I've been trying to narrow down on what it is that I'm wanting to find out. My project started off looking into primitive concepts of diseases with the research that I was doing over summer, but I've found that it has become a bit more general as it opened up to looking at the witch craze.
When I'm considering the subject, my main thought is along the lines of how did so many people end up believing in witches, magic, witchcraft, and persecuting hundreds of thousands of supposed witches throughout Europe? At a time when theories of explaining illness and disease had been being questioned for centuries. Why the sudden murder of so many innocent people persecuted as witches?
I want to find out more about using superstition as explanations for things not understood.
When reading about primitive concepts of disease over summer, I learnt a bit about Hippocrates and his theories on diseases.
He is credited with being one of the first people to believe that diseases weren't caused because of superstition or gods, but naturally. He separated medicine and religion, and suggested that diseases were products of environmental factors, diet and living habits. He ignored suggestions of superstition, although a lot of his beliefs were based on incorrect knowledge of anatomy and physiology, and Humorism was key. (Humorism: excess or deficiency of any of four distinct bodily fluids in a person—known as humors or humours—directly influences their temperament and health. Wiki)
Still though, I find it interesting to learn all of this, which was said back in around the 4th century BC. Then to move forward to the 16th, 17th, 18th centuries and see that people are burnt at the stake for witchcraft.. I want to learn why superstition was still so high, why the masses were led to believe in it. Was it just an easy scapegoat to explain things that weren't yet understood?
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People believed in witchcraft in the 17th century because they needed a way to explain the unexplainable, according to the BBC. When situations came up that could not be explained due to the lack of scientific and medical knowledge, people needed a scapegoat to help the masses understand. The easiest way to do that was to blame demonic powers.
Although witch hunts were popular in England during the 16th and 17th centuries, witchcraft persecutions started much earlier in other places in Europe. Historians have found evidence of witchcraft persecutions in places such as Switzerland and France as far back as the 14th century.
In the 17th century, people believed that witchcraft was practised by women who had rejected God and made a pact with evil spirits. From 1484, when Pope Innocent VIII declared witchcraft a heresy, until 1750, historians believe that nearly 200,000 people across Europe were burned as witches.
The fear of witches in Europe was only amplified by the fact that many famous kings were frightened of witchcraft. King James I was historically famous for being terrified of witches and witchcraft. In 1567, he advocated the writing of a book called “Daemonologia.” This book set the stage for how witches were identified throughout the 16th and 17th centuries.
(https://www.reference.com/world-view/did-people-believe-witchcraft-17th-century-f97cab94fe4f5f75#)
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I think I might need to look into belief systems or breakdowns of belief systems? Religion as a coping mechanism?
At a time when the Plague swept through Europe, people needed something to believe in and something to help them understand. Also possibly something or someone to blame.
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