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Witch Hunts - Coggle Diagram
Witch Hunts
Basic Info
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Around 40,000 to 60,000 were killed
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Estimated 100,000 trials occurred
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Theory
Groundwork on concept of Witchcraft was developed by Christians theologians as early as 13th century
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Estimates of numbers
The scholarly consensus on the total number of executions for witchcraft ranges from 40,000 to 60,000
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In the early 20th century, some scholarly estimates on the number of executions still ranged in the hundreds of thousands
The estimate was only reliably placed below 100,000 in scholarship of the 1970s
Early estimates tend to be highly exaggerated, as they were still part of rhetorical arguments against the persecution of witches rather than purely historical scholarship
Attempts at estimating the total number of executions for witchcraft have a history going back to the end of the period of witch-hunts in the 18th century
Trials by country
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Finland
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Most of the people accused in Finland were men, so called "wise men" hired to perform magic by people
Preserved documentation states that 710 witch trials took place in Finland between 1520 and 1699, resulting in 115 death sentences
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Holy Roman Empire
The witch trials in the Holy Roman Empire, composed of the areas of present-day Germany, Switzerland and Austria, were the most extensive in Europe and in the world
The witchcraft persecutions differed widely between the regions, and was most intense in the territories of the Catholic Prince Bishops in Southwestern Germany
Witch trials did occur in Protestant Germany as well, but were fewer and less extensive in comparison with Catholic Germany
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Hungary
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The trials finally stopped in 1768 by abolition of the death penalty for witchcraft by Austria, which controlled Hungary at the time
Between 1520 and 1780, 1.644 people (1482 women and 160 men) are documented to have been put on trial for sorcery in Hungary
The most famous case was perhaps the Szeged witch trials of 1728, in which 13 people were burned at the stake
Iceland
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The witch trials were introduced by a foreign elite power in an area with weak Christianity, in order to ensure religious conformity
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Italy
Witch trials could be managed by a number of different secular courts as well as by the Roman Inquisition, and documentation has been only partially preserved in either case
Italy was politically split between a number of different states during the time period in which the witch trials occurred
The estimations of the intensity and number of executions has varied between hundreds to thousands of victims
Northern Italy experienced its first wave of witch trials earlier than most of Europe, and it fact experienced its peak during the Italian Renaissance
The Italian states experienced a second wave of witchcraft executions during the Counter-Reformation, and reached their peak between circa 1580 and 1660, before they finally decreased
Latvia & Estonia
Mainly conducted by the Baltic German elite of clergy, nobility and burghers
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Many would have been conducted by the private estate courts of the landlords, which did not preserve any court protocols
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Scotland
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An estimated 4,000 to 6,000 people, mostly from the Scottish Lowlands, were tried for witchcraft
here were major series of trials in 1590–91, 1597, 1628–31, 1649–50 and 1661–62
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Modern estimates indicate that more than 1,500 persons were executed; most were strangled and then burned
Poland
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Estimated that between 3,000 and 4,000 people have been executed for sorcery in Poland
Portugal
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Portuguese Inquisition preferred to focus on the persecution of heresy and did not consider witchcraft to be a priority
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Sicily
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In most cases, the accused were either freed, sentenced to exile, or jailed
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Spanish Netherlands
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Between 1450 and 1685 at least 1,150 to 1,250 individuals were executed as witches
Norway
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Norway was in a union with Denmark during this period, and the witch trials were conducted by instructions from Copenhagen
The authorities and the clergy conducted the trials using demonology handbooks and used interrogation techniques and sometimes torture
After a guilty verdict, the condemned was forced to expose accomplices and commonly deaths occurred due to torture or prison
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Russia
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Sorcery or witchcraft was defined similarly as in Europe and defined as weather magic, fortune telling, dream interpretation, herbal medicine and chants
The form of magic which was normally the focus of witch trials were magic which had been used to cause harm and were referred to as porcha, a Russian equivalent of the European concept of maleficium
The Witch trials in Orthodox Russia were different in character than the witch trials in Roman Catholic and Protestant Europe due to the differing cultural and religious background
It is often treated as an exception to modern theories of witch-hunts, due to the perceived difference in scale, the gender distribution of those accused, and the lack of focus on the demonology of a witch who made a pact with Satan and attended a Witches' Sabbath, but only on the practice of magic as such
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One theory suggests that the reason for the predominance of men among the accused relates to the specific nature of the legal system in Russia and claims that a new legal definition of magic introduced in 1716 in the military code was a crucial factor.
After the legislation the number of accusations of witchcraft increased significantly amongst soldiers and government officials
Before that, anti-witch laws had the primary function of protecting the Tsar and the main categories of accused were clergymen - usually minor rural clergy or people associated with them - and members of the court or tsarist administration
Magic was practiced by both genders at all levels of society from the earliest historical times, and the statistical advantage of convicted men was due to conflicts in male-dominated areas
Medieval Background
Throughout the medieval era, mainstream Christian doctrine had denied the belief in the existence of witches and witchcraft, condemning it as a pagan superstition
Christian theologians eventually began to accept the possibility of collaboration with devil(s), resulting in a person obtaining certain real supernatural powers
There was no concept of demonic witchcraft during the fourteenth century, only at a later time did a unified concept combine the ideas of noxious magic, a pact with the Devil and an assembly of witches for Satanic worship, into one category of crime
Prominent centres of witch prosecutions were France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy
Witch trials were still uncommon in the 15th century when the concept of diabolical witchcraft began to emerge
The most important and influential book which promoted the new heterodox view was the Malleus Maleficarum by Heinrich Kramer
The Gutenberg printing press had only recently been invented along the Rhine River, and Kramer fully utilized it to shepherd his work into print and spread the ideas that had been developed by inquisitors and theologians in France into the Rhineland
Procedures & Punishments
Evidence
There was no possibility to offer alibi as a defense because witchcraft did not require the presence of the accused at the scene
Witnesses were called to testify to motives and effects because it was believed that witnessing the invisible force of witchcraft was impossible
Peculiar standards applied to witchcraft allowing certain types of evidence "that are now ways relating Fact, and done many Years before"
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Punishments
A variety of different punishments were employed for those found guilty of witchcraft, including imprisonment, flogging, fines, or exile
Non-capital punishment, especially for a first offence, was most common in England
Often the guilty party was ordered to attend the parish church, wearing a white sheet and carrying a wand, and swear to lead a reformed life
Many faced capital punishment for witchcraft, either by burning at the stake, hanging, or beheading
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