The History Of Witches

we fear what we don't know and that which we do not understand for centuries many faced false accusations and forced confessions were tortured and suffered tumultuous deaths all in the name of fear and misunderstanding so much so that a thriving and highly lucrative profession would spawn from it witch hunting the fear of an obsession with witches have been around for ages with a long dark history to accompany it and we're going to explore it [Music] in the early days of witch hunting it was as simple as pointing the finger at someone by whom you felt threatened who you blamed for misfortunes or someone who challenged your beliefs and values as witch hunting was on the rise so was an opportunity to become a witch hunter by profession in march 1644 a man by the name of matthew hopkins claimed to have encountered six witches in manning tree who allegedly tried to kill him hopkins would become a notorious witch hunter who was responsible for upwards of 300 witches being tried and executed between 1644 in 1647. he traveled to essex suffolk norfolk huntingdon and greater east anglia to solicit his services of rooting out witches forcing them to confess and then having them hanged all this for a generous fee of course which was sometimes paid for by the local magistrates amounting to a month's worth of wages hopkins along with his two assistants would set out to eradicate witches within the community his way of identifying a witch was much along the lines of the general consensus which for the most part was torturous along with his own special methods he would prick his skin deformity he considered essentially a feeding nipple for imps if the person did not sense the prick they were a witch with a hefty price tag on the heads of witches conniving and falsified ways of making these claims and prosecutions would also emerge it was said that hopkins had fashioned a retractable pin in order to successfully prosecute a witch and collect his handsome reward another one of his methods was binding people and throwing them into water and if they floated it was an indication that they were a witch believing that the water was repelling them due to the suspect having denied baptism [Music] ironically rumors have since circulated that hopkins untimely death in 1647 was because he himself was accused of being a witch and then failed to pass his own tests in reality it is more likely that he died of tuberculosis or another illness that same year prior to his death hopkins published a book called the discovery of witches another notable witch hunter during this craze was an unnamed scottish man known only as the bellman who was hired by the puritan magistrates of newcastle around 1650. this purge which followed was known as the newcastle trials claiming that he could identify a witch by her appearance alone the bellman is believed to be responsible for the execution of over 120 women upon his arrival he reportedly asked the villagers to bring in any complaint against any woman for a witch and that they should be sent for and tried by the person appointed like hopkins the bellman also used the skin pricking method as a means for ruling out the innocent versus the guilty if they bled they passed the test if not a guilty verdict was closing in he reportedly made anywhere between 20 and 30 shillings for a successful prosecution which at the time was roughly 10 times the average daily salary again a very tempting reward for those seeking to get rich by any means necessary ironically the bellman would meet a karmic fate when he himself would later face death by execution matthew hopkins and the bellman were said to have been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of accused witches [Music] between the 1300s and the end of the 1600s the threat of witchcraft captivated europe and led to tens of thousands of witch executions primarily of women witch hunts would break out all over the world however not all of them shared the same concept about witchcraft different parts of the world had different interpretations as to what witchcraft typically meant the west typically sees witchcraft as something that an ordinary person may practice utilizing the supernatural in their magic others see a witch as someone who inherently possesses supernatural powers witches and magic were thought to be associated with the devil and being accused of witchcraft would ultimately lead to a doomed ending most if not all endured so much torture that they would falsely confess just to end the agony which sometimes led to others being tried tortured and of course executed [Music] in 1486 a highly influential handbook was published by professors heinrich kramer and jacob spranger titled malayas malafikaru also known as the hammer of witches that outlined in detail how to identify and legally prosecute a suspected witch it provided examples of things that witches allegedly do such as shape-shifting and having sex with the devil among other things according to the hammer of witches torture was an acceptable way to gain a confession the guide was heavily directed at accusing women and was used to condemn and stamp out witches under the authority of pope innocent viii both roman catholics and protestants used it as a guide to defend christianity nearly a century prior to this in 1374 pope gregory xi stated that demons aided all magic and therefore prosecution for heresy was possible by 1600 28 editions of the handbook had been published [Music] between 1484 and 1750 it's estimated that 200 000 people in western europe were tortured or executed under suspicion of being a witch a hundred and ten thousand of that estimate were actually prosecuted of those prosecuted around forty thousand to 60 000 were executed [Music] the criteria for being deemed a witch seemingly targeted traits relating to women such as older women without families unmarried women women who were generally seen as odd or described as combative or ill-tempered though suspected of their moral behaviors including missing church abortions sex work cursing and even being too smart in 1656 a woman was hanged for witchcraft with some evidence being that she had more wit than her neighbors some of the men who were accused of being witches were also suspected of being homosexuals between the years of 1580 and 1630 witch hunts in europe predominantly took place in areas such as france western germany northern italy switzerland and coastal areas of belgium netherlands and luxembourg while being less common in areas such as southern italy portugal and spain where executions were even rarer it is commonly thought that witches were burned alive at the stake and while in some cases this might be true many were executed in various ways before being burned some were strangled drowned killed by sword hanged or beheaded among a number of other ways and then their bodies were burned the burning of a witch symbolized purification and was thought to be a way to ensure that the witch would not be able to return to the land of the living through sorcery [Music] witch hunts also unfolded in the spanish and english colonies in the americas because sorcery was considered as rejecting jesus christ in siding with the devil hence devil worshipping it was believed that witches made deals with the devil in exchange for magical aid and because the devil is the enemy of jesus christ this was enough to deem necessary the eradication of witches often deriving from fear suspicion alone was enough to prosecute those in question of being a witch however the majority of cases never went on to full accusation due to the expense and danger associated with a formal accusation throughout western history women were more often accused of being witches in part because it was easier to deem a woman as acting improperly as the european witch trials began to dwindle in the puritan populated town of salem massachusetts the infamous salem witch trials emerged terrorizing the town from 1692 to 1693 it began with nine-year-old elizabeth paris and eleven-year-old abigail williams who started exhibiting strange behaviors such as contorting their bodies making odd sounds and screaming out foolish ridiculous speeches soon after other young girls began displaying the same behavior according to both elizabeth and abigail's claims along with the town doctor's diagnosis their strange behavior was attributed to the supernatural the girls were eventually pressured by two magistrates into naming those supposedly afflicting their bizarre outbursts they accused three women sarah goode a homeless woman sarah osborne an elderly poor woman and tituba an enslaved woman owned by elizabeth paris's family the accusations set off the salem witch trials where over 200 people were accused and a total of 20 were executed as a result of the 20 people killed six were male and the rest were females none of whom ever admitted to witchcraft the jury eventually issued apologies and compensation was offered to the families of the executed possibly as many as 13 more perished while in jail on charges of witchcraft and some believe the number of those executed in the salem witch trials may have been even higher throughout the dark and ugly history of witches some notable ones stand out among the crowd and the one who might come closest to the stereotypical depiction of the hunchback warty nose old crone is ursula tsuntil better known as mother shipton [Music] as one of the most well-known legendary figures in folklore her story like most well-known figures has variations to it but what's generally agreed upon is that mother shipton was born in 1488 to a single mother in a cave in nearsboro england apart from her being reportedly born with a large crooked nose a bent back and twisted legs the fact that she was also fatherless led to rumors that her father was lucifer himself making her the devil's child which only added to claims of her being a witch it's said that she lived in a cave with her mother for a few years before being taken in by a local family ursula often returned to her birthplace and her frequent visits to the cave along with her activities there further advanced the claim that she was a witch she studied the forest flowers and herbs learning how to use them for remedies and potions ursula married at the age of 24 to a man named tobias shipton a carpenter from york who died years later ursula kept his name in the couple had no children mother shipton became a famous prophetess in england as she foretold many events that would come to pass such as the fates of several rulers the invention of iron ships the great fire of london in 1666 and the defeat of the spanish armada though her prophecies were highly notable and were published over 20 times between 1641 and 1700 her name did not appear in print prior to this time there were no written references to her at all in the 1500s apart from a notable letter written by king henry viii referring to the witch of york possibly in reference the shipton mother shipton died in 1561.

agnes sampson 16th century scotland apparently king james vi was nearly killed in an accident at sea involving a storm he believed the storm was an assassination attempt by witchcraft and commissioned a trial that led to the capture and trial of as many as 70 suspected witches including a woman named gaelis duncan a maidservant who was able to heal the ill in ways that her employer felt was unnaturally miraculous so he turned her into authorities claiming that duncan was a witch she named others setting off what would be known as the north berwick witch trials ultimately leading to the capturing and torturing of agnes sampson samson endured sleep deprivation and suffered a witch's brindle which were prongs that are anchored into the wall and inserted in the mouth under these torturous tactics agnes would eventually admit to being a witch and being involved in the conspiracy to kill king james thus meeting her demise sampson was strangled and then burned alice kittler 14th century ireland four husbands and some step children later alice kittler would find herself accused of being a witch for killing said four husbands by said stepchildren they claimed alice used magic to obtain wealth and this accusation would make her the first woman in ireland to ever be accused of being a witch the local bishop concurred with the children and alice along with her devil worshiping co-conspirators were persecuted fortunately for alice her aristocratic status and connections helped her escape to england before her trial though absent she was still tried and was found guilty of witchcraft however her co-conspirators weren't so lucky unlike alice they were captured tried found guilty and executed florence newton ireland 1661 an old woman who simply asked for a piece of bread would end up in history as another accused witch in ireland florence newton begged a housemaid for food to which her request was denied and florence was turned away the house made claim that shortly thereafter while enroute to collect water from a stream florence ambushed her gave her what she described as a violent kiss and stated mary i pray thee let thee and i be friends for i bear thee no ill will. afterwards the housemate allegedly experienced fits and trances that were violent during which she saw good wife newton florence in a veil next to a man at the end of her bed it was also claimed the housemate had thrown up a variety of items including needles wool and straw others in the town also came out against newton which led to her being tried during her trial in the presence of newton the house made underwent a seizure once newton was removed from the courthouse her seizure subsided while jailed newton passed a number of tests even naming two other witches but when threatened with the water test where a rope is tied to the thumb and ankle and the suspect is dunked into water to drown newton retracted her claims about the other two women being witches after dodging that test newton fumbled through the lord's prayer which was seen as a sure sign of being a witch a jailer offered to help her learn it and with gratitude she kissed his hands as he helped her the jailer would die just a few weeks later it's unclear as to what happened to florence newton as there are missing records in history as to what happened in the trial beyond this point it seems likely newton would ultimately meet her death over this but when and how remains a mystery [Music] catherine monvoy zong 17th century france tried as part of the affair of poison's case katharine mon voison was a fortune teller in france who worked mostly with upper class society she was accused of being the leader of a satanist and abortionist group and for concocting potions and poisons for her clients who were mostly women they allegedly used the mixtures to poison their husbands and or rivals one notable client of mon voison was the mistress of louis xiv who was accused of using mon vois on service to win the king's heart along with attempting to poison her younger rival manvoison was burned at the stake in february of 1680.