Why Did The Great European Witch Hunt Take Place

Why did the great European witch-hunt take place? The hunting of witches was a tremendous issue in Europe, especially in the time period from the year 1450 to the year 1750. It was mainly targeted towards women and led to the execution of numerous individuals. Witch-hunting was frowned upon due to its association with the devil. Evil acts (including devil worship and black magic) were considered crimes, therefore the government and its courts became involved. Women were punished because of the accusations made about them, leading to the chaos of the witch-hunting era in Europe. Based on the tremendous impact that the witch-hunts had, it makes perfect sense to wonder why they began in the first place. Many contributing factors led to the beginning of witch-hunting and witch execution, which is why this question does not necessarily have a simple answer. When pondering the origin of witch-hunting it is important to address religion, pacts with the devil, government, and social and economic conditions. Witchcraft was a very prominent issue in Europe. Europeans defined witchcraft as the â€Å"practice of harmful, black or maleficent magic: the performance of harmful deeds by means of some sort of extraordinary, mysterious, occult, preternatural or supernatural power.† Witches were known to do acts as horrendous as inflicting sickness onto a child. Maleficium was the term used to refer to the harmful magic practiced by witches, the witches themselves were referred to as maleficiShow MoreRelatedWitches : Evil And Dark Beings1409 Words   |  6 Pagesoccurrence in time. However, a direct reason for why they were hunted was never officially given. Why did the Europeans hunt witches? Perhaps the witches really were just evil beings that deserved the painful deaths they received. 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