Factors of Decline in Witchcraft and Rise of Christianity in Europe - Research Paper Example

Factors that Led to Decline in Witchcraft and rise of Christianity in Europe Witchcraft Decline in Europe Exodus 22:18 says, “You should not allow a witch or sorcerer to live.” It is this bible verse that forms the basis behind the executions, trials and witch hunt organised against the sorcerers and witches that were more prevalent in Europe from 15th to 17th centuries. The witch-hunt was in response to the persistent witch cult, a factor that people thought of its existence and prevalence throughout the medieval Europe. Many people in the societies were captured in the fear of witches, diabolic figures and other magic. Though beliefs in the existence of the supernatural powers existed, manifestation of such beliefs in the form of witch hunts and witch trials became much more frequent during the Renaissance and culminated in the 16th and 18th centuries in the Germanic speaking areas. The practice of witchcraft and witch hunt subsided in the late 17th century, and by 18th century the last trials and executions took place in some parts of the medieval Europe. The causes for the decline of witchcraft and witch hunt are many and fairly complex.1 A general examination of the factors that led to the decline of the practice of witchcraft, witch hunt and witch trials include; introductions of new Legislations in the society, new socio-political phenomena and the new way of thinking by people in the growing scientific age. Western minds are fully confronted by the problem of what the term sorcery or witchcraft means in their culture, they shall assume most of the comfortable attitudes and categories of the informal and formal cultures exhibit. When women and men find themselves in a fearful and helpless state before the awesome forces of the invisible world and cannot explain; they traditionally seek to reach the inaccessible forces beyond the world. Naturally, it is in order to increase their human powers and their abilities to control their esteemed destinies. It is understandable with varying degree why the holders of such magical powers are the most feared people in the society, and why people’s behaviour towards them must take some specific and peculiar behaviours forms. The ordering and explanation of magic may appear to be so insufficient or inchoate, but at the overall end human preserve the sense of the final clarity and comprehensibility of such phenomena in the society. The witchcraft in the early medieval Europe period was essentially common folk magic or sorcery, developed over a period in the ancient period of 15th to 18th century2. Decline of witchcraft The decline of witch hunt and witchcraft in Europe was a gradual process that occurred for several decades, as a result of multiple causes in the society. The decline process can be divided into two phases, i.e. the first phase being the period that conviction and accusations declined while the second phase is the complete conclusion of witch hunt and witchcraft practice. As aforementioned, the decline of witchcraft in Europe was a multifaceted process and very gradual. The factors that aided the decline are discussed as follows: political factors; in the early 16th and 17th century, there were several religious conflicts of various scales in Europe, there were occasional violence, confusions, wars and instability in the origin of religion. An instance is the Dutch revolt that was provoked by the Protestant Reformation. These Christians regimes where religious confession and conflicts such as rebellions and wars were occurring with little de facto authority on the local level provided a good atmosphere for the practice and prevalence of witch hunt and witchcraft. Decentralization was caused by violence; religious confusion and interregnums between different regimes and it was this decentralization of power that caused a lacuna leading to the provision the hysterical hunts during the medieval period. However, several witch hunts were attributed to the political factors, for example, Mathew Hopkins was a witch hunter in England, and he claims to saw 206 people named as practicing witchcraft, and accused of diabolism. People were arrested and imprisoned with other several people pursued unofficially3. The political factor theory thus played a great part in defining how witchcraft was being practiced in Europe. The establishment of stable government and judicial system saw a good number of people being accused and prosecuted in the established judicial systems. Witch-hunt that flourished during this time made those individual practicing witchcraft and sorcery to either stop the practice or do it in hiding; thus, it led to a fast decline in the practice of witchcraft4. Witch hunt was not only about religion, but a considerable number was attributed to social factors that had a great role in the decline of witchcraft during the time in medieval Europe. Several scholars have linked the practice of witchcraft to the single middle aged women who were single, had weak financial ground and lacked good standing in the society. In other words they are described as people who had no very little or no source of protection in the society be it money, husband or any social status that can offer them any protection against accusations in the society. However, as time elapsed and the living conditions improved the number of such women declined and thus fewer women were per sued for their accused diabolism. A pointing example in the historic event was the implementation of England’s Poor Law during 16th century. The law provided a provision for social security in the operation in England; the law was specific and defined the poor and put them in categories into impotent poor; these are those who could not work and provide a living for themselves. The able-bodied poor, these are those individuals who were able to work, but were not able to find work. Then there were the vagrants, these were the beggars in society. The poor law provided good provisions to offer relief and provide different support to those people who were falling in that category5. A good number of the vulnerable women described above fit in the definition of the poor and were hence provided with the support. Therefore, most of those women suspected of practicing witchcraft had to stop the act and venture in other profit generating activities. Another social factor that led to a decline in the practice of witchcraft in the society was the tolerance in the society. As aforementioned, 16th and 17th century saw a large scale occasional conflict over religious identity, in some society in Europe concepts of tolerance was being spread to people and was gaining support. Some renowned thinkers like Thomas More advocated tolerance. The notion relying on behind tolerance was not that witchcraft or sorcery itself was socially tolerable but that if the society members engaged in such acts did not interfere with people or the welfare of the general society, people would chase the witches down. Such behaviours in the society that began to spread by the work of utopia helped in aiding the decline of witch-hunting and witchcraft. Throughout the middle ages, social upheavals and revolutions plagued Europe, and this led to social enhancement with an overall stability in the societies leading to witch hunt decline6. Several schools of thoughts and ideas continued to develop during the era of the witch hunt in medieval Europe. Some of the thoughts and teaching succeeded in convincing a good number of people and societies to abandon their irrational and barbaric ways of lifestyle and hysterical practice. Europe was at the verge of experiencing reformation and the enlightenment on its time period between 17th and 18th century a time when the zeal of witch hunt and witchcraft was declining. During this period, there came a rise in secular rationalism which asserts that some practices or institutions were to exist separately from religion and religious beliefs. Rationalism brought in the age of reasoning inculcated with intelligentsia and enlightenment of the great scholars speaking against witchcraft and explaining the practice7. The argument that scientific Revolution led to the end of the witch hunt is the best established approach to the sustained decline of witchcraft. It is supported by the virtue that most of the educated elite started to reject the dogma and inherited authority. They alluded to shun the old philosophies that were based upon making originals observation and critically rationalise rather than accepting the authority of the past philosophers solely. The era is viewed as to contain a major triumph of mechanical philosophy, and the idea that the devil ability to possessing people was taken as impossible in a world governed by natural forces. Nevertheless, philosophy did not only remain with the elite in the society but many middle-class people began accepting the different concepts of secular rationalism and rejecting diabolism and witchcraft in the society. They did so to join the class of the intelligentsia and attacked the peasant class as those who practiced superstition and believed in diabolism and sorcery. The middle class distinguished themselves from the peasants who were the low class, and this portioning of different classes and with several people wanting to be associated with the elite led to the decline and collapse of the witch hunt as well as witchcraft practice. By the mid-17th century, Europeans became more familiar with the practice of medical sciences, and it became less possible for them to carry out pursuit, accusations and executions to the witches as they had done before. During the practice of witchcraft, people made accusation of various marks in their bodies to be associated with the devils mark, and they included; growths, boils, moles, etc. These were considered to be spells that witches cast on people and associated them with the devil. However as people advanced in medicine and observed such unimpeachable characters they came to learn that such marks were caused by natural disease organism and not associated with witchcraft. surgeons convention in Geneva in the mid-16th century were given a mandate to investigate on these devil marks, they began doubting the appearance of the marks since they found them on people of good moral reputation and impeccable nature. The study provided them with enough data to conclude that the mark was purely natural in origin, this made a capital prosecution impossible relating it to witchcraft and thus only few people were executed after 1625 leading to a decline of witch hunt and witchcraft practice in Europe8. The Ultimate End of Witchcraft As decades elapsed, there was a gradual redefinition of the concept of witchcraft and the devil. Many people started changing the perception of the devil from a spiritual being that had the power to control events and mankind, but the devil was slowly being developed into a figure in Christianity who had little ability to attempts humans into doing sin. There was a lack of solid evidence of the devils existence and his authority over nature. As several people and the society at large started to accept the minute position that the devil held, the matter of diabolism and rampant practice of witch-hunt and witchcraft became a religious matter whereas before it was a judiciary matter. The religious took a keen interest in understanding the devil and the practice of witchcraft; thus religion started taking a great toll in the society as the practice of diabolic witchcraft subsided9. The two foundational pillars of witchcraft, maleficia and pact with the devil had to undergo rigorous destruction for Christianity to thrive10. Witch trials and witch hunts in the medieval Europe led to an innumerable loss of lives and haunted a large number of people. The haunt was the prevailing societal phenomena traced back in mid-16th century and was interlaced with several factors that led to the rise and fall of witchcraft in that period. The paradigm of the events is very significant in understanding the systematic causes of the decline in witchcraft and witch-hunt ultimately leading to the up rise of Christianity. The decline in witchcraft in Europe, therefore, can be associated with some factors like political, institutional, social, and intellectual. These factors aided in provision of a proper atmosphere that led to a steady decline of diabolism and the practice of witchcraft. Christianity then took a high toll during the fall of the witch hunt in Europe, because many people who were Christians criticised those practicing witchcraft and outlawed them in the society. Moreover, most of the elites in the society by then were Christians, and they wanted other people to follow their footstep since they were the people who provided the intelligentsia in the community at large. Unlike Christianity, witchcraft offered generalized set of beliefs that were strange and ambiguous, from the ancient time, the ugly crone that worked evil demanded authority that was intolerant to dissenting voices. Christianity, on the other hand, appeared liberal with people given choices to make; therefore, Christianity was, therefore, well adapted as a better platform to solve natural mysteries such as famine, floods and drought. This, therefore, led to up rise in Christianity in the 17th century and fall of witchcraft in the society. The end of 1700 saw the prevalence of witch trials come to a slight end. The judicial panel had even began questioning themselves on whether they were promoting justice or not. They felt as if they were operating too much on rumours. Their reliance was mainly on the society’s early perception of a witch, but in the later stages people of all social status were suspected to having participated in witchcraft. Several historians such as Michael de Montaigne perceive the end of witch trials as a path of victory in fight for rationalism. In his work On the Lame, he does offer sceptic approach and ideations about humanism and his advocating for the end of witchcraft. People had to have perceptions of witch- hunts as being impossible and devil’s existence as irrelevant issues. The perception of the devil’s existence since time immemorial did fade away, and people adopted the pure religious issues and teachings. There was isolated prosecutions in 18th century. Even the countries with well-established courts systems did experience isolated and rare witch prosecutions. The church campaigned for conflicts resolution and reconciliation instead of punishments11. Bibliography Burns, William E. Witch Hunts in Europe and America: An Encyclopedia. Westport,Conn:Greenwood, 2003. Barry, Jonathan, Marianne Hester, and Roberts,Gareth. Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe: Studies in Culture and Belief. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Burr, George L. Narratives of the New England Witchcraft Cases. Mineola, N.Y: Dover Publications, 2002. Detweiler, Robert. Breaking the Fall: Religious Readings of Contemporary Fiction. Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995. Eliade, Mircea. Occultism, Witchcraft, and Cultural Fashions: Essays in Comparative Religions. Chicago [u.a.]: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1995. Hopkins, Matthew, John Stearne, S F. Davies, Matthew Hopkins, and John Stearne. The Discovery of Witches and Witchcraft: The Writings of the Witchfinders. Brighton: Puckrel Publishing, 2007. Kieckhefer, Richard. European Witch Trials: Their Foundations in Popular and Learned Culture, 1300-1500. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976. Levack, Brian P. The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe. Harlow: Longman, 2006. Voltaire, The General History and State of Europe from the Time of Charlemain to Lewis Xiv: With a Preliminary View of the Oriental Empires Edinburgh: printed by Sands,Donaldson,Murray & Cochran for A.Donaldson, 1758. Voltaire, . The General History and State of Europe. London: J. Nourse, 1754. Read More