2000 BC
Babylon's Code of Hammurabi instructs, "If a man has laid a charge of witchcraft and has not
justified it, he upon whom the witchcraft is laid shall go to the holy river; he shall plunge into
the holy river and if the holy river overcome him, he who accused him shall take to himself his
house."
3rd cent. AD
Under the pre-Christian Roman Empire, punishment of burning alive was enacted by the State
against witches who brought about another person's death through their enchantments.
306 AD
The Christian Council of Elvira (Canon 6) refuses last rites to those who had killed a man by a
magical spell because such a crime could not be effected "without idolatry" (i.e. the help of the
devil).
313
Conversion of Emperor Constantine; Christianity is granted official toleration by the Roman
Empire.
314
Canon 24 of the Council of Ancyra imposes five years of penance upon those who consult
magicians. Here, the offence lies in participation in paganism.
785
The Council of Paderborn rules that sorcerers are to be reduced to serfdom and made over to
the service of the Church.
906
The document De ecclesiasticis disciplinis ascribed to Regino of Prüm describes popular
notions of witchcraft and states it is the duty of priests to "instruct the people that these things
are absolutely untrue and that such imaginings are planted in the minds of misbelieving folk, not
by a Divine spirit, but by the spirit of evil."
1080
Pope Gregory VII writes a letter to King Harold of Denmark forbidding witches to be put to death
upon presumption of their having caused storms, failure of crops or pestilence.
1225
In Germany, the secular law code "Sachsenspiegel" designated death by fire as the proper
punishment for witchcraft.
1258
Pope Alexander IV instructs, "The Inquisitors, deputed to investigate heresy, must not
intrude into investigations of divination or sorcery without knowledge of manifest heresy
involved." "Manifest heresy" is defined as: "praying at the altars of idols, to offer sacrifices, to
consult demons, to elicit responses from them... or associate themselves publicly with heretics."
1275
The first "witch" is burned to death after judicial sentence of an inquisitor, in Toulouse, France.
Her name was Hugues de Baniol and she "confessed" to having given birth to a monster after
intercourse with an evil spirit and to having nourished it with babies' flesh which she procured in
her nocturnal expeditions.
1300-30
Beginning of the witch trials in Europe.
1334
Large-scale witch trial in Toulouse, France, in which 63 persons were accused. Of these, eight
were handed over to the state to be burned and the rest were imprisoned.
1374
Pope Gregory XI declares that all magic is done with the aid of demons and thus is open to
prosecution for heresy.
1400
Peter de Gruyères, a secular judge, carries out large-scale witch trials in Bern, Switzerland.
1435-50
Number of witch trails rises sharply.
1484
Pope Innocent VIII publishes the bull Summis desiderantes affectibus ("Desiring with the
Greatest Ardor") condemning witchcraft as Satanism, the worst of all possible heresies. The bull
also officially grants Heinrich Krämer and James Sprenger, Dominican inquisitors, the right to
prosecute persons of any class or any form of crime.
1486
Heinrich Krämer and Jacob Sprenger publish Malleus maleficarum ("The Hammer of Witches"),
a learned but misogynistic book blaming witchcraft chiefly on women. It was reprinted many
times thanks to the newly-invented printing press and was a major influence on the witch-hunt
hysteria of the next two centuries. It was regarded as the standard handbook on witchcraft until
well into the 18th century.
1530s
Prosecutions for witchcraft begin in Mexico.
1532
The penal code Carolina decrees that sorcery throughout the German empire should be treated
as a criminal offence, and if it injured any person, the witch was to be burned at the stake.
1572
The Protestant ruler of Saxony imposes the penalty of burning for witchcraft of every kind,
including fortune-telling.
1580-1630
Period in which witch-hunts are most severe.
1583
121 persons are burned as witches over three months in Osnabruck, Germany.
1590
Witch trials in North Berwick, Scotland.
1609
In response to a witch panic in the Basque region, La Suprema (the ruling body of the
Spanish Inquisition) issues an "Edict of Silence" forbidding all discussion of witchcraft. For,
as one inquisitor noted, "There were neither witches nor bewitched until they were talked and
writtenabout."
1631
The Jesuit Friedrich von Spee publishes Cautio criminalis against the witch craze.
1647
First hanging for witchcraft in New England.
1668-76
Outbreak of witch-hunts in Sweden.
1692
Between May and October, 19 people are tried and hanged as witches in Salem,
Massachusetts.
1749
The last trial for witchcraft in Germany is carried out at Würzburg.
1754
Torture is abolished in Prussia.
1782
Last known execution for witchcraft takes place in Switzerland, in the Protestant canton of
Glarus.
1807
Torture is abolished in Bavaria.
1822
Torture is abolished in Hanover.
1875
Birth of Aleister Crowley, occultist who influenced Gerald Gardner.
1885
Birth of Gerald Gardner, founder of Wicca.
1890s
Aleister Crowley joins the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, of which William Butler Yeats
was also a member.
1899
Charles Godfrey Leland publishes Aradia or the Goddess of the Witches.
1910
Crowley meets a leader of German Masonic order called the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.),
a combination of Masonic rites and the traditions of the Rosicrucians, the Templars, the
Illuminists, and Bengali Tantrism. Crowley was soon initiated into the order and progressing
through the degrees of the order.
1912
Crowley is named Grand Master of the O.T.O. for Great Britain and Ireland.
1921
Margaret Murray published The Witch-Cult in Western Europe.
1926
Birth of Alexander Sanders, founder of Alexandrian Wicca.
1929
Margaret Murray published her article “Witchcraft” in the 14th edition of Encyclopædia
Britannica.
1939
The O.T.O. in Germany is effectively dissolved by the Nazis.
1939
Gardner joins the Folklore Society and presents a paper on witchcraft.
1939
The year Gerald Gardner claims he was initiated into a witch cult called the New Forest Coven,
led by Dorothy Clutterbuck.
1940
Zsuzsanna Budapest, feminist writer and leader of Dianic Wicca, is born on January 30.
1940s
Gardner joins the nudist group The Fiveacres Country Club.
1946
Gardner begins work on High Magic's Aid, a fictional novel partially based on those of his
Southern Coven. The witches of his coven opposed making their rituals public, which is why it
was presented as fiction and filled out with rituals from other sources.
1947
Gardner and Edith Woodford-Grimes start a company called Ancient Crafts Ltd.
1947
Gardner meets Crowley at Crowley's home in Hastings for the first time on May 1, and visits him
again several times during May.
1947
Gardner becomes a member of the O.T.O. in May and is authorized by Crowley to found an
O.T.O. encampment and initiate new members.
1947
Crowley dies on December 1.
1947
On December 27, Gardner writes a letter claiming to have been designated as successor to
Crowley as leader of the O.T.O. Karl Germer assumed leadership instead, and held it until his
death in 1962.
1949
Gerald Gardner publishes High Magic's Aid under the pseudonym Scire.
1950
Gardner begins distancing himself from Crowley and the O.T.O. in favor of Wicca.
1950
Gardner states in a letter that Crowley had participated in the witch cult but left in disgust due to
the leadership of the High Priestess and the nudity.
1951
Gardner founds the "Northern Coven" in London and holds a small rite at his home near the
British Museum on May Eve.
1953
Doreen Valiente is initated by Gardner, and soon became High Priestess.
1954
Gardner publishes Witchcraft Today, an event which many regard as the founding of Wicca.
1957
Wicca splits into two factions, one that supports Gardner's growing publicity of the religion (led
by Gardner) and one that opposes it (led by Doreen Valiente).
1959
Gardner publishes The Meaning of Witchcraft, in which he first uses the term "Wica."
1963-64
Gardner winters in Lebanon to help his failing health.
1964
Gardner dies of heart failure on the SS Scottish Prince in the Mediterranean. His body is buried
at the next port of call, Tunis.
1989
Valiente publishes The Rebirth of Witchcraft, a first-hand account of the history and
development of Wicca.
1991
Aiden A. Kelly publishes Crafting the Art of Magic, Book I, which aims to show that Gardner's
Book of Shadows could be entirely traced to earlier sources.
Sources
1. "witchcraft." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2005. <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=214883>. (April
2005).
2. Herbert Thurston, "Witchcraft." Catholic Encyclopedia. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15674a.htm>
(April 2005).
3. Morgan Davis, "From Man to Witch: Gerald Gardner 1946-1949." <http://www.geraldgardner.com/index/
Gardner46-49.PDF> (April 2005).
4. "History of Neopaganism and Wicca." The Book of Lost Tales. <http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/1614/
Celtwicc/Wicca/Wicca02.htm> (April 2005).