text:
Witch-hunt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Witch hunt" and "Witch trial" redirect here. For other uses, see Witch hunt (disambiguation) and Witch trial (disambiguation).
Burning of three witches in Baden, Switzerland (1585), by Johann Jakob Wick.
A witch-hunt is a search for persons labelled "witches" or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic[1] or mass hysteria.[2] The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial North America took place in the Early Modern period or about 1450 to 1750, spanning the upheavals of the Reformation and the Thirty Years' War, resulting in an estimated 35,000 to 100,000 executions.[3][4] Including illegal and summary executions it is estimated 200,000 or more "witches" were tortured, burnt or hanged in the Western world from 1500 until around 1800.[citation needed] The last executions of people convicted as witches in Europe took place in the 18th century. In other regions, like Africa and Asia, contemporary witch-hunts have been reported from Sub-Saharan Africa and Papua New Guinea and official legislation against witchcraft is still found in Saudi Arabia and Cameroon today.
Contents
[hide]
1 Anthropological causes
2 History
2.1 Ancient Near East
2.2 Classical antiquity
2.3 Late antiquity
2.4 Middle Ages
2.4.1 Christianisation in the Early Middle Ages
2.4.2 Later Middle Ages
2.4.3 Transition to the early modern witch-hunts
2.5 Early Modern Europe
2.5.1 Execution statistics
2.6 End of European witch hunts in the 18th century
2.7 India
3 Modern cases
3.1 Sub-Saharan Africa
3.2 South-Central Asia
3.3 Papua New Guinea
3.4 Saudi Arabia
3.5 ISIS (Islamic State)
4 List
5 See also
6 References
6.1 Notes
6.2 Citations
7 Further reading
8 External links
Anthropological causes[edit]
Further information: Anthropology of religion and Human sacrifice
The wide distribution of the practice of witch-hunts in geographically and culturally separated societies (Europe, Africa, India, New Guinea) since the 1960s has triggered interest in the anthropological background of this behaviour. The belief in magic and divination, and attempts to use magic to influence personal well-being (to increase life, win love, etc.) are human cultural universals.
Belief in witchcraft has been shown to have similarities in societies throughout the world. It presents a framework to explain the occurrence of otherwise random misfortunes such as sickness or death, and the witch sorcerer provides an image of evil.[5] Reports on indigenous practices in the Americas, Asia and Africa collected during the early modern age of exploration have been taken to suggest that not just the belief in witchcraft but also the periodic outbreak of witch-hunts are a human cultural universal.[6]
One study finds that witchcraft beliefs are associated with antisocial attitudes: lower levels of trust, charitable giving and group participation.[7] Another study finds that income shocks (caused by extreme rainfall) lead to a large increase in the murder of "witches" in Tanzania.[8]
History[edit]
Further information: Magic in the ancient world
Ancient Near East[edit]
Punishment for malevolent sorcery is addressed in the earliest law codes which were preserved; in both ancient Egypt and Babylonia, where it played a conspicuous part. The Code of Hammurabi (18th century BC short chronology) prescribes that
"If a man has put a spell upon another man and it is not yet justified, he upon whom the spell is laid shall go to the holy river; into the holy river shall he plunge. If the holy river overcome him and he is drowned, the man who put the spell upon him shall take possession of his house. If the holy river declares him innocent and he remains unharmed the man who laid the spell shall be put to death. He that plunged into the river shall take possession of the house of him who laid the spell upon him."[9][10]
Classical antiquity[edit]
In Classical Athens, no laws concerning magic survive.[11] However, cases concerning the harmful effects of pharmaka – an ambiguous term that might mean "poison", "medicine", or "magical drug" – do survive, especially those where the drug caused injury or death.[12] Antiphon's speech Against the Stepmother for Poisoning tells of the case of a woman accused of plotting to murder her husband with a pharmakon; a slave had previously been executed for the crime, but the son of the victim claimed that the death had been arranged by his stepmother.[13] The most detailed account of a trial for witchcraft in Classical Greece is the story of Theoris of Lemnos, who was executed along with her children some time before 338 BC, supposedly for casting incantations and using harmful drugs.[14]
In 451 BC, the Twelve Tables of Roman law had provisions against evil incantations and spells intended to damage cereal crops. In 331 BC, 170 women were executed as witches in the context of an epidemic illness. Livy emphasizes that this was a scale of persecution without precedent in Rome.
In 186 BC, the Roman senate issued a decree severely restricting the Bacchanals, ecstatic rites celebrated in honor of Dionysus. Livy records that this persecution was because "there was nothing wicked, nothing flagitious, that had not been practiced among them"[15] Consequent to the ban, in 184 BC, about 2,000 people were executed for witchcraft (veneficium), and in 182–180 BC another 3,000 executions took place,[16] again triggered by the outbreak of an epidemic. There is no way to verify the figures reported by Roman historians, but if they are taken at face value,[citation needed] the scale of the witch-hunts in the Roman Republic in relation to the population of Italy at the time far exceeded anything that took place during the "classical" witch-craze in Early Modern Europe.[citation needed] Persecution of witches continued in the Roman Empire until the late 4th century AD and abated only after the introduction of Christianity as the Roman state religion in the 390s.[17]
The Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficiis promulgated by Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 81 B.C. became an important source of late medieval and early modern European law on witchcraft. This law banned the trading and possession of harmful drugs and poisons, possession of magical books and other occult paraphernalia. Strabo, Gaius Maecenas and Cassius Dio all reiterate the traditional Roman opposition against sorcery and divination, and Tacitus used the term religio-superstitio to class these outlawed observances. Emperor Augustus strengthened legislation aimed at curbing these practices, for instance in 31 B.C., by burning over 2,000 magical books in Rome, except for certain portions of the hallowed Sibylline Books.[18][19] In A.D. 354, whilst Tiberius Claudius was emperor, 45 men and 85 women, who were all suspected of sorcery, were executed.[20]
The Hebrew Bible condemns sorcery. Deuteronomy 18:10–12 states "No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, who practices divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or one that casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead. For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord;" and Exodus 22:18 prescribes "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live";[21] tales like that of 1 Samuel 28, reporting how Saul "hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land"[22] suggest that in practice sorcery could at least lead to exile.
In the Judaean Second Temple period, Rabbi Simeon ben Shetach in the 1st century BC is reported to have sentenced to death eighty women who had been charged with witchcraft on a single day in Ashkelon. Later the women's relatives took revenge by bringing (reportedly) false witnesses against Simeon's son and causing him to be executed in turn.[23]
Late antiquity[edit]
The 6th century AD Getica of Jordanes records a persecution and expulsion of witches among the Goths in a mythical account of the origin of the Huns. The ancient fabled King Filimer is said to have
"found among his people certain witches, whom he called in his native tongue Haliurunnae. Suspecting these women, he expelled them from the midst of his race and compelled them to wander in solitary exile afar from his army. There the unclean spirits, who beheld them as they wandered through the wilderness, bestowed their embraces upon them and begat this savage race, which dwelt at first in the swamps, a stunted, foul and puny tribe, scarcely human, and having no language save one which bore but slight resemblance to human speech."[24]
Middle Ages[edit]
Further information: European witchcraft § History
Christianisation in the Early Middle Ages[edit]
The Councils of Elvira (306), Ancyra (314), and Trullo (692) imposed certain ecclesiastical penances for devil-worship. This mild approach represented the view of the Church for many centuries. The general desire of the Catholic Church's clergy to check fanaticism about witchcraft and necromancy is shown in the decrees of the Council of Paderborn, which, in 785, explicitly outlawed condemning people as witches and condemned to death anyone who burnt a witch. The Lombard code of 643 states:
Let nobody presume to kill a foreign serving maid or female servant as a witch, for it is not possible, nor ought to be believed by Christian minds.[25]
This conforms to the teachings of the Canon Episcopi of circa 900 AD (alleged to date from 314 AD), which, following the thoughts of Augustine of Hippo, stated that witchcraft did not exist and that to teach that it was a reality was, itself, false and heterodox teaching. The Council of Frankfurt in 794, called by Charlemagne, was also very explicit in condemning "the persecution of alleged witches and wizards", calling the belief in witchcraft "superstitious", and ordering the death penalty for those who presumed to burn witches.[26] Other examples include an Irish synod in 800,[27] and a sermon by Agobard of Lyons (810).[28]
King Kálmán (Coloman) of Hungary, in Decree 57 of his First Legislative Book (published in 1100), banned witch hunting because he said, "witches do not exist".[29] The "Decretum" of Burchard, Bishop of Worms (about 1020), and especially its 19th book, often known separately as the "Corrector", is another work of great importance. Burchard was writing against the superstitious belief in magical potions, for instance, that may produce impotence or abortion. These were also condemned by several Church Fathers.[30] But he altogether rejected the possibility of many of the alleged powers with which witches were popularly credited. Such, for example, were nocturnal riding through the air, the changing of a person's disposition from love to hate, the control of thunder, rain, and sunshine, the transformation of a man into an animal, the intercourse of incubi and succubi with human beings and other such superstitions. Not only the attempt to practice such things, but the very belief in their possibility, is treated by Burchard as false and superstitious.
Pope Gregory VII, in 1080, wrote to King Harald III of Denmark forbidding witches to be put to death upon presumption of their having caused storms or failure of crops or pestilence. Neither were these the only examples of an effort to prevent unjust suspicion to which such poor creatures might be exposed.[note 1] On many different occasions, ecclesiastics who spoke with authority did their best to disabuse the people of their superstitious belief in witchcraft. This, for instance, is the general purport of the book, Contra insulsam vulgi opinionem de grandine et tonitruis ("Against the foolish belief of the common sort concerning hail and thunder"), written by Agobard (d. 841), Archbishop of Lyons.[31] A comparable situation in Russia is suggested in a sermon by Serapion of Vladimir (written in 1274/5), where the popular superstition of witches causing crop failures is denounced.[32]
Early secular laws against witchcraft include those promulgated by King Athelstan (924–939):
And we have ordained respecting witch-crafts, and lybacs [read lyblac "sorcery"], and morthdaeds ["murder, mortal sin"]: if any one should be thereby killed, and he could not deny it, that he be liable in his life. But if he will deny it, and at threefold ordeal shall be guilty; that he be 120 days in prison: and after that let kindred take him out, and give to the king 120 shillings, and pay the wer to his kindred, and enter into borh for him, that he evermore desist from the like.[33]
In some prosecutions for witchcraft, torture (permitted by the Roman civil law) apparently took place. However, Pope Nicholas I (866), prohibited the use of torture altogether, and a similar decree may be found in the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals.[9]
Later Middle Ages[edit]
The burning of a woman in Willisau, Switzerland, 1447
The manuals of the Roman Catholic Inquisition remained highly skeptical of witch accusations, although there was sometimes an overlap between accusations of heresy and of witchcraft, particularly when, in the 13th century, the newly formed Inquisition was commissioned to deal with the Cathars of Southern France, whose teachings were charged with containing an admixture of witchcraft and magic. Although it has been proposed that the witch-hunt developed in Europe from the early 14th century, after the Cathars and the Templar Knights were suppressed, this hypothesis has been rejected independently by two historians (Cohn 1975; Kieckhefer 1976).
In 1258, Pope Alexander IV declared a canon that alleged witchcraft was not to be investigated by the Church.[34] Although Pope John XXII had later authorized the Inquisition to prosecute sorcerers in 1320,[35] inquisitorial courts rarely dealt with witchcraft save incidentally when investigating heterodoxy.
In the case of the Madonna Oriente, the Inquisition of Milan was not sure what to do with two women who in 1384 confessed to have participated the society around Signora Oriente or Diana. Through their confessions, both of them conveyed the traditional folk beliefs of white magic. The women were accused again in 1390, and condemned by the inquisitor. They were eventually executed by the secular arm.[36]
In a notorious case in 1425, Hermann II, Count of Celje accused his daughter in law Veronika of Desenice of witchcraft – and, though she was acquitted by the court, he had her drowned. The accusations of witchcraft are, in this case, considered to have been a pretext for Hermann to get rid of an "unsuitable match", Veronika being born into the lower nobility and thus "unworthy" of his son.
A Catholic figure who preached against witchcraft was popular Franciscan preacher, Bernardino of Siena (1380–1444). Bernardino's sermons reveal both a phenomenon of superstitious practices and an over-reaction against them by the common people.[37] However, it is clear that Bernardino had in mind not merely the use of spells and enchantments and such like fooleries but much more serious crimes, chiefly murder and infanticide. This is clear from his much-quoted sermon of 1427, in which he says:
One of them told and confessed, without any pressure, that she had killed thirty children by bleeding them ... [and] she confessed more, saying she had killed her own son ... Answer me: does it really seem to you that someone who has killed twenty or thirty little children in such a way has done so well that when finally they are accused before the Signoria you should go to their aid and beg mercy for them?
Transition to the early modern witch-hunts[edit]
The Malleus Maleficarum (the 'Hammer against the Witches'), published in 1487, accused women of destroying men by planting bitter herbs throughout the field.
The resurgence of witch-hunts at the end of the medieval period, taking place with at least partial support or at least tolerance on the part of the Church, was accompanied with a number of developments in Christian doctrine, for example the recognition of the existence of witchcraft as a form of Satanic influence and its classification as a heresy. As Renaissance occultism gained traction among the educated classes, the belief in witchcraft, which in the medieval period had been part of the folk religion of the uneducated rural population at best, was incorporated into an increasingly comprehensive theology of Satan as the ultimate source of all maleficium.[38][39] These doctrinal shifts were completed in the mid 15th century, specifically in the wake of the Council of Basel and centered on the Duchy of Savoy in the western Alps,[40] leading to an early series of witch trials by both secular and ecclesiastical courts in the second half of the 15th century.[41]
In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued Summis desiderantes affectibus, a Papal bull authorizing the "correcting, imprisoning, punishing and chastising" of devil-worshippers who have "slain infants", among other crimes. He did so at the request of inquisitor Heinrich Kramer, who had been refused permission by the local bishops in Germany to investigate.[42] However, historians such as Ludwig von Pastor insist that the bull neither allowed anything new nor was necessarily binding on Catholic consciences.[43] Three years later in 1487, Kramer published the notorious Malleus Maleficarum (lit., 'Hammer against the Evildoers') which, because of the newly invented printing presses, enjoyed a wide readership. The book was soon banned by the Church in 1490, and Kramer was censured, but it was nevertheless reprinted in 14 editions by 1520 and became unduly influential in the secular courts. In 1538, the Spanish Inquisition cautioned its members not to believe what the Malleus said, even when it presented apparently firm evidence.[44]
Early Modern Europe[edit]
Main article: Witch trials in Early Modern Europe
The torture used against accused witches, 1577.
The witch trials in Early Modern Europe came in waves and then subsided. There were trials in the 15th and early 16th centuries, but then the witch scare went into decline, before becoming a major issue again and peaking in the 17th century. What had previously been a belief that some people possessed supernatural abilities (which were sometimes used to protect the people) now became a sign of a pact between the people with supernatural abilities and the devil. To justify the killings, Protestant Christianity and its proxy secular institutions deemed witchcraft as being associated to wild Satanic ritual parties in which there was much naked dancing and cannibalistic infanticide.[45] It was also seen as heresy for going against the first of the ten commandments ("You shall have no other gods before me") or as violating majesty, in this case referring to the divine majesty, not the worldly.[46] Further scripture was also frequently cited, especially the Exodus decree that "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Exodus 22:18), which many supported.
Witch-hunts were seen across early modern Europe, but the most significant area of witch-hunting in modern Europe is often considered to be central and southern Germany.[47] Germany was a late starter in terms of the numbers of trials, compared to other regions of Europe. Witch-hunts first appeared in large numbers in southern France and Switzerland during the 14th and 15th centuries. The peak years of witch-hunts in southwest Germany were from 1561 to 1670.[48] The first major persecution in Europe, when witches were caught, tried, convicted, and burned in the imperial lordship of Wiesensteig in southwestern Germany, is recorded in 1563 in a pamphlet called "True and Horrifying Deeds of 63 Witches".[49] Witchcraft persecution spread to all areas of Europe, including Scotland and the northernmost periphery of Europe in northern Norway. Learned European ideas about witchcraft, demonological ideas, strongly influenced the hunt of witches in the North.[50]
In Denmark, the burning of witches increased following the reformation of 1536. Christian IV of Denmark, in particular, encouraged this practice, and hundreds of people were convicted of witchcraft and burnt. In the district of Finnmark, northern Norway, severe witchcraft trials took place during the period 1600-1692.[51] A memorial of international format, Steilneset Memorial, has been built to commemorate the victims of the Finnmark witchcraft trials.[52] In England, the Witchcraft Act of 1542 regulated the penalties for witchcraft. In the North Berwick witch trials in Scotland, over 70 people were accused of witchcraft on account of bad weather when James VI of Scotland, who shared the Danish king's interest in witch trials, sailed to Denmark in 1590 to meet his betrothed Anne of Denmark. The Pendle witch trials of 1612 are among the most famous witch trials in English history.[53]
The Malefizhaus of Bamberg, Germany, where suspected witches were held and interrogated. 1627 engraving.
In England, witch-hunting would reach its apex in 1644 to 1647 due to the work of Matthew Hopkins. Although operating without an official Parliament commission, Hopkins (calling himself Witchfinder General) and his accomplices charged hefty fees to towns during the English Civil War. Hopkins' witch hunting spree was brief but significant: 300 convictions and deaths are attributed to his work.[54][not in citation given] Hopkins wrote a book on his methods, describing his fortuitous beginnings as a witch hunter, the methods used to extract confessions, and the tests he employed to test the accused: stripping them naked to find the Witches' mark, the "swimming" test, and pricking the skin. The swimming test, which included throwing a witch into water strapped to a chair to see if she floated, was discontinued in 1645 due to a legal challenge. The 1647 book, The Discovery of Witches, was soon influential in legal texts. The book was used in the American colonies as early as May 1647, when Margaret Jones was executed for witchcraft in Connecticut,[55] the first of 17 people executed for witchcraft in the Colonies from 1647 to 1663.[56]
Witch-hunts in North America began about the time of Hopkins. In 1645, forty-six years before the notorious Salem witch trials, Springfield, Massachusetts experienced America's first accusations of witchcraft when husband and wife Hugh and Mary Parsons accused each other of witchcraft. In America's first witch trial, Hugh was found innocent, while Mary was acquitted of witchcraft but she was still sentenced to be hanged as punishment for the death of her child. She died in prison.[57] About eighty people throughout England's Massachusetts Bay Colony were accused of practicing witchcraft; thirteen women and two men were executed in a witch-hunt that occurred throughout New England and lasted from 1645–1663.[56] The Salem witch trials followed in 1692–93.
Once a case was brought to trial, the prosecutors hunted for accomplices. Magic was not considered to be wrong because it failed, but because it worked effectively for the wrong reasons. Witchcraft was a normal part of everyday life. Witches were often called for, along with religious ministers, to help the ill or to deliver a baby. They held positions of spiritual power in their communities. When something went wrong, no one questioned the ministers or the power of the witchcraft. Instead, they questioned whether the witch intended to inflict harm or not.[58]
Current scholarly estimates of the number of people executed for witchcraft vary between about 40,000 and 100,000.[59] The total number of witch trials in Europe which are known to have ended in executions is around 12,000.[60] Prominent contemporaneous critics of witch hunts included Gianfrancesco Ponzinibio (fl. 1520), Johannes Wier (1515–1588), Reginald Scot (1538–1599), Cornelius Loos (1546–1595), Anton Praetorius (1560–1613), Alonso Salazar y Frías (1564–1636), Friedrich Spee (1591–1635), and Balthasar Bekker (1634–1698).[61]
Execution statistics[edit]
An image of suspected witches being hanged in England, published in 1655.
The Witch Trial by William Powell Frith (1848).
Modern scholarly estimates place the total number of executions for witchcraft in the 300-year period of European witch-hunts in the five digits, mostly at roughly between 40,000 and 50,000 (see table below for details),[3] but some estimate there were 200,000 to 500,000 executed for witchcraft, and others estimated 1,000,000 or more.[4][62][63][64] The majority of those accused were from the lower economic classes in European society, although in rarer cases high-ranking individuals were accused as well. On the basis of this evidence, Scarre and Callow asserted that the "typical witch was the wife or widow of an agricultural labourer or small tenant farmer, and she was well known for a quarrelsome and aggressive nature."
While it appears to be the case that the clear majority of victims in Germany were women, in other parts of Europe the witch-hunts targeted primarily men, thus in Iceland 92% of the accused were men, in Estonia 60%, and in Moscow two-thirds of those accused were male.
At one point during the Würzburg trials of 1629, children made up 60% of those accused, although this had declined to 17% by the end of the year.[65] The claim that "millions of witches" (often: "nine million witches") were killed in Europe occasionally found in popular literature is spurious, and ultimately due to a 1791 pamphlet by Gottfried Christian Voigt.[66]
Approximate statistics on the number of trials for witchcraft and executions in various regions of Europe in the period 1450–1750:[67]
Region
Number of trials
Number of executions
British Isles and North America ~5,000 ~1,500–2,000
Holy Roman Empire (Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Lorraine, Austria including Czech lands - Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia) ~50,000 ~25,000–30,000
France ~3,000 ~1,000
Scandinavia ~5,000 ~1,700–2,000
Central & Eastern Europe (Poland-Lithuania, Hungary and Russia) ~7,000 ~2,000
Southern Europe (Spain, Portugal and Italy) ~10,000 ~1,000
Total: ~80,000 ~35,000
End of European witch hunts in the 18th century[edit]
The drowning of an alleged witch, with Thomas Colley as the incitor.
In England and Scotland between 1542 and 1735, a series of Witchcraft Acts enshrined into law the punishment (often with death, sometimes with incarceration) of individuals practising or claiming to practice witchcraft and magic.[68] The last executions for witchcraft in England had taken place in 1682, when Temperance Lloyd, Mary Trembles, and Susanna Edwards were executed at Exeter. In 1711, Joseph Addison published an article in the highly respected The Spectator journal (No. 117) criticizing the irrationality and social injustice in treating elderly and feeble women (dubbed Moll White) as witches.[69] Jane Wenham was among the last subjects of a typical witch trial in England in 1712, but was pardoned after her conviction and set free. Kate Nevin was hunted for three weeks and eventually suffered death by Faggot and Fire at Monzie in Perthshire, Scotland in 1715.[70][71] Janet Horne was executed for witchcraft in Scotland in 1727. The final Act of 1735 led to prosecution for fraud rather than witchcraft since it was no longer believed that the individuals had actual supernatural powers or traffic with Satan. The 1735 Act continued to be used until the 1940s to prosecute individuals such as spiritualists and Gypsies. The act was finally repealed in 1951.[68]
The last execution of a witch in the Dutch Republic was probably in 1613.[72] In Denmark, this took place in 1693 with the execution of Anna Palles.[73] In other parts of Europe, the practice died down later. In France the last person to be executed for witchcraft was Louis Debaraz in 1745.[74] In Germany the last death sentence was that of Anna Schwegelin in Kempten in 1775 (although not carried out).[75] The last known official witch-trial was the Doruchów witch trial in Poland in 1783. Two unnamed women were executed in Poznań, Poland, in 1793, in proceedings of dubious legitimacy.[76]
Anna Göldi was executed in Glarus, Switzerland in 1782[77] and Barbara Zdunk[78] in Prussia in 1811. Both women have been identified as the last women executed for witchcraft in Europe, but in both cases, the official verdict did not mention witchcraft, as this had ceased to be recognized as a criminal offense.
India[edit]
India has had a long history of witch-hunts both preceding the British rule and after it. The earliest evidence of witch-hunts in India can be found in the Santhal witch trials in 1792. [79] [80] In the Singhbhum district of the Chhotanagpur division in British India, not only were those accused of being witches murdered, but also those related to the accused to ensure that they won’t avenge the deaths (Roy Choudhary 1958: 88). The Chhotanagpur region was majorly populated by an adivasi population called the Santhals. The existence of witches was a belief central to the Santhals. Witches were feared and were supposed to be engaged in anti-social activities. They were also supposed to have the power to kill people by feeding on their entrails, and causing fevers in cattle among other evils. Therefore, according to the adivasi population the cure to their disease and sickness was the elimination of these witches who were seen as the cause.[81]
The practice of witch hunt among Santhals was more brutal than that in Europe. Unlike Europe where witches were strangulated before being burnt, the santhals forced them “..to eat human excreta and drink blood before throwing them into the flames.” [82]
The British banned the persecution of witches in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Chhotanagpur in the 1840s-1850s. They saw the practise as barbaric and tried to dismantle the belief in witchcraft by providing medical facilities. However, they undermined the extent to which the belief was socially embedded. Despite the ban, very few cases were reported as witch-hunting was not seen as a crime. The Santhals believed that the ban in fact allowed the witches to flourish. Thus, the effect of the ban was contrary to what the British had intended. During 1857-58, there was a surge in witch hunting. This can be viewed as a mode of resistance to the British rule as part of the larger revolt of 1857. [83]
Modern cases[edit]
Monument for the victims of the witch-hunts of 16th- and 17th-century Bernau, Germany by Annelie Grund.[84]
Witch hunts still occur today in societies where belief in magic is prevalent. In most cases, these are instances of lynching and burnings, reported with some regularity from much of Sub-Saharan Africa, from rural North India and from Papua New Guinea. In addition, there are some countries that have legislation against the practice of sorcery. The only country where witchcraft remains legally punishable by death is Saudi Arabia.
Witch hunts in modern times are continuously reported by the UNHCR of the UNO as a massive violation of human rights. Most of the accused are women and children but can also be elderly people or marginalised groups of the community such as albinos and the HIV-infected.[85] These victims are often considered burdens to the community, and as a result are often driven out, starved to death, or killed violently, sometimes by their own families in acts of social cleansing.[86] The causes of witch hunts include poverty, epidemics, social crises and lack of education. The leader of the witch hunt, often a prominent figure in the community or a "witch doctor", may also gain economic benefit by charging for an exorcism or by selling body parts of the murdered.[87][88]
Sub-Saharan Africa[edit]
Further information: Witchcraft accusations against children in Africa
In many societies of Sub-Saharan Africa, the fear of witches drives periodic witch-hunts during which specialist witch-finders identify suspects, with death by mob often the result.[89] Countries particularly affected by this phenomenon include South Africa,[90] Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Zambia.[91]
Witch-hunts against children were reported by the BBC in 1999 in the Congo[92] and in Tanzania, where the government responded to attacks on women accused of being witches for having red eyes.[93] A lawsuit was launched in 2001 in Ghana, where witch-hunts are also common, by a woman accused of being a witch.[93] Witch-hunts in Africa are often led by relatives seeking the property of the accused victim.
Audrey I. Richards, in the journal Africa, relates in 1935 an instance when a new wave of witchfinders, the Bamucapi, appeared in the villages of the Bemba people of Zambia.[94] They dressed in European clothing, and would summon the headman to prepare a ritual meal for the village. When the villagers arrived they would view them all in a mirror, and claimed they could identify witches with this method. These witches would then have to "yield up his horns"; i.e. give over the horn containers for curses and evil potions to the witch-finders. The bamucapi then made all drink a potion called kucapa which would cause a witch to die and swell up if he ever tried such things again.
The villagers related that the witch-finders were always right because the witches they found were always the people whom the village had feared all along. The bamucapi utilised a mixture of Christian and native religious traditions to account for their powers and said that God (not specifying which God) helped them to prepare their medicine. In addition, all witches who did not attend the meal to be identified would be called to account later on by their master, who had risen from the dead, and who would force the witches by means of drums to go to the graveyard, where they would die. Richards noted that the bamucapi created the sense of danger in the villages by rounding up all the horns in the village, whether they were used for anti-witchcraft charms, potions, snuff or were indeed receptacles of black magic.
The Bemba people believed misfortunes such as wartings, hauntings and famines to be just actions sanctioned by the High-God Lesa. The only agency which caused unjust harm was a witch, who had enormous powers and was hard to detect. After white rule of Africa, beliefs in sorcery and witchcraft grew, possibly because of the social strain caused by new ideas, customs and laws, and also because the courts no longer allowed witches to be tried.[citation needed]
Amongst the Bantu tribes of Southern Africa, the witch smellers were responsible for detecting witches. In parts of Southern Africa, several hundred people have been killed in witch hunts since 1990.[95]
Cameroon has re-established witchcraft-accusations in courts after its independence in 1967.[96]
It was reported on 21 May 2008 that in Kenya a mob had burnt to death at least 11 people accused of witchcraft.[97]
In March 2009, Amnesty International reported that up to 1,000 people in the Gambia had been abducted by government-sponsored "witch doctors" on charges of witchcraft, and taken to detention centers where they were forced to drink poisonous concoctions.[98] On 21 May 2009, The New York Times reported that the alleged witch-hunting campaign had been sparked by the Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh.[99]
In Sierra Leone, the witch-hunt is an occasion for a sermon by the kɛmamɔi (native Mende witch-finder) on social ethics : "Witchcraft ... takes hold in people’s lives when people are less than fully open-hearted. All wickedness is ultimately because people hate each other or are jealous or suspicious or afraid. These emotions and motivations cause people to act antisocially".[100] The response by the populace to the kɛmamɔi is that "they valued his work and would learn the lessons he came to teach them, about social responsibility and cooperation."[101]
South-Central Asia[edit]
In India, labeling a woman as a witch is a common ploy to grab land, settle scores or even to punish her for turning down sexual advances. In a majority of the cases, it is difficult for the accused woman to reach out for help and she is forced to either abandon her home and family or driven to commit suicide. Most cases are not documented because it is difficult for poor and illiterate women to travel from isolated regions to file police reports. Less than 2% of those accused of witch-hunting are actually convicted, according to a study by the Free Legal Aid Committee, a group that works with victims in the state of Jharkhand.[102]
A 2010 estimate places the number of women killed as witches in India at between 150 and 200 per year, or a total of 2,500 in the period of 1995 to 2009.[103] The lynchings are particularly common in the poor northern states of Jharkhand,[104] Bihar and the central state of Chhattisgarh. Witch hunts are also taking place among the tea garden workers in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal India.[105] The witch hunts in Jalpaiguri are less known, but are motivated by the stress in the tea industry on the lives of the adivasi workers.[106]
Witch hunts in Nepal are common, and are targeted especially against low-caste women.[107][108] The main causes of witchcraft related violence include widespread belief in superstition, lack of education, lack of public awareness, illiteracy, caste system, male domination, and economic dependency of women on men. The victims of this form of violence are often beaten, tortured, publicly humiliated, and murdered. Sometimes, the family members of the accused are also assaulted.[108] In 2010, Sarwa Dev Prasad Ojha, minister for women and social welfare, said, "Superstitions are deeply rooted in our society, and the belief in witchcraft is one of the worst forms of this."[109]
Papua New Guinea[edit]
Though the practice of "white" magic (such as faith healing) is legal in Papua New Guinea, the 1976 Sorcery Act imposed a penalty of up to 2 years in prison for the practice of "black" magic, until the Act was repealed in 2013. In 2009, the government reports that extrajudicial torture and murder of alleged witches – usually lone women – are spreading from the highland areas to cities as villagers migrate to urban areas.[110] For example, in June 2013, four women were accused of witchcraft because the family "had a 'permanent house' made of wood, and the family had tertiary educations and high social standing".[111] All of the women were tortured and Helen Rumbali was beheaded.[111] Helen Hakena, chairwoman of the North Bougainville Human Rights Committee, said that the accusations started because of economic jealousy born of a mining boom.[111]
Reports by U.N. agencies, Amnesty International, Oxfam and anthropologists show that "attacks on accused sorcerers and witches – sometimes men, but most commonly women – are frequent, ferocious and often fatal."[112] It’s estimated about 150 cases of violence and killings are occurring each year in just the province of Simbu in Papua New Guinea alone.[113] Reports indicate this practice of witch hunting has in some places evolved into "something more malignant, sadistic and voyeuristic."[112] One woman who was attacked by young men from a nearby village "had her genitals burned and fused beyond functional repair by the repeated intrusions of red-hot irons."[112] Few incidents are ever reported, according to the 2012 Law Reform Commission which concluded that they have increased since the 1980s.
Saudi Arabia[edit]
Witchcraft or sorcery remains a criminal offense in Saudi Arabia, although the precise nature of the crime is undefined.[114]
The frequency of prosecutions for this in the country as whole is unknown. However, in November 2009, it was reported that 118 persons had been arrested in the province of Makkah that year for practising magic and "using the Book of Allah in a derogatory manner", 74% of them being female.[115] According to Human Rights Watch in 2009, prosecutions for witchcraft and sorcery are proliferating and "Saudi courts are sanctioning a literal witch hunt by the religious police."[116]
In 2006, an illiterate Saudi woman, Fawza Falih, was convicted of practising witchcraft, including casting an impotence spell, and sentenced to death by beheading, after allegedly being beaten and forced to fingerprint a false confession that had not been read to her.[117] After an appeal court had cast doubt on the validity of the death sentence because the confession had been retracted, the lower court reaffirmed the same sentence on a different basis.[118]
In 2007, Mustafa Ibrahim, an Egyptian national, was executed, having been convicted of using sorcery in an attempt to separate a married couple, as well as of adultery and of desecrating the Quran.[119]
Also in 2007, Abdul Hamid Bin Hussain Bin Moustafa al-Fakki, a Sudanese national, was sentenced to death after being convicted of producing a spell that would lead to the reconciliation of a divorced couple.[120]
In 2009, Ali Sibat, a Lebanese television presenter who had been arrested whilst on a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, was sentenced to death for witchcraft arising out of his fortune-telling on an Arab satellite channel.[121] His appeal was accepted by one court, but a second in Medina upheld his death sentence again in March 2010, stating that he deserved it as he had publicly practised sorcery in front of millions of viewers for several years.[122] In November 2010, the Supreme Court refused to ratify the death sentence, stating that there was insufficient evidence that his actions had harmed others.[123]
On 12 December 2011, Amina bint Abdulhalim Nassar was beheaded in Al Jawf Province after being convicted of practicing witchcraft and sorcery.[124] Another very similar situation occurred to Muree bin Ali bin Issa al-Asiri and he was beheaded on 19 June 2012 in the Najran Province.[125]
ISIS (Islamic State)[edit]
On 29 and 30 June 2015, militants of the Salafi jihadist extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) beheaded two couples on accusations of sorcery and using "magic for medicine" in Deir ez-Zor province of the self-proclaimed Islamic State.[126] Earlier on, the ISIL militants beheaded several "magicians" and street illusionists in Syria, Iraq and Libya.[127][128]
List[edit]
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Salem witch trials
Basque witch trials
Bideford witch trial
North Berwick witch trials
Ramsele witch trial
St Osyth Witches
Torsåker witch trials
Würzburg witch trial
See also[edit]
Alonso de Salazar Frías
Auto-da-fé
Christian views on witchcraft
Donas de fuera
European witchcraft
Execution by burning
Femicide
Gendercide
James VI
List of people executed for witchcraft
Marie-Josephte Corriveau
Matthew Hopkins
Medical explanations of bewitchment
Pierre de Lancre
Satanic ritual abuse
Scapegoating
"The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" (Episode from the original series The Twilight Zone)
Torture of witches
Trial by ordeal
References[edit]
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ See, for example, the Weihenstephan case discussed by Weiland in the Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, IX, 592. "In 1080 Harold of Denmark (r. 1076–80) was admonished not to hold old women and Christian priests responsible for storms and diseases, or to slaughter them in the cruelest manner. Like Agobard before him, Pope Gregory VII (r. 1073–85) declared in his letter to the Danish king that these catastrophes were caused by God alone, that they were God's punishment for human sins, and that the killing of the innocent would only increase His fury.", Behringer, "Witches and Witch-hunts: a Global History", p. 55 (2004). Wiley-Blackwell.
Citations[edit]
Jump up ^ Erich Goode; Nachman Ben-Yehuda (2010). Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance. Wiley. p. 195.
Jump up ^ Lois Martin (2010). A Brief History of Witchcraft. Running Press. p. 5.
^ Jump up to: a b William Monter estimates 35,000 deaths, Malcolm Gaskill at 40,000–50,000. Gaskill, Malcolm Witchcraft, a very short introduction, Oxford University Press, 2010, p. 76. Brian P. Levack (The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe) multiplied the number of known European witch trials by the average rate of conviction and execution, to arrive at a figure of around 60,000 deaths. Anne Lewellyn Barstow (Witchcraze) adjusted Levack's estimate to account for lost records. estimating 100,000 deaths. Ronald Hutton (Triumph of the Moon) argues that Levack's estimate had already been adjusted for these, and revises the figure to approximately 40,000; Monter estimates 35,000 deaths. William Monter: Witch trials in Continental Europe, (in:) Witchcraft and magic in Europe, ed. Bengst Ankarloo & Stuart Clark, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia 2002, pp 12 ff. ISBN 0-8122-1787-X; and Levack, Brian P. The witch hunt in early modern Europe, Third Edition. London and New York: Longman, 2006.
^ Jump up to: a b Changing Identities in Early Modern France, Michael Wolfe, Duke University Press, 1997: pg. 220.
Jump up ^ Jean Sybil La Fontaine, Speak of the devil: tales of satanic abuse in contemporary England, Cambridge University Press, 1998, ISBN 978-0-521-62934-8, pp. 34–37.
Jump up ^ Witches and Witch-Hunts: A Global History. Wolfgang Behringer (2004), 50. ISBN 9780745627175
Jump up ^ Gershman, Boris. "Witchcraft Beliefs and the Erosion of Social Capital: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa and Beyond". Journal of Development Economics. doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2015.11.005.
Jump up ^ Miguel, Edward (2005-10-01). "Poverty and Witch Killing". The Review of Economic Studies. 72 (4): 1153–1172. doi:10.1111/0034-6527.00365. ISSN 0034-6527.
^ Jump up to: a b "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Witchcraft".
Jump up ^ "The Avalon Project : Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy".
Jump up ^ Collins, Derek (2008). Magic in the Ancient Greek World. Malden: Blackwell. p. 133.
Jump up ^ Collins, Derek (2008). Magic in the Ancient Greek World. Malden: Blackwell. pp. 133–4.
Jump up ^ Collins, Derek (2008). Magic in the Ancient Greek World. Malden: Blackwell. p. 135.
Jump up ^ Collins, Derek (2001). "Theoris of Lemnos and the Criminalization of Magic in Fourth-Century Athens". The Classical Quarterly. 5 (1): 477.
Jump up ^ Livy. History of Rome, Book XXXIX.
Jump up ^ Durrant, Jonathan Bryan; Bailey, Michael David (2012). Historical Dictionary of Witchcraft, 2nd ed. Scarecrow Press, Plymouth, UK. pp. 121–122. ISBN 978-0-8108-7245-5.
Jump up ^ Behringer, Wolfgang (2004). Witches and Witch-Hunts: A Global History. Polity Press. pp. 48–50. ISBN 074562717X.
Jump up ^ The Life of Augustus, by Suetonius
Jump up ^ Garnsey, Peter; Saller, Richard P. (1987). The Roman Empire: Economy, Society, and Culture. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. pp. 168–174. ISBN 0-520-06067-9.
Jump up ^ Ogden, Daniel (2002). Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. p. 283. ISBN 0-19-513575-X.
Jump up ^ "witch" here translates the Hebrew מכשפה, and is rendered φαρμακός in the Septuagint.
Jump up ^ "those that have familiar spirits": Hebrew אוב, or ἐγγαστρίμυθος "ventriloquist, soothsayer" in the Septuagint; "wizards": Hebrew ידעני or γνώστης "diviner" in the Septuagint.
Jump up ^ Yerushalmi Sanhedrin, 6:6.
Jump up ^ Jordanes. The Origin and Deeds of the Goths. Translated by Charles C. Mierow. § 24.
Jump up ^ Hutton, Ronald. The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles..
Jump up ^ "A capitulary of Charlemagne (747–814) for the Saxons in 787 imposed the death penalty on those who, like pagans, believed that a man or woman could be a striga, one who devours humans, and burned them.", Behringer, "Witches and Witch-hunts: a Global History", p. 30 (2004). Wiley-Blackwell
Jump up ^ "Likewise, an Irish synod at around 800 condemned the belief in witches, and in particular those who slandered people for being lamias (que interpretatur striga).", Behringer, "Witches and Witch-hunts: a Global History", pp. 30–31 (2004). Wiley-Blackwell.
Jump up ^ "A Crown witness of 'Carolingian skepticism', Archbishop Agobard of Lyon (769–840), reports witch panics during the reign of Charlemagne. In his sermon on hailstorms he reports frequent lynchings of supposed weather magicians (tempestarii), as well as of sorcerers, who were made responsible for a terrible livestock mortality in 810. According to Agobard, the common people in their fury over crop failure had developed the extravagant idea that foreigners were secretly coming with airships to strip their fields of crops, and transmit it to Magonia. These anxieties resulted in severe aggression, and on one occasion around 816, Agobard could hardly prevent a crowd from killing three foreign men and women, perceived as Magonian people. As their supposed homeland's name suggests, the crop failure was associated with magic. The bishop emphasized that thunderstorms were caused exclusively by natural or divine agencies.", Behringer, "Witches and Witch-hunts: a Global History", pp. 54–55 (2004). Wiley-Blackwell.
Jump up ^ "witch hunts - Bible Apologetics". "A decree of King Coloman of Hungary (c. 1074–116, r. 1095–1116) against the belief in the existence of strigae (De strigis vero que non sunt, ne ulla questio fiat) suggests that they were thought to be human beings with demonic affiliation: witches.", Behringer, "Witches and Witch-hunts: a Global History", p. 32 (2004). Wiley-Blackwell.
Jump up ^ "Abortion, Contraception and the Church Fathers". National Catholic Register.
Jump up ^ Migne, Patrologia Latina, CIV, 147
Jump up ^ "Witches were executed at Novgorod in 1227, and after a severe famine in the years 1271-4 Bishop Serapion of Vladimir asked in a sermon: 'you believe in witchcraft and burn innocent people and bring down murder upon earth and the city... Out of what books or writings do you learn that famine in earth is brought about by witchcraft?'", Behringer, "Witches and Witch-hunts: a Global History", p. 56 (2004). Wiley-Blackwell.
Jump up ^ http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/560-975dooms.html
Jump up ^ Dominic Selwood. "How Protestantism fuelled Europe's deadly witch craze". The Telegraph. Quote: "There would be no witch persecutions of the sort he envisaged. The Gregorian Inquisition had been established to deal with the religious matter of heresy, not the secular issue of witchcraft. Pope Alexander IV spelled this out clearly in a 1258 canon which forbade inquisitions into sorcery unless there was also manifest heresy. And this view was even confirmed and acknowledged by the infamous inquisitor Bernard Gui (immortalised by Umberto Eco in The Name of the Rose), who wrote in his influential inquisitors’ manual that, by itself, sorcery did not come within the Inquisition's jurisdiction. In sum, the Church did not want the Inquisition sucked into witch trials, which were for the secular courts."
Jump up ^ Jeffrey Burton Russell, A History of Medieval Christianity (173).
Jump up ^ Cohn, Norman (2000) [1993]. Europe's Inner Demons: The Demonization of Christians in Medieval Christendom (Rev. ed.). University of Chicago Press. pp. 173–174.
Jump up ^ See Franco Mormando, The Preacher's Demons: Bernardino of Siena and the Social Underworld of Early Renaissance Italy, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1999, Chapter 2.
Jump up ^ "Early Christian theologians attributed to the Devil responsibility for persecution, heresy, witchcraft, sin, natural disasters, human calamities, and whatever else went wrong. One tragic consequence of this was a tendency to demonize people accused of wrongs. At the instance of ecclesiastical leaders, the state burned heretics and witches, burning symbolizing the fate deserved by the demonic. Popular fears, stirred to fever pitch in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, sustained frenzied efforts to wipe out heretics, witches, and unbelievers, especially Jews.", Hinson, "Historical and Theological Perspectives on Satan", Review & Expositor (89.4.475), (Fall 1992).
Jump up ^ "Trevor-Roper has said that it was necessary for belief in the Kingdom of Satan to die before the witch theory could be discredited.", Larner, 'Crime of Witchcraft In Early Modern Europe', in Oldridge, 'The Witchcraft Reader', p. 211 (2002). Routledge.
Jump up ^ "We are reasonably confident today that the 'classical' doctrine of witchcraft crystallized during the middle third of the 15th century, shortly after the Council of Basel, primarily within a western Alpine zone centred around the duchy of Savoy (Ostorero et al. 1999).", Behringer, "Witches and Witch-hunts: a Global History", pp. 18–19 (2004). Wiley-Blackwell.
Jump up ^ "By the end of the 15th century, scattered trials for witchcraft by both secular and ecclesiastical courts occurred in many places from the Pyrenees, where the Spanish Inquisition had become involved, to the North Sea.", Behringer, "Witches and Witch-hunts: a Global History", pp. 18–19 (2004). Wiley-Blackwell.
Jump up ^ Levack, The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe, (49)
Jump up ^ Ludwig von Pastor, The History of the Popes, from the Close of the Middle Ages, Vol. 5, p. 349-350. Quote: "The Bull contains no dogmatic decision of any sort on witchcraft. It assumes the possibility of demoniacal influences on human beings which the Church has always maintained, but claims no dogmatic authority for its pronouncement on the particular cases with which it was dealing at the moment. The form of the document, which refers only to certain occurrences which had been brought to the knowledge of the Pope, sh[o]ws that it was not intended to bind any one to believe in the things mentioned in it. The question whether the Pope himself believed in them has nothing to do with the subject. His judgment on this point has no greater importance than attaches to a Papal decree in any other undogmatic question, e.g., on a dispute about a benefice. The Bull introduced no new element into the current beliefs about witchcraft. It is absurd to accuse it of being the cause of the cruel treatment of witches, when we see in the Sachsenspiegel that burning alive was already the legal punishment for a witch. All that Innocent VIII. did was to confirm the jurisdiction of the inquisitors over these cases. The Bull simply empowered them to try all matters concerning witchcraft, without exception, before their own tribunals, by Canon-law; a process which was totally different from that of the later trials. Possibly the Bull, in so far as it admonished the inquisitors to be on the alert in regard to witchcraft may have given an impetus to the prosecution of such cases; but it affords no justification for the accusation that it introduced a new crime, or was in any way responsible for the iniquitous horrors of the witch-harrying of later times."
Jump up ^ Jolly, Raudvere, & Peters(eds.), "Witchcraft and magic in Europe: the Middle Ages", page 241 (2002)
Jump up ^ The Dark Side of Christian History by Helen Ellerbe.
Jump up ^ Meewis, Wim (1992) De Vierschaar, Uitgevering Pelckmans, p. 115.
Jump up ^ "The History Today Archive".
Jump up ^ H. C. Erik Midelfort, Witch Hunting in Southwestern Germany 1562–1684,1972,71.
Jump up ^ Behringer (2004), p. 83.
Jump up ^ Willumsen, Liv Helene (2013). Witches of the North. Leiden: Brill. pp. 1–13. ISBN 9789004252912.
Jump up ^ Willumsen, Liv Helene (2010). The Witchcraft Trials in Finnmark, northern Norway. Bergen: Skald. p. 13. ISBN 978-82-7959-152-8.
Jump up ^ Andreassen and Willumsen (2014). 'Introduction' in Steilneset Memorial. Art Architecture History. Stamsund: Orkana. pp. 1–10. ISBN 978-82-8104-245-2.
Jump up ^ "BBC - Lancashire - Follow the Pendle Witches trail".
Jump up ^ Sharpe, James (2002), "The Lancaster witches in historical context", in Poole, Robert, The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories, Manchester University Press, pp. 1–18, ISBN 978-0-7190-6204-9
Jump up ^ Jewett, Clarence F. The Memorial History of Boston: Including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630–1880. Ticknor and Company. 1881 Pgs. 133–137
^ Jump up to: a b Fraden, Judith Bloom, Dennis Brindell Fraden. The Salem Witch Trials. Marshall Cavendish. 2008. p. 15.
Jump up ^ "Springfield's 375th: From Puritans to presidents". masslive.com.
Jump up ^ Wallace, Peter G. (2004). The Long European Reformation. New York, NY: PALGRAVE MACMILLAN. pp. 210–215. ISBN 978-0-333-64451-5.
Jump up ^ Brian P. Levack (The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe) multiplied the number of known European witch trials by the average rate of conviction and execution, to arrive at a figure of around 60,000 deaths. Anne Lewellyn Barstow (Witchcraze) adjusted Levack's estimate to account for lost records, estimating 100,000 deaths. Ronald Hutton (Triumph of the Moon) argues that Levack's estimate had already been adjusted for these, and revises the figure to approximately 40,000; Monter estimates 35,000 deaths. William Monter: Witch trials in Continental Europe, (in:) Witchcraft and magic in Europe, ed. Bengst Ankarloo & Stuart Clark, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia 2002, pp 12 ff. ISBN 0-8122-1787-X; and Levack, Brian P. The witch hunt in early modern Europe, Third Edition. London and New York: Longman, 2006.
Jump up ^ "Estimates of executions". Based on Ronald Hutton's essay Counting the Witch Hunt.
Jump up ^ Charles Alva Hoyt, Witchcraft, Southern Illinois University Press, 2nd edition, 1989, pp. 66–70, ISBN 0-8093-1544-0.
Jump up ^ Nachman Ben-Yehuda, “The European Witch Craze of the 14th to 17th Centuries: A Sociologist’s Perspective,” American Journal of Sociology, No. 86, 1980, pages 1-31. Estimated 200,000 to 500,000 accused witches killed.
Jump up ^ Nachman Ben-Yehuda, “The European Witch Craze of the 14th to 17th Centuries: Still a Sociologist’s Perspective,” American Journal of Sociology, No. 88, 1983, page 1276. Estimated 200,000 to 500,000 accused witches killed.
Jump up ^ Robert R. Turner and Charles Edgley, “From Witchcraft to Drugcraft: Biochemistry as Mythology,” Social Science Journal No. 20, October 1983, pg 1. Estimated 500,000 accused witches killed.
Jump up ^ Scarre, Geoffrey; Callow, John (2001). Witchcraft and Magic in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Europe (second ed.). Basingstoke: Palgrave, pp. 29–33. Rapley (1998) claims that "75 to 80 percent" of a total of "40,000 to 50,000" victims were women. Rapley, Robert (1998). A case of witchcraft: the trial of Urbain Grandier. [unreliable source?].
Jump up ^ Gaskill, Malcolm Witchcraft, a very short introduction, Oxford University Press, 2010, p.65
Jump up ^ William Monter: Witch trials in Continental Europe, (in:) Witchcraft and magic in Europe, ed. Bengst Ankarloo & Stuart Clark, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia 2002, pp 12 ff. ISBN 0-8122-1787-X; and Levack, Brian P. The witch hunt in early modern Europe, Third Edition. London and New York: Longman, 2006.
^ Jump up to: a b Gibson, M (2006). "Witchcraft in the Courts". In Gibson, Marion. Witchcraft And Society in England And America, 1550–1750. Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 1–18. ISBN 978-0-8264-8300-3.
Jump up ^ Summers, M (2003). Geography of Witchcraft. Kessinger Publishing. pp. 153–60. ISBN 0-7661-4536-0.
Jump up ^ The Holocaust; or the Witch of Monzie.
Jump up ^ "Graemes of Inchbrakie – The Witch's Relic".
Jump up ^ "Laatste executie van heks in Borculo" (in Dutch). Archeonnet.nl. 11 October 2003. Retrieved 2010-09-22.
Jump up ^ "Last witch executed in Denmark". executedtoday.com. 4 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-22.
Jump up ^ "Timeline The Last Witchfinder".
Jump up ^ "historicum.net". historicum.net.
Jump up ^ Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, Volume 5.
Jump up ^ "Last witch in Europe cleared". Swissinfo.ch. 27 August 2008. Retrieved 2010-09-22.
Jump up ^ Klimczak, Natalia. "Barbara Zdunk – The Last Executed Slavic Witch By Authorities In Prussia". Retrieved 2017-10-27.
Jump up ^ Archer, W G (1979). The Santals: Readings in Tribal Life. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company.
Jump up ^ Crooke, W (1969). The Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.
Jump up ^ Sinha, Shashank. "Witch hunts, Adivasis, and the Uprising in Chhotanagpur". Economic and Political Weekly. 42 (19): 1672–1676.
Jump up ^ Varma, Daya. "Witch-Hunt among Santhals". Economicand Political Weekly. 42 (23): 2130.
Jump up ^ Sinha, Shashank. "Witch hunts, Adivasis, and the Uprising in Chhotanagpur". Economic and Political Weekly. 42 (19): 1672–1676.
Jump up ^ Memorial stones for the victims of the witch-hunt in Europe (pdf 939 KB)
Jump up ^ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "UNHCR Research Paper No. 169 Witchcraft allegations, refugee protection and human rights: a review of the evidence, January 2009". UNHCR.
Jump up ^ Miguel, Edward. "Poverty and Witch Killing." The Review of Economic Studies 72, no. 4 (1 October 2005): 1153–72
Jump up ^ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "UNHCR Research Paper No. 197 Breaking the spell: responding to witchcraft accusations against children, January 2011". UNHCR.
Jump up ^ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "UNHCR Research Paper No. 235 Seeking meaning: an anthropological and community-based approach to witchcraft accusations and their prevention in refugee situations, May 2012". UNHCR.
Jump up ^ http://www.law.duke.edu/shell/cite.pl?14+Duke+J.+Comp.+&+Int%27l+L.+351#H2N1
Jump up ^ Ally, Yaseen (June 2009). "Witch Hunts in Modern South Africa" (PDF). MRC. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
Jump up ^ de Waal, Mandy (30 May 2012). "Witch-hunts: The darkness that won't go away". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
Jump up ^ "Congo witch-hunt's child victims". BBC News. 22 December 1999. Retrieved 2007-04-16.
^ Jump up to: a b "Tanzania arrests 'witch killers'". BBC News. 23 October 2003. Retrieved 2007-04-16. It is believed that any aged, old woman with red eyes is a witch
Jump up ^ A Modern Movement of Witch Finders Audrey I Richards (Africa: Journal of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures, Ed. Diedrich Westermann.) Vol VIII, 1935, published by Oxford University Press, London.
Jump up ^ "Expired Website".
Jump up ^ Cyprian F. Fisiy, "Containing Occult Practices: Witchcraft Trials in Cameroon", in: New Perspectives on Witchcraft, Magic, and Demonology: Witchcraft in the modern world vol. 6, ed. Brian P. Levack (2001), 401–422 Section 251 of the Cameroonian penal code (26 August 2004 [introduced 1967]). Two other provisions of the penal code [translation] "state that witchcraft may be an aggravating factor for dishonest acts" (Afrik.com 26 Aug 2004). A person convicted of witchcraft may face a prison term of 2 to 10 years and a fine. "Cameroon: Witchcraft in Cameroon; tribes or geographical areas in which witchcraft is practised; the government's attitude". UNHCR. 2004. Whereas witchcraft cases in the colonial era, especially in former British Central Africa, were based on the official dogma that witchcraft is an illusion (so that people invoking witchcraft would be punished as either impostors or slanderers), in contemporary legal practice in Africa witchcraft appears as a reality and as an actionable offence in its own right. van Binsbergen, Wim (2002). "Witchcraft in Modern Africa". Shikanda.net.
Jump up ^ "Mob burns to death 11 Kenyan "witches"". Reuters.
Jump up ^ "The Gambia: Hundreds accused of "witchcraft" and poisoned in government campaign". 18 March 2009.
Jump up ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/world/africa/21gambia.html?ref=africa
Jump up ^ Studia Instituti Anthropos, Vol. 41. Anthony J. Gittins : Mende Religion. Steyler Verlag, Nettetal, 1987. p. 197.
Jump up ^ Studia Instituti Anthropos, Vol. 41. Anthony J. Gittins : Mende Religion. Steyler Verlag, Nettetal, 1987. p. 201.
Jump up ^ "Recourse Rare for Witch Hunt Victims in India – Women's eNews".
Jump up ^ "No CookiesHerald Sun". Heraldsun.com.au. Retrieved 2015-10-28.
Jump up ^ "BBC NEWS - South Asia - Village 'witches' beaten in India".
Jump up ^ Michigan State University. "Witch hunts targeted by grassroots women". MSUToday.
Jump up ^ "Rowman.com: 9780739149942 - Witches, Tea Plantations, and Lives of Migrant Laborers in India: Tempest in a Teapot".
Jump up ^ Deepesh Shrestha; in Pyutar for AFP (15 February 2010). "Witch-hunts of low-caste women in Nepal". Telegraph.co.uk.
^ Jump up to: a b http://www.whrin.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Witchcraft-report-INSEC.pdf
Jump up ^ "Witch-hunt victim recounts torture ordeal". ABC News.
Jump up ^ "Unreported World". Channel 4.
^ Jump up to: a b c McGuirk, Rod (10 June 2013). "Witch hunts in Papua New Guinea linked to jealousy". Associated Press. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
^ Jump up to: a b c Jo Chandler - The Global Mail. "It's 2013, And They're Burning 'Witches'". The Global Mail.
Jump up ^ Gibbs, Philip (2012). Engendered Violence and Witch-killing in Simbu. ANU Press.
Jump up ^ Precarious Justice – Arbitrary Detention and Unfair Trials in the Deficient Criminal Justice System of Saudi Arabia. Human Rights Watch. 2008. p. 143.
Jump up ^ "Distance witch finally caught; 118 detained this year". Saudi Gazette. 4 November 2009. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
Jump up ^ "Saudi Arabia: Witchcraft and Sorcery Cases on the Rise" (Press release). 24 November 2009. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
Jump up ^ "King Abdullah urged to spare Saudi 'witchcraft' woman's life". The Times. 16 February 2008. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
Jump up ^ "Letter to HRH King Abdullah bin Abd al-'Aziz Al Saud on "Witchcraft" Case" (Press release). Human Rights Watch. 12 February 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
Jump up ^ "Saudi executes Egyptian for practising 'witchcraft'". ABC News. 3 November 2007. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
Jump up ^ "Sudanese man facing execution in Saudi Arabia over 'sorcery' charges". Afrik News. 15 May 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
Jump up ^ "Lebanese TV host Ali Hussain Sibat faces execution in Saudi Arabia for sorcery". The Times. 2 April 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
Jump up ^ "Lebanese PM should step in to halt Saudi Arabia 'Sorcery' execution" (Press release). Amnesty International. 1 April 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
Jump up ^ "Saudi court rejects death sentence for TV psychic". CTV News. Associated Press. 13 November 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
Jump up ^ "Saudi Arabia: Woman Is Beheaded After Being Convicted of Witchcraft". The New York Times. Agence France-Presse. 12 December 2011. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
Jump up ^ "Saudi man executed for 'witchcraft and sorcery'". BBC News.
Jump up ^ Mezzofiore, Gianluca (30 June 2015). "Isis in Syria: Islamic State beheads 2 women for sorcery reports Syrian Observatory for Human Rights". International Business Times. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
Jump up ^ Armstrong, Jeremy (6 January 2015). "ISIS behead street magician for entertaining crowds in Syria with his tricks". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
Jump up ^ Wyke, Tom (30 June 2015). "ISIS executes women by beheading for the first time as the group kills two married couples for 'witchcraft and sorcery' in Syria". Daily Mail. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
Further reading[edit]
Andreassen, Reidun Laura and Liv Helene Willumsen (eds.), Steilneset Memorial. Art Architecture History. Stamsund: Orkana, 2014. ISBN 978-82-8104-245-2
Behringer, Wolfgang. Witches and Witch Hunts: A Global History. Malden Massachusetts: Polity Press, 2004.
Briggs, Robin. 'Many reasons why': witchcraft and the problem of multiple explanation, in Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe. Studies in Culture and Belief, ed. Jonathan Barry, Marianne Hester, and Gareth Roberts, Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Burns, William E. Witch hunts in Europe and America: an encyclopedia (2003)
Cohn, Norman. Europe's Inner Demons: An Enquiry Inspired by the Great Witch-Hunt (1975), Revised Edition: Europe's Inner Demons: The Demonization of Christians in Medieval Christendom, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1993.
Durrant, Jonathan B. Witchcraft, Gender, and Society in Early Modern Germany, Leiden: Brill, 2007.
Golden, William, ed. Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Western Tradition (4 vol. 2006) 1270pp; 758 short essays by scholars.
Goode, Erich; Ben-Yahuda, Nachman (1994). Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance. Cambridge, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-18905-X.
Gouges, Linnea de. From Witch Hunts to Scientific Confidence; The Influence of British and Continental Currents on the Consolidation of the Scandinavian States during the 17th Century. Nisus Publications, 2014.
Klaits, Joseph. Servants of Satan: The Age of the Witch Hunts. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985
Levack, Brian P. The Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1661–1662, The Journal of British Studies, Vol.20, No, 1. (Autumn, 1980), pp. 90–108.
Levack, Brian P. The witch hunt in early modern Europe, Third Edition. London and New York: Longman, 2006.
Macfarlane, Alan. Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England: A regional and Comparative Study. New York and Evanston: Harper & Row Publishers, 1970.
Midlefort, Erick H.C. Witch Hunting in Southeastern Germany 1562–1684: The Social and Intellectual Foundation. California: Stanford University Press, 1972. ISBN 0-8047-0805-3
Monter, William (1972). "The Historiography of European Witchcraft: Progress and Prospect". Journal of Interdisciplinary History. 2: 435–451. doi:10.2307/202315.
Oberman, H. A., J. D. Tracy, Thomas A. Brady (eds.), Handbook of European History, 1400–1600: Visions, Programs, Outcomes (1995) ISBN 90-04-09761-9
Oldridge, Darren (ed.), The Witchcraft Reader (2002) ISBN 0-415-21492-0
Poole, Robert. The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories (2002) ISBN 0-7190-6204-7
Purkiss, Diane. "A Holocaust of One's Own: The Myth of the Burning Times." Chapter in The Witch and History: Early Modern and Twentieth Century Representatives New York, NY: Routledge, 1996, pp. 7–29.
Robisheaux, Thomas. The Last Witch of Langenburg: Murder in a German Village. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. (2009) ISBN 978-0-393-06551-0
Sagan, Carl. The Demon-Haunted World, Random House, 1996. ISBN 0-394-53512-X
Thurston, Robert. The Witch Hunts: A History of the Witch Persecutions in Europe and North America. Pearson/Longman, 2007.
Purkiss, Diane. The Bottom of the Garden, Dark History of Fairies, Hobgoblins, and Other Troublesome Things. Chapter 3 Brith and Death: Fairies in Scottish Witch-trials New York, NY: New York University Press, 2000, pp. 85–115.
West, Robert H. Reginald Scot and Renaissance Writings. Boston: Twayne Publishers,1984.
Willumsen, Liv Helene. The Witchcraft Trials in Finnmark, Northern Norway. Bergen: Skald, 2010. ISBN 978-82-7959-152-8
Willumsen, Liv Helene. Witches of the North:Scotland and Finnmark. Leiden: Brill, 2013. ISBN 9789004252912. E-ISBN 9789004252929
Briggs, K.M. Pale Hecate’s Team, an Examination of the Beliefs on Witchcraft and Magic among Shakespeare’s Contemporaries and His Immediate Successors. New York: The Humanities Press, 1962.
External links[edit]
Look up witch-hunt in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Witch hunts.
The Stages of a Witch Trial — a series of articles by Jenny Gibbons.
1913 Catholic Encyclopedia entry on "Witchcraft"
Jenny Gibbons (1998). draeconin.com. Retrieved 21 November 2006.
The Decline and End of Witch Trials in Europe by James Hannam
Witch Trials
Dame Alice le Kyteler, convicted of witchcraft in Kilkenny, Ireland, 1324
Elizabethan Superstitions in the Elizabethan Period by Linda Alchin
Douglas Linder (2005), A Brief History of Witchcraft Persecutions before Salem
Witchcraft in Scotland
[hide]
v
t
e
Witchcraft and magic
Types
African witchcraft
Vodun
Witch smeller
Asian witchcraft
Kulam
Onmyōdō
Australasian witchcraft
Makutu
European witchcraft
Akelarre
Benandanti
Brujería
Cunning folk
Seiðr
Völva
White witch
Witch-cult hypothesis
North American witchcraft
21 Divisiones
Granny woman
Hoodoo
Huna
Pow-wow
Santería
Vodou
Voodoo
South American witchcraft
Candomblé
Wicca
Practices
Animism
Black mass
Black magic
Coven
Demon
Divination
Entheogen
Evocation
Familiar spirit
Flying ointment
Jinn
Magic
Magic circle
Necromancy
Occultism
Poppet
Potions
Satanic ritual abuse
Satanism
Shamanism
Sigils
Spiritism
Spiritualism
Witch ball
Witch's ladder
Witches' Sabbath
Objects
Amulet
Broom
Cloak of invisibility
Magic carpet
Magic ring
Magic sword
Talisman
Wand
Folklore and mythology
Agamede
Aradia
Baba Yaga
Daayan
Drude
Elbow witch
Huld
Kalku
Hecate
Circe
Medea
Muma Pădurii
Obayifo
Sea witch
Sorginak
Spearfinger
Three Witches
Witch of Endor
Major historic treatises
Formicarius (1475)
Summis desiderantes affectibus (1484)
Malleus Maleficarum (1487)
The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584)
Daemonologie (1597)
A Guide to Grand-Jury Men (1627)
The Discovery of Witches (1647)
Treatise on the Apparitions of Spirits and on Vampires or Revenants (1751)
Authority control
GND: 4113908-2
NDL: 00977911
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Witch-hunt&oldid=811151371"
Categories:
Witch hunting
Informal legal terminology
Crowd psychology
Hidden categories:
Articles containing Hebrew-language text
Articles containing Ancient Greek-language text
All articles lacking reliable references
Articles lacking reliable references from April 2015
CS1 Dutch-language sources (nl)
Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL
Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages
Use dmy dates from October 2012
All articles with unsourced statements
Articles with unsourced statements from July 2017
Articles with unsourced statements from September 2012
All articles with failed verification
Articles with failed verification from July 2017
Articles with unsourced statements from December 2008
Incomplete lists from March 2017
Commons category with local link different than on Wikidata
Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Languages
العربية
বাংলা
Български
Català
Čeština
Dansk
Deutsch
Ελληνικά
Español
Esperanto
Euskara
فارسی
Français
Galego
한국어
Italiano
עברית
Къарачай-малкъар
Latina
Magyar
Македонски
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk
Norsk nynorsk
Polski
Português
Română
Runa Simi
Русский
Simple English
Slovenščina
Српски / srpski
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Suomi
Svenska
தமிழ்
ไทย
Türkçe
Українська
中文
Edit links
This page was last edited on 19 November 2017, at 21:08.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

values: jump-to-nav mw-jump

attrs: href class title

values:
/wiki/Witch_hunt_(disambiguation)
mw-disambig
Witch hunt (disambiguation)

values:
/wiki/Witch_trial_(disambiguation)
mw-disambig
Witch trial (disambiguation)

attrs: role class

values:
note
hatnote navigation-not-searchable

attrs: alt src width height class srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values:
/wiki/Early_Modern_Europe
mw-redirect
Early Modern Europe

values:
/wiki/Colonial_North_America
mw-redirect
Colonial North America

values:
/wiki/Early_Modern_period
mw-redirect
Early Modern period

values:
/wiki/Protestant_Reformation
mw-redirect
Protestant Reformation

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (July 2017)

values:
noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact
white-space:nowrap;

values:
/wiki/Age_of_exploration
mw-redirect
Age of exploration

values:
/wiki/Magic_in_the_ancient_world
mw-redirect
Magic in the ancient world

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (September 2012)

values:
/wiki/Lucius_Cornelius_Sulla
mw-redirect
Lucius Cornelius Sulla

values:
/wiki/Magician_(paranormal)
mw-redirect
Magician (paranormal)

values: Edit section: Christianisation in the Early Middle Ages

values:
/wiki/Burchard,_Bishop_of_Worms
mw-redirect
Burchard, Bishop of Worms

values:
/wiki/Archbishop_of_Lyons
mw-redirect
Archbishop of Lyons

values:
/wiki/Roman_civil_law
mw-redirect
Roman civil law

values:
/wiki/Templar_Knights
mw-redirect
Templar Knights

values: Edit section: Transition to the early modern witch-hunts

values:
/wiki/Renaissance_occultism
mw-redirect
Renaissance occultism

values:
/wiki/Council_of_Basel
mw-redirect
Council of Basel

values:
/wiki/Ten_commandments
mw-redirect
Ten commandments

values:
/wiki/L%C3%A8se_majest%C3%A9
mw-redirect
Lèse majesté

values:
/wiki/Witchcraft_Act
mw-redirect
Witchcraft Act

values:
/wiki/James_I_of_England
mw-redirect
James I of England

values:
/wiki/Pendle_witch_trials
mw-redirect
Pendle witch trials

values:
/wiki/Bamberg,_Germany
mw-redirect
Bamberg, Germany

values: The material near this tag failed verification of its source citation(s). (July 2017)

values:
/wiki/Johannes_Wier
mw-redirect
Johannes Wier

values:
/wiki/Alonso_Salazar_y_Fr%C3%ADas
mw-redirect
Alonso Salazar y Frías

values:
/wiki/Nine_million_witches
mw-redirect
Nine million witches

values: Edit section: End of European witch hunts in the 18th century

values:
/wiki/Kate_N%C3%AD_Cnaimh%C3%ADn
mw-redirect
Kate Ní Cnaimhín

values:
/wiki/Anna_Palles
mw-redirect
Anna Palles

values:
/wiki/Imperial_Ducal_Abbey_of_Kempten
mw-redirect
Imperial Ducal Abbey of Kempten

values:
/wiki/Death_penalty
mw-redirect
Death penalty

values:
/wiki/United_Nations_Organization
mw-redirect
United Nations Organization

values: Witchcraft accusations against children in Africa

values:
/wiki/Audrey_I._Richards
mw-redirect
Audrey I. Richards

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (December 2008)

values:
/wiki/Burnt_to_death
mw-redirect
Burnt to death

values:
/wiki/Al_Jawf_Province
mw-redirect
Al Jawf Province

values:
/wiki/Najran_Province
mw-redirect
Najran Province

values:
/wiki/Christian_views_on_witchcraft
mw-redirect
Christian views on witchcraft

values:
/wiki/Execution_by_burning
mw-redirect
Execution by burning

values:
/wiki/Torture_of_witches
mw-redirect
Torture of witches

values: div-col columns column-count column-count-2

values: -moz-column-count: 2; -webkit-column-count: 2; column-count: 2;

values:
reflist mw-references-wrap
list-style-type: decimal;

values: Anne Lewellyn Barstow (page does not exist)

values:
nofollow
external text
//www.worldcat.org/issn/0034-6527

values:
/wiki/Sanhedrin_(Talmud)
mw-redirect
Sanhedrin (Talmud)

values:
/wiki/Charles_C._Mierow
mw-redirect
Charles C. Mierow

values:
/wiki/Hutton,_Ronald
mw-redirect
Hutton, Ronald

values: The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles

values:
/wiki/Jacques-Paul_Migne
mw-redirect
Jacques-Paul Migne

values:
/wiki/The_Telegraph_(website)
mw-redirect
The Telegraph (website)

values: The material near this tag may rely on an unreliable source. (April 2015)

values: Continuum International Publishing Group

values:
nofollow
external text
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4419566

values:
nofollow
external text
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4419670

values:
nofollow
external text
http://www.unhcr.org/4d346eab9.html

values:
nofollow
external text
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8315980.stm

values:
nofollow
external text
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739149942

values: -moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em; list-style-type: decimal;

values:
nofollow
external text
//doi.org/10.2307%2F202315

values:
nofollow
external text
http://www.bede.org.uk/decline.htm

values:
/wiki/Akelarre_(witchcraft)
mw-redirect
Akelarre (witchcraft)

values:
/wiki/White_witch
mw-redirect
White witch

values: Shamanism among the indigenous peoples of the Americas

values:
/wiki/The_Discovery_of_Witches
mw-redirect
The Discovery of Witches

values: nowraplinks collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner

values:
nofollow
external text
https://d-nb.info/gnd/4113908-2

values: Category:Articles containing Hebrew-language text

values: Category:Articles containing Ancient Greek-language text

values: Category:All articles lacking reliable references

values: Category:Articles lacking reliable references from April 2015

values: Category:CS1 Dutch-language sources (nl)

values: Category:Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL

values: Category:Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages

values: Category:Use dmy dates from October 2012

values: Category:All articles with unsourced statements

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from July 2017

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from September 2012

values: Category:All articles with failed verification

values: Category:Articles with failed verification from July 2017

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from December 2008

values: Category:Incomplete lists from March 2017

values: Category:Commons category with local link different than on Wikidata

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

values:
/wiki/Witch-hunt
View the content page [ctrl-alt-c]
c

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

values:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

values:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

values:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

values: Recent changes in pages linked from this page [ctrl-alt-k]

values:
/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard
Upload files [ctrl-alt-u]
u

values: A list of all special pages [ctrl-alt-q]

values: Permanent link to this revision of the page

values: Link to connected data repository item [ctrl-alt-g]

values: Printable version of this page [ctrl-alt-p]

values: portal navigation p-wikibase-otherprojects p-wikibase-otherprojects-label

values:
uls-settings-trigger
Language settings
0
button
true

values: مطاردة الساحرات – Arabic

values: ডাইনী-শিকার – Bangla

values: Лов на вещици – Bulgarian

values:
https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heksejagt
Heksejagt – Danish
da
da
interlanguage-link-target

values: Κυνήγι μαγισσών – Greek

values: ساحره‌گیری (اصطلاح) – Persian

values: ציד מכשפות – Hebrew

values: Лов на вештерки – Macedonian

values: Охота на ведьм – Russian

values: Лов на вештице – Serbian

values: சூனியக்காரிகள் வேட்டை – Tamil

values: การล่าแม่มด – Thai

values: Полювання на відьом – Ukrainian

values: /static/images/wikimedia-button-1.5x.png 1.5x, /static/images/wikimedia-button-2x.png 2x

values: /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_132x47.png 1.5x, /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_176x62.png 2x

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-Witch-hunt rootpage-Witch-hunt skin-vector action-view


text:
BS 7671
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Relevant topics on
Electrical Installations
Wiring practice by region or country
North American practice
United Kingdom Practice
Regulation of electrical installations
BS 7671 UK wiring regulations
IEC 60364 IEC international standard
Canadian Electrical Code (CEC)
US National Electrical Code (NEC)
Cabling and accessories
AC power plugs and sockets
Cable tray
Electrical conduit
Mineral-insulated copper-clad cable
Multiway switching
Steel wire armoured cable
Ring main unit
Ring circuit
Thermoplastic-sheathed cable
Switching and protection devices
AFCI
ELCB
Circuit breakers
Fuse
Residual Current Device (RCD) / GFCI (USA)
Distribution board
Consumer unit
Electrical switch
Earthing system
v
t
e
British Standard BS 7671 "Requirements for Electrical Installations. IET Wiring Regulations", informally called in the electrical community The "Regs", is the national standard in the United Kingdom for electrical installation and the safety of electrical wiring in domestic, commercial, industrial, and other buildings, also in special installations and locations, such as marinas or caravan parks.[1]
In general, BS 7671 applies to circuits supplied at nominal voltages up to and including 1000 volts AC or 1500 volts DC. The standard therefore covers the 230 volt 50 Hz AC mains supply used in the UK for houses, offices, and commerce. It did not become a recognized British Standard until the publication of the 16th edition in 1992. The standard takes account of the technical substance of agreements reached in CENELEC [2]
The current version is BS 7671:2008+A3:2015 (the 17th edition incorporating Amendment 3:2015) issued in 2008 and updated ("Amendment no. 3") in January 2015 and mandatory from July 2015,[3] although some provisions only came into force in January 2016.[3] BS 7671 is also used as a national standard by Mauritius, St Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Cyprus, and several other countries, which base their wiring regulations on BS 7671.
Contents
[hide]
1 Compilation and publication
2 History of BS 7671 and predecessor standards
2.1 1st Edition
2.2 17th Edition
3 Timeline
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
Compilation and publication[edit]
The standard is maintained by the Joint IET/BSI Technical Committee JPEL/64, the UK National Committee for Wiring Regulations, and published by the IET (formerly IEE). Although the IET and BSI are non-governmental organisations and the Wiring Regulations are non-statutory, they are referenced in several UK statutory instruments, and in most cases, for practical purposes, have legal force as the appropriate method of electric wiring.[4]
The BSI (British Standards Institute) publishes numerous titles concerning acceptable standards of design/safety/quality across different fields.
History of BS 7671 and predecessor standards[edit]
The first edition was published in 1882 as the "Rules and Regulations for the Prevention of Fire Risks arising from Electric Lighting." The title became "General Rules recommended for Wiring for the Supply of Electrical Energy" with the third edition in 1897, "Wiring Rules" with the fifth edition of 1907, and settled at "Regulations for the Electrical Equipment of Buildings" with the eighth edition in 1924.
Since the 15th edition (1981), these regulations have closely followed the corresponding international standard IEC 60364. In 1992, the IEE Wiring Regulations became British Standard BS 7671 so that the legal enforcement of their requirements was easier both with regard to the Electricity at Work regulations and from an international point of view.[5] They are now treated similar to other British Standards. BS 7671 has converged towards (and is largely based on) the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) harmonisation documents, and therefore is technically very similar to the current wiring regulations of other European countries.
1st Edition[edit]
"Rules and Regulations for the Prevention of Fire Risks arising from Electric Lighting." - Two core cable, line and neutral, no earth. The protection was a re-wirable fuse.
17th Edition[edit]
The 17th edition, released in January 2008 and amended in 2011 ("Amendment 1"), 2013 ("Amendment 2") and January 2015 ("Amendment 3") is the latest edition of BS 7671, and became effective for all installations designed after 1 July 2008.[6] One of the more significant changes is (chapter 41) that 30 mA RCDs will be required for socket outlets that are for use by ordinary persons and are intended for general use. This improves the level of protection against electrical shock in the UK to a level comparable to that in other EU countries. The 17th edition and its amendments incorporated new sections relating to microgeneration and solar photovoltaic systems, non-combustible consumer units, RCDs, and breakers (including high resilience breaker layout).
As originally published highlights - RCDs required for most outlets
Amendment 1 highlights - high resilience consumer units
Amendment 2 highlights - electric vehicle charging added, earlier change incorporated for medical locations[7]
Amendment 3 highlights - non combustible consumer units/enclosures[3]
Timeline[edit]
Date
Edition / change
Information
1882 1st Edition Titled ‘Rules and Regulations for the prevention of Fire Risks Arising from Electric Lighting’, and known as the "Wiring Rules"
1888 2nd Edition Titled 'Wiring Rules & Regulations in Buildings
1897 3rd Edition Titled ‘General Rules recommended for Wiring for the Supply of Electrical Energy’
1903 4th Edition issued as IEE Wiring Regulations, called ‘Wiring Rules’
1907 5th Edition Issued as IEE Wiring Regulations
1911 6th Edition Issued as IEE Wiring Regulations
1916 7th Edition Issued as IEE Wiring Regulations
1924 8th Edition Issued as IEE Wiring Regulations ‘Regulations for the Electrical Equipment of Buildings’
1927 9th Edition Issued as IEE Wiring Regulations
1934 10th Edition Issued as IEE Wiring Regulations
1939 11th Edition Issued as IEE Wiring Regulations. Revised in 1943, reprint with minor amendments in 1945, supplement in 1946, further revised in 1948
1950 12th Edition Issued as IEE Wiring Regulations. Supplement issued 1954
1955 13th Edition Issued as IEE Wiring Regulations. Reprinted in 1958, 1961, 1962, 1964
1966 14th Edition Issued as IEE Wiring Regulations. Reprinted in 1968, 1969, 1969 again (metric units[verification needed]), 1970 (in metric units), 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976
1981 15th Edition Issued as IEE Wiring Regulations. (Possibly reprinted 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988?[verification needed])
1991 16th Edition Issued as IEE Wiring Regulations. Reprinted with amendments 1992, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2004
1992 BSI adopts as a standard Wiring Regulations adopted by the British Standards Institute as BS 7671
1992 Legislation Electricity at Work Regulations come fully into effect in Northern Ireland
2004 Incorporated into building regulations Part P of the Building Regulations ("Requirements for Electrical Installations") comes into force, covering legal requirements for UK electrical installations. The guidance in the Approved Documents refers to BS 7671 as being one way to achieve compliance. The version in force when the law came into effect was the 16th edition, BS 7671:2001, as amended in 2002 and 2004.
2008 17th Edition Amended 2015 ("Amendment no. 3") - current standard as of October 2016
2018 18th Edition Expected to introduce energy efficiency performance levels and the use of arc fault detection devices.[8]
See also[edit]
British Standards
Electrical wiring
Electrical wiring (UK)
IEC 60364
Earthing system
References[edit]
Jump up ^ BS7671 chapter 11 - scope
Jump up ^ BS7671: Preface
^ Jump up to: a b c "IET launches Amendment to Wiring Regulations". www.theiet.org. The IET. Retrieved 2018-03-01.
Jump up ^ "Regulatory Requirements" (PDF). p. 3.
Jump up ^ Electrician's guide to the 17th edition of the IEE wiring regulations. 3rd edition pub 2012 John Whitfield
Jump up ^ Geoff Cronshaw: The 17th edition: a brief overview. IEE Wiring Matters, Summer 2007.
Jump up ^ "IET launches Amendment 3 to BS 7671:2008". Voltimum UK. Retrieved 2018-03-01.
Jump up ^ Whitton, Nicole (2016). "BS 7671: the 18th Edition report". electrical.theiet.org. IET Electrical. Retrieved 2018-02-08.
External links[edit]
Wiring Regulations
The 17th Edition Exam
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BS_7671&oldid=828260059"
Categories:
British Standards
Electrical safety in the United Kingdom
Electrical standards
Electrical wiring
Hidden categories:
Use British English Oxford spelling from August 2013
All pages needing factual verification
Wikipedia articles needing factual verification from April 2015
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
Languages
Add links
This page was last edited on 1 March 2018, at 14:24.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

key: html

type: local

value: div

attrs: id class

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

value: a

attrs: id class lang

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

values: jump-to-nav mw-jump

value: td

value: tr

attrs: href title

value: th

values: padding:0.2em 0.4em 0.2em;padding-top:0;font-size:145%;line-height:1.2em;background-color: wheat

value: li

value: ul

attrs: class style

values:
hlist
padding:0 0.1em 0.4em

values: float:right;clear:right;width:22.0em;margin:0 0 1.0em 1.0em;background:#f9f9f9;border:1px solid #aaa;padding:0.2em;border-spacing:0.4em 0;text-align:center;line-height:1.4em;font-size:88%

values:
/wiki/British_Standard
mw-redirect
British Standard

values: Edit section: Compilation and publication

values: Institution of Engineering and Technology

values:
/wiki/British_Standards_Institute
mw-redirect
British Standards Institute

values: Edit section: History of BS 7671 and predecessor standards

values:
/wiki/Solar_PV_systems
mw-redirect
Solar PV systems

values: The material near this tag needs to be fact-checked with the cited source(s). (April 2015)

values:
/wiki/Electrical_wiring_(UK)
mw-redirect
Electrical wiring (UK)

values:
reflist mw-references-wrap
list-style-type: decimal;

values: Category:Electrical safety in the United Kingdom

values: Category:Use British English Oxford spelling from August 2013

values: Category:All pages needing factual verification

values: Category:Wikipedia articles needing factual verification from April 2015

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

values:
/wiki/BS_7671
View the content page [ctrl-alt-c]
c

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values:
/w/index.php?title=BS_7671&action=edit
Edit this page [ctrl-alt-e]
e

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

values: Find background information on current events

values:
/wiki/Special:Random
Load a random article [ctrl-alt-x]
x

values: portal navigation p-navigation p-navigation-label

values: Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia

values: About the project, what you can do, where to find things

values: A list of recent changes in the wiki [ctrl-alt-r]

values: portal navigation p-interaction p-interaction-label

values: List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [ctrl-alt-j]

values:
suggestions
display: none; font-size: 13px;

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-BS_7671 rootpage-BS_7671 skin-vector action-view