Essay on ‘What Were the Effects Upon Local Communities of Witchcraft Trials?’
Number of words: 2803
A witchcraft trial was the legal proceeding which accompanied the capture of a person accused to be a witch. Generally they were accused by a member of their own local community. Brian Levack believes that in Europe alone there were other 100,000 people prosecuted for crimes involving witchcraft. Over half of these suspects were executed for their suspected crime[1]. Hester feels that most accusations were deeply embedded within a community[2], also these trials had a profound effect on the communities they took place in. During the course of this essay I will be exploring, what the exact affect these witchcraft trials had upon these communities.
I will be focusing upon witchcraft trials which occurred during the early modern period, a time which roughly stretches from the early 15th century until the mid 18th century[3]. The early modern period is a time which is synonymous with witch trials. France, Germany and Switzerland in particular had more trials and witch prosecutions, than any of the nations had previously seen in the early modern period[4].
Early modern communities were seen as “face to face” societies where people new each other and took a real interest in their neighbors business[5]. This meant witchcraft trials had even more of an effect on the communities they took place in. I will be particularly focusing on the various ways witchcraft trials, both divided and united the communities of early modern Europe.
Despite the horrific deaths suffered as a result of the witchcraft trials, there is an argument to suggest that the trials actually had a positive effect on many communities during the early modern period. Lawrence Stone argues that the temporary mass hysteria, caused by the accusation and trial of a witch, temporarily bound together the community[6]. People were temporarily able to put aside the differences they had, in order to better the community by joining together, in order to put this potential witch to justice. This bond the community would have felt as a result of the trial could only benefit the community.
Within a community, a witch that had been accused often was able to accumulate much support to help them win their case[7]. Communities often became united in the support of an accused citizen, this would help bind the community and despite the horrific circumstances, become a benefit to the community. In December 1651, a petition with 200 signatures was sent to Yorke Castle, in an attempt to have Mary Hickington (an accused witch) released[8]. There were other examples of communities joining together to help out an accused witch, in 1653 two local men paid for Anne Pottin to be released on Bail[9]. Acts of generosity and unification of a community, in support of an accused witch only showed the strength early modern communities had.
Witch trials could often help raise morale within the community. Levack states that often witches became scapegoats for the misfortune, which a community may have experienced[10]. For example when pigs died, or children became ill, rather than dwelling on the natural explanation and becoming depressed over the subject, they were able to blame witches for their misfortune[11]. This helped communities rationalize there problems and kept their morale up.
In many cases, the persons accused of witchcraft were often anti social members of the community, who involved in quarrelsome activities with their neighbors[12] their behavior was also seen as overly aggressive[13]. This means that by removing these troublesome characters from the community, they would invariably lower the anti social behavior which occurred there. This could only benefit the community. During the 17th century in Kent, most accusations of witchcraft were accompanied by counts of unneighborly conduct. For example Alice Roberts was presented to the Canterbury court charged with witchcraft as well as causing problems between a man and his wife[14].
Some may view the witch trials as a way of almost purging the communities, taking away people they felt did not conform to the way they were expected to. However, people in early modern communities genuinely feared witches and the power they possessed. By putting them to trial and executing them they felt they were protecting themselves and their children[15]. Witch trials were able to elate the fears of many members of the community and this could be seen as a benefit, meaning the effect that witch trials had on the communities of the early modern period, was a positive one.
James Sharpe states that witchcraft accusations within a community could cause much divide[16]. One divide the trials caused were between the richer and poorer members of the community. The economic changes occurring within the early modern communities could have been a main contributory factor to the rise of witch hunting. Agricultural capitalism began to be introduced to many areas, making money an extremely important commodity within the community[17]. This contributed to the divide between rich and poor and is evident within the witchcraft accusations.
Historian Macfaralane found during his research that generally the accusers were richer than the persons they accused[18]. This means witch trials may have had a dividing effect upon communities, pitting the richer accusers against the poorer accused. To take a witch to court during the early modern period cost money, fees had to be paid to the clerical courts staff[19]. If you were poor you were simply financially unable to be able to accuse someone, showing the legal system for witch trials favoured the rich, which may have caused a divide within the community.
Levack feels communities generally felt witches made pacts with the Devil for material gain[20]. This could be the richer members of the community looking down at the poor, and feeling the only way they were able to gain the riches they had, was by making pacts with the devil. In New England, Salem 1692, most accused witches were on poor relief. In Norway, trial records describe accused witches to be extremely poor and often convicted beggars[21]. This shows a definite trend towards poorer members of the community being victimized and accused as witches, proving the trials had a dividing effect on the different social classes.
The ‘charity refused’ paradigm[22] was one reason why the rich continued to accuse poorer people of witchcraft. Poorer members of the community would ask the richer land owners for work, when this offer was refused the individual would go away whilst cursing the richer man. These curses were perceived as witch craft. The belief these people were actually witches, made the richer man feel less guilty about refusing to help them[23]. The witch trials gave richer men more reason to separate themselves from the poorer members of their community, proving witchcraft trials only served to divide the rich and poor.
However it could be said witch trials had a positive effect on communities, in the sense that in many ways it bridged the gap between the rich and the poor. Many were able to counter sue their richer accusers on character defamation charges[24]. Showing that justice within the trials and legal proceedings were social equalizers, as even the rich could not escape it. Being rich did not guarantee a conviction, as proven by Fairfex from an important gentry family in West Yorkshire. He was unable to secure a conviction against the witches he suspected to be bewitching his daughters, despite the high social statues and wealth he had[25].
In 1562 an elderly women named Joan Basden, was also able to get a conviction against a man threatening her over a debt she owed him, on the basis he was a witch[26]. The women could not afford to pay back the debt to the richer man, so accused him instead, showing that the poor could use the witch accusations to their own personal gain, as the rich did. In New England many poorer members of the community accused richer ones of being witches in an attempt to take some of there property they were legally entitled to inherit upon conviction[27].
Hester feels that these trials helped change the balance of power within the communities, as the poor were able to undermine their superiors with accusations of witchcraft[28]. I feel this was a positive effect on the communities as it made some form of legal justice system available, not just to the elites but also to the poor. It may have also stopped the rich treating the poor within their community too harshly as they knew, the poor could easily enact revenge by accusing them of witchcraft. So despite the fear the witch trials may have caused, it would have kept the community members civil to one another, which can be seen as a major positive.
Another feature of community life which the witchcraft trials of the early modern period divided, was the relationship between male and female community members. Kieckhefer feels that during the early modern period, trials involving a women being the accused had a ratio of two to one within Europe[29]. In the south east of England just under 90 percent of all those accused were women[30]. The fact only a “handful of men” (Hester)[31] were accused, shows a sexist trend towards the popular consensus of what a witch was. This discrimination would have had a negative effect on a community, as any form of discrimination does.
Women in communities had their own roles which can be seen as very important. They were involved in the cooking, cleaning and healing[32], without them the communities would not have thrived as much. By signaling them out for persecution at the witch trials, you were both scaring and angering a vital organ in the body of the community, this was bound to have a negative effect on the community.
The witch trials of the early modern period only helped to further the stereotypes which existed about women. For example it was generally conceived that women had a weaker intellect than their male counterparts within the communities[33]. This view on women only helped the accusations that they were witches. William Perkins felt that women were more susceptible to the “Devill’s illusions”, due to their weak intellect. He even went on to discuss the story of Adam and Eve to prove his theory that women would always give in to temptation[34]. They were seen as creatures of “sexual passion”. Witchcraft was said to have come from carnal lust[35], meaning again that the stereotypes which existed against them only helped their accusers build a case against them. The fact witchcraft trials only served to heighten negative stereotypes about women, shows they only had a negative effect on the communities of early modern Europe.
To conclude I do think the witchcraft trials, which took place during the early modern period had a negative effect on communities. Accusing someone of being a witch, was just a way people sought to cheat the justice system, and get one over on another member of their community. Whether it be a power struggle or a general grudge, accusing someone of being a witch made your opponent disappear from the community (either through execution, imprisonment or general extradition from the community).
This may seem like a bleak view of communities in the early modern period, but the fact is communities were often full of malice[36]. Levack feels urban life caused many tensions which found expression in witchcraft accusations[37]. This shows witchcraft accusations and trials, were just outlets for the negative energies which existed within the communities of the early modern period. They completely divided communities into different factions, based on their social class and sex. With a community so divided it was very hard for it to prosper in the new capitalist Europe. Proving that the witchcraft trials of the early modern period did nothing but have a negative effect on the various communities that took part in it, across Europe.
Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages (Cambridge University Press 2000)
Marion Gibson, Early Modern Witches (Routlidge 2000)
Brian P. Levack, The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe (Longman Group 1995)
James Sharpe, Witchcraft in early modern England (Pearson Education 2001)
Jonathan Barry, Studies in culture and belief, Witchcraft in early modern Europe (Cambridge University Press 1996)
[1] Brian P. Levack, The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe (Longman Group 1995) p.1
[2] Jonathan Barry, Studies in culture and belief, Witchcraft in early modern Europe (Cambridge University Press 1996) p.281
[3] Brian P. Levack, The Witch Hunt, p.1
[4] Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages (Cambridge University Press 2000) p.194
[5] James Sharpe, Witchcraft in early modern England (Pearson Education 2001) p.45
[6] James Sharpe, Witchcraft, p.34
[7] James Sharpe, Witchcraft, p.45
[8] James Sharpe, Witchcraft, p.46
[9] Jonathan Barry, Studies in culture and belief, p.270
[10] Brian P. Levack, The Witch Hunt, p.158
[11] James Sharpe, Witchcraft, p.45
[12] Brian P. Levack, The Witch Hunt, p.152
[13] Jonathan Barry, Studies in culture and belief, p.265
[14] Jonathan Barry, Studies in culture and belief, p.279
[15] Brian P. Levack, The Witch Hunt, p.141
[16] James Sharpe, Witchcraft, p.46
[17] Brian P. Levack, The Witch Hunt, p.127
[18] James Sharpe, Witchcraft, p.37
[19] James Sharpe, Witchcraft, p.36
[20] Brian P. Levack, The Witch Hunt, p.149
[21] Brian P. Levack, The Witch Hunt, p.150
[22] James Sharpe, Witchcraft, p.39
[23] James Sharpe, Witchcraft, p.40
[24] James Sharpe, Witchcraft, p.45
[25] James Sharpe, Witchcraft, p.46
[26] Jonathan Barry, Studies in culture and belief, p.275
[27] Brian P. Levack, The Witch Hunt, p.152
[28] Jonathan Barry, Studies in culture and belief, p.284
[29] Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages (Cambridge University Press 2000) p.198
[30] James Sharpe, Witchcraft, p.45
[31] Jonathan Barry, Studies in culture and belief, p.272
[32] Brian P. Levack, The Witch Hunt, p.138
[33] Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages (Cambridge University Press 2000) p.198
[34] James Sharpe, Witchcraft, p.43
[35] Brian P. Levack, The Witch Hunt, p.137
[36] Jonathan Barry, Studies in culture and belief, p.287
[37] Brian P. Levack, The Witch Hunt, p.132