Crime and Punishment / 1500-1700

Crime and Punishment: Rise in Witchcraft Accusations

Witchcraft accusations rose when religious belief, poverty, gender prejudice, and Civil War fear all pointed suspicion at vulnerable women.

What To Remember

The workbook stresses that around 90 percent of accused witches were women, especially poor, older, isolated women.
Bad harvests, sick animals, child deaths, and disputes with poor neighbours could all trigger accusations.
Henry VIII's laws, James I's Daemonologie, and Civil War instability made witchcraft seem like a serious threat to Church, king, and community.

Who was accused

Accusations usually targeted people with little power: poor women, widows, older women, and those seen as outsiders.

In a patriarchal society, women were expected to obey fathers or husbands, so independent or argumentative women attracted suspicion.

A quarrel followed by illness, a dead child, or a failed harvest could be interpreted as revenge by witchcraft.

Law and religion

In the Middle Ages, witchcraft was often dealt with by Church courts and penalties were usually less severe.

Henry VIII made witchcraft a serious crime that could be punished by death, and later monarchs treated it as a threat to order as well as religion.

James I's Daemonologie, first published in 1597, described witches as servants of the Devil and encouraged readers to search them out.

Civil War fear

The English Civil Wars in the 1640s divided families and communities, disrupted local authority, and created economic hardship.

When people felt the world was unstable, supernatural explanations became more convincing.

This is why the rise in accusations is best explained by a combination of religion, poverty, gender attitudes, and political chaos.

Why did witchcraft accusations increase during the Early Modern Period?