A Research On Witchcraft During 17~thcentury England

Under the influence of the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and rationalism in the 17 th century, England was moving steadily toward industrialization. Meanwhile, the witchcraft accusations and witch-hunt movement reached the climax in this period. Witchcraft, which was once regarded as a superstition by upper middle class, didn’t happen in what they thought of the “dark” Middle Age, but occurred in the scientific and rational germination period. This contradiction has complicated reasons.First of all, the social environment provides favorable conditions for the witchcraft problems in this period. With the emergence of the capitalist economy and various kinds of changes from The British Capitalist Revolution in the 17 th, the traditional social environment including the neighborhood relationships began to change. Of course, the social environment still remained some of traditional elements in this period. The phenomenon which the unruly behaviors still needed to be governed and the personal reputation was cherished and the ordinary people still were blind or half-blind situation keeps the vitality of extensive and active of the witchcraft.Secondly, the cautious law system of the England influenced the scale of the witchcraft accusations. Three witchcraft acts were issued in the England during the 16 th and 17 th century by the government. In 1542, Henry VII promulgated the witchcraft act which the witchcraft was categorized as a secular crime, and no longer associated with heresy. From this point, the following witchcraft laws continued this tradition. Until the period of the James I, he issued the 1603 witchcraft act. Although the witchcraft act inherited the main content of the previous witchcraft law before the 17 th century, it was added the theory of the “Satanism” and its penalties were greatly enhanced, which directly caused witch-hunt movement in England in the 17 th century. The existence of the witchcraft act gave rise to the emergence of witchcraft prosecutions. At the beginning of the 17 th century, the witchcraft prosecutions in England were kept at a relatively low level. In the middle of the period, the scale of witchcraft lawsuits increased from the rise of witch-hunt movement. After 1660, the cases of witchcraft gradually disappeared.The scale of accusations in some degree was also influenced by the concept of witchcraft in the society at that time. The attitude of witchcraft in the middle and upper classes compared to the ordinary people was more complex and diverse. The dominance hierarchy considered the witchcraft as the secularity crime due to the order of the society and the national interest; and part of the upper middle class repelled the witchcraft because of the God and the science. However, Ordinary people merely viewed witchcraft as means of malfeasance. This reality and the complexity of the concept of witchcraft directly or indirectly affected the development and level of witchcraft prosecutions in England.