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Beliefs and Superstitions why did people believe in Witchcraft?

Beliefs and Superstitions why did people believe in Witchcraft? . Supernatural Ideas. People did not know much about Science. They had not the knowledge of research and technology we have today so they did not know why natural things happened.

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Beliefs and Superstitions why did people believe in Witchcraft?

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  1. Beliefs and Superstitionswhy did people believe in Witchcraft?

  2. Supernatural Ideas • People did not know much about Science. • They had not the knowledge of research and technology we have today so they did not know why natural things happened. • Often, when something unexplained happened it was assumed that this was ‘the work of the Devil’.

  3. Witches • People believed that a witch was someone that had entered, into a pact with the Devil. • It was not a Sin to be ‘possessed’ as this was the work of the Devil. A person found guilty of being a witch could be sentenced to death.

  4. The Law • The Witchcraft Act was introduced in 1563 and was punishable by execution. • When people sought the help of a Witch they too were considered to have committed a sin and a crime.

  5. The King King James VI also strongly believed in witches. He described the signs to look out for to spot a witch.

  6. King James - Signs of a Witch • They are almost always women • They are often old • They have a ‘familiar’ (an animal that follows them around

  7. King James – Signs of a Witch • They have a ‘mark of the Devil’ (a birthmark or mole) • They make models of their victims and cast spells on them • They hold strange ceremonies • They live alone

  8. Why did King James believe in Witches? • Scotland's witch-hunting had its origins in the marriage of King James to Princess Anne of Denmark.  • Anne's voyage to Scotland for the wedding  met with a bad storm, and she ended up taking refuge in Norway.  • James traveled to Scandinavia and the wedding took place in at Kronborg Castle in Denmark.  • After a long honeymoon in Denmark, the royal newlyweds encountered terrible seas on the return voyage, which the ship's captain blamed on witches.  • When six Danish women confessed to having caused the storms that bedeviled King James, he began to take witchcraft seriously. 

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