She is also mentioned in passing in Robin Cook's suspense novel Acceptable Risk. According to many legends, a baby that is not born head-first and with its face upwards is considered to be a witch. Spectral evidence is evidence-based on visions and dreams of the actions of a witch's spirit or specter. As was the custom, after she was hanged, her body was buried in a shallow grave near the execution spot. Most of these cases are defamation suits resulting from slander or gossip; in fact, the only Virginia law to specifically address witchcraft, passed in Lower Norfolk County on May 23, 1655, was intended to eliminate not the practice of witchcraft, but rather divrs dangerous and scandalous speeches raised by some psons concerning sevrall women in this countie termeing them to be witches, whereby their reputacons have beene much impaired, and theire lives brought in question. False accusers were to pay a fine of 1,000 pounds of tobacco and could be further punished by the court if it was deemed necessary. The test, which was so controversial that it was no longer used on the European continent at the time of Sherwoods trial, involved binding the accuseds hands and feet and throwing him or her into a body of water. "[3], A public outcry greeted the accusations made against her, as she was considered to be a woman of very pious character, who lived in amity with her neighbours, and had a reputation for benevolence as well as piety: even her neighbor Sarah Holton, who had accused Rebecca of acting quite unreasonably in a quarrel over some trespassing pigs, later changed her mind and spoke in Rebecca's defence. Your Privacy Rights Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. However, witch trials are not a thing of the past. However the jury had changed their verdict and sentenced Nurse to death on July 19, 1692. Where are the fashion centers of the garment industry? What is the Witch trials? The peak of the witch hunt was during the European wars of religion, peaking between about 1580 and 1630. So-called witch doctors use combinations of plants and animals, as well as spirituality or supernatural ability, to treat medical conditions. The witch trials could best be described as. If someone is really lucky, some people believe they must have cast a spell or made a deal with the devil in order to be so fortunate. Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. Traditional healers, who rely on ancient remedies, are not witch doctors. But it wasnt until 1957more than 250 years laterthat Massachusetts formally apologized for the events of 1692. The Witch Trials of Trier in Germany was perhaps the biggest witch trial in European history. Sometime around 1644, she married Francis Nurse (or Nourse; 16181695), who was also born in England. Upon hearing of the accusations, the frail 71-year-old Nurse, often described as an invalid, said, "I am innocent as the child unborn, but surely, what sin hath God found out in me unrepented of, that He should lay such an affliction on me in my old age. However, no one ever embodied the concept of a witch as previously described. According to oral tradition, Nurse's family secretly returned after dark and dug up her body, which they interred properly on their family homestead. England produced two adolescent witches and one child-witch. Tens of thousands of supposed witchesmostly womenwere executed. A month later, a father and son were also burned to death after being accused of witchcraft. Lower Norfolk County passes a law prohibiting its residents from falsely accusing other colonists of witchcraft. 150. Given the subsequent spread of the strange behaviour to other girls and young women in the community and the timing of its display, however, those physiological and psychological explanations are not very convincing. Many babies are abandoned or killed. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraftthe devils magicand 20 were executed. Illicit magic features heavily in Roman law statutes, some of which are passed down to the Christian world. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. Sherwoods case reflects how reluctant Virginia authorities were to execute convicted witches. "The Witch Trials of JK Rowling." While the title may suggest that that they are taking Rowling's side in the . It led to the death of about 386 people, and was perhaps the biggest mass execution in Europe during peacetime. [2] Her husband was a "tray maker" by trade, who likely made many other wooden household items. Due to the rarity of such household goods, such artisans were esteemed. This is especially true in places with poor medical care or few educational opportunities. Today, witch trials occur all over the world. [citation needed]. After some young girls of the village (two of them relatives of Parris) started demonstrating strange behaviours and fits, they were urged to identify the person who had bewitched them. The clergy and intellectuals began to speak out against the trials from the late 16th century. The questioning got more serious in April, when the colonys deputy governor, Thomas Danforth, and his assistants attended the hearings. A couple of young girls accused others of witchcraft. The town of Salem fell ill under a mysterious illness. Privacy Statement Unlike traditional healers, witch doctors use spells. The witch trials in Salem erupted as the witch craze in Europe began to fizzle. This belief was first manifested in the Jamestown colonists early perceptions of the Virginia Indians, whom they believed to be devil worshippers. There were two Salems in the late 17th century: a bustling commerce-oriented port community on Massachusetts Bay known as Salem Town, which would evolve into modern Salem, and, roughly 10 miles (16 km) inland from it, a smaller, poorer farming community of some 500 persons known as Salem Village. When were people most likely to be accused of witchcraft in Salem? Her trial and death are elements of the Doctor Who novel The Witch Hunters. They raised their family in Salem village (modern day Danvers, Massachusetts). This is the last witchcraft trial on record in Virginia. Luke Hill formally charges Grace Sherwood with witchcraft. If a person was accused of witchcraft, they were taken to the nearest body of water and stripped down to their undergarments. Their initial accusations gave way to trials, hysteria, and a frenzy that resulted in further accusations, often between the differing factions. It reveals how it was impossible not to be put to death as a witch in Salem. The Nurse family remained in the home for many generations. 1 ENTRY Witchcraft in Colonial Virginia SUMMARY Witchcraft was a genuine concern for colonial Virginians. The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between early 1692 and mid-1693. In their descriptions of Virginia Indians, the Jamestown colonists often used supernatural terms: John Smith described the paramount chief Powhatan as more like a devil then a man, while George Percy recalls the Indians making noise like so many Wolves or Devils. Alexander Whitaker, an Anglican minister, reported that he found the Indians to be very familiar with the Devill and observed, Their Priests are no other but such as our English Witches are. This perception stemmed partly from the colonists interpretation of the Powhatans religious beliefs and rituals (some settlers believed that the Powhatans main deity, Okee, was the devil incarnate) and partly from the Indians unfamiliar appearance. Sherwood floated. Accused persons who drowned were considered innocent, and ecclesiastical authorities would proclaim them brought back, but those who floated were considered guilty of practicing witchcraft, and burned at the stake or executed in an unholy fashion. An estimated 75% to 85% of those accused in the early modern witch trials were women, and there is certainly evidence of misogyny on the part of those persecuting witches. 1656: Thomas Ady publishes A Candle in the Dark . Johannes KeplerA German mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, and key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution. Their names were John Nurse (born 1645), Rebecca Nurse (born 1647), Samuel Nurse (born 1649), Elizabeth Nurse (born 1655 or 1656), Mary Nurse (born 1657 28 June 1749), Francis Nurse (born 1660 or 1661), Sarah Nurse (born 1662) and Benjamin Nurse (born in 1665 or 1666). The sentence for an individual found guilty of witchcraft or sorcery during this time, and in previous centuries, typically included either burning at the stake or being tested with the ordeal of cold water or judicium aquae frigidae. In response to their outbursts Nurse stated, "I have got nobody to look to but God. In England, the Witchcraft Act of 1542 regulated the penalties for witchcraft. On October 3, following in his son Cottons footsteps, Increase Mather, then-president of Harvard, denounced the use of spectral evidence: It were better that ten suspected witches should escape than one innocent person be condemned.. Witch hunts English Parliament overturns the Witchcraft Act of 1604 and replaces it with the Witchcraft Act of 1735, which criminalizes the pretense, not the practice, of using black magic. [citation needed]. European pagan belief in witchcraft was associated with the goddess Diana and dismissed as diabolical fantasies by medieval Christian authors. The Witch Trials of Trier in Germany was perhaps the biggest witch trial in European history. Those accused of witchcraft were portrayed as being worshippers of the Devil, who engaged in sorcery at meetings known as Witches Sabbaths. So what can be done to stop witch trials or accusations of witchcraft? A jury of women finds two marks. Nevertheless, it has been argued that the supposedly misogynistic agenda of works on witchcraft has been greatly exaggerated, based on the selective repetition of a few relevant passages of the Malleus Maleficarum. How Rye Bread May Have Caused the Salem Witch Trials, Order in the Court: 10 Trials of the Century, https://www.britannica.com/event/Salem-witch-trials, Bill of Rights Institute - The Salem Witch Trials, World History Encyclopedia - Salem Witch Trials, Ancient Origins - Salem Witch Trial hysteria and the courageous stance of Giles Corey, Salem Witch Trials - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Salem witch trials - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). The haphazard fashion in which the Salem witch trials were conducted contributed to changes in U.S. court procedures, including rights to legal representation and cross-examination of accusers as well as the presumption that one is innocent until proven guilty. A number of Wrights neighbors testified against her, alleging that, through witchcraft, she had caused the death of a newborn, killed crops and livestock, and accurately predicted the deaths of other colonists. The law of the Salem Witch Trials is a fascinating mix of biblical passages and colonial statutes. Thurston (2001) saw this as a part of the general misogyny of the late medieval and early modern periods, which had increased during what he described as the persecuting culture from what it had been in the early medieval period. Ministers spoke out against the trials saying: - spectral evidence should not be allowed - so many people in one town couldn't be witches 2. According to Amnesty International, as many as 1,000 Gambians accused of witchcraft have been arrested and tortured on orders from the president. Tituba's relationship to Betty could best be described as. In Denmark, the burning of witches increased following the reformation of 1536. Salem village located in the Northern coast of Massachusetts was infamously known for its 1692 witch trials. The witch trials of Catholic Austria and Protestant Switzerland were both severe. Witches were considered to be followers of Satan who had traded their souls for his assistance. Additionally, a man was pressed beneath heavy stones until he died. The witch trails could best be described as. Due to the public outcry and renewed fits and spasms by the "afflicted", the judges reviewed her case with the jury. Jess Blumberg National Geographic Headquarters 1145 17th Street NW Washington, DC 20036. However, witch trials are not a thing of the past. While the witch trials had begun to fade out across much of Europe by the mid-17th century, they continued to a greater extent on the fringes of Europe and in the American colonies. These trials were mostly initiated to prosecute individuals who had been accused of witchcraft. [16], Rebecca Nurse is the ancestor of several notable people, including Mitt Romney, Zach Braff, and Lucille Ball.[17]. Many people described Nurse as "the woman of self-dignity", due to her collected behavior on the gallows. The First Amendment has generally served to protect individuals for opinions that they have expressed, albeit not for violent or illegal conduct. Rebecca was a well-respected member of the community. For Americans, that number was even higher: 21 percent. The litany of odd behaviour also mirrored that of the children of a Boston family who in 1688 were believed to have been bewitched, a description of which had been provided by Congregational minister Cotton Mather in his book Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions (1689) and which may have been known by the girls in Salem Village. Smyth printed it without questioning ( Writings, ii, 170-2), as have . When people get sick, witchcraft is sometimes seen as the cause. At least two people are dead. People are unjustifiably persecuted and/or killed. Parris, whose largely theological studies at Harvard College (now Harvard University) had been interrupted before he could graduate, was in the process of changing careers from business to the ministry. During this period, the biggest witch trials were held in Europe, notably the Trier witch trials (15811593), the Fulda witch trials (16031606), the Basque witch trials (16091611), the Wrzburg witch trial (16261631), and the Bamberg witch trials (16261631). What do different witch hunts often have in common? Katherine Grady, en route to Virginia from England, is accused of being a witch, tried, found guilty, and hanged aboard an English ship. These certificates "officially" proved the women were heavier than air (according to their town scales) and as a result were unable to fly. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Christian IV of Denmark, in particular, encouraged this practice, and hundreds of people were convicted of witchcraft and burned. [citation needed]. They began an educational campaign in schools and workplaces about science, medicine, and HIV/AIDS. [5] At age 71, she was one of the oldest accused. Strange but harmless. They also sent police to work with traditional healers and village chiefs. Known as King Williams War to colonists, the conflict ravaged regions of upstate New York, Nova Scotia and Quebec, sending refugees into the county of Essexand, specifically, Salem Villagein the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Shirley MacLaine makes a rare TV appearance as the ill-fated Rebecca Nurse. The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between early 1692 and mid-1693. After 1622, some colonists began to accuse one another of practicing witchcraft. The fact that Wright was a woman is typical, too: in the surviving records of witchcraft cases in Virginia, only two accused witches were men, reflecting a trend that also exists in the legal records of England and the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1689, English monarchs William and Mary started a war with France in the American colonies. And in 1711, the colony passed a bill restoring the rights and good names of many of the accused, as well as granting a total of 600 in restitution to their heirs. Other girls and young women began experiencing fits, among them Ann Putnam, Jr.; her mother; her cousin, Mary Walcott; and the Putnamss servant, Mercy Lewis. Some Nigerians explain this rapid accumulation of money and power as a sign of witchcraft. Three family members were held accountable for treating the girl as a witch. During the medieval period, there was widespread belief in magic across Christian Europe. With the seeds of paranoia planted, a stream of accusations followed over the next few months. She was the wife of Francis Nurse, and had several children. Nineteen men and women had been hanged on Gallows Hill. Initially, Tituba also claimed to be blameless, but after being repeatedly badgered (and undoubtedly fearful owing to her vulnerable status as a slave), she told the magistrates what they apparently wanted to hearthat she had been visited by the devil and made a deal with him. If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. A couple of young girls accused others of witchcraft. 3. The process of identifying witches began with suspicions or rumours. In the years following the trials and executions, some involved, like judge Samuel Sewall and accuser Ann Putnam, publicly confessed error and guilt. After a long investigation, the court justices decided to use the water test to determine her guilt or innocence. The number of trials and executions varied according to time and place, but it is generally believed that some 110,000 persons in total were tried for witchcraft and between 40,000 to 60,000 were executed. After Governor Phipss wife was accused, he again interceded and ordered that a new court be established that would not allow so-called spectral evidence. One was pressed to death by heavy stones. Nurse can also be found as a supporting character in Katherine Howe's historical fiction, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. It shows how Salem was one of the few towns that believed in supernatural forces. Salem witch trials, (June 1692-May 1693), in American history, a series of investigations and persecutions that caused 19 convicted "witches" to be hanged and many other suspects to be imprisoned in Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (now Danvers, Massachusetts). Most of Virginias colonial-era court records were destroyed in fires during the American Civil War (18611865), so it is impossible to know exactly how many witchcraft cases were heard in Virginia and when. Parliament passes a law making witchcraft "a felony punishable by death and forfeiture of goods and chattels. After weeks of informal hearings, Sir William Phips, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, interceded to add some formality to the proceedings. A witchcraft craze rippled through Europe from the 1300s to the end of the 1600s. Some three-fourths of those European witch hunts took place in western Germany, the Low Countries, France, northern Italy, and Switzerland. Over the entire duration of the trials, which spanned three centuries, an estimated total of 40,000100,000 people were executed. He brought to Salem Village his wife, their three children, a niece, and two slaves who were originally from BarbadosJohn Indian, a man, and Tituba, a woman. She is likewise a major character in Robert Wards Pulitzer Prize-winning operatic adaptation of Miller's play. Magistrates even questioned Goods 4-year-old daughter, Dorothy, whose timid answers were construed as a confession. Reading a novel. In the original Broadway production in 1953 she was played by Jean Adair, who died shortly afterwards. The Salem trials occurred late in the sequence, after the abatement of the European witch-hunt fervour, which peaked from the 1580s and 90s to the 1630s and 40s. People are unjustifiably persecuted and/or killed. The height of the European witch trials was between 1560 and 1630, with the large hunts first beginning in 1609. [13] In 1892, the community erected a second monument recognizing the 40 neighbors, led by Israel and Elizabeth (Hathorne) Porter, who took the risk of publicly supporting Nurse by signing a petition to the court on her behalf in 1692. The film depicts Nurse and her family members as the main characters. Quick action by respected authority figures is effective in stopping witch hunts. All three women were brought before the local magistrates and interrogated for several days, starting on March 1, 1692. Often the "afflicted" would break into fits and claim Nurse was tormenting them. The English colonists believed the Indians they encountered to be devils, or at least devil worshippers. By 1909 the farm was saved by volunteers and turned into a historic house museum that includes the original house and cemetery, on 27 of the original 300 acres (1.2km2) of land. Salem Witch Trials: Conclusion and Legacy The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed. (There is uncertainty regarding the relationship between the slaves and their ethnic origins. Rebecca was portrayed by actress Shirley MacLaine in the 2002 CBS miniseries, Salem Witch Trials. Get the latest History stories in your inbox? The most famous witch trial in history happened in Salem, Massachusetts, during the winter and spring of 1692-1693. It created the fear that led to unfair treatment of Japanese Americans. Nigerias oil boom, which began in the 1970s, has made a few of its citizens extremely wealthy. In 1678 they were offered the opportunity to lease-to-own a 300-acre (120ha) farm in the rural village area of Salem (today Danvers, Massachusetts), originally a part of a grant given to Townsend Bishop in 1636. Here, the cause of eliminating the supposed Satanic witches from society was taken up by a number of individuals; Claude Tholosan for instance had tried over two hundred people, accusing them of witchcraft in Brianon, Dauphin, by 1420. In writing, describe your position and concerns regarding each of these issues: offshore production; free trade agreements; and new production and distribution technologies. In response to Luke Hill's charge of witchcraft against Grace Sherwood, the Princess Anne County Court impanels a jury of women, including Elizabeth Barnes, to search Sherwood's body for witch's marks. Parliament passes "An Acte against Conjuration Witchcrafte and dealing with evill and wicked Spirits," outlawing witchcraft and allowing authorities to prosecute accused witches in Virginia. They told Rebecca openly that if she was innocent, they prayed that God would show her innocence, for "it is a sad thing to see church members accused". Witch trials had been a part of English life for centuries, and Parliament had passed a law criminalizing the practice of witchcraft in 1542, so the men and women who settled the English colony at Jamestown would have considered witchcraft to be a real and punishable offense. In the first and much acclaimed television adaption by the BBC in 1980 she was played by Ann Dyson. This is a type of trials where testifying is made in a way fear can ruin lives of innocent people and the importance of due process in protecting individuals against false accusations. the one century which consist ently, and throughout the whole range of human activities, provided intellectual genius adequate for the greatness of its . Many modern scholars argue that the witch hunts cannot be explained simplistically as an expression of male misogyny, as indeed women were frequently accused by other women, to the point that witch hunts, at least at the local level of villages, have been described as having been driven primarily by womens quarrels. Especially at the margins of Europe, in Iceland, Finland, Estonia, and Russia, the majority of those accused were male. She was convicted and imprisoned, but by 1714, she had been released. Although her exact resting place has never been confirmed her descendants erected a tall granite memorial in the family plot in 1885 at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead cemetery in Danvers (formerly Salem Village), Massachusetts. when they appeared to be different from the norm. Salem, Mass., 1692.O Christian Martyr who for Truth could dieWhen all about thee owned the hideous lie!The world redeemed from Superstition's swayIs breathing freer for thy sake today. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. In the medieval and early modern eras, many religions, including Christianity, taught that the devil could give people known as witches the power to harm others in return for their loyalty. The Puritan villagers believed all the quarreling was the work of the devil. Cookie Settings, Photo by Jim Davis / The Boston Globe via Getty Images, Five Places Where You Can Still Find Gold in the United States, Scientists Taught Pet Parrots to Video Call Each Otherand the Birds Loved It, Balto's DNA Provides a New Look at the Intrepid Sled Dog, The Science of California's 'Super Bloom,' Visible From Space, What We're Still Learning About Rosalind Franklins Unheralded Brilliance. In the late 1600s the Salem Village community in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (now Danvers, Massachusetts) was fairly small and undergoing a period of turmoil with little political guidance. ", James VI, king of Scotland (later crowned James I of England), publishes. By the end of the Salem witch trials, 19 people had been hanged and 5 others had died in custody. As the trials continued, accusations extended beyond Salem Village to surrounding communities. A fanciful representation of Rebecca Nurse's trial from. Nineteen were executed by hanging. She was fully exonerated fewer than twenty years later. Justices charged the accused, a woman named Mary, with using witchcraft to find lost items and treasure. In 1711, colonial authorities pardoned some of the accused and compensated their families. The displaced people placed a strain on Salems resources, aggravating the existing rivalry between families with ties to the wealth of the port of Salem and those who still depended on agriculture. In 2005, an eight-year-old girl in London, England, was accused of being a witch by a family member. When were people most likely to be accused of witchcraft in Salem? This terrible moment that resulted in the trials of the 20 th century in York County actually happened at Thanksgiving.. And while it centered on a certain type of white . In a foreword to Anglican minister Alexander Whitaker's. Introduction. She was convicted and whipped thirty-nine times. Johannes Kepler in 1615 could only by the weight of his prestige keep his mother from being burned as a witch. This work was adapted for films in 1957 and 1996; Nurse was portrayed by actresses Marguerite Coutan-Lambert and Elizabeth Lawrence, respectively. [8] Such so-called "spectral evidence" was allowed into the trial to show that Satan was afflicting others in the community at the behest of the accused. In the 20th century, artists and scientists alike continued to be fascinated by the Salem witch trials. When asked if she committed witchcraft, Bishop responded, I am as innocent as the child unborn. The defense must not have been convincing, because she was found guilty and, on June 10, became the first person hanged on what was later called Gallows Hill. Those who were accused of witchcraft were portrayed as being Devil worshipers. Within the historical phenomenon, witch trial 'defendants' were overwhelmingly female, and members of the lower classes. Born February 13, 1621, her baptism is recorded as February 21, 1621. A woman named Mary is accused of using witchcraft to find lost items and treasure. When were people most likely to be accused of witchcraft in Salem? On February 29, under pressure from magistrates Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne, colonial officials who tried local cases, the girls blamed three women for afflicting them: Tituba, a Caribbean woman enslaved by the Parris family; Sarah Good, a homeless beggar; and Sarah Osborne, an elderly impoverished woman. As the weeks passed, many of the accused proved to be enemies of the Putnams, and Putnam family members and in-laws would end up being the accusers in dozens of cases. (Salem Village is present-day Danvers, Massachusetts; colonial Salem Town became whats now Salem.). [4] Thirty-nine of the most prominent members of the community signed a petition on Nurse's behalf. An important turning point was the Black Death of 13481350, which killed a large percentage of the European population, and which many Christians believed had been caused by evil forces. (From the poem "Christian Martyr," by John Greenleaf Whittier), In 1706, her accuser, Ann Putnam, Jr., gave a public church confession upon entering the Salem Village congregation.