Peoples believes

• Witches were believed to have made a pact with the devil which gave them special powers like the ability to make people get sick and die.
• They were believed to be identifiable by their ‘familiar’ – the devil in the shape of an animal such as a cat or a dog.
• In the 1542 Witchcraft Act Henry VIII changed the law so that witchcraft was now a capital offence.
• By the end of this period, attitudes to witchcraft were starting to change, and they were seen more likely to be foolish, or tricksters, rather than dangerous. In the 1735 Witchcraft Act, they were punished with fines and imprisonment rather than death.