The Course of Witch Hunting

Chart: Execution Rates in Witchcraft Trial

I. Witch Hunts by the Numbers

Excursus: The Myth of Nine Million Victims

II. Variation Over Time 
A. Early Trials (ca. 1300-1435)
B. Formative Years (1435-1500)
C. Quiet Interlude (1500-1560)
D. The Height of Witch-Hunting (1560-1675)
E. Decline and Disappearance (1675-1750)

Chart: Executions Over Time, Southwestern Germany
Chart: Executions Over Time: The Imperial City of Augsburg

Chart: Executions in Nuremberg, (1502-1743)
Chart: The Declining Importance of Witchcraft (Protocols of the Court Council in Munich, 1629-1690)

II. Explaining Variation: Some Hypotheses
A. The Role of State Intervention
B. Applications of Judicial Torture
C. Religious Competition? 

Image: Anna Vögtlin, a woman who had stolen a Communion wafer for private use, executed for witchcraft before the gates of Willisau in 1447; from Diebold Schilling's Eidgenössische Chronik.

III. Protestantism, Catholicism, and Witchcraft A. Basic Differences: Faith, Grace, Salvation B. End Times and Fear of the Devil C. Christocentrism, Biblicism, and the Assault on Magic Chart: Cycles of Salvation, Catholic and Protestant Image: The Town Council Square in Rothenburg ob der Tauber Excursus: Confession and Witchhunts Map: The Confessional Divisions of Europe Map: The Confessional Divisions of Europe, ca. 1680 Image: Hans Burgkmair the Elder, "The Whore of Babylon" (Augsburg, 1523) Image: "The Seven-Headed Luther" (c. 1530) Image: "Piramide papistique" (1612) Image above: "The Pope as Antichrist riding the Beast of the Apocalypse." Artist unknown; from the Fierie Tryall of God's Saints (1611); Image right: Erhard Schoen, "The Devil with a Bagpipe," (ca. 1536). Source: Der deutsche Einblatt-Holzschnitt in der ersten Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts (Munich: H. Schmidt, 1923). This woodcut image suggests the devilish origins of Catholic doctrine: a devil is shown playing a bagpipe in the shape of a monk's head (identifiable by its tonsure). The monk is, literally and figuratively, the Devil's instrument. The legend reads: " In times past I played my pipe here and there / And from my pipe came fables and fairytales, Many wondrous dreams of fantasy. / But now, it's no more; it lies in pieces. / Which pains me much; it's hard to bear. / Yet I hope it will not last very long / For the world is impudent, / Sinful, treacherous, and full of guile."