In the Republic of Benin, the countrys government has used peoples fears of witchcraft to explain why some people do better than others. Justices charged the accused, a woman named Mary, with using witchcraft to find lost items and treasure. However, some people who are unlucky in love may believe that someone is using witchcraft against them. [5] At age 71, she was one of the oldest accused. On February 16, 1849, Democratic congressman Henry Bedinger of Virginia, having grown tired of defending the South and the practice of slavery to fanatical abolitionists, invoked the Salem witch trials as evidence of the Norths immorality and the Souths cultural superiority, saying, There are some monstrosities we never commit. This misperception of the history of witchcraft in Virginia persists even today. The women, often older widows, are scared enough to leave their homes. No longer were witches viewed as sorcerers who had been deceived by the Devil into practicing magic that went against the powers of God. Democratic congressman Henry Bedinger of Virginia invokes the Salem witch trials as a defense against Northern claims that Southern culture is inherently immortal and brutal. Gagnon, Daniel A., A Salem Witch: The Trial, Execution, and Exoneration of Rebecca Nurse. The death of a large percentage of the European population was believed by many Christians to have been caused by their enemies. Those who were accused of witchcraft were portrayed as being Devil worshipers. Over the entire duration of the trials, which spanned three centuries, an estimated total of 40,000100,000 people were executed. The witch trails could best be described as. Significantly, those that they began identifying as other witches were no longer just outsiders and outcasts but rather upstanding members of the community, beginning with Rebecca Nurse, a mature woman of some prominence. Unlike traditional healers, witch doctors use spells. When all about thee owned the hideous lie! She is acquitted in what may be the earliest allegation of witchcraft on record against an English settler in North America. Parris had shrewdly negotiated his contract with the congregation, but relatively early in his tenure he sought greater compensation, including ownership of the parsonage, which did not sit well with many members of the congregation. Giles Corey, Marthas 71-year-old husband, was pressed to death in September 1692 with heavy stones after refusing to submit himself to a trial. Ewen's Witch Hunt ing and Witch Trials (New York, 1924) pages xi, 110. In Denmark, the burning of witches increased following the reformation of 1536. Initially, Tituba also claimed to be blameless, but after being repeatedly badgered (and undoubtedly fearful owing to her vulnerable status as a slave), she told the magistrates what they apparently wanted to hearthat she had been visited by the devil and made a deal with him. Offenders will be fined 1,000 pounds of tobacco. Jess Blumberg Nowadays, teenage girls are told that they will feel much better . According to Amnesty International, as many as 1,000 Gambians accused of witchcraft have been arrested and tortured on orders from the president. Over the entire duration of the phenomenon of some three centuries, an estimated total of 40,000 to 100,000 people were executed. How Rye Bread May Have Caused the Salem Witch Trials, Order in the Court: 10 Trials of the Century, https://www.britannica.com/event/Salem-witch-trials, Bill of Rights Institute - The Salem Witch Trials, World History Encyclopedia - Salem Witch Trials, Ancient Origins - Salem Witch Trial hysteria and the courageous stance of Giles Corey, Salem Witch Trials - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Salem witch trials - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Witch doctor is often a derogatory term for a traditional healer. [16], Rebecca Nurse is the ancestor of several notable people, including Mitt Romney, Zach Braff, and Lucille Ball.[17]. In England, the Witchcraft Act of 1542 regulated the penalties for witchcraft. With fear What do different witch hunts often have in common? Symptoms include muscle spasms, vomiting, delusions and hallucinations. 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. 1853 painting by Thompkins H. Matteson, American painter. In 2008, rumors that a successful soccer player was using witchcraft triggered a riot in Kinshasa, Congo. After 1622, some colonists began to accuse one another of practicing witchcraft. The sentence for an individual found guilty of witchcraft or sorcery during this time, and in previous centuries, typically included either burning at the stake or being tested with the ordeal of cold water or judicium aquae frigidae. Rebecca Nurse is a central character in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. After a long investigation, the court justices decided to use the water test to determine her guilt or innocence. Corrections? President Jammeh also claims to be able to cure AIDS on Thursdays and fires doctors who disagree with him. During the witch hunt craze that dominated Europe throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, one of the most popular witch tests was the so-called "swimming a witch" test. Around 1622, however, once the Virginia colony had stabilized and its English population grew, the colonists began to turn their suspicions inward, no longer focusing their accusations on the Indians, but on each other. An early hypothesis now viewed as fringe, especially in historical circles, according to Vox, posited that the accusers suffered from ergotism, a condition caused by eating foods contaminated with the fungus ergot. Squabbles over property were commonplace, and litigiousness was rampant. But it was only in July 2022 that Elizabeth Johnson Jr., the last convicted Salem witch whose name had yet to be cleared, was officially exonerated. The Salem witch trials can be described as diverse and distinct hearings that were held before different county courts. The English colonists who came to Virginia in 1607 believed in the reality of witchcraft before they even set foot on North American soil. The process of identifying witches began with suspicions or rumours. [1] Rebecca had three sisters, Susan (baptized October 26, 1625; died July 29, 1630), Mary (baptized August 24, 1634; executed 1692) and Sarah. They told Rebecca openly that if she was innocent, they prayed that God would show her innocence, for "it is a sad thing to see church members accused". He describes the period in fact as ". The earliest witchcraft allegations on record against an English settler in the British North American colonies were made in Virginia in September 1626. 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). With the seeds of paranoia planted, a stream of accusations followed over the next few months. Updated on August 14, 2019. Get the latest History stories in your inbox? On the other hand, there are thousands of victims of witch hunts. Both Good and Osborn protested their own innocence, though Good accused Osborn. Since the 17th century, the story of the trials has become synonymous with paranoia and injustice. While the witch trials had begun to fade out across much of Europe by the mid-17th century, they became more prominent in the American colonies. The Salem trials occurred late in the sequence, after the abatement of the European witch-hunt fervour, which peaked from the 1580s and 90s to the 1630s and 40s. Where are the fashion centers of the garment industry? Johannes KeplerA German mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, and key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution. Spectral evidence is evidence-based on visions and dreams of the actions of a witch's spirit or specter. They raised their family in Salem village (modern day Danvers, Massachusetts). Wright was acquitted despite her own admission that she did in fact have knowledge of witchcraft practices. In 1711, colonial authorities pardoned some of the accused and compensated their families. 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. 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. Since then, witchcraft has been largely forgotten as an aspect of life in colonial Virginia. It should be known that these trials were mostly conducted between 1692 and 1693 in Massachusetts (Godbeer 12). 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. They began an educational campaign in schools and workplaces about science, medicine, and HIV/AIDS. Rebecca and Francis frequented the Salem Village meeting house and Francis was quite active in the community becoming well respected in Salem Village; he was often asked to serve as mediator to help settle matters. the one century which consist ently, and throughout the whole range of human activities, provided intellectual genius adequate for the greatness of its . During this period, the biggest witch trials were held in Europe, notably the Trier witch trials (15811593), the Fulda witch trials (16031606), the Basque witch trials (16091611), the Wrzburg witch trial (16261631), and the Bamberg witch trials (16261631). The test, which was so controversial that it was no longer used on the European continent at the time of Sherwoods trial, involved binding the accuseds hands and feet and throwing him or her into a body of water. An estimated 75% to 85% of those accused in the early modern witch trials were women, and there is certainly evidence of misogyny on the part of those persecuting witches. For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. Does She Weigh the Same as a Duck?The town of Oudewater, Netherlands, used to sell certificates to suspected witches. How did women's dresses change between the fifteenth and the seventeenth centuries? Sherwood is imprisoned and ordered to undergo another trial. Salem, Mass., 1692. Known as King Williams War to colonists, the conflict ravaged regions of upstate New York, Nova Scotia and Quebec, sending refugees into the county of Essexand, specifically, Salem Villagein the Massachusetts Bay Colony. A local doctor blamed the supernatural. Three family members were held accountable for treating the girl as a witch. Witch trials did occur in Protestant Germany as well, but were fewer and less extensive in comparison with Catholic Germany. All rights reserved. when they appeared to be different from the norm How were people controlled by witch hunts? What is the legacy of the Salem witch trials? And in 1711, the colony passed a bill restoring the rights and good names of many of the accused, as well as granting a total of 600 in restitution to their heirs. They ranged from civil defamation suits to criminal accusations. In a foreword to Anglican minister Alexander Whitaker's. 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. If she drowned, she was innocent of witchcraft. In the 20th century, artists and scientists alike continued to be fascinated by the Salem witch trials. One was pressed to death by heavy stones. Sherwood was first accused by her neighbors in 1698 of having bewitched their piggs to death and bewitched their Cotton; later that year another neighbor claimed that the said Grace came to her one night and rid [rode] her and went out of the key hole or crack of the door like a black Catt. Grace Sherwood and her husband, James, brought defamation suits against the accusers, but did not win either case. 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. More than 200 years before Salem there were similar trials in Europe. ", The Nurse family accepted Ann's apology and were reconciled with her:[10] by contrast, they never forgave Samuel Parris, the village minister, whom they held personally to blame for their bereavement "none can know what we suffered by the loss of such a mother" and they did not rest until Parris was removed from office in 1697. The number of trials and executions varied according to time and place, but it is generally believed that some 110,000 persons in total were tried for witchcraft and between 40,000 to 60,000 were executed. The Putnam family remained until about 1905. Over the following year many trials were held and many people imprisoned. A witchcraft craze rippled through Europe from the 1300s to the end of the 1600s. The most famous witch trial in history happened in Salem, Massachusetts, during the winter and spring of 1692-1693. . demonological theory also manifested into reality. It proves that the courts were never actually looking for witches in Salem. Omissions? Accusations of witchcraft can be associated with good luck as well as bad luck. After weeks of informal hearings, Sir William Phips, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, interceded to add some formality to the proceedings. By comparison, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, nineteen so-called witches were executed in 1692 alone. Instead they became all-out malevolent Devil-worshippers, who had made pacts with him in which they had to renounce Christianity and devote themselves to Satanism. 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. If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact ngimagecollection@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. During the colonial period of the United States, an event known as the Salem Witch Trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts. Some Nigerians explain this rapid accumulation of money and power as a sign of witchcraft. The litany of odd behaviour also mirrored that of the children of a Boston family who in 1688 were believed to have been bewitched, a description of which had been provided by Congregational minister Cotton Mather in his book Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions (1689) and which may have been known by the girls in Salem Village. [citation needed]. The Witch Trials of Trier in Germany was perhaps the biggest witch trial in European history. At least two people are dead. Although her exact resting place has never been confirmed her descendants erected a tall granite memorial in the family plot in 1885 at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead cemetery in Danvers (formerly Salem Village), Massachusetts. As the trials continued, accusations extended beyond Salem Village to surrounding communities. As a part of this, it was believed that they gained new, supernatural powers that enabled them to work magic, which they would use against Christians. Luke Hill formally charges Grace Sherwood with witchcraft. The reverend of Salem saw witches dancing in the woods. In 1702, the court declared the trials unlawful. (From the poem "Christian Martyr," by John Greenleaf Whittier), In 1706, her accuser, Ann Putnam, Jr., gave a public church confession upon entering the Salem Village congregation. The colonys English settlers brought with them a strong belief in the devils power and his presence in the New World. It created the fear that led to unfair treatment of Japanese Americans. 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. 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. Due to the public outcry and renewed fits and spasms by the "afflicted", the judges reviewed her case with the jury. What do different witch hunts often have in common? But the damage was already done. She or he will best know the preferred format. The word witchcraft has good and bad meanings in different cultures around the world. 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). There has never been a proven case of witchcraft in all of human history. A month later, a father and son were also burned to death after being accused of witchcraft. Katherine Grady, en route to Virginia from England, is accused of being a witch, tried, found guilty, and hanged aboard an English ship. Osborne claimed innocence, as did Good. of Criminal Law 432). Nineteen men and women had been hanged on Gallows Hill. He accused people of ties to communism without evidence. Advertising Notice Indeed, charges of witchcraft and trials of suspected witches are increasing. Belief in witchcraft is widespread. Tanzanian witch-doctors believe the arms, legs, skin, and hair of albinos have special magic in them, and that their use will bring their clients good luck in love, life, and business. 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. 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. She inspired other dramatic treatments of the Salem Witch Trials. On January 14, 1697, Massachusetts General Court ordered a day of fasting and soul-searching over the tragedy of Salem. The Salem witch trials and executions came about as the result of a combination of church politics, family feuds, and hysterical children, all of which unfolded in a vacuum of political authority. 2020 Virginia Humanities, All Rights Reserved , Bond, Edward L. Source of Knowledge, Source of Power: The Supernatural World of English Virginia, 16071624., Davis, Richard Beale. Magistrates even questioned Goods 4-year-old daughter, Dorothy, whose timid answers were construed as a confession. On March 1 two magistrates from Salem Town, John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, went to the village to conduct a public inquiry. 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. That same year, Benjamin Franklin published in the Pennsylvania Gazette a satirical report of a witch trial in New Jersey. 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). Salem village located in the Northern coast of Massachusetts was infamously known for its 1692 witch trials. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Reverend Parris and John Proctor's interactions in Act 1 could best be described as.., Which of the following is most closely a central idea of Act 1?, Tituba most likely names Goody Good and Goody Osburn as witches because.. and more. Traditional healers, who rely on ancient remedies, are not witch doctors. In medieval Europe, the Black Death was a turning point in peoples views of witches. Legal situation [ edit] In 1885, Nurse's descendants, members of the First Church of Danvers (originally known as The Church of Christ in Salem Village), and local townspeople, dedicated the Rebecca Nurse Monument in her memory. [citation needed]. Quick action by respected authority figures is effective in stopping witch hunts. The fact that Wright was a woman is typical, too: in the surviving records of witchcraft cases in Virginia, only two accused witches were men, reflecting a trend that also exists in the legal records of England and the Massachusetts Bay Colony. As the historian Edward L. Bond wrote, Colonial accounts of native bodies carried implications beyond mere physical descriptions for English philosophy and theology linked body and spirit by suggesting that the exterior appearance of the body gave evidence of the interior state of the soul.. One was pressed to death by heavy stones.