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In the late thirteenth and fourteenth century, heresy was considered as evidence of the struggle with the devil, with the "dangers" of witchcraft voiced by the papacy in Avignon. [25] Pope John XXII listed witchcraft as heresy in his bull Super illius specula. Kyteler's was one of the first European witchcraft trials and followed closely on the ...
The Witches by Hans Baldung (woodcut), 1508. The most common meaning of "witchcraft" worldwide is the use of harmful magic. [17] Belief in malevolent magic and the concept of witchcraft has lasted throughout recorded history and has been found in cultures worldwide, regardless of development.
Later, the Pendle witch trials of 1612 joined the ranks of the most famous witch trials in English history. [64] The Malefizhaus of Bamberg, Germany, where suspected witches were held and interrogated. 1627 engraving. In England, witch-hunting would reach its apex in 1644 to 1647 due to the efforts of Puritan Matthew Hopkins.
Throughout the medieval era, mainstream Christian doctrine had denied the belief in the existence of witches and witchcraft, condemning it as a pagan superstition. [14] Some have argued that the work of the Dominican Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century helped lay the groundwork for a shift in Christian doctrine, by which certain Christian theologians eventually began to accept the possibility ...
During the 16th century, witchcraft prosecutions stabilized and even declined in some areas. [2] Witch-hunts increased again in the 17th century. The witch trials in Early Modern Europe included the Basque witch trials in Spain, the Fulda witch trials in Germany, the North Berwick witch trials in Scotland, and the Torsåker witch trials in Sweden.
This dark period of history reflects the confluence of superstition, fear, and authority, as well as the societal tendency of scapegoating. A feminist interpretation of the witch trials is that misogyny led to the association of women and malevolent witchcraft. [1] Russia also had witchcraft trials during the 17th century.
In response to the Bishop's criticism, Kramer began to write a treatise on witchcraft that later became the Malleus Maleficarum (commonly translated as "The Hammer of Witches"). The bull Summis desiderantes , which gave him the authority of prosecuting and investigating cases of sorcery, was included in the forefront of the book, first ...
Witches still go to cross-roads and to heathen burials with their delusive magic and call to the devil; and he comes to them in the likeness of the man that is buried there, as if he arises from death. [42] Merlin is said to have been born from the relationship of an incubus with a mortal (illumination from a 13th century French manuscript)