Similarities Of Witchcraft And Wicca - amazonia.fiocruz.br

Think, that: Similarities Of Witchcraft And Wicca

Download PDF. This paper compares the creation of witch identities in news reports about witchcraft printed in Germany and England — The scale of witch-hunts and witchcraft reports differed dramatically in Germany and England. This difference, however, masks similarities in the created identities of witches in both countries.

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Witch identities in both countries were always fluid, although this fluidity was especially evident during periods of intense witch-hunting. Ultimately, a diabolic connection and evil nature were the defining characteristics of witches in both Germany and Https://amazonia.fiocruz.br/scdp/essay/is-lafayette-a-hidden-ivy/analysis-of-peplau-s-middle-range-theory.php. Keywords: witchcraft, Germany, England, early modern, identity, sex, gender, crime, news, popular print, diabolism.

Who, or what, is a witch? Belief in witches and witchcraft can be found, in some form, throughout history Witchcgaft the globe.

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Even contemporaries during the early modern European witch-hunts — which claimed the lives of roughly 45, people between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries — struggled to find a coherent definition of a witch. Rather, ideas about witches and witchcraft varied significantly at every level of society. Historians have long been interested in untangling the complex web of meanings surrounding witchcraft, but extant sources pose a problem when trying to explore the identity of the witches themselves. Since questions were not often recorded, identifying leading questions and when the questioner has shaped the answers is challenging.

Records of trials, whether they be court documents or news reports, often underwent significant editing, translation, and shaping to present a coherent narrative. This article examines such reports about witchcraft, from Germany and England, between Witchcgaft The witch-hunts in Germany and England could both be considered exceptional for different reasons. While the scale of witch-hunting differed considerably in Germany and England, the two countries also shared several characteristics. Both experienced significant religious upheaval, because of the Reformation. Both also had vibrant print industries.

In England, this industry was concentrated primarily although not solely in London, while in Germany several print centres emerged including Augsburg, Nuremberg, Erfurt, Leipzig, and Cologne. These print centres, coupled with developments in communication networks, and cheaper production of paper, led to a growing popular print industry by the second half of the sixteenth century. The news reports on witchcraft discussed here were part of this wider growth in print. More specifically, they belong to the genre of crime reporting, alongside reports of other lurid and serious crimes such as murder.

Anne Boleyn wasn't directly accused of witchcraft

They were printed in the form of short pamphlets approximately eight pageschapbooks, single-sheet broadsheets, and ballads. Such representation was only indirectly related to Similaritues events; pamphlets and ballads tended to report only the most sensational and atypical cases Similarities Of Witchcraft And Wicca they were likely to attract buyers. They offer, therefore, the opportunity to explore what the wider populace learned about witchcraft. Millar has recently demonstrated the importance of these sources for exploring witch identities, offering an insight into male witches in English witchcraft pamphlets and highlighting the need for diabolism to be integrated into our understanding of English witchcraft.

Such comparison has not been undertaken previously.

Comparative research remains rare in witchcraft scholarship, see more notable studies including the works of Johannes Dillinger, Laura Stokes, and Louise Nyholm Kallestrup demonstrating the merits Similarities Of Witchcraft And Wicca the approach. In doing so, it deepens our understanding of witchcraft in both countries, provides a framework to consider overarching trends in a way that is not possible with regional case studies, and highlights the potential of comparative research in the field of witchcraft. It asks what characteristics pamphleteers in both countries considered to be quintessential to the witch. It also considers how the genre of crime reporting and the intentions and priorities of pamphleteers shaped their approach to witch identities. The essay is divided into four parts.

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Ultimately, the essay demonstrates that, while they are not identical, there are clear overlaps in the witch identities created by German and English Similarities Of Witchcraft And Wicca. In Germany and England, the female criminal was an anomaly, although the percentage of men and women prosecuted varied in different localities.

According to Jeanette Kamp, some major European cities such as London, Leiden, and Glasgow Simikarities relatively high proportions of female criminals 30 to 50 percentbut others, such as Frankfurt am Main, had a much lower rate of female prosecution 22 percent. Men were the chief offenders in major crimes including treason, heresy, and murder. Women tended to be involved in crimes which undermined public order, such as slander, scolding, sexual impropriety, or property offences. In England, 90 percent of those executed for witchcraft were women.]