Dbq Salem Witch Trials

Witch trials are a phenomenon that have plagued societies throughout history. Witch trials were not unique to one culture, but rather occured in periods of mass hysteria. They date from as early as the Code of Hammurabi from about 2000 B.C., to the infamous Salem witch trials in colonial Massachusetts. This suggests that the fear and persecution of witches is sociological rather than cultural. Witch persecutions do not arise randomly, but can be attributed to various external conditions. This is encompassed by the Realistic Conflict Theory, which states that “if valuable resources are perceived as scarce (regardless of whether they truly are), then these groups enter into competition and antagonism ensues between them.” These external pressures …show more content…
This is not to say that witches were not widely believed in before the protestant reformation, the popular medieval text Malleus Maleficarum by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger can attest to this. But despite their existence being common knowledge before, witches were never prosecuted until after Martin Luther’s 95 theses. The majority of witch prosecutions occured between the years 1560 and 1630, and the period became known as the ‘Great Hunt’. It is no coincidence that the period of The Reformation, 1517-1648, encompassed the Great Hunt. Countries with majority Catholicism, such as Spain and Italy, where generally untouched by the witch trials. This is because they weren't threatened by the prospect of growing Protestantism, and therefore didn't have to resort to drastic means to …show more content…
This is particularly seen in the trials at Wiesensteig, Germany. During the summer of 1963 the resulting poor weather of the little Ice Age led to higher mortality rates among livestock, and the flooding and rain made farming difficult. As all of this was before the age of enlightenment, and so the locals were desperate for a reason for their poor luck. Witches became their scapegoat for the foul weather. The trials were a form of catharsis for the locals, and their religious beliefs became a convenient way to justify the executions. And so officials, regardless of personal religious beliefs, naturally took advantage of this, as to divert the anger of the peasants away from the

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Salem Witch Trials DBQ