Why did people in 16th and 17th century believe in witches?
Just started this at college. Take yourself back to this period – everyone goes to church as there’s a fine/punishment if you don’t. Also, there is little scientific knowledge etc so if anything untoward happens, such as someone unexpectadly falls ill, the natural thing was to blame something, or someone. Women in this period were treated badly. They had little or no rights and their sole aim in life was to marry and have kids. Therefore if someone is going to get blamed, it’s the women. Link this to the religion factor and they thought it was the work of the devil/woman worshipping the devil. Add to the fact that the book, the hammer of witches, or the Malleus Malificarum was published, teaching the masses about witches and how to spot them etc. and it’s easy to see why they came to this conclusion. The M.M was highly influencial. Written by two Dominican friars who hated women and probably had bad experiences with them, the MM was a collection of superstitions, paraded as facts.
