what were jacobean beliefs about witchcraft?

Answer 1

King James I of England(1566-1625) ascended to the throne in 1603. He had previously ruled as King of Scotland since he was a year old. James became interested in witchcraft after attending the trial of the Berwick witches in 1590 where it was claimed that some of the seventy or so accused attempted to sink a ship on which he was travelling. After many confessed to the act under extreme torture, James became obsessed with the idea that witchcraft was a real threat to his reign. He wrote a treatise on witchcraft and demonology based on the Malleus Maleficarum that was used to condemn hundreds of Scottish people to death. Many of their bodies were found in Nor Loch, now Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh.

James' beliefs were based on a long history of Christian paranoia about witchcraft. The Malleus Maleficarum was published following a papal bull in 1484 that condemned witchcraft as heresy. Previously, the Catholic church had condemned belief in the existence of witchcraft but public hysteria and superstition fuelled the conversion of witchcraft into heresy. Reprints of the book during the 1500's led to a witchcraft craze. Often a more secular activity, many thousands died as witches. Contemporary events such as the Salem Witch Trials in 1692 inflamed public fears.

If you are asking about what people believed about the practice of witchcraft, it mainly centres around a pact with the devil. This pact gave the witch certain powers for the price of her soul. Witches were thought to make people ill, blight crops and make livestock sicken or become infertile. They had familiar demons in animal forms that did their bidding. They could cause storms, sink ships and fly on brooms. People thought that witches met up to dance with the devil and occasionally have intercourse with him. Many people confessed to meeting a "black" man and signing his book. They named others that were present at these "sabbats". In reality most of the accused were the elderly, the mentally ill or disabled, herbalists, midwives and those in conflict with neighbours. It was believed that you could identify a witch by bodily marks where they fed their familiars and inability to say prayers. Suspected witches were interrogated by torture, sleep deprivation and "ducking".

The majority of Jacobean witchcraft trials happened in Scotland. The Witchcraft Act of 1563 in England made witchcraft a common felony punishable by death and forfeiture of all property to the Crown. Under James I, these laws were strengthened. The majority of English witch trials occurred during the career of Matthew Hopkins in 1644-46, after James I died.

Answer 2

The period of the reign of James 1st, early 17th c = Jacobean. All the prevailing attitudes of witchcraft can be understood by reading or viewing, Arthur Miller`s classic, The Crucible. Although set later(c1690), a viewing of this masterwork on stage will make a lasting impression. All the tangled interplay of religion, greed, manipulation, illiteracy, fear, and hatred, are beautifully displayed. A `must` if the subject forms part of your educational requirements.

Answer 3

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Paganism does cover a wide variety of beliefs! It includes the Greek, Egyptian, Roman etc religions. Most pagan religions had nothing to do with witchcraft. Many things that people now think of as witchcraft were just day to day things that all cultures included. The use of herbs, midwifery, and medicine were never termed "witchcraft". Even in the Bible there is mention of the use of mandrakes to encourage pregnancy and the birth of a male. People now would call that "witchcraft" but it wasn't always so.

Answer 4

That is because we have absolutely lost the difference between mysticism and magic in the modern period. The Judea-Christian and to a certain extent Buddhism were unable to tell apart the difference between Mysticism and Magic and as a result turned most Pagan cultures into witch cultures when they weren't. What many NeoPagans do not realize is that witches in Pagan cultures were just as frowned upon as they are in modern cultures. Oh yes, the Athenians had rules against Witchcraft, the Pagan Romans had extensive rules against witchcraft, the Chinese who are not Christians until the last two centuries had rules against Witchcraft in the Ming Dynasty. The list goes on. What they do not have are rules against mysticism ( though some cases there are rules against mysticism as well ). We must differentiate what is Mystical and what is Magical before we can even begin to say what is a witch, First thing we must go back to the premise of the Gods. The Gods are greater beings than us who rules the world and the world moves to the beat of the Gods. Therefore it is only right that humans move in time with the beat of the Gods. The ancients realized this concept. Mysticism is when one appeals to the Gods to get things done or one seek to commune with the spirits or the Gods with the hope that things can be done. Examples of mysticism are therefore shamanism ( where one communicates with the spirits or with the Gods ) or prayers ( where one pray to the Gods to ask for help ) or when one ask for information from the Gods ( like divination and oracles ). In Mysticism the person submits to the Gods or the spirits for a reply. Even the raindancers do not tell you they command the rain to come, merely that they are appealing in a manner known to be most pleasing to the Gods that they are more likely to send the rain. Whether they send the rain to come or not is another issue. Witchcraft on the other hand is when one thinks and presume that one has the ability to coerce, to make, to force the spirits or the Gods to do things for you. The modern concept of "bend the energies to make things happen" or "I summoned the rain to come" or "I will and the Universe will do it." is magic. It is pure hubris. It is presuming that we as humans have the ability to force the Universe and the Gods to do things. This is what the ancients called witchcraft .. the punishable offense. The ancients believe that witches brought badness with them because they were at every step defying the natural order, the Divine order ( the only witch that had a good fate in Greek classics in fact was Medea but that was because she was quasi-divine ). So very great difference .. the ancient cultures were mystical .. not witchcraft.

Answer 5

Any one who did not go to church and worship a non existant god or bow down to religious lunatics was witch or warlock and had to be exterminated.

Answer 6

I understand that they revolve around the aparrant inability of witches to drown.

Answer 7

what is a jacobean belief? Who is Jacob?