Witchcraft During the Elizabethan Period
by The Elizabethan period is often described as being the golden age in English history. This was the age of the Renaissance with English Language and Literature flourishing, so how is that this period also brought with it a belief in the supernatural especially in witchcraft?
The first reason is due to the printing press. Johannes Gutenberg is credited with being the first European to use movable type printing and it is thanks to this invention that the belief in witchcraft increased. How? The books that were printed contained religious themes and which promoted belief in witches and witchcraft.
When things happen which are unexplainable we humans sometimes need a scapegoat. During the Elizabethan times there were frequent outbreaks of the deadly Bubonic plague (black death). There was no cure for this deadly disease. For every problem, whether it was a bad harvest, someone dying, food going bad or property getting burnt, people needed someone to blame. That someone was witches.
Women were the one’s who were often accused of witchcraft but even men could suffer. During this time period women had very few rights compared to the men. They were expected by their society and of course the men to obey them.
Also during this period there was a lot of poverty and no access to doctors or medicine. Many women in order to help themselves produced their own cures for some ailments. They were ‘wise women’ who used herbs for medicinal purposes.
The Catholic Church in its definition of witchcraft added that any person with knowledge of herbs and used herbs for cures did so with a pact with the Devil. If anyone was in possession of such herbs they would be burnt to death in Europe.
However the hysteria about witchcraft did not fully reach England in the Elizabethan era. There were laws passed but they did not define sorcery on the basis of heresy. Witches who were convicted of murder via witchcraft were executed but they were hanged and not burnt at the stake in as in other countries.
Queen Elizabeth’s attitude towards witches and witchcraft was more lenient then others. Her mother Anne Boleyn was accused of being a witch. She had a sixth finger on one hand which was believed to be a sign that she was a witch.
Generally witches were usually of the following groups:
- Women
- Old
- From a poor background
- Unprotected and defenceless
- Single women
- Widows
- Women who kept pets
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