when and why did people get burned for witchcraft?

Question

i want to know why, when it started and when it ended. i also want to know how was religion involved in it.I no it was mostly christianty eg cathlics and protestants, but i dont know why they thought it was evil nad how they thought inocent people were witches.

i dont mean to be picky.

thankyou to anyone who answers

Answer 1

The Burning Times are what Witches call the Inquisition. Google it for exact dates. Many of the people tortured and murdered during the Burning Times were not Witches at all, but people whose neighbors had a grudge with them, or wanted their land, or wanted a quick bit of coinage (people were rewarded monetarily for turning in Witches). In many cases, they were old women that society no longer deemed "useful" and it was an easy way to get rid of them. Cats were also severely persecuted during this time, and in Europe the housecat nearly became extinct because so many were killed. This helped the black plague spread, since rats spread the plague and there were no cats to kill the rats. It was the Catholics who conducted this, and it was done in the name of God and rooting out heretics.



It was very easy to label someone a Witch and then find "proof" to back it up. Often owning a cat was enough proof that you were consorting with Satan, and since many old women had cats (for company and to keep mice away) that was all the proof many people needed. And since there was very little understanding of medical issues, if someone said, "I hope your cow dies!" to a neighbor during an argument and then the cow coincidentally died, that was all that was needed to prove the person was a Witch. Birthmarks, moles, and other skin abnormalities were proof that you consorted with the devil as well.



Witch hunts did continue through England for several centuries after the Inquisition officially ended, and of course there were the Salem Witch Trials in the U.S., which started because a reverend's daughter was seized by "fits of hysteria", for lack of a better term. She attributed this to the devil and started accusing townsfolk left and right. Interestingly enough, two generations later a minister was seized by the same fits, declared they were because of God, and started the Revivalist movement that still exists today, where people sway and shake because they're apparently possessed by the lord.



Look up Malleus Maleficarum if you want an idea of what the criteria was for identifying and dispatching Witches.



Bright blessings.

)O(

Answer 2

Its been awhile, but I remember reading about the burning of "witches" in Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. I think it started early in the last millennium and continued for centuries until it ended, I believe, less than 200 years ago. It was all sanctioned by the Catholic church because the "witches" were seen as working with Satan. Protestantism came about with the reformation started by Martin Luther in the 16th century. After that the Protestants and the Catholics were busy murdering each other in the 30 year war. I don't know if the Protestants got in on the "witch" burning?

Answer 3

The burning times happened in various countries and localities throughout history from the dark ages right up untill the early 18th centuary. The last person burned for Witchcarft in glasgow if my memory serves me was the late 16th or early 17th cent.



The rise of christianity was always riddled with paranoia, to keep ppl from leaving to follow old ways of life they introduced the devil - a source of all evil sinners would go to - this sparked hysteria and everyone and anyone for any reason was accused of Devil Worshipping or Witchcraft - practically none of the men woman and children killed unjustly were involved in any kind of Wicca. Another note worth mentioning - Witches do not believe in the concept of a Devil nor do they worship one.

Answer 4

This is a shameful part of our past that dates back to before the Bibles Christ. Men and woman alike were burned alive, stone, skinned, beheaded, and any other multitude of deaths humans could think of. It was because, they believed, that anyone who did not believe like they did were evil. In Salem any one person accused of being a witch or associating with a witch was burned at the stake or drowned. Christians did a lot of shameful things in the name of their God and for the protection of humanity. Blah Blah Blah! lol

There have been woman as recently as the mid 1900's were killed for their beliefs, in the U.S and the U.K. It has only been over the past 10 to 15 years that men and woman alike have been able practice their beliefs without the fear of being executed.

A great way for you to learn times and dates would be to go on-line and look up 'Wiccans' or 'Witch Hunts of Salem'.

Like I said before, a shameful part of humanities past that should never be allowed to happen again. But, alas, we are all just animals walking up right. This time will come again but be called by a different name.



Good Luck

Blessed Be

Answer 5

If you're talking about in the US, then it began in and around Salem, MA. Read that play I forget what it's called but it's by Arthur Miller I believe. If you're not just talking about the US, witch burning goes back centuries to Europe and beyond. "Witches" that were burned were actually just Pagans, but the the Christians were threatened by the Pagans' numbers and so they took the Pagan Male God, who represents nature and has horns on his head, and turned him into the Devil. They took the pagan solstices and holidays and turned them into their own (i.e., Samhein became All Saints Day, the winter solstice was matched by Christmas, etc.). They said that the "magic" that pagans / Wiccans performed, which is truly no different from praying with props, was communication with this "devil" with horns and that all Pagans were indeed the enimies of God. It had to do with the oppression of women, certainly. The Christians also wanted greater numbers, so they killed those Pagans who refused to convert. The history of Christianity is a filthy, bloody, terrible one and in my opinion reflects the problems with organized religion as a whole; certainly christians are not the only folks who've carried our atrocities in their gods' names. A bit of a tangent, sorry!

Answer 6

From the middle ages up until the eighteenth century. It occured mostly in countries that were staunchly calvinist protestants because the church was paranoid about anything that was regarded as the work of Satan. In reality some people were accused and burnt just to settle a personal grudge etc.

Answer 7

You cannot really understand the scope of this through numbers.



I suggest taking a look at this site:



http://www.kenthamilton.net/pagan/burning.html



Also, the most recent deaths that resulted from charges of practicing "witchcraft" were in Africa only a few years ago (to the best of my knowledge). Bear in mind that what these people were killed for is not the practice of Wicca or Western Paganism...but then, most of the people killed for "witchcraft" in Europe and the Americas didn't, either.



http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_petraitis/witch_killers.shtml

Answer 8

confident you could, even nonetheless it is an ignorant determination. Burning a e book would not do away with the message, nor does it serve any purpose. i understand this from reviews with Bibles. and that i quite doubt they're genuine witchcraft books, in the event that they're Wicca books, then the question is apart from ignorant.

Answer 9

It went through Europe first. In earlier religions women were worshipped. This was a good way to weed out the feminists.



King James was also afraid of witches so he had the Bible changed when it was translated to english. "Witch" is not in the original texts.



You could spend days learning about this still not find even half of it.

Answer 10

Christians

Answer 11

People have been burned as witches or unholy creatures throughout history. There are a few notable points of hysteria, such as the Salem Witch Trials. There are various reasons why fire was used as a form of execution. You'd have to do a survey of all history for the info you want.

Answer 12

They were easy targets. Part of the misogynistic feelings built in to Christianity and the bible does indeed say 'thou shalt not suffer a witch to live'.



The church burned witches because part of the canonical church law said 'the church abhors bloodshed'



They interpreted this to mean the church is ok with burning, asphyxiation, drowning etc



It was a massive expenses fraud - the goods and property of the 'witches' executed were sold to pay for the inquisitors, torture, priests etc...



Carl Sagan explains much of it in detail in 'the demon haunted world' but I'm sure you could find a lot online.

Answer 13

Here's an interesting tidbit. In those times they had a fool proof way of determining exactly WHO was a whitch. They would "swim the witch." Throw her into a lake or river and if she could swim...she was deemed a whitch and burned. If she drowned...she was deemed innocent of being a witch.

Answer 14

i am not sure about the last burning

but the last person to be tried as a witch in the UK wasn't so long ago

in fact it was only in the 1940s and her name was Helen Duncan

but this amazing woman suffered so much for her cause and because of her the witchcraft act was repealed

her granddaughter is now fighting an appeal to clear her name and it is looking good so far



so it wasn't so long ago at all that people were being tried as witches

Answer 15

'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live', that great book of morals called the bible, don't you love it.



Before the Enlightenment, Europe and by extension the colonies in America, were rife with superstition, any problems were laid at the feet of spirits, not having a germ theory of disease for example, these had to be conjured up by someone and the most vunerable and least able to defend themselves were often women particularly older widows.



The ONLY reason we do not still burn witches today is because of science and reason.

Answer 16

The burnings occurred mostly in Europe and happened in the 12th and 15th centuries. But Witches are still persecuted today.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOcrkjO4Df8

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2786102354532104771&q=Burning+Times

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gPnxneOQJc

Answer 17

believe it was in the 1600's (not for absolute about that but it was around then)...



The Christians (me included) burned them because they believed that any form of Satanism must be destroyed... since it is against God and He only has one enemy... yada yada yada...

Answer 18

....and contrary to common belief...no withces were ever burned in Salem,MA.....the "Witch City"

Answer 19

it's called faith.