WITCHES

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WITCHES THROUGH HISTORY!
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1000 BC 1 AD
700 BC - Celtic civilization begins ideals of
witchcraft begin as parts of pagan religion,
whose priests study magic and nature. 560 BC -
Bible condemns witches, especially in the
verse Exodus 2218 Thou shalt not suffer a
witch to live. 
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400 AD 500 AD
420 - St. Augustine argues that witches could not
exist. Church condones this view, stating that it
is heresy to believe in witches.
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1300 AD - 1400 AD
1347-1349 Black Plague grips Europe, and
intensifies the already fearful attitude towards
witches on the continent. The fact that there was
no visible cause of the disease brought forth
many rumours of witchcraft.
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1400 AD - 1500 AD
1484- Existence of witches is confirmed by the
Vatican. 1486- Malleus Maleficarum written by
Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger.
1500- Beginning of the century known as the
Burning times, in which most witch burnings
occurred. Over the 160 years, from 1500 to 1660,
There were between fifty and eighty thousand (50
000 80 000) suspected witches executed. Of
those killed, 4/5ths were women. The number of
witches killed ranges from 26 000 and 10 000 in
Germany and France, to 1 000 in England and only
4 in Ireland.
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1600 AD - 1700 AD
1606- Shakespeares Macbeth is first
performed 1633- Puritans split from Church of
England 1641 - England Declares Witchcraft a
capital crime.
Late 1680s- Beginning of the period of
enlightenment in England, in which humans
developed humanitarianism and skepticism of the
church. The enlightenment taught that torture was
wrong, and that accusing and executing witches on
flimsy empirical reason was not humane.
1688- Goody Glover, First Witch of Salem,
pre-trials, is hanged.
1689- Samuel Parris is made the new minister of
Salem
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1600 AD - 1700 AD
Early 1692 - Abigail William, Betty Parris, etc,
begin acting oddly -Dr. Griggs
attributes the cause to witchcraft
1692, late February Elizabeth Parris accuses
Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne.
1692- Tituba confesses, and also states that Good
and Osborne were involved in witchcraft with her.
March 12, 1692- Ann Putnam Jr. accuses Martha
Corey of witchcraft.
March 19. 1692- Abigail Williams denounces
Rebecca Nurse as a witch.
March 28, 1692- Elizabeth Proctor is accused of
witchcraft.
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1600 AD - 1700 AD
April 11, 1692- Elizabeth's husband, John,
becomes the first man accused of witchcraft and
is arrested. Early April, 1692- The Proctors'
servant and accuser, Mary Warren, admits to lying
and claims that the other girls are faking, for
sport. April 13, 1692- Ann Putnam Jr. accuses
Giles Corey of witchcraft April 19, 1692- Mary
Warren changes her mind, and rejoins the accusers.
April 30, 1692- Several girls accuse the previous
Salem minister, George Burroughs, of witchcraft.
May 14, 1692- The new governor, Sir William
Phipps, arrives in Boston.
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1600 AD - 1700 AD
May 27, 1692- Phipps creates a Court of Oyer and
Terminer to process the witch accusations, and
appoints as judges John Hathorne, Nathaniel
Saltonstall, Bartholomew Gedney, Peter Sergeant,
Samuel Sewall, Wait Still Winthrop, and
Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton.
June 2, 1692- Bridget Bishop is the first woman
to be tried and found guilty of practicing
witchcraft. She is sentenced to die.
June 10, 1692- Bridget Bishop is hanged at
Gallows Hill. Following the hanging Nathaniel
Saltonstall leaves the court.
June 15, 1692- Cotton Mather writes a letter
requesting the court not use spectral evidence as
a standard. This letter is disregarded.
June 29, 1692- Rebecca Nurse is tried, found
guilty and sentenced to hang.
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1600 AD - 1700 AD
July 19, 1692- Rebecca Nurse is hanged at Gallows
Hill.
August 5, 1692- George Jacobs Sr., John and
Elizabeth Proctor are tried, found guilty and
sentenced to hang.
August 19, 1692- George Jacobs Sr., John Proctor
are hanged on Gallows Hill. Elizabeth Proctor is
spared, because she is pregnant.
September 9, 1692- Martha Corey and Mary Easty
are pronounced guilty and sentenced to hang .
Mid-September, 1692- Giles Cory is indicted for
contempt of court, as he refused to either
confess or plead not guilty.
September 19, 1692- Giles Cory is pressed to
death, as he refuses to confess or name any
accomplices.
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1600 AD - 1700 AD
September 22, 1692- Martha Corey hangs.
October 8, 1692- Governor Phipps orders that
spectral evidence no longer be used in witchcraft
trials.
October 29, 1692- Phipps disallows further
arrests, releases many accused witches, and
discontinues the Court of Oyer and Terminer.
November 25, 1692- Superior Court is established
to try remaining witches.
January 3, 1693- Judge Stoughton orders execution
of all suspected witches who were exempted by
their pregnancy. Phipps denies enforcement of the
order. Stoughton leaves the court.
January 1693- 49 of the 52 surviving people
brought into court on witchcraft charges are
released because their arrests were based on
spectral evidence.
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1600 AD - 1700 AD
May 1693- Phipps officially pardons those who are
still in prison on witchcraft charges.
1695- Thomas Maule, a Quaker, publicly criticizes
the trials. Attempts at prosecuting Maule fail.
1697 Joseph Green replaces Samuel Parris.
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1700 AD - 1800 AD
1702- The General Court declares the 1692 trials
unlawful. 1711- The colonies pass a legislative
bill clearing the names of those accused of
witchcraft and gives 600 pounds in compensation
to their heirs.
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1900 AD - 2000 AD
1950s- McCarthy witch hunts show many
similarities to the Salem witch trials. 1957-
Massachusetts officially apologizes for the
events of 1692. 1992- 300th anniversary of the
witch trials. A witchcraft memorial designed is
unveiled in Salem.
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CURRENTLY
Witch hunts still take place in Africa,
especially South Africa. From 1985-95, between
204 and 312 witches are found and killed in South
Africa