HIS243H1 Lecture : Early Modern Witchhunt
Document Summary
2 waves: 1480-1520s, 1560-1630s, 60k-150k people affected. more women were executed for infanticide than because of witchcraft: intellectual foundations. The key is the role of the devil. He is an annoyance and you have to watch out for him; but he does not have ultimate power. The idea that arose was that the devil was more of a problem than people were let on to be. 15th century, these spells, these women owe the effectiveness to the devil: theologians say that he is all around and that he is a serious threat to the world, devil also has demons working with him. Heinrich kramer & jacob sprenger, malleus maleficarum (1486: lay out the theological reasons as to why witchcraft is serious, and how to persecute them. how to identify them, how to protect themselves, and how to execute them. Jean bodin, demon mania (1580: lawyer, france.
