What did people believe about witches in 1600?

Answer 1

Most probably believed that witches were real, that they had made pacts with Satan, that they had an extra nipple for Satan to suck on, and that they were usually women whose plan was to lure men from Godliness by their womanly wiles. This view was derived from that expressed by the fifteenth century book Malleus Maleficorum and others like it, an extremely popular expression of misogyny and credulity.

However, there was a growing and significant group who believed that most witch hunts were attacks on innocent and defenseless old women, and that most of the people claiming magical power through witchcraft or otherwise were frauds and charlatans. The most apparent of these was Reginald Scot, whose 1594 book The Discoverie of Witches set off a controversy which lasted for most of the next century. James I, "the wisest fool in Christendom" was a firm believer in witches and ordered Scot's book to be burned. Many copies survived, however, and many books were written both attacking and defending it.

The Discoverie of Witches appears to have been Shakespeare's source-book for Macbeth as well as Middleton's for The Witch. Although these plays (unlike Jonson's Alchemist, for example) do not portray actual charlatans, they could not have been very popular with those who really believed in witches, like King James.