Manual Trial By Witch

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The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February and May​.
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At the th anniversary events in to commemorate the victims of the trials, a park was dedicated in Salem and a memorial in Danvers. In November , an act passed by the Massachusetts legislature exonerated five people, [5] while another one, passed in , had previously exonerated six other victims. The city dedicated the Proctor's Ledge Memorial to the victims there in While witch trials had begun to fade out across much of Europe by the midth century, they continued on the fringes of Europe and in the American Colonies. In , in Against Modern Sadducism , [11] Joseph Glanvill claimed that he could prove the existence of witches and ghosts of the supernatural realm.

Glanvill wrote about the "denial of the bodily resurrection, and the [supernatural] spirits. In his treatise, Glanvill claimed that ingenious men should believe in witches and apparitions; if they doubted the reality of spirits, they not only denied demons but also the almighty God. Glanvill wanted to prove that the supernatural could not be denied; those who did deny apparitions were considered heretics , for it also disproved their beliefs in angels. The trials were started after people had been accused of witchcraft, primarily by teenage girls such as Elizabeth Hubbard , 17, as well as some who were younger.

The earliest recorded witchcraft execution was that of Alse Young in in Hartford, Connecticut. Historian Clarence F. Jewett included a list of other people executed in New England in his book. New England had been settled by religious dissenters seeking to build a Bible-based society according to their own chosen discipline. Simon Bradstreet and Thomas Danforth , the colony's last leaders under the old charter, resumed their posts as governor and deputy governor, but lacked constitutional authority to rule because the old charter had been vacated.

A new charter for the enlarged Province of Massachusetts Bay was given final approval in England on October 16, Increase Mather had been working on obtaining the charter for four years, with William Phips often joining him in London and helping him gain entry to Whitehall. Increase Mather brought out a London edition of his son's book in Increase Mather claimed to have picked all the men to be included in the new government.

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News of Mather's charter and the appointment of Phips as the new governor had reached Boston by late January, [20] and a copy of the new charter reached Boston on February 8, Salem Village present-day Danvers, Massachusetts was known for its fractious population, who had many internal disputes, and for disputes between the village and Salem Town present-day Salem. Arguments about property lines, grazing rights, and church privileges were rife, and neighbors considered the population as "quarrelsome. The first two ministers, James Bayley —79 and George Burroughs —83 , stayed only a few years each, departing after the congregation failed to pay their full rate.

Burroughs was subsequently arrested at the height of the witchcraft hysteria and was hanged as a witch in August Despite the ministers' rights being upheld by the General Court and the parish being admonished, each of the two ministers still chose to leave. The third minister, Deodat Lawson —88 , stayed for a short time, leaving after the church in Salem refused to ordain him—and therefore not over issues with the congregation.

The parish disagreed about Salem Village's choice of Samuel Parris as its first ordained minister. On October 10, , however, they raised his benefits, voting to grant him the deed to the parsonage and two acres 0. Though the prior ministers' fates and the level of contention in Salem Village were valid reasons for caution in accepting the position, Rev. Parris increased the village's divisions by delaying his acceptance. He did not seem able to settle his new parishioners' disputes: by deliberately seeking out "iniquitous behavior" in his congregation and making church members in good standing suffer public penance for small infractions, he contributed significantly to the tension within the village.

Its bickering increased unabated. Historian Marion Starkey suggests that, in this atmosphere, serious conflict may have been inevitable. Prior to the constitutional turmoil of the s, the Massachusetts government had been dominated by conservative Puritan secular leaders. While Puritans and the Church of England both shared a common influence in Calvinism , Puritans had opposed many of the traditions of the Church of England , including use of the Book of Common Prayer , the use of clergy vestments during services, the use of sign of the cross at baptism , and kneeling to receive communion , all of which they believed constituted popery.

King Charles I was hostile to this viewpoint, and Anglican church officials tried to repress these dissenting views during the s and s. Some Puritans and other religious minorities had sought refuge in the Netherlands but ultimately many made a major migration to colonial North America to establish their own society. These immigrants, who were mostly constituted of families, established several of the earliest colonies in New England, of which the Massachusetts Bay Colony was the largest and most economically important.

They intended to build a society based on their religious beliefs. Colonial leaders were elected by the freemen of the colony, those individuals who had had their religious experiences formally examined and had been admitted to one of the colony's Puritan congregations. The colonial leadership were prominent members of their congregations and regularly consulted with the local ministers on issues facing the colony.

In the early s, England erupted in civil war. The Puritan-dominated Parliamentarians emerged victorious, and the Crown was supplanted by the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell in Its failure led to restoration of the old order under Charles II. Emigration to New England slowed significantly in these years. In Massachusetts, a successful merchant class began to develop that was less religiously motivated than the colony's early settlers. Indeed, Puritans held the belief that men and women were equal in the eyes of God, but not in the eyes of the Devil.

Women's souls were seen as unprotected in their weak and vulnerable bodies. Several factors may explain why women were more likely to admit guilt of witchcraft than men.

Historian Elizabeth Reis asserts that some likely believed they had truly given in to the Devil, and others might have believed they had done so temporarily. However, because those who confessed were reintegrated into society, some women might have confessed in order to spare their own lives. Quarrels with neighbors often incited witchcraft allegations.

One example of this is Abigail Faulkner, who was accused in Faulkner admitted she was "angry at what folk said," and the Devil may have temporarily overtaken her, causing harm to her neighbors. Cotton Mather , a minister of Boston's North Church was a prolific publisher of pamphlets, including some that expressed his belief in witchcraft.

The Salem Witch Trials: A legal bibliography

In his book Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions , Mather describes his "oracular observations" and how "stupendous witchcraft" had affected the children of Boston mason John Goodwin. Mather illustrates how the Goodwins' eldest child had been tempted by the devil and had stolen linen from the washerwoman Goody Glover. After the event, four out of six Goodwin children began to have strange fits, or what some people referred to as "the disease of astonishment. Symptoms included neck and back pains, tongues being drawn from their throats, and loud random outcries; other symptoms included having no control over their bodies such as becoming limber, flapping their arms like birds, or trying to harm others as well as themselves.

These symptoms would fuel the craze of In Salem Village in February , Betty Parris age nine and her cousin Abigail Williams age 11 , the daughter and the niece, respectively, of Reverend Samuel Parris, began to have fits described as "beyond the power of epileptic fits or natural disease to effect" by John Hale , the minister of the nearby town of Beverly. The girls complained of being pinched and pricked with pins. A doctor, historically assumed to be William Griggs , [14] could find no physical evidence of any ailment.

Other young women in the village began to exhibit similar behaviors. When Lawson preached as a guest in the Salem Village meetinghouse, he was interrupted several times by the outbursts of the afflicted. Some historians believe that the accusation by Ann Putnam, Jr. At the time, a vicious rivalry was underway between the Putnam and Porter families, one which deeply polarized the people of Salem.

Citizens would often have heated debates, which escalated into full-fledged fighting, based solely on their opinion of the feud. Good was a destitute woman accused of witchcraft because of her reputation. At her trial, she was accused of rejecting Puritan ideals of self-control and discipline when she chose to torment and "scorn [children] instead of leading them towards the path of salvation".

Sarah Osborne rarely attended church meetings.

“Neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire”

She was accused of witchcraft because the Puritans believed that Osborne had her own self-interests in mind following her remarriage to an indentured servant. The citizens of the town disapproved of her trying to control her son's inheritance from her previous marriage. Tituba, a South American Indian slave by way of the West Indies , likely became a target because of her ethnic differences from most of the other villagers.

She was accused of attracting girls like Abigail Williams and Betty Parris with stories of enchantment from Malleus Maleficarum. These tales about sexual encounters with demons, swaying the minds of men, and fortune-telling were said to stimulate the imaginations of girls and made Tituba an obvious target of accusations. Each of these women was a kind of outcast and exhibited many of the character traits typical of the "usual suspects" for witchcraft accusations; they were left to defend themselves.

Brought before the local magistrates on the complaint of witchcraft, they were interrogated for several days, starting on March 1, , then sent to jail. Martha Corey had expressed skepticism about the credibility of the girls' accusations and thus drawn attention.

If such upstanding people could be witches, the townspeople thought, then anybody could be a witch, and church membership was no protection from accusation. Dorothy Good, the daughter of Sarah Good , was only four years old but was not exempted from questioning by the magistrates; her answers were construed as a confession that implicated her mother. In Ipswich, Rachel Clinton was arrested for witchcraft at the end of March on independent charges unrelated to the afflictions of the girls in Salem Village. The men were both local magistrates and also members of the Governor's Council.

During the proceedings, objections by Elizabeth's husband, John Proctor , resulted in his arrest that day.

Witch Trial Weekly Archives - Salem Witch Museum

Abigail Hobbs, Mary Warren, and Deliverance Hobbs all confessed and began naming additional people as accomplices. Nehemiah Abbott, Jr. Mary Eastey was released for a few days after her initial arrest because the accusers failed to confirm that it was she who had afflicted them; she was arrested again when the accusers reconsidered. In May, accusations continued to pour in, but some of the suspects began to evade apprehension. Until this point, all the proceedings were investigative, but on May 27, , William Phips ordered the establishment of a Special Court of Oyer and Terminer for Suffolk, Essex and Middlesex counties to prosecute the cases of those in jail.

Warrants were issued for more people. Sarah Osborne, one of the first three persons accused, died in jail on May 10, When the Court of Oyer and Terminer convened at the end of May, the total number of people in custody was Cotton Mather wrote to one of the judges, John Richards , a member of his congregation, on May 31, , [49] expressing his support of the prosecutions, but cautioning him,. It is very certain that the Devils have sometimes represented the Shapes of persons not only innocent, but also very virtuous.

Though I believe that the just God then ordinarily provides a way for the speedy vindication of the persons thus abused. Bridget Bishop's case was the first brought to the grand jury, who endorsed all the indictments against her. Bishop was described as not living a Puritan lifestyle, for she wore black clothing and odd costumes, which was against the Puritan code. When she was examined before her trial, Bishop was asked about her coat, which had been awkwardly "cut or torn in two ways".

This, along with her "immoral" lifestyle, affirmed to the jury that Bishop was a witch.

Witch trials in the early modern period

She went to trial the same day and was convicted. On June 3, the grand jury endorsed indictments against Rebecca Nurse and John Willard, but they did not go to trial immediately, for reasons which are unclear. Bishop was executed by hanging on June 10, Immediately following this execution, the court adjourned for 20 days until June 30 while it sought advice from New England's most influential ministers "upon the state of things as they then stood.

Hutchinson sums the letter, "The two first and the last sections of this advice took away the force of all the others, and the prosecutions went on with more vigor than before. Major Nathaniel Saltonstall , Esq. According to Upham, Saltonstall deserves the credit for "being the only public man of his day who had the sense or courage to condemn the proceedings, at the start.

Suspect Roger Toothaker died in prison on June 16, All five women were executed by hanging on July 19, In mid-July, the constable in Andover invited the afflicted girls from Salem Village to visit with his wife to try to determine who was causing her afflictions. Ann Foster, her daughter Mary Lacey Sr.

Elizabeth Proctor was given a temporary stay of execution because she was pregnant. Burroughs was carried in a Cart with others, through the streets of Salem, to Execution.