The Analysis On West European Witch-hunting Movement In The 16-17～(th) Century And Its Cause

In the 16~th and 17~th century, Europe experienced societal change. During this period, a group of events that we are familiar with took place like religious revolution, scientific revolution and the formation of people country. The human history looks like stepping into a new milestone. However, "witch hunts" the huge European slaughter which is not caused by war can help us reanalyze this period of the history and reveal the unknown history. This is very important for us to get to know European history culture and etc.At that time European (mainly West European) society is experiencing dramatic change, people are influenced by the political confusion and religious constrict. Facing all kinds of crises, people were eager to determine the reason for the chaos in the society then, looking for a scapegoat became the best way of comforting people's insecurity - and witches are the best scapegoat.Because of this, at the beginning of early Europe, government, academics even peasant farmers, all believe in witches. They were afraid of the destructive ability of female watches and they started searching the witches in their imagination, especially female witches. In 1660's, witch-related phenomena increased in quantity in Western Europe and rose to a shocking degree in the end of this decade. By the end of the 16~thC lawsuits regarding witches had increased and spread to broader regions and reached its peak in 1720's. During that period, a lot of witches were arrested, put in jail and burned to death.So why in those days those look sensible, do people fall into this kind of mass hysteria - crazily abusing witches, especially female witches. People in those days should have been sensible and scientific than people from the "dark time", isn't it?This article is based on the history of witch hunting, analyzing the society of West Europe in 1600's and 1700's, and understanding people's reaction under these circumstances. I wish through the analysis of this problem, I can provide a new angle to Western European history in the 16 and 17 century to the readers in China.There are three parts in this article.The first part is: based on the research of previous decades, introduce and academic revision of West European "witch hunts" in the 16 and 17century, and analyze its shortcomings, and come to some conclusions. Declaring the reason of belief in witches and monsters built a very gook foundation of the following contents of the article.The second part is continuing the background of the campaign, introducing all the aspects of the occurrences and the development of the campaign. Especially introducing the legal system, including cruel penalties etc. in France, Germany and Great Britain in West Europe. And therefore better explain why there was such an extensive witch hunt at that time.The third part is based on the previous two parts, analyzing the witch-hunt condition in the 16 and 17 century, find out the special historical reason in those days. The economic and political condition, renaissance, religious revolution and the abusing way of the society all contributed to this campaign in a different degree. At the same time, the conclusion of this article also explains why female witches are the main victims of the campaign.