Page 88 - All About History - Issue 08-14

Witch-hunting

Witch-hunting Scotland, 1715

Kate Nevin had the unfortunate
distinction of being the last witch
WorldWide was hunted for three weeks
to be executed in Scotland. She
before she was caught and
burned to death.

New England, 1662
Salem gets its due share of
notoriety, although witch-
hunting had been going on for
decades. The Hartford witch
trials went on for several years
and proved an interesting case
of the witch-court’s rationale.

England, 1612
The Pendle Hill witch trials, one of the
most infamous witch-hunts in English
history, saw ten people executed for
murders as a part of their Satanic rituals.
Denmark, 1590
The Protestant king James VI of
Scotland (later to be king James
I of England) was beset by bad
weather when he made the
crossing to meet his betrothed,
Anne of Denmark. It was blamed
on a coven, who were promptly
tried and executed.

Zambia, 1935
‘Witchfinders’ called the
Bamucapi roamed the
villages of the Bemba
people, stirring up fear
and putting those who fell
under suspicion on trial.
The Salem witch trials have gone down in infamy
Witch-hunting didn’t start in the Reformation traditional medicine to promote health, protect In the centuries leading from antiquity to the
period but it’s here that history remembers it themselves from evil spirits and communicate witch-hunting boom, those in power considered
best: between the tectonic struggle of the mighty with their gods. The ancient Greeks used magic witchcraft a silly superstition as frequently as
Catholic and Protestant churches, striving to purge wands and symbols in all aspects of medicine a dangerous threat to society. The 8th-century
their flock of heresy and prove unassailable piety and religion, while the Mesopotamians (what Christian king of Italy, Charlemagne, scoffed at
over the rival faith, anyone from the low-born to is now a large part of the Middle-East) recorded the belief in witchcraft and actually ordered the
the noble could be next in line to be crushed. Only magical spells on clay tablets. Magic was generally death penalty for those who pursued the burning
those from the very highest echelons of society indistinct from religion in many civilisations at of witches. Similarly, the 11th-century Danish
were truly safe. So how did this seemingly insane this time, with the exception of Rome, where court under King Harold considered the belief in
state of affairs come about? from 438 BCE onward practising magic, much like witchcraft more dangerous than witchcraft itself
Much of what couldn’t be explained by science being a Christian, was made a crime punishable by and gave severe punishments to witch-hunters.
in early recorded history was put down to ‘magic’, death. Pagan Roman law looked to witchcraft as a Through the Middle Ages, witchcraft was mostly
a means for ancient societies to understand, if source of many of the civilisation’s ills, particularly tolerated or merely scoffed at and infrequently
not influence or control the world around them. epidemics and bad harvests. Over the course of punished, often with a less punitive jail term or
Ancient Egyptians practised magic alongside more several centuries thousands were executed. fine, depending on what the witch was accused
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