What was witchcraft in 1606?

Answer 1

Yes. Belief in witchcraft goes back thousands of years. However, during the time when so-called "witches" were being persecuted, the majority of the people who were executed, were wrongly accused of practicing witchcraft.

Answer 2

The Seventeenth century (1601 - 1700) is largely when people in Europe finally began to abandon their belief in the supernatural. Early in the century, it was normal and unremarkable for people to accept the existence of witches, goblins, fairies and curses:- as we see in Shakespeare's plays Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. The Pendle witch hysteria came to a head in 1612, with mass executions of almost certainly innocent women in Lancaster. The middle of the century saw mass witch trials in many European countries (Matthew Hopkins - the famous witchhunter - was most active between 1620 and 1647).

But by the end of the century, most educated people were beginning to doubt that witches and evil spirits were particularly widespread, or even if such entities existed at all. The English Witchcraft act of 1735 is aimed at prosecuting people who pretend to be witches or necromancers:- suggesting strongly that educated people were already very dubious that real witchcraft existed.

A few backward places - such as Massachusetts - continued to try and execute witches late into the 1690's; but mainly, as religious fanaticism died out, so did the intense superstition which usually comes with it.

The matter is covered in some depth in Keith Thomas 'Religion and the Decline of Magic': a book well worth reading for all sorts of reasons.

Answer 3

Yes and they still do it today . . . . . . . . sad isent it?

Answer 4

Witchcraft was a form of devil worshipping.

Answer 5

ugly