brian p levack the witch hunt in early modern europe

There were also a number of prosecutions in the south-eastern province of Transylvania, which remained an autonomous province within the Ottoman Empire between 15 and did not become fully reintegrated into the kingdom of Hungary until 1711. Most of the trials took place in the kingdom of Hungary, which became part of the Austrian Hapsburg monarchy in 1526. Between 15, just under 1,500 individuals were tried for witchcraft in Hungary, of whom some 450 are known to have been executed (most by burning), while at least 225 suffered non-capital punishments. Witch-hunting in Hungary was less intense and took a lower toll than in Poland, although the total number of trials and executions was by no means insignificant. The absence of any large-scale prosecutions can be attributed in large part to a division between the zealots on the council, who were eager to try witches as part of a program of Catholic reform, such as inspired the severe witch-hunts in Bamberg and Würzburg, and the so-called politicians, who were concerned mainly with maintaining the stability of the state. This relatively moderate record of witch-hunting had much to do with the reluctance of the central government in Munich to support the trials, and especially not to allow any witch-hunts from getting out of control. Even more significantly, not more than 1,000 of those tried were executed. Although about 3,000 individuals were tried for witchcraft in the duchy over the course of about 100 years, the accused witches represented a relatively small percentage of the population, which hovered around 1.4 million people in 1600. The general phenomenon with which we are concerned.The duchy of Bavaria, which became an electorate in 1623, experienced a number of witch-hunts in the early modern period, but they were not as intense as those in the ecclesiastical territories in Franconia. Both investigations will provide further illustration of the complexity and the diversity of Various states and regions of Europe, an enterprise that will also take intoĪccount chronological patterns within those particular areas. Then we must survey the history of witchcraft prosecutions in the Various reasons for the waxing and waning of prosecutions over the entire On the one hand, we must establish the generalĬhronological patterns of witch-hunting throughout Europe, suggesting Scotland than in England? To answer such questions we must pursue two Was witch-hunting so much more intense in Germany than in Spain or in

Take place between 15 than between 15? And why

Why, for example, did more European prosecutions

One of the most difficult tasks facing historians of European witchcraft isto account for the variations in the intensity of witch-hunting at different times and places.

Brian p levack the witch hunt in early modern europe