The Law and Witchcraft

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Attitudes towards Witches

During the Middle Ages, accusations of witchcraft were tried in the Church courts. Moving into the 1500s and the complicated wave of religious change that came in England, witchcraft was made a crime offence punishable by death. Trials now took place in ordinary courts of the day.

People believed that witches had made a formal agreement with the devil in order to receive magical powers (e.g. flying, causing people or farms to fall ill and die). Towards the end of the 16th century, the attitudes towards witchcraft began to change. They were seen as foolish and confused, trying to take advantage of other people.

The Law and Witchcraft:

1542 Witchcraft Act - Henry VIII changed the law, witchcraft became a very serious crime which carried the possibility of death

1563 Act against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcraft (Elizabeth I) - witchcraft was tried in the ordinary court, no longer the Church courts. Death penalty was issued when a witch caused harm to another person. Minor witchcraft (e.g. magic) was punished with stocks.

1604 Witchcraft and Conjuration Act (James I) - If a witch summoned evil spirits she would be killed

1735 Witchcraft Act (George II) - witches viewed as tricksters and mainly punished with fines and prison sentences.

Why was witchcraft taken more seriously?

In the late 16th century, the English economy was going through problems of falling wages and high unemployment. With these problems came increased tension between communities. When livestock died and poor crop yields occurred, people decided to blame the situation on evil spirits and witchcraft rather than natural reasons

The fear that vagabonds created made rich people suspicious of the poorer members of society (mainly the rich class accused poorer classes of witchcraft)

Witchcraft was a crime against the state as well as a religious crime after the laws brought in by Henry VIII

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Witches and Society

Witchcraft and religion:

As seen throughout history, the role and influence of the Church was prevalent in many areas of life. Human existence was a struggle between good and evil (God vs. the Devil) according to the Church. The fear of witchcraft and subsequent efforts to rid society of witches was a brave fight of the Church against the dark forces of the world.

Witchcraft and society:

During the years of the English Civil Wars that began in 1642, massive disruption and fear developed across the country. People were divided over their allegiance to the king and parliament. The Civil Wars caused social, economic and political chaos throughout the land and a climate of fear developed. In times like these, people were attracted to ideas of superstitious (based on belief in old ideas of magic rather than reason or science) nature.

James I Demonologie: James I was a witch hunter and illustrated his ideas in his book Demonologie (1597). This book illustrated the nature of Hell. James set out his reasons for believing in witches and explained how people could run witch trials. He argued the witchcraft was a crime against the king and God.

In 1603, a new edition of Demonologie was published where James tells of the story of how witches tried to drown him and his wife at sea

After the Gunpowder plot in 1605, James I was extremely cautious of the chance of another Catholic rebellion against him. Therefore, he continued to encourage witch hunts

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Witchfinder General - Matthew Hopkins

In 1645, Matthew Hopkins, a former lawyer and self-declared 'Witchfinder General', for reasons unknown, began searching East Anglia for witches. During the same period as Hopkins, Justices for the Peace (JPs) were in charge of identifying religious threats and people who did not conform to Protestant teaching. Hopkins was employed by a JP in Essex and East Anglia to hunt down witches. There was significant amounts of money involved for each accused witch.

Hopkins Witchcraft Trials:

Hopkins used a range of methods in order to secure confessions from accused witches

He used torture even though it was illegal

Suspects were forced to keep walking until blisters developed on their feet

They were deprived of sleep

Hopkins humiliated them by stripping them naked

They were left to a diet of bread and water

Hopkins also used physical evidence against accused witches

Devil's 'familiars'; a mouse, fly or spider found in a cell was thought to be the witch's familiar (created by the Devil to do the witch's bidding)

Scars, boils or spots that were found on the body of the accused were seen as the mark of the Devil

Hopkins obtained the 36 women accused of witchcraft

19 were hung

9 died of fever during their time in gaol

6 were held in prison

1 was released as she gave evidence against her accused fellows

Hopkins is believed to have died from tuberculosis in 1647. Witch hunts, as carried out by Hopkins, were rare to come across. Accusations were normally slow and steady.

Horrible Histories Wicked Witches: Witchfinder's Direct (infomercial). (Embed)

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Witches and Women

From 1542 to 1736, historians estimate approximately 1,000 people were executed for witchcraft, most of them were executed by hanging. Hopkins witch hunt trials stirred up mass fear and panic when the country was also steeped in the Civil War. Hopkins and his assistant John Stearne investigated around 300 individuals of which 112 were executed.

Women in the 17th century:

Estimates put forward highlight around 90% of those accused of witchcraft were female. Women were very restricted at this time and expected to keep a role of practical domestic duties. Legally, women were still viewed as the property of their father until they got married.

Most of the women accused of witchcraft practices were local wise women. They helped with villagers with health, well-being, pregnancies and child births. The economic conditions of the time meant that poor people could not afford doctors and these local wise women were seen as people who could heal problems.

Authorities were not happy with the position of these wise women in society as they were very respected. Therefore, they attracted the attention of witch hunters. Religious attitudes of the day also meant that women were seen more vulnerable than men to the temptations of the devil.

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Changing Tide

When the second half of the 17th century cam around, ideas regarding the Enlightenment were becoming more prevalent.

Enlightenment: intellectual and philosophical movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries emphasising reason and analysis regarding ideas and the way the world works

This was a more objective and scientific approach to understanding the way the world functioned. In 1660, the Royal Society was founded in London and it brought together intellectuals and scientists from many different academic backgrounds. The Royal Society received a royal charter in 1662 from King Charles II. This demonstrated the faith that royalty had in the aims of the society in promoting reason and analysis.

This new methodological approach to the world led to greater evidences required in court regarding the innocence or guilt of the accused. Moreover, people began to approach crime more rationally. Witchcraft was seen as superstition rather than a criminal offence. These ideas of Enlightenment took a while to spread throughout the country but the last execution for a witch trial occurred in 1716.