In the 15-17th centuries there were many reasons for the persecution of witches. “Witches”
were often treated as a scapegoat for things that lacked scientific explanation. Women were
the most common targets because they were thought to be more vulnerable to temptation.
Also, those who were considered undesirable in society were often labeled as witches as a way
to eliminate them.
Due to the lack of scientific explanation for things that occur in society, people were often
labeled as witches. This use of witches as scapegoats can be seen in Documents 1, 4, 5, 10. This
is best demonstrated by document 1, written by Wulpurga Hussmanin. Wulpurga was a
midwife who was blamed for the death of children in her village. Though she confessed to
unspeakable activities, it was more than likely that she was not actually a witch. Wulpurga
admitted to killing and eating children because she had been tortured, which makes her
confession very unreliable. In reality, the people of the village did not know why the children
died. So, they blamed her. Document 4 also supports this idea by discussing a suspected witch
who had been “charming” the local animals and people who were ill. Other villagers in
Glauchestershire did not understand how or why she was able to treat the sick, which led to
them accusing her of witchcraft. In document 5, a poem entitled “The Witch of Edmonton”, the
suspected witch mentions that he/she had been targeted because strange things had been
happening in the area. For example, the crops and livestock had been dying; the people did not
know why and they blamed her “bewitching” their farms. Just as in document 1, the account of
witchcraft in document 5 is unreliable. The man or woman who wrote this poem mentions that
he/she had been forced to admit (most likely by torture) to these things. Another document
that further supports this idea of scapegoats is Document 10, a sermon by Martin Luther.
Luther mentions that witches are in league with the devil and work with him to raise storms,
spoil milk, and cause other devious events to occur. The people listening to this sermon would
not have had a scientific understanding for why storms occur or why babies die, etc., which
leads to their willingness to accept a witch as the explanation. The fact that Martin Luther is a
Protestant Reformer affects his perspective. As a religious leader, he would be more likely to
attribute natural phenomenon to things relating to faith and the devil.