Witchcraze

Witchcraze Witchcraft Craze in Europe In order to understand exactly what happened during the Witchcraze in Europe we must understand what it means first. The word witch comes from the Old English noun wicca, meaning “sorcerer” and the verb wiccan “to cast a spell (Muhlberger).” The meaning of witchcraft is a form of sorcery, or the magical manipulation of nature for self-aggrandizement, or for the benefit or harm of a client. This manipulation often involves the use of spirit-helpers, or families (“Witch Hunt”). Europe was going threw a very unstable time when the withcraze started. There was a lot going on that contributed to make this craze as big as it was. Many Catholics were converting to the Protestant religion, Parliament was empowered for the very first time, populations were increasing at an exponential rate, and women monarchs were holding high social positions in society (Muhlberger). All of these drastic changes contributed to the tension and conflict that followed. This also started to make men feel threatened by women. In order to keep their masculinity they thought if they accussed women of practicing black magic that somehow they would look and feel more masculine. Authorities in people, witchcraft, witches, started, time, person, just, witch, hunt, torture, women, out, europe, during, about, very, town, thought, society, really, much, make, levack, harm, evidence, crime, craze, believed, being, after, witchcraze, witch-hunt, understand, truth, tried