The Salem Witch Trails Essay Research Paper

The Salem Witch Trails Essay, Research Paper

The Salem witch trials began with the accusation of people in Salem of being

witches. But the concept of witchcraft started far before these trials and false

accusations occurred. In the early Christian centuries, the church was

relatively tolerant of magical practices. Those who were proved to have

engaged in witchcraft were required only to do penance. But in the late

Middle Ages (13th century to 14th century) opposition to alleged witchcraft

hardened as a result of the growing belief that all magic and miracles that did

not come unambiguously from God came from the Devil and were therefore

manifestations of evil. Those who practiced simple sorcery, such as village

wise women, were increasingly regarded as practitioners of diabolical

witchcraft. They came to be viewed as individuals in league with Satan.

Nearly all those who fell under suspicion of witchcraft were women, evidently

regarded by witch-hunters as especially susceptible to the Devil.s

blandishments. A lurid picture of the activities of witches emerged in the

popular mind, including covens, or gatherings over which Satan presided;

pacts with the Devil; flying broomsticks; and animal accomplices, or familiars.

Although a few of these elements may represent vestiges of pre-Christian

religion, the old religion probably did not persist in any organized form

beyond the 14th century. The popular image of witchcraft, perhaps inspired

by features of occultism or ceremonial magic as well as by theology

concerning the Devil and his works of darkness, was given shape by the

inflamed imagination of inquisitors and was confirmed by statements obtained

under torture. The late medieval and early modern picture of diabolical

witchcraft can be attributed to several causes. First, the church.s experience

with such dissident religious movements as the Albigenses and Cathari, who

believed in a radical dualism of good and evil, led to the belief that certain

people had allied themselves with Satan. As a result of confrontations with

such heresy, the Inquisition was established by a series of papal decrees

between 1227 and 1235. Pope Innocent IV authorized the use of torture in

1252, and Pope Alexander IV gave the Inquisition authority over all cases of

sorcery involving heresy, although local courts carried out most actual

prosecution of witches. At the same time, other developments created a

climate in which alleged witches were stigmatized as representatives of evil.

Since the middle of the 11th century, the theological and philosophical work

of scholasticism had been refining the Christian concepts of Satan and evil.

Theologians, influenced by Aristotelian rationalism, increasingly denied that

“natural” miracles could take place and therefore alleged that anything

supernatural and not of God must be due to commerce with Satan or his

minions (see Aristotle). Later, the Reformation, the rise of science, and the

emerging modern world.all challenges to traditional religion.created deep

anxieties in the orthodox population. At the dawn of the Renaissance (15th

century to 16th century) some of these developments began to coalesce into

the “witch craze” that possessed Europe from about 1450 to 1700. During

this period, thousands of people, mostly innocent women, were executed on

the basis of “proofs” or “confessions” of diabolical witchcraft.that is, of

sorcery practiced through allegiance to Satan.obtained by means of cruel

tortures. A major impetus for the hysteria was the papal bull Summis

Desiderantes issued by Pope Innocent VIII in 1484. It was included as a

preface in the book Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches),

published by two Dominican inquisitors in 1486. This work, characterized by

a distinct anti-feminine tenor, vividly describes the satanic and sexual

abominations of witches. The book was translated into many languages and

went through many editions in both Catholic and Protestant countries,

outselling all other books except the Bible. In the years of the witch-hunting

mania, people were encouraged to inform against one another. Professional

witch finders identified and tested suspects for evidence of witchcraft and

were paid a fee for each conviction. The most common test was pricking: All

witches were supposed to have somewhere on their bodies a mark, made by

the Devil, that was insensitive to pain; if such a spot was found, it was

regarded as proof of witchcraft. Other proofs included additional breasts

(supposedly used to suckle familiars), the inability to weep, and failure in the

water test. In which, a woman was thrown into a body of water; if she sank,

she was considered innocent, but if she stayed afloat, she was found guilty.

This test, along with the others, was obviously dumb. For if the suspected

was innocent, she was dead, and if she was a

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