The Accused

Literature

Malleus Maleficarum (1486)

'slippery tongues' and feeble minds

Women are more impressionable & gullible

The Bible

Adam & Eve shows women to be weaker

Prone to infidelity & carnality

Depictions

Witch riding backwards on a goat

Hans Baldung Grien depicted witches as the embodiment of female sexual power

may have influenced the elite

A Discourse of the Damned Art of Witchcraft, William Perkins (1610)

Women are the weaker sex

Age

most of the accused were over 50

Marital status

There was a higher % of unmarried women accused

Gender

In most places, over 75% of the accused were female

There were more unmarried women

Nunneries were in decline by 1600

As a result of warfare & plagues

Social & Economic Status

Most accused displayed anti-social or immoral behavior

Healers (wise/cunning folk)

Male witches

Estonia 60%

Finland 50%

Iceland 90%