View source for European witchcraft

{{Short description|Belief in witchcraft in Europe}}
[[File:Baldung hexen ca1514.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Hans Baldung Grien]]'s ''Three Witches'', c.&nbsp;1514]]
{{witchcraft sidebar|Region}}

'''European witchcraft''' can be traced back to [[classical antiquity]], when [[magic and religion]] were closely entwined. During the [[Ancient Roman religion|pagan]] era of [[ancient Rome]], there were laws against harmful magic. After [[Christianization#Roman Empire to Early Middle Ages (1 to 800)|Christianization]], the [[History of the Catholic Church#Middle Ages|medieval Catholic Church]] began to see witchcraft (''maleficium'') as a blend of [[black magic]] and [[apostasy]] involving a [[pact with the Devil]]. During the [[early modern period]], [[witch hunts]] became widespread in Europe, partly fueled by religious tensions, societal anxieties, and economic upheaval. European belief in witchcraft gradually dwindled during and after the [[Age of Enlightenment]].

One text that shaped the witch-hunts was the ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]'', a 1486 treatise that provided a framework for identifying, prosecuting, and punishing witches. During the 16th and 17th centuries, there was a [[witch trials in the early modern period|wave of witch trials]] across Europe, resulting in tens of thousands of executions and many more prosecutions. Usually, accusations of witchcraft were made by neighbours and followed from social tensions. Accusations were most often made against women, the elderly, and marginalized individuals. Women made accusations as often as men. The common people believed that magical healers (called '[[cunning folk]]' or 'wise people') could undo bewitchment. These magical healers were sometimes denounced as harmful witches themselves, but seem to have made up a minority of the accused.<!--see refs under "Witches and folk healers" below--> This dark period of history reflects the confluence of [[superstition]], fear, and authority, as well as the societal tendency of [[scapegoating]]. A [[Feminist interpretations of witch trials in the early modern period|feminist interpretation of the witch trials]] is that [[misogyny]] led to the association of women and malevolent witchcraft.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ehrenreich |first1=B. |last2=English |first2=D. |year=2010 |title=Witches, Midwives, & Nurses: A History of Women Healers |edition=2nd |place=New York |publisher=[[Feminist Press]] at CUNY |isbn=978-1558616905 |pages=29, 54}}</ref>

[[Tsardom of Russia|Russia]] also had witchcraft trials during the 17th century. Witches were often accused of [[Goetia|sorcery]] and engaging in [[Supernatural|supernatural activities]], leading to their [[excommunication]] and execution. The blending of [[ecclesiastical]] and [[Secularism|secular]] jurisdictions in Russian witchcraft trials highlight the intertwined nature of religious and political power during that time. Witchcraft fears and accusations came to be used as a political weapon against individuals who posed threats to the ruling elite.

Since the 1940s, diverse [[neopagan witchcraft]] movements have emerged in Europe, seeking to revive and reinterpret historical pagan and mystical practices. [[Wicca]], pioneered by [[Gerald Gardner]], is the biggest and most influential. Inspired by the now-discredited [[witch-cult theory]] and [[ceremonial magic]], Wicca emphasizes a connection to nature, the [[Divinity|divine]], and personal growth. [[Stregheria]] is a distinctly Italian form of neopagan witchcraft. Many of these neopagans self-identify as "witches".

==Concept==
The concept of malevolent magic has since been found among cultures worldwide,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Singh |first=Manvir |date=2021-02-02 |title=Magic, Explanations, and Evil: The Origins and Design of Witches and Sorcerers |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349617609 |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=2–29 |doi=10.1086/713111 |s2cid=232214522 |issn=0011-3204 |access-date=2021-04-28 |archive-date=2021-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210718192653/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349617609_Magic_Explanations_and_Evil_The_Origins_and_Design_of_Witches_and_Sorcerers |url-status=live }}</ref> and it is prominent in some cultures today.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ankarloo |first1=Bengt |title=Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan Societies |last2=Clark |first2=Stuart |date=2001 |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]] |isbn=978-0826486066 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=xiii |quote=Magic is central not only in 'primitive' societies but in 'high cultural' societies as well.}}</ref>  Most societies have believed in, and feared, an ability by some individuals to cause supernatural harm and misfortune to others. This may come from mankind's tendency "to want to assign occurrences of remarkable good or bad luck to agency, either human or [[superhuman]]".{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|p=10}}

Historians and [[anthropologist]]s see the concept of "witchcraft" as one of the ways humans have tried to explain strange misfortune.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|p=10}}{{sfnp|Pócs|1999|pp=9–10}} Some cultures have feared witchcraft much less than others, because they tend to have other explanations for strange misfortune; for example that it was caused by gods, spirits, demons or fairies, or by other humans who have unwittingly cast the [[evil eye]].{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|p=10}} For example, the [[Gaels]] of Ireland and the [[Scottish Highlands]] historically held a strong belief in [[Aos Sí|fairy folk]], who could cause supernatural harm, and witch-hunting was very rare in these regions compared to other regions of the British Isles.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=245-248}}

[[Ronald Hutton]] outlined five key characteristics ascribed to witches and witchcraft by most cultures that believe in the concept. Traditionally, witchcraft was believed to be the use of magic to cause harm or misfortune to others; it was used by the witch against their own community; it was seen as [[Immorality|immoral]] and often thought to involve communion with evil beings; powers of witchcraft were believed to have been acquired through inheritance or initiation; and witchcraft could be thwarted by defensive magic, persuasion, intimidation or physical punishment of the alleged witch.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=3-4}}

[[Image:Martin van Maele - La Sorcière 06.jpg|thumb|right|Illustration by [[Martin van Maële]], of a ''[[Witches' Sabbath]]'', in the 1911 edition of ''La Sorcière'' by [[Jules Michelet]]]]

The [[Christian views on magic|Christian concept of witchcraft]] derives from [[Biblical law|Old Testament laws]] against it. European Christianity viewed witchcraft as a blend of sorcery and [[apostasy]] (or [[heresy]]). Witches were believed to renounce Christ, the [[sacraments]] and [[salvation]], instead performing [[Black Mass]]es and making a [[pact with the Devil]], through which they gained powers of sorcery.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Monter |first=E. William |title=European Witchcraft |year=1969 |location=New York |pages=vii–viii}}</ref> In medieval and early modern Europe, many common folk who were Christians believed in both good and bad magic. As opposed to the helpful magic of folk healers, witchcraft was seen as evil.{{sfnp|Pócs|1999|pp=9–12}}

===Pre-modern beliefs about witchcraft===
In [[Middle Ages|medieval]] and [[early modern Europe]], witches were usually believed to be women who used [[black magic]] (''[[Maleficium (sorcery)|maleficium]]'') against their community, and often to have communed with demons or the Devil. Witches were commonly believed to cast [[curse]]s; a [[spell (paranormal)|spell]] or set of [[Incantation|magical words]] and gestures intended to inflict supernatural harm.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Levack |first1=Brian |title=The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=54}}</ref> Cursing could also involve inscribing [[runes]] or [[sigil (magic)|sigils]] on an object to give that object magical powers; burning or binding a wax or clay image (a [[poppet]]) of a person to affect them magically; or using herbs, animal parts and other substances to make [[potion]]s or poisons; among other means.{{sfnp|Luck|1985|pp=254, 260, 394}}{{sfnp|Kittredge|1929|p=172}}{{sfnp|Davies|1999|p={{page needed|date=July 2023}}}} A common belief was that witches tended to use something from their victim's body to work black magic against them; for example hair, nail clippings, clothing, or bodily waste.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=19-22}}

Witches were believed to work in secret, sometimes alone and sometimes with other witches. They were sometimes said to hold [[Witches' sabbath|gatherings at night]] where they worked black magic and transgressed social norms by engaging in cannibalism, incest and open nudity.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=19-22}}

Another common belief was that witches had a demonic helper or "[[familiar]]", often in animal form. Witches were also often thought to be able to [[Shapeshifting|shapeshift]] into animals themselves, particularly cats and owls.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|p=264}}

Witchcraft was blamed for many kinds of misfortune. By far the most common kind of harm attributed to witchcraft was illness or death suffered by adults, their children, or their animals. "Certain ailments, like impotence in men, infertility in women, and lack of milk in cows, were particularly associated with witchcraft". Illnesses that were poorly understood were more likely to be blamed on witchcraft. Edward Bever writes: "Witchcraft was particularly likely to be suspected when a disease came on unusually swiftly, lingered unusually long, could not be diagnosed clearly, or presented some other unusual symptoms".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Levack |first1=Brian |title=The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=54–55}}</ref>

It was thought witchcraft could be thwarted by [[Apotropaic magic|protective magic or counter-magic]], which could be provided by the '[[cunning folk]]' or 'wise people'. This included charms, [[talisman]]s and [[amulet]]s, anti-[[Apotropaic mark|witch marks]], [[witch bottle]]s, [[witch ball]]s, and burying objects such as [[horse skulls]] inside the walls of buildings.<ref>Hoggard, Brian (2004). "The archaeology of counter-witchcraft and popular magic", in ''Beyond the Witch Trials: Witchcraft and Magic in Enlightenment Europe'',  Manchester University Press. p. 167</ref> People believed that bewitchment could be broken by physically punishing the alleged witch, such as by banishing, wounding, torturing or killing them. "In most societies, however, a formal and legal remedy was preferred to this sort of private action", whereby the alleged witch would be prosecuted and then formally punished if found guilty.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=24-25}}

==== Witches and folk healers ====
{{Main|Cunning folk}}

[[File:Diorama of a Cunning Woman in the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic.jpg|thumb|[[Diorama]] of a cunning woman or wise woman in the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic]]

Most societies that have believed in harmful witchcraft or [[black magic|'black' magic]] have also believed in helpful or '[[white magic|white]]' magic.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=24-25}} In these societies, practitioners of helpful magic provided services such as breaking the effects of witchcraft, [[Traditional medicine|healing]], [[divination]], finding lost or stolen goods, and [[love magic]].{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=x-xi}} In Britain they were commonly known as cunning folk or wise people.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=x-xi}} Alan McFarlane writes that they might be called 'white', 'good', or 'unbinding' witches, as well as blessers or wizards, but were more often known as cunning folk.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Macfarlane |first=Alan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lmfuwq0mQMUC&pg=PA130 |title=Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England: A Regional and Comparative Study |year= 1999 |publisher=Psychology Press |page=130 |isbn=978-0415196123 }}</ref> Historian [[Owen Davies (historian)|Owen Davies]] says the term "white witch" was rarely used before the 20th century.<ref>{{cite book |title= Popular Magic: Cunning-folk in English History |last= Davies |first=Owen |author-link=Owen Davies (historian) |year= 2007 |publisher=A&C Black |page=xiii}}</ref> Ronald Hutton uses the general term "service magicians".{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=x-xi}} Often these people were involved in identifying alleged witches.{{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=24-25}}

Such magic-workers "were normally contrasted with the witch who practised ''maleficium''—that is, magic used for harmful ends".<ref name="Willis-2018">{{cite book |last1=Willis |first1=Deborah |title=Malevolent Nurture: Witch-Hunting and Maternal Power in Early Modern England |date=2018 |publisher=Cornell University Press |pages=27–28}}</ref> In the early years of the witch hunts "the cunning folk were widely tolerated by church, state and general populace".<ref name="Willis-2018"/> Some of the more hostile churchmen and secular authorities tried to smear folk-healers and magic-workers by branding them 'witches' and associating them with harmful 'witchcraft',{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=x-xi}} but generally the masses did not accept this and continued to make use of their services.<ref>Ole Peter Grell and Robert W. Scribner (2002). Tolerance and Intolerance in the European Reformation. Cambridge University Press. p. 45. "Not all the stereotypes created by elites were capable of popular reception ... The most interesting example concerns cunning folk, whom secular and religious authorities consistently sought to associate with negative stereotypes of superstition or witchcraft. This proved no deterrent to their activities or to the positive evaluation in the popular mind of what they had to offer."</ref> The English [[Member of parliament|MP]] and skeptic [[Reginald Scot]] sought to disprove magic and witchcraft, writing in ''[[The Discoverie of Witchcraft]]'' (1584), "At this day it is indifferent to say in the English tongue, 'she is a witch' or 'she is a wise woman{{'"}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scot |first=Reginald |title=The Discoverie of Witchcraft |date=1584 |volume=Booke V |chapter=Chapter 9 |author-link=Reginald Scot}}</ref> [[Emma Wilby]] says folk magicians in Europe were viewed ambivalently by communities, and were considered as capable of harming as of healing, which could lead to their being accused as "witches" in the negative sense. She suggests some English "witches" convicted of consorting with demons may have been cunning folk whose supposed [[fairy]] [[familiar spirit|familiar]]s had been [[Demonization|demonised]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Wilby |first=Emma |year=2006 |title=Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits: Shamanistic Visionary Traditions in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic |title-link=Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits |publisher=Sussex Academic Press |isbn=978-1-84519-079-8 |pages=51–54, 123}}</ref>

[[Ronald Hutton|Hutton]] says that healers and cunning folk "were sometimes denounced as witches, but seem to have made up a minority of the accused in any area studied".{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=24-25}} Likewise, [[Owen Davies (historian)|Davies]] says "relatively few cunning-folk were prosecuted under secular statutes for witchcraft" and were dealt with more leniently than alleged witches. The [[Constitutio Criminalis Carolina]] (1532) of the [[Holy Roman Empire]], and the Danish Witchcraft Act of 1617, stated that workers of folk magic should be dealt with differently from witches.<ref name="Davies-2007">{{cite book |title=Popular Magic: Cunning-folk in English History |last=Davies |first=Owen |author-link=Owen Davies (historian) |year=2007 |publisher=A&C Black |page=164}}</ref> It was suggested by [[Richard Horsley]] that cunning folk ({{Lang|fr|devins-guerisseurs}}, 'diviner-healers') made up a significant proportion of those tried for witchcraft in France and Switzerland, but more recent surveys conclude that they made up less than 2% of the accused.<ref>{{cite book |title=Popular Magic: Cunning-folk in English History |last=Davies |first=Owen |author-link=Owen Davies (historian) |year=2007 |publisher=A&C Black |page=167}}</ref> However, [[Éva Pócs]] says that half the accused witches in Hungary seem to have been healers,{{sfnp|Pócs|1999|p=12}} and Kathleen Stokker says the "vast majority" of Norway's accused witches were folk healers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stokker |first1=Kathleen |title=Remedies and Rituals: Folk Medicine in Norway and the New Land |date=2007 |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press |location=St. Paul, MN |isbn=978-0873517508 |pages=81–82 |quote=Supernatural healing of the sort practiced by Inger Roed and Lisbet Nypan, known as ''signeri'', played a role in the vast majority of Norway's 263 documented witch trials. In trial after trial, accused 'witches' came forward and freely testified about their healing methods, telling about the salves they made and the ''bønner'' (prayers) they read over them to enhance their potency.}}</ref>

====Accusations of witchcraft====
Witchcraft accusations were often a form of [[scapegoating]] (casting blame for misfortune),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Russell |first=Jeffrey Burton |title=Witchcraft |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/646051/witchcraft |access-date=June 29, 2013 |website=Britannica.com |archive-date=May 10, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510105836/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/646051/witchcraft |url-status=live }}</ref> and often resulted in prosecution, as well as torture and killing, of alleged witches. In pre-modern [[Europe]], most of those accused were women,<ref name="Gibbons-1998">{{cite journal |last=Gibbons |first=Jenny |title=Recent Developments in the Study of the Great European Witch Hunt |journal=[[The Pomegranate]] |date=1998 |volume=5 |number=5 |pages=2–16 |doi=10.1558/pome.v13i5.2 }}</ref><ref>Drury, Nevill (1992) ''Dictionary of Mysticism and the Esoteric Traditions'' Revised Edition. Bridport, Dorset: Prism Press. "Witch".</ref> and accusations of witchcraft usually came from their neighbors who accused them of inflicting harm or misfortune by magical means.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Levack |first1=Brian |title=The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=7–8}}</ref> [[Alan Macfarlane|Macfarlane]] found that women made accusations of witchcraft as much as men did. Deborah Willis adds, "The number of witchcraft quarrels that began between women may actually have been higher; in some cases, it appears that the husband as 'head of household' came forward to make statements on behalf of his wife".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Willis |first1=Deborah |title=Malevolent Nurture: Witch-Hunting and Maternal Power in Early Modern England |date=2018 |publisher=Cornell University Press |pages=35–36}}</ref> [[Ronald Hutton|Hutton]] and [[Owen Davies (historian)|Davies]] note that folk healers were sometimes accused of witchcraft, but made up a minority of the accused.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=24-25}}<ref name="Davies-2007"/> It is also possible that a small proportion of accused witches may have genuinely sought to harm by magical means.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Willis |first1=Deborah |title=Malevolent Nurture: Witch-Hunting and Maternal Power in Early Modern England |date=2018 |publisher=Cornell University Press |pages=23}}</ref>

[[Éva Pócs]] writes that reasons for accusations of witchcraft fall into four general categories:{{sfnp|Pócs|1999|pp=9–10}}
# A person was caught in the act of positive or negative [[Goetia|sorcery]]
# A well-meaning sorcerer or healer lost their clients' or the authorities' trust
# A person did nothing more than gain the enmity of their neighbors
# A person was reputed to be a witch and surrounded with an aura of witch-beliefs or [[occultism]].

She identifies three kinds of witch in popular belief:{{sfnp|Pócs|1999|pp=9–10}}
* The "neighborhood witch" or "social witch": a witch who curses a neighbor following some dispute.
* The "magical" or "sorcerer" witch: either a professional healer, sorcerer, seer or midwife, or a person who was thought to have used magic to increase her fortune to the perceived detriment of a neighboring household; due to neighborhood or community rivalries, and the ambiguity between positive and negative magic, such individuals can become branded as witches.
* The "supernatural" or "night" witch: portrayed in court narratives as a demon appearing in visions and dreams.{{sfnp|Pócs|1999|pp=10–11}}
"Neighborhood witches" are the product of neighborhood tensions, and are found only in village communities where the inhabitants largely rely on each other. Such accusations follow the breaking of some social norm, such as the failure to return a borrowed item, and any person part of the normal social exchange could potentially fall under suspicion. Claims of "sorcerer" witches and "supernatural" witches could arise out of social tensions, but not exclusively; the supernatural witch often had nothing to do with communal conflict, but expressed tensions between the human and supernatural worlds; and in Eastern and Southeastern Europe such supernatural witches became an ideology explaining calamities that befell whole communities.{{sfnp|Pócs|1999|pp=11–12}}

The historian [[Norman Gevitz]] has written:
{{blockquote|[T]he medical arts played a significant and sometimes pivotal role in the witchcraft controversies of seventeenth-century New England. Not only were physicians and surgeons the principal professional arbiters for determining natural versus preternatural signs and symptoms of disease, they occupied key legislative, judicial, and ministerial roles relating to witchcraft proceedings. Forty six male physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries are named in court transcripts or other contemporary source materials relating to New England witchcraft. These practitioners served on coroners' inquests, performed autopsies, took testimony, issued writs, wrote letters, or committed people to prison, in addition to diagnosing and treating patients.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gevitz |first=N. |date=1 January 2000 |title='The Devil Hath Laughed at the Physicians': Witchcraft and Medical Practice in Seventeenth-Century New England |journal=Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=5–36 |doi=10.1093/jhmas/55.1.5 |pmid=10734719}}</ref>}}

It was commonly believed that individuals with power and prestige were involved in acts of witchcraft and even cannibalism.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thornton |first=John |date=2003 |title=Cannibals, Witches, and Slave Traders in the Atlantic World |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=273–294 |doi=10.2307/3491764 |jstor=3491764}}</ref>

==History==
===Antiquity===
{{main|Magic in the Greco-Roman world}}
[[File:Caius Furius Cressinus Accused of Sorcery LACMA M.82.119.jpg|thumb|''Caius Furius Cressinus Accused of Sorcery'', [[Jean-Pierre Saint-Ours]], 1792]]
In [[Witchcraft in ancient Greece and Rome|ancient Greece and Roman Empire]], circa 8th century BCE - 5th century CE, individuals known as "''[[Goetia|goêtes]]''" practiced various forms of magic, including divination, spellcasting, and invoking supernatural entities. While some forms of magic were integrated into religious practices, others were seen as superstitious and potentially harmful.{{sfnp|Luck|1999|pp = [https://archive.org/details/witchcraftmagici00clar/page/99 99], 101}}

There are accounts of people being [[Witch-hunt#Classical antiquity|prosecuted and punished for witchcraft]] in the [[Classical antiquity|ancient Greco-Roman world]], before Christianity. In [[ancient Greece]], for example, [[Theoris of Lemnos|Theoris]], a woman of [[Lemnos]], was prosecuted for and executed along with her family.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Collins|first=Derek|title=Theoris of Lemnos and the Criminalization of Magic in Fourth-Century Athens|journal=The Classical Quarterly|volume=51|issue=2|year=2001|pages=477–493|doi=10.1093/cq/51.2.477}}</ref> Records refer to her as ''pharmakis'' (potion specialist),{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|p=55}} ''mantis'' (diviner),{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|p=54}} and ''hiereia'' (priestess), but the sentence against her and her family was for ''asebeia'' (impiety).{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|p=56}}

During the [[Ancient Roman religion|pagan]] era of [[ancient Rome]], there were laws against harmful magic.<ref name="Dickie-2003">{{cite book |last1=Dickie |first1=Matthew |title=Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge |pages=138–142}}</ref> According to [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], the [[5th century BC]] laws of the [[Twelve Tables]] laid down penalties for uttering harmful incantations and for stealing the fruitfulness of someone else's crops by magic.<ref name="Dickie-2003"/> "The clause forbidding evil incantations does not forbid incantations ''per se'', but only incantations taking the form of song intended to harm" ({{lang|la|mala carmen}}).<ref name="Dickie-2003"/> The only recorded trial involving this law was that of [[Gaius Furius Chresimus]] in 191 BC. He was acquitted of using spells to draw the fruitfulness of other fields into his own.<ref name="Dickie-2003"/>

The [[Classical Latin]] word {{lang|la|veneficium}} meant both poisoning and causing harm by magic (such as magic potions), although ancient people would not have distinguished between the two.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=60-61}} In 331 BC, a deadly epidemic hit Rome and at least 170 women were executed for causing it by ''veneficium''. However, some portions of these individuals were tested and killed by being made to drink their own medical potions, indicating the charge was straightforward poisoning.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|p=61}} In 184–180 BC, another epidemic hit Italy, and about 5,000 were executed for ''veneficium''.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|p=61}} [[Ronald Hutton|Hutton]] states that if even some portion were charged for killing with magical rites "then the [[Roman Republic|Republican Romans]] hunted witches on a scale unknown anywhere else in the ancient world, and any other time in European history".{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|p=61}} However, he acknowledges that it is impossible to tell whether any percentage of these charges were for poisoning or the use of magic.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|p=61}}

Under the ''[[Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis]]'' ("[[Sulla|Cornelian]] law against assassins and poisoners") of 81 BC, killing by ''veneficium'' carried the death penalty. During the early [[Roman Empire|Imperial era]], the ''Lex Cornelia'' began to be used more broadly against other kinds of magic, including "making of love potions, the enactment of rites to enchant, bind or restrain, the possession of books containing magical recipes, and the 'arts of magic' in general."{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|p=60}} [[Modestinus]], a Roman jurist of the early third century AD, wrote that sacrifices made for evil purposes could be punished under the ''Lex Cornelia''.<ref name="Dickie-2003"/> The ''[[Pauli Sententiae]]'', from the same century, says the ''Lex Cornelia'' imposed a penalty on those who made sacrifices at night to bewitch someone. It also outlines penalties for giving potions to [[Abortifacient|induce an abortion]] or to [[Love potion|induce love]]. The magicians were to be burnt at the stake.<ref name="Dickie-2003"/>

Witch characters—women who work powerful evil magic—appear in ancient Roman literature from the first century BC onward.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=61-62}} Some of these draw from more neutral models, as seen in Greece.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=61-62}} However, there are also distinctly evil figures, typically [[hag]]s who chant harmful incantations; make poisonous potions from herbs and the body parts of animals and humans; sacrifice children; raise the dead; can control the natural world; can shapeshift themselves and others into animals; and invoke underworld deities and spirits. They include [[Lucan]]'s [[Erichtho]], [[Horace]]'s [[Epodes (Horace)|Canidia]], [[Ovid]]'s [[Endymion (play)|Dipsas]], and [[Apuleius]]'s [[The Golden Ass|Meroe]].{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=62-63}} However, Hutton acknowledges the likelihood that this represents a level of literary license being taken with the historical memory of mass executions of women for ''veneficium''.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=63-64}} Another version of the malevolent witch that appeared in Rome was "a highly sexed woman in her prime, fond of young men and inclined to destroy those who reject her." Unique to Rome among its contemporaries as a description of witches, this image was closely related to several stories of demons traded between neighboring and preceding cultures.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|pp=66-69}}

Early converts to Christianity looked to Christian clergy to work magic more effectively than the old methods under Roman paganism, and Christianity provided a methodology involving saints and relics, similar to the gods and amulets of the Pagan world. As Christianity became the dominant religion in Europe, its concern with magic lessened.<ref>Maxwell-Stuart, P. G. (2000) "The Emergence of the Christian Witch" in ''History Today'', Nov, 2000.</ref> The first Christian Roman emperor, [[Constantine the Great]], introduced new laws against magic in the early 4th century AD. Private [[divination]], and working magic to harm others or to induce lust, were to be punished harshly, but [[Apotropaic magic|protective magic]] was not outlawed.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dickie |first1=Matthew |title=Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge |page=243}}</ref>

===Middle Ages===
{{further|Medieval European magic}}

====Medieval laws====
The early legal codes of most European nations contain laws directed against witchcraft. Thus, for example, the oldest document of Frankish legislation, the [[Salic law]], which was reduced to a written form and promulgated under [[Clovis I|Clovis]], who died 27 November, 511, punishes those who practice magic with various fines, especially when it could be proven that the accused launched a deadly curse.<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=Katherine Fischer |editor-last=Drew |title=The Laws of the Salian Franks |year=2012 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0812200508}}</ref> The laws of the [[Visigoths]], which were to some extent founded upon the [[Roman law]], punished witches who had killed any person by their spells with death; while long-continued and obstinate witchcraft, if fully proven, was visited with such severe sentences as slavery for life.<ref>{{cite book |last=Scott |first=Samuel Parsons (tr.) |title=The Visigothic Code: (Forum Judicum) |year=1910 |publisher=Boston Book Company}}</ref> The [[Council of Trullo|Eastern council in Trullo]] (692), and certain early Irish canons, treated sorcery as a crime to be visited with excommunication until adequate penance had been performed.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Oakley |first=Thomas P. |title=Cultural Affiliations of Early Ireland in the Penitentials |journal=Speculum |volume=8 |number=4 |year=1933 |pages=489–500 |doi=10.2307/2855892|jstor=2855892 }}</ref>

The ''[[Pactus Legis Alamannorum]]'', an early 7th-century code of laws of the [[Alemanni]] confederation of Germanic tribes, lists witchcraft as a punishable crime on equal terms with poisoning. If a free man accuses a free woman of witchcraft or poisoning, the accused may be disculpated either by twelve people swearing an oath on her innocence or by one of her relatives defending her in a [[trial by combat]]. In this case, the accuser is required to pay a fine (''Pactus Legis Alamannorum'' 13). [[Charlemagne|Charles the Great]] prescribed the death penalty for anyone who would burn witches.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ćirković|first=Sima|title=Živeti sa istorijom|publisher=Helsinški odbor za ljudska prava u Srbiji|year=2020|location=Belgrade|page=321}}</ref>

With Christianization, belief in witchcraft came to be seen as [[superstition]]. The Council of Leptinnes in 744 drew up a "List of Superstitions", which prohibited sacrifice to saints and created a [[baptism]]al formula that required one to renounce works of demons, specifically naming [[Thor]] and [[Odin]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Ruickbie |first=L. |year=2004 |title=Witchcraft Out of the Shadows: A Complete History |publisher=Robert Hale |isbn=978-0709075677 |page=61}}</ref> Persecution of witchcraft nevertheless persisted throughout most of the [[Early Middle Ages]], into the 10th century.

When [[Charlemagne]] imposed Christianity upon the people of [[Saxony]] in 789, he proclaimed:
{{blockquote|If anyone, deceived by the Devil, shall believe, as is customary among pagans, that any man or woman is a night-witch, and eats men, and on that account burn that person to death... he shall be executed.<ref name="Hutton-1991">{{cite book |last=Hutton |first=Ronald |author-link=Ronald Hutton |year=1991 |title=The Pagan Religions of the Early British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy |publisher=B. Blackwell |isbn=978-0631172888}}</ref>}}

[[File: Augustine Lateran.jpg|right|thumb|The earliest known portrait of [[Saint Augustine]] in a 6th-century fresco, Lateran, Rome]]

Similarly, the [[Edictum Rothari|Lombard code]] of 643 states:
{{blockquote|Let nobody presume to kill a foreign serving maid or female slave as a witch, for it is not possible, nor ought to be believed by Christian minds.<ref name="Hutton-1991"/>}}

This conforms to the thoughts of [[Saint Augustine of Hippo]], who taught that witchcraft did not exist and that the belief in it was heretical.<ref name="Carlson-2016">{{Cite web |editor-first=Marc |editor-last=Carlson |date=9 August 2016 |url=http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/witch/canon.html |title=The ''Canon Episcopi'' |access-date=2005-05-11 |archive-date=2020-12-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201206122850/http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/witch/canon.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 814, [[Louis the Pious]] upon his accession to the throne began to take very active measures against all sorcerers and necromancers, and it was owing to his influence and authority that the {{ill|Council of Paris (829)|fr|Concile de Paris (829)}} appealed to the secular courts to carry out any such sentences as the Bishops might pronounce. The consequence was that from this time forward the penalty of witchcraft was death, and there is evidence that if the constituted authority, either ecclesiastical or civil, seemed to slacken in their efforts the populace took the law into their own hands with far more fearful results.<ref>{{cite book |last=de Jong |first=M. |year=2009 |title=The Penitential State: Authority and Atonement in the Age of Louis the Pious, 814-840 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521881524}}</ref>

In England, the early [[Penitential]]s are greatly concerned with the repression of pagan ceremonies, which under the cover of Christian festivities were very largely practised at Christmas and on New Year's Day. These rites were closely connected with witchcraft, and especially do S. Theodore, S. Aldhelm, Ecgberht of York, and other prelates prohibit the masquerade as a horned animal, a stag, or a bull, which S. Caesarius of Arles had denounced as a "foul tradition", an "evil custom", a "most heinous abomination". The laws of King [[Æthelstan]] (924–40), corresponsive with the early French laws, punished any person casting a spell which resulted in death by extracting the extreme penalty.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jurasinski |first=S. |year=2015 |title=The Old English Penitentials and Anglo-Saxon Law |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1107083417}}</ref>

Among the laws attributed to the Pictish King [[Kenneth MacAlpin|Cináed mac Ailpin]] (ruled 843 to 858), "is an important statute which enacts that all sorcerers and witches, and such as invoke spirits, 'and use to seek upon them for helpe, let them be burned to death'. Even then this was obviously no new penalty, but the statutory confirmation of a long-established punishment. So the witches of Forres who attempted the life of King Duffus in the year 968 by the old bane of slowly melting a wax image, when discovered, were according to the law burned at the stake."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Summers |first=Montague |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8SlpgZF-QtoC&dq=So+the+witches+of+Forres+who+attempted+the+life+of+King+Duffus+in+the+year+968+by+the+old+bane+of+slowly+melting+a+wax+image%2C+when+discovered%2C+were+according+to+the+law+burned+at+the+stake&pg=PR16 |title=The Malleus Maleficarum of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger |date=2012-04-20 |publisher=Courier Corporation |isbn=978-0-486-12269-4 |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Canon Episcopi Hs119.jpg|thumb|300px|The text of the canon ''Episcopi'' in Hs. 119 (Cologne), a manuscript of ''Decretum Burchardi'' dated to ca. 1020.]]

The [[Canon Episcopi]], which was written circa 900 AD (though alleged to date from 314 AD), once more following the teachings of Saint Augustine, declared that witches did not exist and that anyone who believed in them was a heretic. The crucial passage from the Canon Episcopi reads as follows:

{{blockquote|It is also not to be omitted that some unconstrained women, perverted by Satan, seduced by illusions and phantasms of demons, believe and openly profess that, in the dead of night, they ride upon certain beasts with the pagan goddess Diana, with a countless horde of women, and in the silence of the dead of the night to fly over vast tracts of country, and to obey her commands as their mistress, and to be summoned to her service on other nights. But it were well if they alone perished in their infidelity and did not draw so many others into the pit of their faithlessness. For an innumerable multitude, deceived by this false opinion, believe this to be true and, so believing, wander from the right faith and relapse into pagan errors when they think that there is any divinity or power except the one God.<ref name="Carlson-2016"/>}}

P. G. Maxwell-Stewart in "The Emergence of the Christian Witch" wrote:
 
{{blockquote|In the world of late antiquity or the early Middle Ages, it is impossible to define someone as a witch (as opposed, for example, to an amateur herbalist, a heretic or a scold), and none of the legislation of the time attempted to do so. Offenders were designated offenders by virtue of their performing various actions or wearing certain objects declared by the legislation to be condemned or forbidden. For all practical purposes, the 'witch' had not yet been invented. There were only practitioners of various kinds of magic, both male and female, who might belong to any rank of ecclesiastical or lay society, and whose actions might, or might not, bring them within the compass of canon or secular law, depending on external factors that were usually local but could, from time to time, be more general.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Maxwell-Stuart |first1=P. G. |date=November 2000 |title=The Emergence of the Christian Witch |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/THE+EMERGENCE+OF+THE+CHRISTIAN+WITCH.-a067710104 |journal=[[History Today]] |volume=50 |issue=11 |pages=38–43 |issn=0018-2753 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230821133051/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/THE+EMERGENCE+OF+THE+CHRISTIAN+WITCH.-a067710104 | archive-date = 21 August 2023 | url-status = live |access-date=21 August 2023}}</ref>}}

The later Middle Ages saw words for these practitioners of harmful magical acts appear in various European languages: ''sorcière'' in French, ''Hexe'' in German, ''strega'' in Italian, and ''bruja'' in Spanish.{{sfnp|Bailey|2018|p=22}} The English term for malevolent practitioners of magic, witch, derived from the earlier [[Old English]] term ''wicce''.{{sfnp|Bailey|2018|p=22}} A person that performs sorcery is referred to as a ''sorcerer'' or a ''[[witchcraft|witch]]'', conceived as someone who tries to reshape the world through the occult. The word ''witch'' is over a thousand years old: [[Old English]] formed the compound {{Lang|ang|wiccecræft}} from {{Lang|ang|wicce}} ('witch') and {{Lang|ang|cræft}} ('craft').{{sfnp|Harper|n.d.}} The masculine form was {{Lang|ang|wicca}} ('male sorcerer').<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home : Oxford English Dictionary |url=https://oed.com/start;jsessionid=5EF3CA6F4DB30EFC0E4768781B858944?authRejection=true&url=%2Fview%2FEntry%2F229574 |website=oed.com |access-date=2021-07-18 |archive-date=2021-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210718192633/https://oed.com/start;jsessionid=5EF3CA6F4DB30EFC0E4768781B858944?authRejection=true&url=%2Fview%2FEntry%2F229574 |url-status=live }}</ref> In early modern [[Scots language|Scots]], the word [[warlock]] came to be used as the male equivalent of [[witch (word)|witch]] (which can be male or female, but is used predominantly for females).{{sfnp|McNeill|1957|p={{page needed|date=July 2023}}}}{{sfnp|Chambers|1861|p={{page needed|date=July 2023}}}}{{sfnp|Sinclair|1871|p={{page needed|date=July 2023}}}}

====Developing views of the Church====
{{further|Christian views on magic}}

It was in the Church's interest, as it expanded, to suppress all competing Pagan methodologies of magic. This could be done only by presenting a cosmology in which Christian miracles were legitimate and credible, whereas non-Christian ones were "of the devil".{{sfnp|Kieckhefer|1989}} Hence the following law:

{{blockquote|We teach that every priest shall extinguish heathendom, and forbid wilweorthunga (fountain worship), and licwiglunga (incantations of the dead), and hwata (omens), and galdra (magic), and man worship, and the abominations that men exercise in various sorts of witchcraft, and in frithspottum (peace-enclosures) with elms and other trees, and with stones, and with many phantoms.|Source: 16th [[Canon law]] enacted under King [[Edgar of England|Edgar]]|10th century&nbsp;[[Anno Domini|AD]]}}

While the common people were aware of the difference between witches, who they considered willing to undertake evil actions, such as cursing, and [[cunning folk]] who avoided involvement in such activities, the Church attempted to blot out the distinction. In much the same way that culturally distinct non-Christian religions were all lumped together and termed merely "Pagan", so too was all magic lumped together as equally sinful and abhorrent. The earliest written reference to witches as such, from [[Ælfric of Eynsham|Ælfric's]] homilies,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ealdriht.org/witchcraft.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020825120415/http://www.ealdriht.org/witchcraft.html |archive-date=2002-08-25 |title=Anglo-Saxon Witchcraft}}</ref> portrays them as malign.

A rise in the practice of necromancy in the 12th century, spurred on by an influx of texts on magic and diabolism from the Islamic world, had alerted clerical authorities to the potential dangers of malefic magic.{{sfnp|Kieckhefer|1989|pp=116–119; 151–175}} [[Goetia|Sorcery]] came to be associated with heresy and [[apostasy]] and to be viewed as evil. This elevated concern was slowly expanded to include the common witch, but clerics needed an explanation for why uneducated commoners could perform feats of diabolical sorcery that rivaled those of the most seasoned and learned necromancers, whose magic required the rigorous application of study and complex ritual.<ref name="Bailey-2002">{{cite journal |last1=Bailey |first1=Michael D. |title=The Feminization of Magic and the Emerging Idea of the Female Witch in the Late Middle Ages |journal=Essays in Medieval Studies |date=2002 |volume=19 |pages=125–126 |doi=10.1353/ems.2003.0002 |s2cid=56263203}}</ref>

The idea that witches gained their powers through a pact with the Devil provided a satisfactory explanation, and allowed authorities to develop a mythology through which they could project accusations of crimes formerly associated with various heretical sects (cannibalism, ritual [[infanticide]], and the worship of [[Familiar spirit|demonic familiars]]) onto the newly emerging threat of diabolical witchcraft. This pact and the ceremony that accompanied it became widely known as the [[Witches' Sabbath|witches' sabbath]]. The idea of a pact became important—one could be possessed by the Devil and not responsible for one's actions; but to be a witch, one had to sign a [[deal with the Devil|pact with the Devil]], often to worship him, which was heresy and meant damnation. The idea of an explicit and ceremonial pact with the Devil was crucial to the development of the witchcraft concept, because it provided an explanation that differentiated the figure of the witch from that of the learned necromancer or sorcerer.<ref name="Bailey-2002"/>

[[File:Merlin (illustration from middle ages).jpg|thumb|left|alt=Illumination from a 13th-century French manuscript depicting the enchanter Merlin, left, conversing with a copyist monk, right|Merlin is said  to have been born from the relationship of an incubus with a mortal (illumination from a 13th-century French manuscript)]]

[[Gregory of Nyssa]] (c. 335 – c. 395) had said that [[demon]]s had children with women called [[cambion]]s, which added to the children they had between them, contributed to increase the number of demons. However, the first popular account of such a union and offspring does not occur in Western literature until around 1136, when [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] wrote the story of [[Merlin]] in his pseudohistorical account of British history, ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'' ''(History of the Kings of Britain)'', in which he reported that Merlin's father was an [[incubus]].{{sfnp|Lawrence-Mathers|2020}}

Anne Lawrence-Mathers writes that at that time "... views on demons and spirits were still relatively flexible. There was still a possibility that the ''[[Daimon|daemon]]s'' of classical tradition were different from the demons of the Bible."{{sfnp|Lawrence-Mathers|2020}} Accounts of sexual relations with demons in literature continues with ''The Life of Saint [[Bernard of Clairvaux|Bernard]]'' by [[Geoffrey of Auxerre]] ({{circa}} 1160) and the ''Life and Miracles of St. [[William of Norwich]]'' by [[Thomas of Monmouth]] ({{circa}} 1173). The theme of sexual relations with demons became a matter of increasing interest for late 12th-century writers.{{sfnp|Lawrence-Mathers|2020}}

''[[Prophetiae Merlini]]'' (''The Prophecies of Merlin''), a Latin work of [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] in circulation by 1135,{{sfnp|Fulton|2012|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=qqVxhFxzPFQC&pg=PA98 98]}}{{sfnp|Harper-Bill|Van Houts|2007|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=EeBxpPmDh9QC&pg=PA200 200ff]}} perhaps as a ''libellus'' or short work,{{sfnp|Barber|1999|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=VB_u9pTDa54C&pg=PA155 155]}} was the first work about the prophet [[Myrddin]] in a language other than [[Welsh language|Welsh]]. The ''Prophetiae'' was widely read — and believed — much as the prophecies of [[Nostradamus]] would be centuries later; John Jay Parry and Robert Caldwell note that the ''Prophetiae Merlini'' "were taken most seriously, even by the learned and worldly wise, in many nations", and list examples of this credulity as late as 1445.{{sfnp|Parry|Caldwell|1959|p=79}}

It was only beginning in the 1150s that the Church turned its attention to defining the possible roles of spirits and demons, especially with respect to their sexuality and in connection with the various forms of [[Medieval European magic|magic]] which were then believed to exist.{{sfnp|Lawrence-Mathers|2020}} Christian demonologists eventually came to agree that sexual relationships between demons and humans happen, but they disagreed on why and how.{{sfnp|Lawrence-Mathers|2020}} A common point of view is that demons induce men and women to the [[sin]] of [[lust]], and [[adultery]] is often considered as an associated sin.

As Christian views on magic continued to evolve and intertwine with changing cultural landscapes, the perception of supernatural practices became increasingly intricate. The Church's endeavors to assert its dominance over alternative belief systems led to the suppression of various magical methodologies.{{sfnp|Lawrence-Mathers|2020}} Simultaneously, the conceptualization of witches and their alleged pacts with the Devil solidified during the Early Modern period, resulting in the infamous witch trials. These trials marked a significant turning point in the Church's engagement with magic, as accusations of heinous acts were projected onto the figure of the witch.

====Increasing fear and early witch-hunts====
{{further|Witch-hunt}}
The tale of [[Theophilus of Adana|Theophilus]] recorded in the 13th century by writer [[Gautier de Coincy]]'s ''Les Miracles de la Sainte Vierge'' bears many similarities to the later legend of [[Faust]].  Here, a saintly figure makes a bargain with the keeper of the infernal world but is rescued from paying his debt to society through the mercy of the [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Blessed Virgin]].<ref>An 1875 edition is at: {{cite book |last=Coincy |first=Par Gautier de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nwedgt6DDtoC&pg=PR3 |title=Les miracles de la Sainte Vierge |author2=Par M L'Abbé Poquet |publisher=Parmantier/Didron |date=1857 |language=fr}}</ref> A depiction of the scene in which he subordinates himself to the Devil appears on the north [[tympanum (architecture)|tympanum]] of the [[Notre Dame de Paris|Cathedrale de Notre Dame de Paris]].<ref>See, for example, this photo at: {{cite web |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/uncle_buddha/220748038/ |last=Ballegeer |first=Stephen |title=Notre-Dame, Paris: Portal on the north transept |website=flickr |date=5 August 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161129065722/https://www.flickr.com/photos/uncle_buddha/220748038 |archive-date=2016-11-29 }}</ref> By 1300, the elements were in place for a witch hunt, and for the next century and a half, fear of witches spread gradually throughout Europe.

In the early 14th century, many accusations were brought against clergymen and other learned people who were capable of reading and writing magic; [[Pope Boniface VIII]] (d. 1303) was posthumously tried for apostasy, murder, and sodomy, in addition to allegedly entering into a pact with the Devil (while popes had been accused of crimes before, the demonolatry charge was new). The Templars were also tried as Devil-invoking heretics in 1305–14. The middle years of the 14th century were quieter, but towards the end of the century, accusations increased and were brought against ordinary people more frequently.<ref name="Witchcraft: The Beginnings">{{cite web|last1=Z.|first1=Grace|title=Witchcraft: The Beginnings|url=http://people.ucls.uchicago.edu/~snekros/The%20Salem%20Sentinel/Other/Entries/2013/11/14_Witchcraft_-_The_Beginnings.html|publisher=University of Chicago|access-date=21 March 2017}}</ref>

[[File:Champion des dames Vaudoises.JPG|thumb|230px|Marginal decorations of ''"[[Waldensians|des vaudoises]]"'' in ''Le champion des dames'', by Martin Le France, 1451]]

In 1398, the [[University of Paris]] declared that a demonic pact could be implicit; no document need be signed, as the mere act of summoning a demon constituted an implied pact.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cohn|first1=Norman|title=Europe's inner demons : an enquiry inspired by the great witch-hunt|date=1975|publisher=Chatto|location=London|isbn=978-0-435-82183-8|edition=1a reimpr.}}</ref> This freed prosecutors from having to prove the existence of a physical pact. Among Catholics and the [[secular]] leadership of late medieval Europe, fears about witchcraft rose to fever pitch and this led to large-scale witch-hunts. Each new conviction reinforced the beliefs in the methods (torture and pointed interrogation) being used to solicit confessions and in the list of accusations to which the accused confessed.

===Early Modern witch trials===
{{main|Witch trials in the early modern period}}
[[File:Zeitung Derenburg 1555 crop.jpg|thumb|A 1555 German print showing the [[Death by burning|burning]] of witches. Current scholarly estimates of the number of people executed for witchcraft in Europe vary between 40,000 and 100,000.{{efn|[[Brian P. Levack]] 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Levack|first=Brian P. |title=The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe |year=2015}}</ref> Anne Lewellyn Barstow adjusted Levack's estimate to account for lost records, estimating 100,000 deaths.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barstow |first=Anne Llewellyn |url=https://archive.org/details/witchcrazenewhis0000bars |title=Witchcraze: A New History of the European Witch Hunts |date=1994 |publisher=Pandora |isbn=978-0062500496 |location=San Francisco |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|page=[https://archive.org/details/witchcrazenewhis0000bars/page/23 23]}} [[Ronald Hutton]] argues that Levack's estimate had already been adjusted for these, and revises the figure to approximately 40,000.<ref>Hutton, Ronald, ''The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft'', [[Oxford University Press]], 1999.{{ISBN?}}</ref>}} The number of witch trials in Europe known to have ended in executions is around 12,000.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Estimates of executions |url=http://www.summerlands.com/crossroads/remembrance/current.htm |access-date=2009-05-10 |archive-date=2018-10-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006235548/http://www.summerlands.com/crossroads/remembrance/current.htm |url-status=live }} Based on [[Ronald Hutton]]'s essay ''Counting the Witch Hunt''.</ref>]]

There were an estimated 110,000 witchcraft trials in Europe between 1450 and 1750, with half of the cases seeing the accused being executed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Timbers |first=Frances |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BE8IEAAAQBAJ |title=A History of Magic and Witchcraft: Sabbats, Satan & Superstitions in the West |publisher=Pen and Sword |year=2019 |isbn=978-1526731821 |language=en |chapter=Chapter 5: By Flower and Fruit, Popular Culture}}</ref> Witch hunts began to increase first in southern France and Switzerland, during the 14th and 15th centuries. Witch hunts and witchcraft trials rose markedly during the social upheavals of the 16th century, peaking between 1560 and 1660.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kiekhefer |first=Richard |title=European Witch Trials: Their Foundations in Popular and Learned Culture, 1300–1500 |publisher=Routledge |year=201 |page=102}}{{ISBN?}}</ref> The peak years of witch-hunts in southwest Germany were from 1561 to 1670.<ref>H.C. [[Erik Midelfort]], ''Witch Hunting in Southwestern Germany 1562–1684'', 1972, p. 71{{ISBN?}}</ref>

As the notion spread that all magic involved a pact with the Devil, legal sanctions against witchcraft grew harsher. Tens of thousands of people were executed, and others were imprisoned, tortured, banished, and had lands and possessions confiscated. The majority of those accused were women, though in some regions the majority were men.<ref name="Gibbons-1998"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Barstow |first=Anne Llewellyn |url=https://archive.org/details/witchcrazenewhis0000bars |title=Witchcraze: A New History of the European Witch Hunts |date=1994 |publisher=Pandora |isbn=978-0062500496 |location=San Francisco |page=[https://archive.org/details/witchcrazenewhis0000bars/page/23 23] |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Accusations against witches were almost identical to those levelled by 3rd-century pagans against early Christians:

{{blockquote|In chapters 6–11 of the ''Octavius'', Caecilius, the pagan opponent of Christianity, accuses Christians of rejecting ancestral beliefs and of failing to imitate the piety of the Romans (chap. 6), of failing to understand the communication of gods with humans (chap. 7), of denying the existence of many gods and accepting only the dregs of society, the most shameful people, into their assemblies and organizing dreadful, nocturnal, secret meetings (chap. 8). They practice indiscriminate sexual activity, worship the head of an ass, worship the genital organs of their priests, and initiate novices by making them kill infants and cannibalize them (chap. 9). Their rites are held in secret, and they have no temples (chap. 10). Finally they are a subversive sect that threatens the stability of the whole world (chap. 11).{{sfnp|Kors|Peters|2001|p=42}}
}}

[[File:Sprenger - Malleus maleficarum, 1669 - BEIC 9477645.tiff|thumb|The ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]'' was influential in European [[witch trials]]]]

In 1486, [[Heinrich Kramer]], a member of the [[Dominican Order]], published the ''[[Malleus Maleficarum]]'' (the 'Hammer against the Witches').  It was used by both Catholics and Protestants<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H0IAjBexFTgC&q=malleus%20maleficarum%20protestant&pg=PA27 |title=The Emergence of Modern Europe: c. 1500 to 1788 |date=2011 |publisher=[[Britannica Educational Publishing]] |isbn=978-1615303434 |editor-last=Campbell |editor-first=Heather M. |page=27 |access-date=June 29, 2013 |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126013251/https://books.google.com/books?id=H0IAjBexFTgC&q=malleus%20maleficarum%20protestant&pg=PA27 |url-status=live }}</ref> for several hundred years, outlining how to identify a witch, what makes a woman more likely than a man to be a witch, how to put a witch on trial, and how to punish a witch. The book defines a witch as evil and typically female. It became the handbook for secular courts throughout Europe, but was not used by the Inquisition, which even cautioned against relying on it.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jolly |first1=Karen |title=Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Middle Ages |last2=Raudvere |first2=Catharina |last3=Peters |first3=Edward |date=2002 |publisher=[[A&C Black]] |isbn=978-0485890037 |location=New York City |page=241 |quote=In 1538 the Spanish Inquisition cautioned its members not to believe everything the Malleus said, even when it presented apparently firm evidence.}}</ref> It was the most sold book in Europe for over 100 years, after the Bible.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Witches|url=https://www.history.com/topics/folklore/history-of-witches|access-date=2021-10-26|website=History.com|date=20 October 2020 |language=en}}</ref> Scholars are unclear on just how influential the Malleus was in its day. Less than one hundred years after it was written, the Council of the Inquisitor General in Spain discounted the credibility of the Malleus since it contained numerous errors.<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor = 2778975|title = The Great European Witch-Hunts: A Historical Perspective|journal = American Journal of Sociology|volume = 88|issue = 6|pages = 1270–1274|last1 = Hoak|first1 = Dale|year = 1983|doi = 10.1086/227806|pmid = 12862082|s2cid = 143032805}}</ref>

The height of the witch-craze was concurrent with the rise of [[Renaissance magic]] in the great [[Renaissance humanism|humanists]] of the time (this was called [[high magic]], and the [[Neoplatonist]]s and [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]]s that practised it took pains to insist that it was wise and benevolent and nothing like witchcraft, which was considered [[low magic]]), which helped abet the rise of the craze. Witchcraft was held to be the worst of heresies, and early skepticism slowly faded from view almost entirely. The origins of the accusations against witches in the Early Modern period are eventually present in trials against heretics, which trials include claims of secret meetings, orgies, and the consumption of babies.

Persecution continued through the [[Protestant reformation|Protestant Reformation]] in the 16th century, and the Protestants and Catholics both continued witch trials with varying numbers of executions from one period to the next. The "Caroline Code", the basic law code of the Holy Roman Empire (1532) imposed heavy penalties on witchcraft. As society became more literate (due mostly to the invention of the printing press in the 1440s), increasing numbers of books and tracts fueled the witch fears.

From the sixteenth century on, there were some writers who [[Protests against early modern witch trials|protested against witch trials]], witch hunting and the belief that witchcraft existed. Among them were [[Johann Weyer]], [[Reginald Scot]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Almond|first=Philip C.|title=King James I and the burning of Reginald Scot's The Discoverie of Witchcraft: The invention of a tradition|journal=Notes and Queries|year=2009|volume=56|issue=2|pages=209–213|doi=10.1093/notesj/gjp002}}</ref> and [[Friedrich Spee]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reilly |first1=Pamela |title=Some Notes on Friedrich von Spee's 'Cautio Criminalis' |journal=The Modern Language Review |date=October 1956 |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=536–542 |doi=10.2307/3719223|jstor=3719223 }}</ref> The Jura Mountains in southern Germany provided a small respite from the insanity; there, torture was imposed only within the precise limits of the Caroline Code of 1532, little attention was paid to the accusations of or by children, and charges had to be brought openly before a suspect could be arrested. These limitations contained the mania in that area. In [[Frankfurt]], the legend of Faust began to circulate in [[chapbook]] form around 1587, when ''[[Historia von D. Johann Fausten (chapbook)|Historia von D. Johann Fausten]]'' was published.

[[File:Witches apprehended..., 1613 Wellcome M0016701.jpg|thumb|A 1613 English pamphlet showing "Witches apprehended, examined and executed"]]

The craze reached its height between 1560 and 1660. After 1580, the Jesuits replaced the Dominicans as the chief Catholic witch-hunters, and the Catholic Rudolf II (1576–1612) presided over a long persecution in Austria. The nuns of [[Loudun possessions|Loudun]] (1630){{efn|The story of the Loudun possessions was novelized by [[Aldous Huxley]] as ''[[The Devils of Loudun]]'' and made into [[The Devils (film)|a film]] by [[Ken Russell]].}} provide an example of the craze during this time. The nuns had conspired to accuse Father Urbain Grandier of witchcraft by faking symptoms of possession and torment; they feigned convulsions, rolled and gibbered on the ground, and accused Grandier of indecencies. Grandier was convicted and burned; however, after the plot succeeded, the symptoms of the nuns only grew worse, and they became more and more sexual in nature. This attests to the degree of mania and insanity present in such witch trials.{{sfnp|Kors|Peters|2001}}

[[File:Daemonologie1.jpg|thumb|Illustration of witches, perhaps being tortured before [[James VI and I|James VI]], from his ''[[Daemonologie]]'' (1597)]]

After the early 17th century, popular sentiment began to turn against the practice. In 1682, King [[Louis XIV]] prohibited further witch-trials in France. In 1687, Louis XIV issued an edict against witchcraft that was rather moderate compared to former ones; it ignored black cats and other lurid fantasies of the witch mania. After this, the number of witches accused and condemned fell rapidly. In 1736, Great Britain formally ended witch-trials with passage of the [[Witchcraft Act 1735]] ([[9 Geo. 2]]. c. 5).<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Bath |editor1-first=Jo |editor2-last=Newton |editor2-first=John |title=Witchcraft and the Act of 1604 |date=2008 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=978-9004165281 |pages=243–244}}</ref>

====In Britain====
{{Further|Witch trials in early modern Scotland|Witchcraft in early modern Wales}}

In Wales, fear of witchcraft mounted around the year 1500. There was a growing alarm of women's magic as a weapon aimed against the state and church. The Church made greater efforts to enforce the canon law of marriage, especially in Wales where tradition allowed a wider range of sexual partnerships. There was a political dimension as well, as accusations of witchcraft were levied against the enemies of Henry VII, who was exerting more and more control over Wales.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kamerick |first=Kathleen |date=2013 |title=Tanglost of Wales: Magic and Adultery in the Court of Chancery circa 1500 |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=25–45 |doi=10.1086/SCJ24245243 |jstor=24245243}}</ref> In 1542, the [[Henry VIII]]'s [[Witchcraft Acts]] was passed defining witchcraft as a crime punishable by death and the forfeiture of property.<ref>{{Citation |last=Gibson |first=Marion |title=Witchcraft And Society in England And America, 1550–1750 |pages=1–9 |year=2006 |editor-last=Gibson |editor-first=Marion |contribution=Witchcraft in the Courts |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |isbn=978-0826483003}}</ref>

{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Witchcraft Act 1603 
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of England
| long_title            = An Act against Conjuration, Witchcraft and dealing with evil and wicked spirits
| year                  = 1604
| citation              = [[1 Jas. 1]]. c. 12
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 7 July 1604
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 24 June 1736
| amends                = 
| replaces              = [[Witchcraft Act 1562]]
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = [[Witchcraft Act 1735]]
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = repealed
| original_text         = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}

[[File:Pamflett om häxor, 1643. .png|thumb|''A most certain, strange and true discovery of a witch. Being taken by some of the Parliament forces, as she was standing on a small planck board and sayling on it over the river of Newbury''. London, John Hammond, 1643]]

[[William Shakespeare]] wrote about the infamous "[[Three Witches]]" in his tragedy ''[[Macbeth]]'' during the reign of [[James VI and I|James I]], who was notorious for his ruthless prosecution of witchcraft.<ref name="Witchcraft: The Beginnings"/> Becoming king of Scotland in 1567 and of England in 1603, [[James VI and I]] brought to Scotland and England continental explanations of witchcraft. He set out the much stiffer [[Witchcraft Act 1603]] ([[1 Jas. 1]]. c. 12), which made it a felony under common law. His goal was to focus fear on female communities and large gatherings of women. He thought they threatened his political power so he laid the foundation for witchcraft and occultism policies, especially in Scotland. The point was that a widespread belief in the conspiracy of witches and a witches' Sabbath with the devil deprived women of political influence. Occult power was supposedly a womanly trait because women were weaker and more susceptible to the devil.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Lolis | first1 = Thomas | year = 2008 | title = The City of Witches: James I, the Unholy Sabbath, and the Homosocial Refashioning of the Witches' Community | journal = CLIO | volume = 37 | issue = 3| pages = 322–337 }}</ref>

In Wales, witchcraft trials heightened in the 16th and 17th centuries, after the fear of it was imported from England.<ref name="Parkin-2006" /> There was a growing alarm of women's magic as a weapon aimed against the state and church. The Church made greater efforts to enforce the canon law of marriage, especially in Wales where tradition allowed a wider range of sexual partnerships. There was a political dimension as well, as accusations of witchcraft were levied against the enemies of Henry VII, who was exerting more and more control over Wales.<ref>Kathleen Kamerick, "Tanglost of Wales: Magic and Adultery in the Court of Chancery circa 1500". ''Sixteenth Century Journal'' 44#1 (2013) pp25-45.</ref>

The records of the [[Court of Great Sessions in Wales|Courts of Great Sessions]] for Wales, 1536–1736 show that [[Hywel Dda|Welsh custom]] was more important than English law. Custom provided a framework of responding to witches and witchcraft in such a way that interpersonal and communal harmony was maintained, Showing to regard to the importance of honour, social place and cultural status. Even when found guilty, execution did not occur.<ref name="Parkin-2006">{{cite journal | last1 = Parkin | first1 = Sally | year = 2006 | title = Witchcraft, women's honour and customary law in early modern Wales | journal = Social History | volume = 31 | issue = 3| pages = 295–318 | doi = 10.1080/03071020600746636 | s2cid = 143731691 }}</ref>

[[File:Sir John Holt by Richard Van Bleeck.jpg|thumb|upright|Lord Chief Justice of England [[Sir John Holt]] by [[Richard van Bleeck]], c. 1700. Holt greatly influenced the end of prosecutions for witchcraft in England. National Portrait Gallery, London.<ref>[https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw03214/Sir-John-Holt Sir John Holt.] National Portrait Gallery.</ref>]]

The last persons known to have been executed for witchcraft in England were the so-called [[Bideford witch trial|Bideford witches]] in 1682.  The last person executed for witchcraft in [[Great Britain]] was [[Janet Horne]], in Scotland in 1727.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Henderson |first=Lizanne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EK3tCwAAQBAJ |title=Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment: Scotland 1670-1740 |publisher=Palgrave McMillan |year=2017 |isbn=978-1349593132 |page=238 |oclc=1080426994 |access-date=2021-05-06 |archive-date=2021-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210718192722/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Witchcraft_and_Folk_Belief_in_the_Age_of/EK3tCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv= |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Witchcraft Act 1735]] ([[9 Geo. 2]] c. 5) abolished the penalty of execution for witchcraft, replacing it with imprisonment. This act was repealed by the [[Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951]] ([[14 & 15 Geo. 6]]. c. 33).

[[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] attitudes after 1700 made a mockery of beliefs in witches. The [[Witchcraft Act 1735]] ([[9 Geo. 2]] c. 5) marked a complete reversal in attitudes. Penalties for the practice of witchcraft as traditionally constituted, which by that time was considered by many influential figures to be an impossible crime, were replaced by penalties for the pretence of witchcraft. A person who claimed to have the power to call up spirits, or foretell the future, or cast spells, or discover the whereabouts of stolen goods, was to be punished as a vagrant and a con artist, subject to fines and imprisonment.<ref>{{cite book|author=L. Henderson|title=Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment: Scotland, 1670–1740|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EK3tCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA330|year=2016|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|pages=330–31|isbn=9781137313249}}</ref>

{{blockquote|In the north of England, the superstition lingers to an almost inconceivable extent. Lancashire abounds with witch-doctors, a set of quacks, who pretend to cure diseases inflicted by the devil ... The witch-doctor alluded to is better known by the name of the cunning man, and has a large practice in the counties of [[Lincolnshire|Lincoln]] and [[Nottinghamshire|Nottingham]].<ref>[[Charles Mackay (author)|Mackay, C.]], ''[[Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds]]''.</ref>}}

Historians [[Keith Thomas (historian)|Keith Thomas]] and his student [[Alan Macfarlane]] study witchcraft by combining historical research with concepts drawn from anthropology.<ref>Keith Thomas, ''Religion and the Decline of Magic'' (1971).</ref><ref>Jonathan Barry, "Introduction: Keith Thomas and the problem of witchcraft" in Jonathan Barry et al. eds., ''Witchcraft in early modern Europe: Studies in Culture and Belief'' (1996) pp. 1–46{{ISBN?}}</ref><ref>Alan Macfarlane, ''Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England: A Regional and Comparative Study'' (1970).{{ISBN?}}{{page needed|date=January 2023}}</ref> They argued that English witchcraft, like African witchcraft, was endemic rather than epidemic. Old women were the favorite targets because they were marginal, dependent members of the community and therefore more likely to arouse feelings of both hostility and guilt, and less likely to have defenders of importance inside the community. Witchcraft accusations were the village's reaction to the breakdown of its internal community, coupled with the emergence of a newer set of values that was generating psychic stress.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Garrett |first=Clarke |date=December 1977 |title=Women and Witches: Patterns of Analysis |journal=Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=461–470 |doi=10.1086/493477 |jstor=3173296 |pmid=21213644 |s2cid=143859863}}</ref>

==== In Italy ====
{{main|Witchcraft in Italy|Witch trials in Italy}}
{{further|Benandanti}}
A particularly rich source of information about witchcraft in Italy before the outbreak of the Great Witch Hunts of the Renaissance are the sermons of Franciscan popular preacher, Bernardino of Siena (1380–1444), who saw the issue as one of the most pressing moral and social challenges of his day and thus preached many a sermon on the subject, inspiring many local governments to take actions against what he called "servants of the Devil".<ref>For a detailed description and analysis of Bernardino's anti-witchcraft sermons, see Chapter One (pp. 52–108) of Franco Mormando's ''The Preacher's Demons: Bernardino of Siena and the Social Underworld of Early Renaissance Italy,'' Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.{{ISBN?}}</ref> As in most European countries, women in Italy were more likely suspected of witchcraft than men.<ref name="Martin-1989">{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Ruth |title=Witchcraft and the Inquisition in Venice, 1550–1650 |year=1989 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |page=235}}</ref> Women were considered dangerous due to their supposed sexual instability, such as when being aroused, and also due to the powers of their menstrual blood.<ref name="Black-2001" />

In the 16th century, Italy had a high portion of witchcraft trials involving love magic.<ref name="Kiekhefer-2001">{{Cite book |last=Kiekhefer |first=Richard |title=European Witch Trials: Their Foundation in Popular and Learned Culture, 1300–1500 |year=2001 |page=57}}</ref> The country had a large number of unmarried people due to men marrying later in their lives during this time.<ref name="Kiekhefer-2001" /> This left many women on a desperate quest for marriage leaving them vulnerable to the accusation of witchcraft whether they took part in it or not.<ref name="Kiekhefer-2001" /> Trial records from [[the Inquisition]] and secular courts discovered a link between prostitutes and supernatural practices. Professional prostitutes were considered experts in love and therefore knew how to make love [[potion]]s and cast love related spells.<ref name="Black-2001">{{Cite book |last=Black |first=Christopher F. |title=Early Modern Italy: A Social History |year=2001 |location=London |publisher=Routledge |page=115}}</ref> Up until 1630, the majority of women accused of witchcraft were prostitutes.<ref name="Martin-1989" /> A courtesan was questioned about her use of magic due to her relationship with men of power in Italy and her wealth.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Elizabeth S. and Thomas V. |title=Words and Deeds in Renaissance Rome: Trials before the Papal Magistrates |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1993 |location=Toronto |pages=189–195}}</ref> The majority of women accused were also considered "outsiders" because they were poor, had different religious practices, spoke a different language, or simply from a different city/town/region.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schutte |first=Anne Jacobson |title=Aspiring Saints: Pretense of Holiness, Inquisition, and Gender in the Republic of Venice, 1618–1750 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |year=2008 |location=Baltimore |page=99}}</ref> Cassandra from Ferrara, Italy, was still considered a foreigner because not native to Rome where she was residing. She was also not seen as a model citizen because her husband was in Venice.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Elizabeth S. and Thomas V. |title=Words and Deeds in Renaissance Rome: Trials before the Papal Magistrates |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1993 |location=Toronto |pages=201–238}}</ref>

From the 16th to 18th centuries, the Catholic Church enforced moral discipline throughout Italy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ferraro |first=Joanne Marie |title=Nefarious Crimes, Contested Justice: Illicit Sex, and Infanticide in the Republic of Venice, 1557–1789 |page=3}}</ref> With the help of local tribunals, such as in Venice, the two institutions investigated a woman's religious behaviors when she was accused of witchcraft.<ref name="Martin-1989" />

==== In Spain ====
{{Main|Witch trials in Spain}}
{{further|Akelarre|Doñas de fuera|Sorginak}}
{{expand section|date=September 2023}}
[[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]] in Spain is nicknamed the "Land of the Witches" ({{langx|gl|Terra Meiga}}) due to its mythological origins surrounding its people, culture and its land.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-02-21 |title=10 Fascinating Mysteries of the Ancient State of Galicia |url=https://listverse.com/2017/02/21/10-fascinating-mysteries-of-the-ancient-state-of-galicia/ |access-date=2019-01-06 |archive-date=2019-01-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107015851/https://listverse.com/2017/02/21/10-fascinating-mysteries-of-the-ancient-state-of-galicia/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Basque Country (greater region)|Basque Country]] also suffered persecutions against witches, such as the case of the Witches of Zugarramurdi, six of which were burned in Logroño in 1610, or the witch hunt in the French Basque country in the previous year, burning eighty supposed witches at the stake. This is reflected in the studies of [[José Miguel de Barandiarán]] and [[Julio Caro Baroja]]. Euskal Herria retains numerous legends that account for an ancient mythology of witchcraft. The town of [[Zalla]] is nicknamed "Town of the Witches".<ref>{{Cite news |title=Entre brujas y ferrerias |url=https://elpais.com/diario/2001/07/28/paisvasco/996349219_850215.html |access-date=2 November 2019 |website=El país |date=27 July 2001 |archive-date=2 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191102144323/https://elpais.com/diario/2001/07/28/paisvasco/996349219_850215.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== In Russia ====
{{further|Tsardom of Russia|Witch trials in Russia}}
The Russian word {{Lang|ru|ведьма}} ({{Lang|ru-latn|ved'ma}}) literally means 'knower', and was the primary word for a malevolent witch.<ref>Ryan, W.F. ''The Bathhouse at Midnight: An Historical Survey of Magic and Divination in Russia''. [[Pennsylvania State University Press]], 1999. p.78</ref> In Russia, three quarters of those accused of witchcraft were men.<ref name="Kivelson-2003"/>

In 17th century Russia, the dominant societal concern about those practicing witchcraft was not whether it was effective, but whether it could cause harm.<ref name="Kivelson-2003">{{Cite journal |last=Kivelson |first=Valerie A. |date=July 2003 |title=Male Witches and Gendered Categories in Seventeenth-Century Russia |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |volume=45 |issue=3 |pages=606–631 |doi=10.1017/S0010417503000276 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |jstor=3879463 |s2cid=145811691}}</ref> Peasants in Russian and Ukrainian societies often shunned witchcraft, unless they needed help against supernatural forces. Impotence, stomach pains, barrenness, hernias, abscesses, epileptic seizures, and convulsions were all attributed to evil (or witchcraft). This is reflected in linguistics; there are numerous words for a variety of practitioners of paganism-based healers. Russian peasants referred to a witch as a {{Lang|ru-latn|chernoknizhnik}} (a person who plied his trade with the aid of a black book), {{Lang|ru|sheptun/sheptun'ia}} (a 'whisperer' male or female), {{Lang|ru|lekar/lekarka}} or {{Lang|ru|znakhar/znakharka}} (a male or female healer), or {{Lang|ru|zagovornik}} (an incanter).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Worobec |first=Christine D. |date=1995 |title=Witchcraft Beliefs and Practices in Prerevolutionary Russian and Ukrainian Villages |journal=The Russian Review |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=165–187 |doi=10.2307/130913 |jstor=130913}}</ref>

There was universal reliance on [[folk healer]]s—but clients often turned them in if something went wrong. According to Russian historian Valerie A. Kivelson, witchcraft accusations were normally thrown at lower-class peasants, townspeople and [[Cossacks]]. The ratio of male to female accusations was 75% to 25%. Males were targeted more, because witchcraft was associated with societal deviation. Because single people with no settled home could not be taxed, males typically had more power than women in their dissent.<ref name="Kivelson-2003"/>

The history of witchcraft had evolved around society. More of a psychological concept to the creation and usage of witchcraft can create the assumption as to why women are more likely to follow the practices behind witchcraft. Identifying with the soul of an individual's self is often deemed as "feminine" in society. There is analyzed social and economic evidence to associate between witchcraft and women.{{Relevance inline|date=August 2023}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Peterson |first=Mark A. |date=March 1998 |title=Damned Women: Sinners and Witches in Puritan New England. By Elizabeth Reis. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1997. xxii + 212 pp.  |journal=Church History |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=192–194 |doi=10.2307/3170836 |jstor=3170836|s2cid=162208619 }}</ref>

[[File:Nothing could be done about it LACMA 63.11.24.jpg|thumb|upright|Goya's drawing of result of a presumed witch's trial: "[so she must be a witch]"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Puigblanch |first=Antonio |url=https://archive.org/details/inquisitionunmas02puig |title=The Inquisition Unmasked: Being an Historical and Philosophical Account of that Tremendous Tribunal, Founded on Authentic Documents; and Exhibiting the Necessity of Its Suppression, as a Means of Reform and Regeneration, Written and Published at a Time when the National Congress of Spain was about to Deliberate on this Important Measure |date=1816-01-01 |publisher=Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy}}</ref>]]

In the seventeenth century, Russia experienced a period of witchcraft trials and persecution that mirrored the witch hysteria occurring across Catholic and Protestant countries. [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christian]] Europe joined this phenomenon, targeting individuals, both male and female, believed to be practicing sorcery, paganism, and herbal medicine. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction over witchcraft trials was established in the church, with origins dating back to early references in historical documents, such as the eleventh-century State Statute of [[Vladimir the Great]] and the [[Primary Chronicle]]. The punishment for witchcraft typically included burning at the stake or the "ordeal of cold water," a method used both in Western Europe and Russia.<ref name="Zguta-1977">{{Cite journal |last=Zguta |first=Russell |date=1977 |title=Witchcraft Trials in Seventeenth-Century Russia |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=82 |issue=5 |pages=1187–1207 |doi=10.2307/1856344 |jstor=1856344 |pmid=11610147}}</ref>

While Western Europe often employed harsh torture methods, Russia implemented a more civil system of fines for witchcraft during the seventeenth century. This approach contrasted with the West's cruelties and represented a significant difference in persecution methods. [[Ivan the Terrible|Ivan IV]], or Ivan the Terrible, was deeply convinced that witchcraft led to the death of his wife, spurring him to excommunicate and impose the death penalty on those practicing witchcraft. This fear of witchcraft persisted during Ivan IV's rule, leading to the accusation of boyars with witchcraft during the [[Oprichnina]] period, followed by increased witchcraft concerns during the [[Time of Troubles]].<ref name="Zguta-1977"/>

Following these periods of turmoil, witchcraft investigations became prevalent within Muscovite households. Between 1622 and 1700, numerous trials were conducted, though the scale of persecution and execution was not as extensive as in Western Europe. Russia's approach to witchcraft trials showcased its unique blend of religious and social factors, culminating in a distinct historical context compared to the widespread witch hysteria observed in other parts of Europe.<ref name="Zguta-1977"/>

===20th and 21st centuries===
{{main|Neopagan witchcraft}}
Modern witchcraft in Europe encompasses a diverse range of contemporary traditions. Some adherents practice what they believe are traditions rooted in ancient pagan and mystical practices, while others follow openly modern, syncretic traditions like Wicca.<ref>{{cite book |last1=De Blécourt |first1=Willem |last2=Hutton |first2=Ronald |last3=La Fontaine |first3=Jean |title=Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, Volume 6: The Twentieth Century |date=1999 |publisher=A&C Black |pages=55–58}}</ref> While adherents distinguish between Wicca and these other traditions,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adler |first1=Margot |title=Drawing Down the Moon; Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America |date=2006 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=9780807032374 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/drawingdownmoonw0000adle|page=230}}</ref> [[religious studies]] scholars class these various neopagan witchcraft traditions under the broad category of "Wicca."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Doyle White |first1=Ethan |title=Wicca: History, Belief & Community in Modern Pagan Witchcraft |date=2015 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |pages=160–162}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Aitamurto |first1=Kaarina |last2=Simpson |first2=Scott |title=The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements, Volume 2 |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=482 |chapter=36: The Study of Paganism and Wicca}}</ref>

These traditions emerged predominantly in the mid-20th century, inspired by a revival of interest in pre-Christian spirituality. Influenced by the now-discredited witch-cult hypothesis,{{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|p=121}} which suggested persecuted witches in Europe were followers of a surviving pagan religion, these traditions seek to reconnect with ancient beliefs and rituals.

====Britain====
{{main|Wicca}}
During the 20th century, interest in witchcraft rose in Britain. From the 1920s, [[Margaret Murray]] popularized the '[[witch-cult hypothesis]]': the idea that those [[Witch trials in the early modern period|persecuted as 'witches' in early modern Europe]] were followers of a benevolent [[Paganism|pagan]] religion that had survived the [[Christianization]] of Europe. This has been discredited by further historical research.{{sfnp|Hutton|2017|p=121}}<ref>Rose, Elliot, ''A Razor for a Goat'', [[University of Toronto Press]], 1962. Hutton, Ronald, ''The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles'', [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge, Mass.]]: [[Blackwell Publishers]], 1993. Hutton, Ronald, ''The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft'', [[Oxford University Press]], 1999.{{ISBN?}}</ref>

From the 1930s, [[occult]] [[neopagan]] groups began to emerge who called their religion a kind of 'witchcraft'. They were [[initiation|initiatory]] [[secret society|secret societies]] inspired by Murray's 'witch cult' theory and historical paganism.<ref>Hutton, R.,''The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft'', Oxford University Press, pp. 205–252, 1999.{{ISBN?}}</ref><ref>Kelly, A.A., ''Crafting the Art of Magic, Book I: a History of Modern Witchcraft, 1939–1964'', Minnesota: [[Llewellyn Publications]], 1991.{{ISBN?}}</ref><ref>Valiente, D., ''The Rebirth of Witchcraft'', London: Robert Hale, pp. 35–62, 1989.{{ISBN?}}</ref>  They did not use the term 'witchcraft' in the traditional way, but instead defined their practices as a kind of "positive magic". Among the most prominent of these traditions is [[Wicca]], pioneered by [[Gerald Gardner]] in England during the mid-20th century. [[Gardnerian Wicca]], the earliest known form, draws on elements of [[ceremonial magic]], historical paganism, and witch cult theories.

[[File:Hexensabbat.jpg|thumb|Representation of [[Witches' Sabbath|Sabbath]] gatherings from the chronicles of [[Johann Jakob Wick]]]]

Another notable tradition is Traditional Witchcraft, which stands apart from mainstream Wicca and emphasizes older, more "traditional" roots. This category includes  [[Cochrane's Craft]], founded by [[Robert Cochrane (witch)|Robert Cochrane]] as a counterpoint to Gardnerian Wicca, and the [[Sabbatic Craft]], as defined by [[Andrew D. Chumbley|Andrew Chumbley]], which draws on a patchwork of ancient symbols and practices while emphasizing the imagery of the "Witches' Sabbath."

Throughout these traditions, practitioners may refer to themselves as witches and engage in rituals, magic, and spiritual practices that reflect their connection to nature, deity, and personal growth.  These British-developed traditions have since been adopted and adapted outside of Britain.

====Italy====
{{main|Stregheria}}

Contemporary witchcraft in Italy represents a revival and reinterpretation of ancient pagan practices, often referred to as "[[Stregheria]]" or "La Vecchia Religione" (The Old Religion).<ref>''A New history of Witchcraft'', Jeffrey Russell & Brooks Alexander, page 152, "the old religion" was first used in Leland's ''Aradia''</ref>  Rooted in Italian cultural and mystical heritage, modern Italian witches blend elements of traditional folklore, spirituality, and magic. This resurgence draws from historical beliefs, superstitions, and the desire to reconnect with Italy's pre-Christian spiritual roots.<ref>{{cite journal | author=Magliocco, Sabina | title=Spells, Saints, and Streghe: Witchcraft, Folk Magic, and Healing in Italy | journal=The Pomegranate: The Journal of Pagan Studies | year=2000 | volume=13 | pages= 2–13 }}</ref>

''Streghe'' celebrate a diverse range of practices.<ref>{{cite book|first=Paul|last=Theroux|title=The Pillars of Hercules: A Grand Tour of the Mediterranean|publisher=Fawcett Columbine|location=New York|date=1995|page=301|isbn=0449910857}}</ref> They honor a pantheon of deities, often including a Moon Goddess and a Horned God, similar to some [[neopagan]] traditions. These deities are seen as sources of guidance, protection, and spiritual connection. Rituals and magic are integral to contemporary witchcraft in Italy,{{sfn|Strmiska|2005|p=61}} often involving the use of symbolic tools like the [[pentagram]] and the practice of [[divination]]. These practices aim to tap into the energies of nature and the cosmos, fostering personal growth and connection to the spiritual realm.<ref>''The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism'', Shelley Rabinovitch & James Lewis, page 262, (2004)</ref>

Contemporary Italian witchcraft is not monolithic,<ref>{{cite book |last=Netzley |first=P. D. |year=2009 |title=Witchcraft |publisher=Greenhaven Publishing |isbn=978-0737746389 |page=235}}</ref> as individual practitioners may draw from various sources, adapt rituals to modern contexts, and blend traditional practices with modern influences.<ref>{{cite book |last1=White |first1=Ethan Doyle |title=Wicca: History, Belief, and Community in Modern Pagan Witchcraft |date=2015 |publisher=Sussex Academic Press |isbn=978-1845197551 |page=50}}</ref> While some ''Streghe'' focus on healing, protection, and divination, others emphasize honoring ancestors and connecting with local spirits. The resurgence of Italian witchcraft reflects a broader global trend of seeking spiritual authenticity, cultural preservation, and a deeper connection to the mystical aspects of life.<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=Marina |editor-last=Montesano |title=Witchcraft, Demonology and Magic |year=2020 |place=Switzerland |publisher=Mdpi AG |isbn=978-3039289592}}</ref>

====Romania and the Roma====
'''Roma witchcraft''' stands as a distinctive and culturally significant tradition within the [[Romani people|Roma]] community, weaving together spirituality, healing practices, and fortune-telling abilities passed down through generations of Roma women. Rooted in history and mythology, this practice bears witness to the matrilineal nature of Roma culture, where women are the bearers of these ancient arts.<ref name="Luca">{{cite magazine |first=Ana Maria |last=Luca |date=n.d. |title=The Age of the Roma Witch: A European Witch Hunt |magazine=Przekrój |url=https://przekroj.pl/en/society/the-age-of-the-roma-witch-ana-maria-luca |access-date=2023-08-19}}</ref><ref name="Isabella-2018">{{cite magazine |first= Laura |last=Isabella |date=31 October 2018 |title=The mysterious modern world of Roma witchcraft |magazine=Huck |url=https://www.huckmag.com/article/the-mysterious-modern-world-of-roma-witchcraft |access-date=2023-08-19}}</ref>

Unlike the severe witchcraft trials that plagued Western Europe, witchcraft historically took on a different form in [[Romania]]. The [[Romanian Orthodox Church]]'s integration of pre-Christian beliefs and the reliance on village healers in the absence of modern medicine led to a less punitive approach. Instead of harsh punishments, those accused of witchcraft often faced spiritual consequences, such as fasting or temporary bans from the church.<ref name="Luca"/><ref name="Isabella-2018"/>

Figures like Maria Campina, revered as the "Queen of Witches", exemplify the prominence of Roma witches in contemporary Romania. Campina's claims of inheriting her powers from her ancestors and her expertise in fortune-telling have earned her respect within both the Roma community and wider society.<ref name="Luca"/><ref name="Isabella-2018"/>

Mihaela Drăgan, an influential Roma actress and writer, challenges stereotypes and empowers Roma women through her concept of "Roma Futurism". This visionary movement envisions a future where Roma witches embrace modernity while preserving their cultural heritage. Social media platforms have enabled Roma witches to amplify their reach, reshaping their image and expanding their influence.<ref name="Luca"/><ref name="Isabella-2018"/>

====Other countries====
''{{ill|Hexentum|de}}'' is the German term for witchcraft. These practitioners engage in folk magic, spellwork, and other witchcraft practices. ''{{ill|Sorcellerie|fr}}'' refers to witchcraft practices in France,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Geschiere |first=Peter  |title=The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa [Sorcellerie Et Politique En Afrique: La viande des Autres] |date=1997 |publisher=University of Virginia Press |isbn=978-0813917030 |orig-date=1995}}</ref> often rooted in traditional folk magic, spellcasting, and working with natural elements. ''{{ill|Wróżbiarstwo|pl}}'' is the Polish term for divination and witchcraft. It involves practices like fortune-telling, spellcasting, and working with herbs and charms. ''{{ill|Brujería|es}}'' refers to witchcraft in Spain. Modern practitioners engage in spellwork, ritual magic, and working with herbs and crystals. ''[[:fi:Noita|Noita]]'' refers to Finnish folk magic, which involves practices such as healing, protection, and divination. It draws from local traditions and folklore. Various forms of folk magic and witchcraft practices are present in [[Eastern Europe]]an countries, often involving rituals, spells, and working with charms and herbs.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-first=Owen |editor1-last=Davies |editor2-first=Willem |editor2-last=De Blécourt |title=Witchcraft Continued: Popular Magic in Modern Europe |year=2004 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0719066580}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Drury |first=N. |year=2004 |title=Magic and Witchcraft: From Shamanism to the Technopagans |publisher=Thames & Hudson}}</ref>

==Academic views==
===Witch-cult hypothesis===
{{main|Witch-cult hypothesis}}
The witch-cult theory was pioneered by two German scholars, [[Karl Ernst Jarcke]] and Franz Josef Mone, in the early nineteenth century, and was adopted by French historian [[Jules Michelet]], American feminist [[Matilda Joslyn Gage]], and American folklorist [[Charles Leland]] later that century. The hypothesis received its most prominent exposition when it was adopted by a British Egyptologist, [[Margaret Murray]], who presented her version of it in ''[[The Witch-Cult in Western Europe]]'' (1921), before further expounding it in books such as ''The God of the Witches'' (1931) and her contribution to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Although the "Murrayite theory" proved popular among sectors of academia and the general public in the early and mid-twentieth century, it was never accepted by specialists in the witch trials, who publicly disproved it through in-depth research during the 1960s and 1970s.{{sfnmp|1a1=Simpson|1y=1994|2a1=Sheppard|2y=2013}}

Experts in European witchcraft beliefs view the pagan witch cult theory as [[pseudohistory|pseudohistorical]]. There is now an academic consensus that those accused and executed as witches were not followers of any witch religion, pagan or otherwise. Critics highlight several flaws with the theory. It rested on highly selective use of evidence from the trials, thereby heavily misrepresenting the events and the actions of both the accused and their accusers. It also mistakenly assumed that claims made by accused witches were truthful, and not distorted by coercion and torture. Further, despite claims the witch cult was a pre-Christian survival, there is no evidence of such a pagan witch cult throughout the [[Middle Ages]].{{sfnmp|1a1=Jensen|1y=2007|1p=147|2a1=Russell|2a2=Alexander|2y=2007|2p=154}}

The witch-cult hypothesis has influenced literature, being adapted into fiction in works by [[John Buchan]], [[Robert Graves]], and others. It greatly influenced [[Wicca]], a [[new religious movement]] of [[modern Paganism]] that emerged in mid-twentieth-century Britain and claimed to be a survival of the pagan witch cult.{{sfnp|Simpson|1994|p=89}} Since the 1960s, [[Carlo Ginzburg]] and other scholars have argued that surviving elements of pre-Christian religion in [[European folklore|European folk culture]] influenced Early Modern stereotypes of witchcraft, but scholars still debate how this may relate, if at all, to the Murrayite witch-cult hypothesis.{{sfnp|Eliade|1975}}

===Categorization of Wicca===
Scholars of [[religious studies]] classify [[Wicca]] as a [[new religious movement]],{{sfnm|1a1=Hanegraaff|1y=1996|1p=87|2a1=Doyle White|2y=2016|2p=5}} and more specifically as a form of [[modern Paganism]].{{sfnm|1a1=Crowley|1y=1998|1p=170|2a1=Pearson|2y=2002|2p=44|3a1=Doyle White|3y=2016|3p=2}} Wicca has been cited as the largest,{{sfnm|1a1=Strmiska|1y=2005|1p=47|2a1=Doyle White|2y=2010|2p=185}} best known,{{sfnm|1a1=Strmiska|1y=2005|1p=2|2a1=Rountree|2y=2015|2p=4}} most influential,{{sfn|Doyle White|2010|p=185}} and most academically studied form of modern Paganism.{{sfn|Strmiska|2005|p=2}} Within the movement it has been identified as sitting on the eclectic end of the [[Modern Paganism#Eclecticism and reconstructionism|eclectic to reconstructionist spectrum]].{{sfnm|1a1=Strmiska|1y=2005|1p=21|2a1=Doyle White|2y=2016|2p=7}}
Several academics have also categorised Wicca as a form of [[nature religion]], a term that is also embraced by many of its practitioners,{{sfnm|1a1=Greenwood|1y=1998|1pp=101, 102|2a1=Doyle White|2y=2016|2p=8}} and as a [[mystery religion]].{{sfnm|1a1=Ezzy|1y=2002|1p=117|2a1=Hutton|2y=2002|2p=172}} However, given that Wicca also incorporates the practice of magic, several scholars have referred to it as a "[[magico-religious|magico-religion]]".{{sfnm|1a1=Orion|1y=1994|1p=6|2a1=Doyle White|2y=2016|2p=5}} Wicca is also a form of [[Western esotericism]], and more specifically a part of the esoteric current known as [[occultism]].{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=8}} Academics like Wouter Hanegraaff and Tanya Luhrmann have categorised Wicca as part of the [[New Age]], although other academics, and many Wiccans themselves, dispute this categorisation.{{sfnm|1a1=Pearson|1y=1998|1p=45|2a1=Ezzy|2y=2003|2pp=49–50}}

===Use of hallucinogens===
The use of hallucinogens in European witchcraft is a topic explored by modern researchers and historical records. Anthropologists such as Edward B. Taylor and pharmacologists like Louis Lewin have argued for the presence of plants like belladonna and mandrake in witchcraft practices, containing hallucinogenic alkaloids.  [[Johannes Hartlieb]] (1410-1468) wrote a [[compendium]] on herbs in ca. 1440, and in 1456 the ''puch aller verpoten kunst, ungelaubens und der zaubrey'' (book on all forbidden arts, superstition and sorcery) on the [[artes magicae]], containing the oldest known description of witches' [[flying ointment]]. Medieval accounts from writers including Joseph Glanvill and Johannes Nider describe the use of hallucinogenic concoctions, often referred to as ointments or brews, applied to sensitive areas of the body or objects like brooms for inducing altered states of consciousness. These substances were believed to grant witches special abilities to commune with spirits, transform into animals, and participate in supernatural gatherings, forming a complex aspect of the European witchcraft tradition.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Guerra-Doce |first1=E. |last2=Rihuete-Herrada |first2=C. |last3=Micó |first3=R. |last4=Risch |first4=R. |last5=Lull |first5=V. |last6=Niemeyer |first6=H. M. |date=2023-04-06 |title=Direct evidence of the use of multiple drugs in Bronze Age Menorca (Western Mediterranean) from human hair analysis |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=4782 |doi=10.1038/s41598-023-31064-2 |pmid=37024524 |pmc=10079862 |bibcode=2023NatSR..13.4782G |issn=2045-2322}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Magazine |first1=Smithsonian |last2=Thompson |first2=Helen |title=How Witches' Brews Helped Bring Modern Drugs to Market |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-witches-brews-helped-bring-modern-drugs-market-180953202/ |access-date=2023-08-17 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref>

====Arguments in favor====
A number of modern researchers have argued for the existence of hallucinogenic plants in the practice of European witchcraft; among them, anthropologists [[Edward B. Taylor]], Bernard Barnett,<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Barnett | first1 = Bernard | year = 1965 | title = Witchcraft, Psychopathology and Hallucinations | journal = British Journal of Psychiatry | volume = 3 | issue = 474| pages = 439–45 | doi = 10.1192/bjp.111.474.439 | pmid = 14327542 | s2cid = 21384143 }}</ref> [[Michael J. Harner]] and [[Julio C. Baroja]]<ref name="Baroja-1964">{{cite book |last=Baroja |first=Julio C. |year=1964 |title=The World of the Witches |publisher=University of Chicago Press}}</ref> and pharmacologists [[Louis Lewin]]<ref name="Lewin-1964">{{cite book |last=Lewin |first=Louis |year=1964 |title=Phantastica, Narcotic and Stimulating Drugs: Their Use and Abuse |publisher=E. P. Dutton |place=New York}}</ref> and Erich Hesse.<ref name="Hesse-1946">{{cite book |last=Hesse |first=Erich |year=1946 |title=Narcotics and Drug Addiction |publisher=Philosophical Library of New York}}</ref> Many medieval writers also comment on the use of hallucinogenic plants in [[Flying ointment|witches' ointments]], including [[Joseph Glanvill]],<ref>Glanvil, Joseph. 1681. ''Saducismus Triumphatus''. London</ref> Jordanes de Bergamo, Sieur de Beauvoys de Chauvincourt, [[Martin Delrio]], [[Raphael Holinshed]], [[Andrés Laguna]], [[Johannes Nider]], Sieur Jean de Nynald, [[Henry Boguet]], [[Giovanni Porta]], [[Nicholas Rémy]], [[Bartolommeo Spina]], [[Richard Verstegan]], Johann Vincent and [[Pedro Ciruelo]].<ref name="Harner-1973">{{cite book |editor-last=Harner |editor-first=Michael J. |year=1973 |chapter=The Role of Hallucinogenic Plants in European Witchcraft |title=Hallucinogens and Shamanism |publisher=Oxford University Press |lccn=72-92292 |pages=128–50}}</ref>

Much of the knowledge of [[herbalism]] in European witchcraft comes from the Spanish [[Inquisition|Inquisitors]] and other authorities, who occasionally recognized the psychological nature of the "witches' flight", but more often considered the effects of witches' ointments to be [[demon]]ic or [[Satanism|satanic]].<ref name="Harner-1973"/>

====Use patterns====
[[Image:Atropa belladonna Prague 2011 2.jpg|thumb|Berries of ''[[Atropa belladonna|belladonna]]'']]

[[Decoction]]s of [[deliriant]] [[nightshades]] (such as [[henbane]], [[Atropa belladonna|belladonna]], [[Mandragora officinarum|mandrake]], or [[datura]]) were used in European witchcraft.<ref name="Lewin-1964" /><ref name="Baroja-1964" /> All of these plants contain [[Deliriants|hallucinogenic]] [[alkaloids]] of the [[tropane]] family, including [[hyoscyamine]], [[atropine]] and [[Hyoscine hydrobromide|scopolamine]] —the last of which is unique in that it can be absorbed through the skin. These concoctions are described in the literature variously as [[Decoction|brews]], [[salves]], [[ointment]]s, [[Potion|philtres]], oils, and [[unguent]]s. Ointments were mainly applied by rubbing on the skin, especially in sensitive areas—underarms, the pubic region,<ref>Murray, Margaret. 1962. ''The Witch-Cult in Western Europe''. Oxford University Press.</ref> the mucous membranes of the vagina and anus, or on areas rubbed raw ahead of time. They were often first applied to a "vehicle" to be "ridden" (an object such as a broom, pitchfork, basket, or animal skin that was rubbed against sensitive skin). All of these concoctions were made and used for the purpose of giving the witch special abilities to commune with spirits, gain love, harm enemies, experience euphoria and sexual pleasure,<ref name="Hesse-1946"/> and—importantly—to "[[Witches' Sabbath|fly to the witches' Sabbath]]".<ref name="Harner-1973"/>

==In art and literature==
{{further|Witch (archetype)#In art and literature|List of fictional witches}}
Witches have a long history of being depicted in art, although most of their earliest artistic depictions seem to originate in Early Modern Europe, particularly the Medieval and Renaissance periods. Many scholars attribute their manifestation in art as inspired by texts such as {{Lang|la|Canon Episcopi}}, a demonology-centered work of literature, and {{Lang|la|Malleus Maleficarum}}, a "witch-craze" manual published in 1487, by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Simons |first=Patricia |date=September 2014 |title=The Incubus and Italian Renaissance art |journal=Source: Notes in the History of Art |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=1–8 |doi=10.1086/sou.34.1.23882368 |jstor=23882368 |s2cid=191376143}}</ref> Witches in fiction span a wide array of characterizations. They are typically, but not always, female, and generally depicted as either [[villain]]s or [[heroine]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hutton |first=Ronald |date=2018-03-16 |title=Witches and Cunning Folk in British Literature 1800–1940 |url=https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/penn-state-university-press/witches-and-cunning-folk-in-british-literature-1800-1940-btH3RCNTQp? |journal=Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural |volume=7 |issue=1 |page=27 |doi=10.5325/preternature.7.1.0027 |hdl=1983/c91bdc34-80d8-49f6-92df-9147f2bef535 |s2cid=194795666 |issn=2161-2188 |access-date=2021-05-18 |archive-date=2021-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518044333/https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/penn-state-university-press/witches-and-cunning-folk-in-british-literature-1800-1940-btH3RCNTQp |url-status=live|hdl-access=free }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* {{annotated link|Brethren of the Free Spirit}}
* {{annotated link|History of women in the United Kingdom#Witchcraft|History of women in the United Kingdom § Witchcraft}}
* {{annotated link|Wiccan organisation}}
* {{annotated link|Witches of Benevento}}
}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Works cited===
{{refbegin|2|indent=yes}}
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* {{cite journal |last=Doyle White |first=Ethan |title=The Meaning of "Wicca": A Study in Etymology, History and Pagan Politics |journal=The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=185–207 |year=2010 |doi=10.1558/pome.v12i2.185 |doi-broken-date=2 December 2024 |s2cid=154160260 }}
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* {{cite book |title=The Path of the Devil: Early Modern Witch Hunts |last=Jensen |first=Gary |year=2007 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |location=Plymouth |isbn=978-0-7425-46974 }}
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* {{cite book|last = Luck| first=Georg|author-link=Georg Luck|date=1999|chapter=Witches and Sorcerers in Classical Literature|editor1=Ankarloo|editor2=Clark|title=Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Ancient Greece and Rome|url = https://archive.org/details/witchcraftmagici00clar|url-access = registration |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press| isbn=978-0812235197}}
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* {{cite book |last=McNeill |first=F. Marian |title=The Silver Bough: A Four Volume Study of the National and Local Festivals of Scotland |date=1957 |publisher=[[Canongate Books]] |isbn=978-0862412319 |volume=1 |location=Edinburgh}}
<!-- O -->
* {{cite book |last=Orion |first=Loretta |title=Never Again the Burning Times: Paganism Revisited |publisher=Waveland Press |location=Long Grove, Illinois |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-88133-835-5 }}
<!-- P -->
* {{cite book |first1=John Jay |last1=Parry |first2=Robert |last2=Caldwell |chapter=Geoffrey of Monmouth |title=Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages |editor-first=Roger S. |editor-last=Loomis |publisher=Clarendon Press |place=Oxford University |year=1959}}
* {{harvc |last=Pearson |first=Joanne |c=Assumed Affinities: Wicca and the New Age |year=1998 |in1=Pearson |in2=Roberts |in3=Samuel |pp=45–56}}
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Pearson |editor-first1=Joanne |editor-last2=Roberts |editor-first2=Richard H. |editor-last3=Samuel |editor-first3=Geoffrey |title=Nature Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World |year=1998 |isbn=9780748610570 |location=Edinburgh |publisher=Edinburgh University Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Pearson |first=Joanne |chapter=The History and Development of Wicca and Paganism |title=Belief Beyond Boundaries: Wicca, Celtic Spirituality and the New Age |year=2002 |isbn=9780754608202 |editor=Joanne Pearson |pages=15–54 |location=Aldershot |publisher=Ashgate }}
* {{cite book |last=Pócs |first=É. |year=1999 |title=Between the Living and the Dead: A Perspective on Witches and Seers in the Early Modern Age |place=Hungary |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=978-9639116191}}
<!-- R -->
* {{cite book |last=Rountree |first=Kathryn |chapter=Context is Everything: Plurality and Paradox in Contemporary European Paganisms |title=Contemporary Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Europe: Colonialist and Nationalist Impulses |editor=Kathryn Rountree |location=New York |publisher=Berghahn |pages=1–23 |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-78238-646-9 }}
* {{cite book |title=A New History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics and Pagans |last1=Russell |first1=Jeffrey B. |last2=Alexander |first2=Brooks |year=2007 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |location=London |isbn=978-0-500-28634-0 }}
<!-- S -->
* {{cite book |title=The Life of Margaret Alice Murray: A Woman's Work in Archaeology |last=Sheppard |first=Kathleen L. |year=2013 |publisher=Lexington Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7391-7417-3 }}
* {{cite journal |title= Margaret Murray: Who Believed Her and Why? |last=Simpson |first=Jacqueline |author-link=Jacqueline Simpson |year=1994 |journal=Folklore |volume=105 |issue=1–2 |pages=89–96 |doi=10.1080/0015587x.1994.9715877|doi-access=free }}
* {{cite book |last=Sinclair |first=George |title=Satan's Invisible World Discovered |date=1871 |location=Edinburgh}}
* {{cite book |last=Strmiska |first=Michael F. |chapter=Modern Paganism in World Cultures |title=Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives |publisher=ABC-Clio |location=Santa Barbara, California |pages=1–53 |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-85109-608-4 }}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|2|indent=yes}}
*{{cite journal |last=Aakhus |first=P. |year=2008 |title=Astral Magic in the Renaissance: Gems, Poetry, and Patronage of Lorenzo de' Medici |journal=Magic, Ritual & Witchcraft |volume=3 |number=2 |pages=185–206|doi=10.1353/mrw.0.0103 |s2cid=161829239 }}
<!-- B -->
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Barry |editor1-first=Jonathan |editor2-first=Marianne |editor2-last=Hester |editor3-first=Gareth |editor3-last=Roberts |title=Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe: Studies in Culture and Belief |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1998}}
* {{cite book |last=Brauner |first=Sigrid |title=Fearless Wives and Frightened Shrews: The Construction of the Witch in Early Modern Germany |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |year=2001}}
* {{cite book |last=Briggs |first=Robin |title=Witches & Neighbours: The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft |publisher=Viking |year=1996}}
<!-- C -->
* {{cite book | last =Callow | first =John | title =The Last Witches of England, A Tragedy of Sorcery and Superstition | publisher =[[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury Academic]] | location =London | year =2022 | isbn =978-1788314398}}
* {{cite book |last=Clark |first=Stuart |title=Thinking with Demons: The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1999}}
* {{Cite book |last=Costantini |first=L. |year=2019 |title=Magic in Apuleius' Apologia: Understanding the Charges and the Forensic Strategies in Apuleius' Speech |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3110616590}}
<!-- E -->
* {{cite journal |last=Even-Ezra |first=A. |title=Cursus: an early thirteenth century source for nocturnal flights and ointments in the work of Roland of Cremona |journal=Magic, Ritual and Witchcraft |volume=12 |number=2 |date=Winter 2017 |pages=314–330|doi=10.1353/mrw.2017.0034 }}
*{{cite web|last=Elsakkers|first=M.J.|title=Article VIII: Anglo-Saxon laws on poisoning: an invitation to further investigation|url=http://dare.uva.nl/document/171169|work=Reading between the lines: Old Germanic and early Christian views on abortion|year=2010|publisher=University of Amsterdam|access-date=31 July 2013}} Includes a table of Old English laws on perjury, magic, ''lybblac'', secret murder, prostitution and idol worship listing terms used in each law.
<!-- F -->
* {{Cite book |last=Favret-Saada |first=Jeanne |title=Deadly Words: Witchcraft in the Bocage |date=1980 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-29787-5 |author-link=Jeanne Favret-Saada }}
* {{Cite book |last=Favret-Saada |first=Jeanne |title=Désorceler |date=2009 |publisher=L'Olivier |isbn=978-2-87929-639-5 |lang=fr}}
* {{Cite book |last=Flint |first=V. I. J. |year=1991 |title=The Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691001104}}
<!-- G -->
* {{cite book |last=Gaskill |first=Malcolm |chapter=Masculinity and Witchcraft in Seventeenth-century England |title=Witchcraft and Masculinities in Early Modern Europe |editor-first=Alison |editor-last=Rowlands |pages=171–190 |place=New York |publisher=Palgrave-Macmillan |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-230-24837-3}}
<!-- H -->
* {{cite book |author-link=Lizanne Henderson |last=Henderson |first=Lizanne |url=http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/7708/ |chapter=Witch-Hunting and Witch Belief in the Gàidhealtachd |title=Witchcraft and Belief in Early Modern Scotland |editor1-first=Julian |editor1-last=Goodare |editor2-first=Lauren |editor2-last=Martin |editor3-first=Joyce |editor3-last=Miller |place=Basingstoke |publisher=Palgrave MacMillan |year=2007|pages=95–118 |isbn=978-0-230-50788-3 }}
* {{cite book |last=Hutton |first=R. |year=2006 |title=Witches, Druids and King Arthur |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-85285-555-0}}
<!-- M -->
* {{cite journal |last=Monter |first=E. William |title=The historiography of European witchcraft: progress and prospects |journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary History |volume=2 |number=4 |year=1972 |pages=435–451 |doi=10.2307/202315 |jstor=202315}}
* {{cite book |last=Monter |first=E. William |title=Witchcraft in France and Switzerland: the Borderlands during the Reformation |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=1976}}
<!-- N -->
* {{cite book |last=Notestein |first=Wallace |title=A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718 |place=New York |publisher=Crowell |year=1968}}
<!-- P -->
* {{cite book |editor-last=Parish |editor-first=Helen |title=Superstition and Magic in Early Modern Europe: A Reader |year=2014 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4411-0032-0}}
* {{cite book |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17203 |title=Witchcraft and Devil Lore in the Channel Islands |year=1886 |first=John Linwood |last=Pitts |via=[[Project Gutenberg]] }}
<!-- R -->
* {{cite book |editor-first=Martha |editor-last=Rampton |title=European Magic and Witchcraft: A Reader |year=2018 |place=Canada |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1442634206}}
* {{cite journal |last=Reissner |first=D. L. |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/w&r/WR_007_1974.pdf |title=Witchcraft and Statecraft: A Materialist Analysis of the European Witch Persecutions |journal=Women and Revolution |number=7 |date=Autumn 1974 }}
* {{cite book |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17209 |title=A Treatise of Witchcraft |year=1616 |first=Alexander |last=Roberts |via=Project Gutenberg }}
<!-- S -->
* {{cite book |last1=Scarre |first1=Geoffrey |first2=John |last2=Callow |title=Witchcraft and Magic in Sixteenth-and Seventeenth-century Europe |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2001}}{{ISBN?}}
* {{cite book |last=Spaeth |first=Barbette Stanley | author-link = Barbette Spaeth |chapter=From Goddess to Hag: The Greek and the Roman Witch in Classical Literature |editor1-first=Kimberly B. |editor1-last=Stratton |editor2-first=Dayna S. |editor2-last=Kalleres |title=Daughters of Hecate: Women and Magic in the Ancient World |year=2014 |pages=41–70 |edition=online |publisher=Oxford Academic |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195342703.003.0002 |isbn=978-0-19-534270-3 |access-date=2 October 2023 |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286420510 |via=ResearchGate}} 
* {{cite book |last=Stark |first=Ryan J. |chapter=Demonic Eloquence |title=Rhetoric, Science, and Magic in Seventeenth-Century England |place=Washington, DC |publisher=Catholic University of America Press |year=2009 |pages=115–45 |isbn=978-0-8132-1578-5}}
<!-- W -->
* {{cite book |last=Waite |first=Gary K. |title=Heresy, Magic and Witchcraft in early modern Europe |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2003}}{{ISBN?}}
* {{cite journal |last=Worobec |first=Christine D. |title=Witchcraft Beliefs and Practices in Prerevolutionary Russian and Ukrainian Villages |journal=The Russian Review |volume=54 |year=1995 |issue=2 |pages=165–187|doi=10.2307/130913 |jstor=130913 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{In Our Time|Witchcraft|p004y2b0|Witchcraft}}
* [https://www.learnreligions.com/wicca-witchcraft-or-paganism-2562823 Wicca, Witchcraft or Paganism?] at ''Learnreligions.com''
* [https://digitaloccultlibrary.commons.gc.cuny.edu/witchcraft-and-wicca/ Witchcraft and Wicca] at the ''[[CUNY]] Academic Commons''
* [http://www.shc.ed.ac.uk/Research/witches/ University of Edinburgh's Scottish witchcraft database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326033737/http://www.shc.ed.ac.uk/Research/witches/ |date=2023-03-26 }}

{{Witchcraft}}

[[Category:European witchcraft| ]]
[[Category:Society of Europe|Witchcraft]]
[[Category:Religious controversies]]
[[Category:Sociology of religion]]
[[Category:Superstitions of Europe]]