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Witchcraft in Anglo-Saxon England (Old English: wiċċecræft) refers to the belief and practice of magic by the Anglo-Saxons between the 5th and 11th centuries AD in Early Mediaeval England. Surviving evidence regarding Anglo-Saxon witchcraft beliefs comes primarily from the latter part of this period, after England had been Christianised .
An 1562 [1] Act Against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcrafts (5 Eliz. 1.c. 16) was passed early in the reign of Elizabeth I.It was in some respects more merciful towards those found guilty of witchcraft than its predecessor, demanding the death penalty only where harm had been caused; lesser offences were punishable by a term of imprisonment.
Witch hunts began to increase first in southern France and Switzerland, during the 14th and 15th centuries. Witch hunts and witchcraft trials rose markedly during the social upheavals of the 16th century, peaking between 1560 and 1660. [72] The peak years of witch-hunts in southwest Germany were from 1561 to 1670. [73]
In the surviving records, the Anglo-Saxon witch was usually portrayed as a young woman, who practised magic to find a lover, win the love of her husbands, give birth to a live baby or to protect her children. This is in contrast to the later English stereotype of a witch, which is that of an elderly spinster or widow. [39]
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of ... The persecution of witches began in 1563, and ... By the time of Elizabeth's reign ...
Lancashire was a sparsely populated county at the time of the Reformation and remained a stronghold of Catholicism throughout the Elizabethan reign. The county was reputed to contain more witches and believers in witchcraft than any other. [2] Cunning folk were regarded as being distinct from witches and were called on to perform acts of ...
Witch trials were most frequent in England in the first half of the 17th century. They reached their most intense phase during the English Civil War of the 1640s and the Puritan era of the 1650s. This was a period of intense witch hunts, known for witch hunters such as Matthew Hopkins.
Artistic depiction of the execution by burning of three alleged witches in Baden, Switzerland in 1585. This is a 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.