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A:By the fifteenth century, Church doctrine had evolved to the point that witches were assumed to have made pacts with the devil, and this became the central accusation against alleged witches.

By the seventeenth century, documents allegedly constituting such formal pacts were brought as evidence into courts of law.

Allegations of witchcraft were also opportunities for corruption, as clergy made allegations of witchcraft then offered to withdraw them in return for sexual favours or money. In spite of their attempts to abandon all superstition not rooted in the scriptures, the Protestants also enthusiastically pursued witches.


In the witch-hunts that raged across both Catholic and Protestant Europe up to the seventeenth century, 60,000 people, mostly women, were burnt at the stake. The Spanish Inquisition, to its credit, found few witches to burn, deciding that most allegations were without foundation.

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10y ago
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12y ago

Because when chatholothism was being born in Romania the catholic church tried to bring the pagans into cathlysm though the pagans refused to choose the belief and worship of god and chose to stick to worshiping their gods and goddesses and so the catholics repaid the pagans defiance by telling everybody that their god pan was the devil and that the pagans were evil which ofcorse is redicules.

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14y ago

First, people generally fear what they do not understand.

Basic instinctual defensive mechanism resulting from millions of years of evolution.

Second, (this is a counterpart the Witch hunting thing) people envy and hate what they can't have.

If they suspect someone has powers that give them an insurmountable advantage, they'll feel inferior and thus may wish to erase the person from his/her life.

Third, Christianity.

Witch craft often linked to deals with demons or the Devil.

Most were Christians, and thought of this as a crime against the entire universe...(and god)

Misguided "justice" ensues.

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13y ago

They had no reasonable known cause for the strange things that happened around them.

If someone got sick it must be a spell cast by a witch.

Something bad happens, it must be a curse.

Now we know better.

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15y ago

People believed in witchcraft during the 1600's because it served as a scapegoat for any misfortune they were experiencing.

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13y ago

Witches were blamed for sickness and plague. It was also a good way to get rid of someone you didn't like

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Q: Why did people fear witch craft in the 1600?
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