The Decline of Witch Hunts

I. The Child-Witch: A Late Manifestation
A) Aggression Against Adults: Sweden, 1668-1676
B) Aggression Against Children: Augsburg, 1723

Image: "A Depiction of the Gruesome Witchery [in] Mora" (1670)

II. The Problem of Decline: A Functionalist Account
A) Judicial Skepticism and the Crisis of Confidence
B) Theological and Philosophical Doubts
C) A Case in Point: Balthasar Bekker

Graph: Last Trials and Executions for Witchcraft in Europe

Image above: attributed to David Tenier the Younger (1610-1690), The Woman in the Net (ca. 1650); Oil on wood, 33.5 x 53 cm. Trier, Städtisches Museum Simeonstift. The painting expresses male fear of seduction through the use of love potions. A fisherman has caught a naked woman in his net; behind him stand a soldier, a pastor, and an old man. All are ensnared in love magic. The accompanying text warns of women's craftiness in allowing men to catch them. Image source: Hexenwahn: Ängste der Neuzeit (Deutsches Historisches Museum). Image right: Titlepage of Balthasar Bekker, De betoverde weereld [The Enchanted World] (Amsterdam: Daniel van den Dalen, 1691). Koninklijke Bibliotheek..

Witches in America

I. Indigenes as ‘Witches’

II. The Salem Witch-Hunt
A) Dimensions Course of the Salem Witch-Trials
B) Defining Characteristics: An English or American Trial?
D) Explanations: Gender
C) Explanations: Local Enmity

Image: Les Sorcières de Salem (1957)
Image: The Maid of Salem (1937)
Chart: The Salem Witch Trials, 1692: Trial Outcomes

Link: Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive

Image right: Theodor de Bry (1528-1598), "Dance at a High Feast," from Historia Americae (1590).