Misconceptions around the accusations of witchcraft caused by christian demonism in C16th and C17th England.

This article is a continuation from an older blog post which was the introduction to the misconceptions of christian demonism in C16th and C17th England.

An illustration by Jem of a modern day portrayal of a C16th/C17th woman accused of being a witch.

The public historical notion surrounding witchcraft highlights how accusations were due to alternative religious practices, these are often associated with superstition. However, reassessment of historiography indicates this was rather the fear of the unknown that has been created by war and political turmoil. Therefore, this article shall delve into an element of misconceptions around witchcraft in England.

Firstly, the misconception that this blog post shall cover is the fact that women of this period weren’t practicing pagan or ritual practices. Rather these women were seen as different, this is in regards to either disabilities, or religious beliefs. Christianity at this point was protestant but this led to some catholic practices being criticised by christian demonism. Catholic practices were compared to witchcraft practices by many ‘conservative’ thinkers most notably Hobbes in the seventeenth century.  They believed that the instability catholicism was deemed to be on par with witchcraft and could lead to the country being affected by the devil. This is due to the ‘2D’ view of what was a demon, those women who committed one of the seven deadly sins were considered as a witch. Protestant christian demonology during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries taught about how the devil would come to the weak and vulnerable to seduce them to turning to the devil. For this society it meant women, the disabled and children. Ultimately, the concept of witchcraft being practiced was rather anyone that that was viewed as doing something against the social consensus in early modern England could be accused of witchcraft.

Especially from the Buggery Act 1534, highlighted how homosexuality and any sexually promiscuous behaviour could be accused. Though for the most part this would just lead to the shunning of the individual as it was looked down upon, as it was not what a woman should be. This can be further noted by interpretations of Bovet’s “pandaemonium”, which highlight how women who were deemed by contemporaries as sexually promiscuous or deviant being punished. It is important to keep in mind that the Buggery Act 1534 was for male homosexuality, though attitudes to women and their sexuality meant that they were more likely to be punished as a result of this. This was due to fear especially as if there was a disruption to the Great Chain of Being, as even if there was not the accusation of a woman being a lesbian. In contrast, rather being sexually promiscuous with males this would lead to the downfall of the Great Chain of Being. Therefore, this installed fear into the subjects of England led to this being wary of anything other than the norm.

Furthermore, the idea that these women were practicing pagan and ritual practice came from later schools and interpretation of thought. These women did not practice pagan practices rather they would more likely use herbal recipes. If anything rather they were more likely to be ostracised for being different. If there was any physical disabilities then as suggested in Bovet this is due to the mother being cursed when the child was in the womb. This understanding is important because of the lack of scientific knowledge anything viewed as atypical could have if needed be passed off as witchcraft during this period. In Hampshire during the seventeenth century there is evidence of women being cursed by a witch and then having a fit. This indicates how witchcraft was used to comprehend elements that could not be fully understood by knowledge of the early modern period. Many women were dealt with on a local level in reference to witchcraft trials and not all of those condemned to being burnt. Burning was a rare phenomena that was for those accused of being a witch or having communication with the devil. This is another common myth that coexists alongside the view that these women were punished based on alternative religious practices. It was more common for the accused to be hung or more generally ostracised from their community.

Witchcraft from this period and the accusations that are put forward on these women are portrayed by the modern media to represent the myths of witchcraft. This is important as in a post modern society there is a large amount of time taken in our lives by the consumption of media. This means that many non-history based people tend to overlook the inaccuracies. As the history of witchcraft is an area of early modern history that has been taken and spun by modern media. Though it is often in pop culture references this still impacts the perspective people take to the women who were accused of witchcraft. Additionally, it is important to take away from this article that  these women were often trying to live their lives and were not trying to be in communication with the devil. Though due to the ideas surrounding the scale of witchcraft in England, this saw the development of a moral panic and people try to rid their village or town of these potential witches.

In conclusion, the growth and development in the fear of the witch plagued the early modern mind. This was in order to distract the ‘ordinary’ people from the turmoil that England had during this period. This had led to contemporaries creating hysteria around what made a witch, fuelling how women were perceived during this period. Therefore, highlighting that anything that was unknown was linked to witchcraft as it would have been logical to link this to the supernatural. This was later fuelled by limited understandings that were written by antiquarian historians who did not place importance on the wider sociological impact that shaped this outlook.

Contemporary source:

R. Bovet, 1684 ‘pandaemonium’

Secondary sources:

J. Wormald.2021. ‘James VI and I Collection of Essays’

Pudney, E. ‘A defence of Witchcraft belief: A sixteenth century response to Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of witchcraft’