first witch trial in Europe?

The Valais trials, which began in 1428 in France/Switzerland, were the first in Europe and claimed at least 367 victims. The trials began in August 1428 when delegates demanded investigations into accused witches or sorcerers. If a single person was accused of witchcraft three times, they were arrested and tortured until they confessed. The trials were poorly documented, but some records from the local clerk of the court, Johannes Fründ, remain.

The Trier trials, which began in 1581 in Germany, were one of the largest witch trials in European history. The motives behind the purge were likely political, as Archbishop Johann von Schöneburg ordered a purge of three groups of nonconformists: Protestants, Jews, and witches. Between 1587 and 1593, 368 of the accused from 22 villages were burned alive, almost all confessing under torture. Almost a third of the victims were nobility or held positions in the government or local administration.

King James VI of Scotland was obsessed with eliminating witchcraft after a severe coastal storm led him to land in Norway and take refuge. He even penned a book, Daemonologie, endorsing witch hunting. Gilly Duncan, the first victim, was accused of using healing cures and subjected to prolonged torture. In total, 70 people were accused of witchcraft, including several members of Scottish nobility. Shakespeare adapted parts of the trials into “Macbeth”. The North Berwick witch trials were the first major trials in Scotland, claiming an estimated total of 3, 000-4, 000 lives between 1560 and 1707.

Where was the first witch hunt in Europe?

In 1428, the first systematic European witch-hunt began in Valais, Switzerland, resulting in the deaths of 367 people. To be condemned, a person had to publicly state that they were a witch. Most accused were male peasants, who were subjected to torture and confessions about meetings with the Devil. Some confessed to having the power to kill their neighbors or change into werewolves. The condemned were mostly burnt to death, with a few being beheaded. Victims were tied to a ladder and tied to a pyre, with bags of gunpowder tied around their necks as a final mercy.

Who was accused of witchcraft in Europe?

The European Witch Trials, which occurred from the 13th to 17th century, were widespread in western Europe, including Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, the U. K., and New England. Women were accused of being witches for perceived abnormal behavior or a Devil’s Mark on their skin. One reason women could be tried and killed as witches was their role as midwives or healers. The Catholic Church faced significant issues with the use of plant medicines, such as belladonna, deadly nightshade, and ergot, during childbirth.

These remedies were considered effective in easing childbirth pain, but the church perceived any attempt to alleviate it as a violation of God’s wishes. Major European churches believed that pain during childbirth was punishment for Eve’s Original Sin, making a midwife’s role more harmful than the church. The 15th century Catholic guide to witch-hunting, the Malleus Maleficarum, stated that no one did more harm to the Catholic Church than the midwife. The church also exerted control over the witch trials, with the medical community playing a crucial role in suppressing women healers’ work.

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.

Who was the first witch in history?

The first known witch was the ancient Greek goddess Hecate, who was the patron goddess of magic and witchcraft. Despite her power, witches were often viewed with fear and suspicion during her time. As witchcraft spread across Europe, popular mythology about witches’ abilities spread, such as the power to raise storms and blight crops. This led to widespread witch hunts in the Middle Ages. Today, Hecate and other famous witches are honored with celebrations around Samhain, the witching hour, where many believe the veil between worlds is thinned, allowing those with magical powers to contact their ancestors and receive knowledge from beyond.