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The pamphlet contains virtually the only contemporary illustrations of Scottish witchcraft [2] and was the earliest Scottish or English printed document dedicated to only covering witchcraft in Scotland. [5] It provided the first descriptions of the osculum infame, also known as the kiss of shame or the obscene kiss, to the English population. [6]
Witch trials and witch related accusations were at a high during the early modern period in Britain, a time that spanned from the beginning of the 16th century to the end of the 18th century. Prior to the 16th century, Witchcraft-- i.e. any magical or supernatural practices made by mankind -- was often seen as a healing art, performed by people ...
The exact number of those executed is unknown, largely because they were tried by different legal courts, but is believed to number in the hundreds. Under no other period in Scottish history, possibly with the exception of The Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1597, were so many tried for witchcraft as during the 1661–1662 witch hunt.
Geillis Duncan also spelled Gillis Duncan (b. unknown d. 4 December 1591) was a young maidservant in 16th century Scotland who was accused of being a witch. [1] [2] She was also the first recorded British named player of the mouth harp.
The Malleus Maleficarum, [a] usually translated as the Hammer of Witches, [3] [b] is the best known treatise about witchcraft. [6] [7] It was written by the German Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer (under his Latinized name Henricus Institor) and first published in the German city of Speyer in 1486.
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]
The parliament of Mary, Queen of Scots, passed the Scottish Witchcraft Act in 1563, [5] making convictions for witchcraft subject to capital punishment. [6] Mary's son, James , wrote Daemonologie in 1597 after his involvement with the North Berwick witch trials in 1590 and the Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1597 , a nationwide hunt that started ...
A real initiatory brotherhood was established in late 16th-century Scotland through the transformation of Medieval stonemason guilds to include non-craftsmen: Freemasonry. Soon spreading into other parts of Europe, in England it largely rejected its esoteric character and embraced humanism and rationalism, while in France it embraced new ...