he thirteenth century the concept of what a witch was changed that a person who was called a witch was believed to have it in with Satan and practicing evil. The idea of there being good witches was no longer accepted, and a series of witch trials began to continued on until around the end of the 1600’s, spreading from Europe to the New World of America. Execution of accused witches occurred in many counties throughout Europe. Some of common things that witches were blamed for causing were destructive storms; non-producing crops or animals, diseases, sterility, death, possession of humans and making them do outrageous acts. The Romans and Greeks were also known to put some people to death for being witches. People who were in witches in those societies were believed to move around at night causing the evils of humanity. In most of Europe, though, a witch was someone who was conspiring with the devil, which during the mid-evil times was a great offense. The people of this era were very devout in their religion, and the devil was highly feared. To have a person who was supposed to be connected to the devil was something that just could not be accepted. Some of the first executions in Europe that occurred for the crime of witchcraft took place between the years of 1347-1400 in France. Sixty-seven were burned for being involved with the craft. In the 1400’s, the Catholic Church became a key player and influencer in the persecution of witches. It was declared by the church that witchcraft was a “hostile threat” to Christianity and that a crackdown on the ending the practice was necessary. It was at this time that the idea that witches were agents of the devil became a common belief. They were suspected by some to be on earth to do evil on God’s people. Much of how one would be declared a witch was based upon a book commissioned by the Pope. It was written by two monks, Heinrich Kraemer and Jacob Sprenger, and is...
