Gunnar Heinsohn and Otto Steiger in a 1982 publication speculated that witch hunts targeted women skilled in midwifery specifically in an attempt to extinguish knowledge about birth control and repopulate Europe after the population catastrophe of the Black Death. Most of Virginias colonial-era court records were destroyed in fires during the American Civil War (18611865), so it is impossible to know exactly how many witchcraft cases were heard in Virginia and when. In January 1692, Parris daughter Elizabeth (or Betty), age 9, and niece Abigail Williams, age 11, started having fits. They screamed, threw things, uttered peculiar sounds and contorted themselves into strange positions. Neighbors of the suspected witch may begin collecting firewood on which the suspect will burn. A couple of young girls accused others of witchcraft. When they appeared to be different from the norm How were people controlled by witch hunts? A month later, a father and son were also burned to death after being accused of witchcraft. In their descriptions of Virginia Indians, the Jamestown colonists often used supernatural terms: John Smith described the paramount chief Powhatan as more like a devil then a man, while George Percy recalls the Indians making noise like so many Wolves or Devils. Alexander Whitaker, an Anglican minister, reported that he found the Indians to be very familiar with the Devill and observed, Their Priests are no other but such as our English Witches are. This perception stemmed partly from the colonists interpretation of the Powhatans religious beliefs and rituals (some settlers believed that the Powhatans main deity, Okee, was the devil incarnate) and partly from the Indians unfamiliar appearance. Offenders will be fined 1,000 pounds of tobacco. Within the historical phenomenon, witch trial 'defendants' were overwhelmingly female, and members of the lower classes. These trials were mostly initiated to prosecute individuals who had been accused of witchcraft. Both Good and Osborn protested their own innocence, though Good accused Osborn. Jess Blumberg If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. They ranged from civil defamation suits to criminal accusations. In three days of vivid testimony, she described encounters with Satans animal familiars and with a tall, dark man from Boston who had called upon her to sign the devils book, in which she saw the names of Good and Osborn along with those of seven others that she could not read. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Women who couldn't fly were less likely to be considered witches.Women would travel long distances to purchase these certificates, since the usual test of whether a person was a witch was to throw her in deep water. The medieval Roman Catholic Church, which then dominated a large swath of the continent, divided magic into two formsnatural magic, which was acceptable because it was viewed as merely taking note of the powers in nature that were created by God, and demonic magic, which was frowned upon and associated with demonology. The earliest witchcraft allegations on record against an English settler in the British North American colonies were made in Virginia in September 1626. Traditional healers, who rely on ancient remedies, are not witch doctors. Most of the convictions and executions were grounded in the testimony of spectral evidence. According to Amnesty International, as many as 1,000 Gambians accused of witchcraft have been arrested and tortured on orders from the president. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Often the "afflicted" would break into fits and claim Nurse was tormenting them. In the medieval and early modern eras, many religions, including Christianity, taught that the devil could give people known as witches the power to harm others in return for their loyalty. Probably stimulated by voodoo tales told to them by Tituba, Parriss daughter Betty (age 9), his niece Abigail Williams (age 11), and their friend Ann Putnam, Jr. (about age 12), began indulging in fortune-telling. Since then, witchcraft has been largely forgotten as an aspect of life in colonial Virginia. The word witchcraft has good and bad meanings in different cultures around the world. This belief was first manifested in the Jamestown colonists early perceptions of the Virginia Indians, whom they believed to be devil worshippers. Three family members were held accountable for treating the girl as a witch. Today, witch trials occur all over the world. Salem witch trials, (June 1692May 1693), in American history, a series of investigations and persecutions that caused 19 convicted witches to be hanged and many other suspects to be imprisoned in Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (now Danvers, Massachusetts). After 1622, some colonists began to accuse one another of practicing witchcraft. The court largely ignored this request, sentencing the hangings of five people in July, five more in August and eight in September. It emphasizes how unjust and backwards the witch trials were in Salem. People try to come up with reasons for their own bad luck, or someone elses good luck. She admitted that shed signed the book and claimed there were several other witches looking to destroy the Puritans. If she drowned, she was innocent of witchcraft. The town of Salem fell ill under a mysterious illness. Johnson, the accused woman exonerated in July 2022, was left out of the 1957 resolution for reasons unknown but received an official pardon after a successful lobbying campaign by a class of eighth-grade civics students. English law prescribed harsh punishments for witchcraft, the most extreme being paines of deathe, but no person accused of the crime in colonial Virginia was executed. Dozens of people from Salem and other Massachusetts villages were brought in for questioning. Science and the Modern World (New York, 1925) Chap. 2. What do different witch hunts often have in common? Their names were John Nurse (born 1645), Rebecca Nurse (born 1647), Samuel Nurse (born 1649), Elizabeth Nurse (born 1655 or 1656), Mary Nurse (born 1657 28 June 1749), Francis Nurse (born 1660 or 1661), Sarah Nurse (born 1662) and Benjamin Nurse (born in 1665 or 1666). Cf. The couple had eight children: four daughters and four sons. Johannes KeplerA German mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, and key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution. In 1689, through the influence of the Putnams, Samuel Parris, a merchant from Boston by way of Barbados, became the pastor of the villages Congregational church. The result is the best discussion I have seen or heard of the issues surrounding young people and their families and the entire trans community as they struggle with gender identity and interface with the rest of society. In 2021, the 400th anniversary of Nurse's birth, the first full biography of her life was published, Daniel A. Gagnon's A Salem Witch: The Trial, Execution, and Exoneration of Rebecca Nurse.[14]. Over the entire duration of the phenomenon of some three centuries, an estimated total of 40,000 to 100,000 people were executed. When all about thee owned the hideous lie! Shirley MacLaine makes a rare TV appearance as the ill-fated Rebecca Nurse. It reveals how it was impossible not to be put to death as a witch in Salem. A general definition of witchcraft is the changing of everyday events using supernatural or magical forces. Her family emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, settling in Salem, although most of the Towne family would eventually move inland to Topsfield. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. [16], Rebecca Nurse is the ancestor of several notable people, including Mitt Romney, Zach Braff, and Lucille Ball.[17]. Sometimes, though, normally logical people blame supernatural powers for their misfortune. Magistrates even questioned Goods 4-year-old daughter, Dorothy, whose timid answers were construed as a confession. The girls family abused her and rubbed chili peppers in her eyes to beat the devil out of her. British authorities immediately acted to remove the girl from the home. Those who were accused of witchcraft were portrayed as being Devil worshipers. In Denmark, the burning of witches increased following the reformation of 1536. "I desire to be humbled before God for that sad and humbling providence that befell my father's family in the year about '92; that I, then being in my childhood, should, by such a providence of God, be made an instrument for the accusing of several persons of a grievous crime, whereby their lives were taken away from them, whom now I have just grounds and good reason to believe they were innocent persons; and that it was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time, whereby I justly fear I have been instrumental, with others, though ignorantly and unwittingly, to bring upon myself and this land the guilt of innocent blood; though what was said or done by me against any person I can truly and uprightly say, before God and man, I did it not out of any anger, malice, or ill-will to any person, for I had no such thing against one of them; but what I did was ignorantly, being deluded by Satan. Quick action by respected authority figures is effective in stopping witch hunts. People who look different are often the victims of witch trials. Scholars offered up competing explanations for the strange behavior that occurred in Salem, with scientists seeking a medical cause for the accusers afflictions and historians more often grounding their theories in the communitys tense sociopolitical environment. https://www.boundless.com/world-history/textbooks/boundless-world-history-textbook/the-protestant-reformation-12/protestantism-56/the-witch-trials-214-13324/, Demonstrate how natural events and pandemics contributed to the hysteria surrounding the witch trials of the 16th through 18th centuries. Those accused of witchcraft were portrayed as being worshippers of the Devil, who engaged in sorcery at meetings known as Witches Sabbaths. They are almost always violent, and sometimes they are deadly. But it wasnt until 1957more than 250 years laterthat Massachusetts formally apologized for the events of 1692. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 25 percent of pregnant women in Zambia are infected with HIV or AIDS. In criminal witchcraft cases, Virginia courts adhered to Englands witchcraft law, a 1604 statute passed under James I called An Act against Conjuration Witchcraft and dealing with evil and wicked Spirits. In Virginia these cases deal mostly with the charge of maleficiumcausing harm to people or property by supernatural means. This work was adapted for films in 1957 and 1996; Nurse was portrayed by actresses Marguerite Coutan-Lambert and Elizabeth Lawrence, respectively. Looking back with the perspective provided by modern science, some scholars have speculated that the strange behaviour may have resulted from some combination of asthma, encephalitis, Lyme disease, epilepsy, child abuse, delusional psychosis, or convulsive ergotismthe last a disease caused by eating bread or cereal made of rye that has been infected with the fungus ergot, which can elicit vomiting, choking, fits, hallucinations, and the sense of something crawling on ones skin. Due to the public outcry and renewed fits and spasms by the "afflicted", the judges reviewed her case with the jury. As recently as 2007, children accused of witchcraft in Nigeria were burned, poisoned, and abused. Another girl, 12-year-old Ann Putnam Jr., experienced similar episodes. Justices charged the accused, a woman named Mary, with using witchcraft to find lost items and treasure. By the turn of the eighteenth century, witchcraft cases had virtually disappeared from court records in Virginiaand from popular memory. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. When it was all over, 141 suspects, both men and women, were tried as witches. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. In accordance with the procedures at the time, Mrs. Nurse, like others accused of witchcraft, represented herself since she was not allowed to have a lawyer. Sherwoods case reflects how reluctant Virginia authorities were to execute convicted witches. Parliament passes "An Acte against Conjuration Witchcrafte and dealing with evill and wicked Spirits," outlawing witchcraft and allowing authorities to prosecute accused witches in Virginia. While early trials fall still within the late medieval period, the peak of the witch hunt was during the period of the European wars of religion, between about 1580 and 1630. In early modern Europe, there was widespread hysteria that malevolent Satanic witches were operating as an organized threat to Christianity. But the damage was already done. The most famous of these was the trial of Grace Sherwood of Princess Anne County, in which the judges determined her guilt by administering a water test. People are unjustifiably persecuted and/or killed. The events in Salem in 1692 were but one chapter in a long story of witch hunts that began in Europe between 1300 and 1330 and ended in the late 18th century (with the last known execution for witchcraft taking place in Switzerland in 1782). By comparison, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, nineteen so-called witches were executed in 1692 alone. People accused of witchcraft are said to be able to control natural events such as storms or droughts. Her married sisters Mary Eastey and Sarah Cloyce were also accused. When you reach out to him or her, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource. The General Court meets in Jamestown to hear evidence against Joan Wright of Surry County, who is accused by her neighbors of practicing witchcraft. The Witch Trials of Trier in Germany was perhaps the biggest witch trial in European history. Just a few days after the court was established, respected minister Cotton Mather wrote a letter imploring the court not to allow spectral evidencetestimony about dreams and visions. The First Amendment has generally served to protect individuals for opinions that they have expressed, albeit not for violent or illegal conduct. Over the entire duration of the trials, which spanned three centuries, an estimated total of 40,000-100,000 people were executed. Terms of Use One particular point was emphasized, and the jury requested a second chance of deliberation (a legal practice used in those days). Compare your views with those of the other groups. Playwright Arthur Miller resurrected the tale with his 1953 play The Crucible, using the trials as an allegory for the anti-communist McCarthyism then sweeping the country. Salem witch trials, (June 1692-May 1693), in American history, a series of investigations and persecutions that caused 19 convicted "witches" to be hanged and many other suspects to be imprisoned in Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (now Danvers, Massachusetts). The Nurse family remained in the home for many generations. However, no one ever embodied the concept of a witch as previously described. In Homer's Odyssey (c.800 BC), Circe - who turns men into animals - is described as a witch, and Plutarch refers to witchcraft in his treatise On Superstition (c.AD 100). Even animals fell victim to the mass hysteria, with colonists in Andover and Salem Village killing two dogs believed to be linked to the devil. One signer was General Israel Putnam's father. The process of identifying witches began with suspicions or rumours. Introduction. Organizations like the United Nations and Stepping Stones Nigeria have found that the number of witch trials around the world is increasing. Although it provided no answers, its baking outraged Parris, who saw it as a blasphemous act. Cruel and frightened. She was fully exonerated fewer than twenty years later. The witch trials could best be described as. Illicit magic features heavily in Roman law statutes, some of which are passed down to the Christian world. The early English interpretation of native life in Virginia did much to support the widespread contemporary belief that the practice of witchcraft was most comon in [the] wild partes of the world, as the Scottish king James IV (later King James I of England) wrote in his 1597 study, Daemonologie. Phips, in response to these pleas and his own wifes questioning as a suspected witch, prohibited further arrests and released many accused witches. In 1711, colonial authorities pardoned some of the accused and compensated their families. Ministers spoke out against the trials saying: - spectral evidence should not be allowed - so many people in one town couldn't be witches 2. Rebecca was a well-respected member of the community. The Salem witch trials were also the subject of Arthur Miller's The Crucible, written in the 1950s. In Tanzania, albino people are in danger of being killed for their skin and body parts. Like most Europeans, their Christian faith had deep roots, and they perceived the natural world as a place that could be shaped by supernatural forces. a herbalist, midwife, and self-described physician. Soccer WitchesIn 1992, the Ivory Coast sports minister hired witch doctors to help support his country against Ghana in soccer. One towns strange journey from paranoia to pardon. [citation needed] Fatally, Rebecca, who was hard of hearing, did not hear the question: she later explained to her children that she was referring to this woman as a fellow "accused" witch. Charges against Martha Corey, a loyal member of the church in Salem Village, greatly concerned the community; if she could be a witch, then anyone could. The women, often older widows, are scared enough to leave their homes. After Governor Phipss wife was accused, he again interceded and ordered that a new court be established that would not allow so-called spectral evidence. Lower Norfolk County passes a law prohibiting its residents from falsely accusing other colonists of witchcraft. She was tried and convicted in the spring and summer of 1692 and executed on July 19.