The Study of Witchcraft and Its Persecution

And a sixth is suggested by G. Zilboorg:

The Psychopathological interpretation in which it is contended that demonology overwhelmed psychology in the youthful Medieval period, with the result that galore(postnominal) of the mentally ill were penalise as witches. (Zilboorg p. 73)

Reading these six theories, there is no cause why any of them must be mutually exclusive, and in fact it seems most likely that rather than one roll out explanation, that all of them are true and contributed to varying degrees to the witch-hunts and to explaining them. It is likely that the impression of witchcraft was developed over many years, and likely more than of that concept involved remnants of paganism in Europe much(prenominal) as worship of some of the old fertility gods. It is in addition likely that the hunts were influenced by both ecclesiastical fears and misogyny, and also that many of the victims were mentally ill.

First of all it is necessary to understand the full general social conditions that allowed the witch-hunts to occur. Alan Kors and Edward Peters argue that there are four critical elements required before witch persecution could occur. First is a detail Christian cosmography which was a common frame of reference throughout Europe (did not exist before 1100). Second was a system in which both witches and demons had a logically reconciled place (which did not exist before 1200). Third wa

The main societal function of the witch-hunts was as a means of social control. It eliminated those who did not fit into the societal norms of the village or town, and kept in line anyone who cleverness have the urge to be different.

The marginalized, less-traveled, and odd members of the beau monde were damn for all the society's ills, thus providing a scapegoat in toilsome times. Such behavior is not anything alien to Western society; we saw the aforesaid(prenominal) thing in the Nazi final solution when Hitler was able to gain immense popularity by blaming Germany's woes on the minority Jews and them targeting them for destruction. More recently, the red scare in the U.S. operated on the same principle; instill fear in the populace, and blame the unpopular minorities for the problems. Even more recently than that we have seen similar play on a smaller scale in the " fight on Drugs" and its extreme propaganda in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. In each of those situations The judicature or church has identified an unpopular of feared minority, attached a severe stigma to them that blamed them for the society's ills and showed them as a good threat to the society, and then followed the public enthusiasm to persecute the root so identified.

Scot, Reginald. The Discoverie of Witchcraft. London: Dover Publications, 1584.

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