crime and punishment

• Witchcraft


  Belief that some people had made a pact with the devil in return for special or magical powers, including the ability to make people or farm animals sicken and die
• Witches


  • Believed to have associations with domestic animals like cats, dogs, or spiders which were seen as the devil in the shape of an animal, helping the witch do her evil work
  • By c1700, began to be seen as foolish and muddled, or tricksters trying to take advantage of the gullibility of others
• Witchcraft trials


  1. In the Middle Ages, Church courts were used

  2. In 1542, Henry VIII changed the law and witchcraft became a very serious crime that could be punished by death

  3. In 1563, Elizabeth I changed the law so that if a witch tried to kill someone through their witchery, or to raise dead spirits, they would receive the death penalty
• Economic problems in the late 16th century


  Increased tensions between people in small communities, and the death of livestock or poor crop yields were sometimes blamed on evil spirits and witchcraft rather than bad luck or bad weather conditions
• Rising fear of vagabonds


  Made richer people increasingly suspicious of the poor, and many accusations of witchcraft were made by wealthy people against poor people
• After Henry VIII became head of the Church of England


  Witchcraft was treated as a crime against the king and the state, not just a religious crime
• Superstition


  Belief based on tradition, custom, or irrational fear, not on reason or science
• Witchcraft and Conjuration Act


  1604
• Witchcraft Act


  1735
• Witchcraft Act


  Death penalty given to anyone summoning spirits, and witches seen as confidence tricksters, with imprisonment as punishment
• Religion and the Church


  • Played an important part in attitudes to, and definitions of, witchcraft
  • Human existence was viewed as a struggle between good and evil - God and the devil
  • When Protestant thinking became more popular, people increasingly feared the 'old' religion, Catholicism, leading to attempts to 'cleanse' society by seeking out witches
• James I's Demonologie


  Book about the nature of Hell, calling witches the 'detestable slaves of the devil', setting out James's reasons for believing in witches, encouraging readers to find them out, and including instructions on how to run witch trials
• James I supported the use of child witnesses in witchcraft trials, even though the law stated that only people aged 14 and over could swear under oath
• James I argued that witchcraft was a crime not only against the king, but against God
• The English Civil War

  Caused massive disruption and chaos, making people more susceptible to superstition and belief in witchcraft
• Historians believe that up to 1,000 people were executed for witchcraft between 1542 and 1736
• The witch hunts of 1645-47


  • Were the most widespread episode of mass executions for witchcraft in English history, with Hopkins's activities helping to feed a mass panic about witches, made worse by the disruption and lack of state authority during the Civil Wars
  • Around 112 of the 300 individuals investigated for witchcraft were executed by hanging
• Ninety per cent of witchcraft accusations were made against females
• Women in the 17th century

  • Their role was very restricted, and they were expected to focus on practical domestic duties
  • In law, a woman was viewed as the property of her father and, after marriage, her husband
  • Women who did not meet the expectations of society were treated with suspicion
  • Many of the women accused were 'cunning' or 'wise women' who were the local authorities in their villages on health, well-being, pregnancy and child birth, and the authorities disliked these women having a respected position, so they attracted the attention of witch hunters
  • Some women were accused simply because they were vulnerable, such as widows or unmarried women who were likely to be less well-off than others
• Some historians argue that religious attitudes meant that women were viewed as more susceptible to the temptations of the devil
• Even at the height of the witch trials in East Anglia, some people were prepared to question the evidence, with early critics not challenging the existence of witchcraft, but demanding clearer evidence for conviction
• The Gunpowder Plot of 1605


  One of the most famous events in British History
• The Gunpowder Plot involved Catholics attempting to blow up the Houses of Parliament, the king and restore the Catholic faith in England</b>
• The Catholic plotters led by Robert Catesby were arrested, taken to the Tower of London, tortured and then executed by being hung, drawn and quartered
• This case study can be used to explain how religion played an important role in crime and punishment in Early Modern England
• The most serious crime in the country - high treason - was punished in the most brutal way as a deterrent to others challenging the authority of the monarchs
• However, James I announced new anti-Catholic laws, including the requirement to attend Protestant church services
• The Gunpowder Plot increased the anti-Catholic sentiment in England, leading to even stricter anti-Catholic laws
• The 1605 Thanksgiving Act


  Made November 5th an event that had to be commemorated every year
• The 1606 Fines Act


  Catholics had to swear an oath of allegiance to the King and attend Protestant Church services by law, with increased fines for those who didn't
• Catholics were barred from owning in the legal palaces or being an army officer, and were barred from voting or becoming an MP
• The Catholic plotters hoped the death of James I on the opening day of Parliament in November 1605 would lead to a return to an officially Catholic country
• The plotters planned to replace Protestant members of Parliament with Catholics, which was a clear crime against authority as well as an act of heresy
• Torture and execution of the plotters

  1. Dragged through the crowded streets of London

  2. Hung until nearly dead

  3. Revived and had their genitals cut off

  4. Their insides pulled out with their heart shown to the crowd

  5. Their heads chopped off

  6. Their bodies chopped into 4 pieces and displayed publicly
• This brutal punishment was meant to act as the ultimate deterrent to any would-be Catholic plotters
• Gunpowder was stored below the Houses of Parliament, with Guy Fawkes as the explosives expert to set it off
• A letter warning about the plot was sent to one of the king's advisors on 20 October 1605, but the plotters left the rest to be discovered to create more drama and give the king more reason to be even more anti-Catholic
• After the plotters were captured, the king gave permission for torture to be used to get a confession, with the rack being used on Guy Fawkes
• In January 1606, the surviving Catholic plotters were put on trial, found guilty of treason and given the punishment of being publicly hung, drawn and quartered