medieval times?

[pinksmartie]

Was it in the medieval times that they used to burn or drown people for witchcraft? if not, what time was it?

[dot.hawkes]

This is a misconception as to the morive for burning a suspevted witch at the stake or putting them on the ducking stool. the purpose wasn't to kill them, it was to prove whether they were really a witch, if they survived they were deemed a witch, if they drowned or were burnt they were innocent. Work that one out!

[dot.hawkes]

sorry, 'motive'

[pinksmartie]

thanks, but all i need to nkow is whether it was the medieval times, and if not, what time was it?

[Postdog]

Can't swear to medieval times, but this was going on sometime in the 1600's. I'm not a historian, I just remember watching stuff like witchfinder general.

[dot.hawkes]

well you also need to be accurate in your information, do you mean in England, Europe or the New World?

[pinksmartie]

sorry, i mean in england

[pinksmartie]

i forget that other people are all around the world lol

[Whickerman]

most trials took place between 1300 - 1500. but the grand book - the Malleus Malificarum - was written by two monks in 1428 (Sprenger and Kramer, Dominicans). It detailed the tortures to be used.

[jno]

I don't think witches were ever burned in England; they were hanged. (They were burned on the continent.) As dot says, 'drowning' was more a test than a punishment.

[pinksmartie]

thanks everyone xxxxxxxx

[Octavius]

Technically it spanned sub-medieval periods. The period in Brutain was (and still is) Post-medieval since the medieval period spanned between post-Roman (1st Century) and ended in around 1485.

Post-medieval generally refers to anything in the last 500 years and although witch hunting did occur from the time of the crusades (11th & 13th C), most of the British witch hunts which I suspect you are referring to reached peek levels between 1567 and 1640. The period known as the Great European Witchhunts occurred between 1450 and 1750.

[Octavius]

Brutain is a place very close to Britain (!) (well the i and u on my keyboard are at least very close)

[jno]

wow Octavius, so I'm post-medieval! I've been looking for new adjectives to pad out my autobiography with.

[Octavius]

Eventually I imagine we will be known to have lived during the second elizabethan times, but it is still Post-Medieval / Early Modern / Modern!

Even within the current post-medieval modern period we have Elizabethan (1st), Ind. Rev, Napoleonic, Victorian, Edwardian, World War, Inter War, World War (again), Cold War, Post-Communism (in Russia at least). Still, no point in waiting around for a new epoch!

[tock24]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the last trial of a witch in France was 1922 !

Not really on topic, but interesting anyway!

[pinksmartie]

thanks everyone

[THECORBYLOON]

Scotswoman Helen Duncan was found guilty under the 1735 Witchcfaft Act in 1944 in England and was sentenced to nine months' gaol.