Witchcraft in Europe in middle ages

Student’s Name
Instructor
Date
Witchcraft in Europe in the Middle Ages
The issue of witchcrafts dates many centuries ago with several associated controversies and acknowledgment during its earlier existence and significantly more during a later period. Witchcraft became increasingly recognized during the Middle Ages, a period characterized by immense witch-related crimes and consequential hunts and prosecution of perpetrators or suspected witches. Europe is a leading part of the world where beliefs in and practices of witchcraft was extensive, in particular during the medieval period in history. A majority of culprits of practitioners of witchcraft were presumed to be women, both in historical times and also in the modern world where the practice is believed, though not as much as earlier times, to exist. This paper reviews various journals done by other researchers concerning witchcraft and attempts to identify some factors concerning the issue and how the journal authors present their works.
1. Gender or Women
Oster efforts to determine the relationship between witchcraft and the possible effects it had on the development of economy and climate in different periods in Renaissance, Europe. Oster’s work is more inclined into believing that women were the greatest performers of this practice than any other gender. More specifically, Oster points out how women engaged in witchcraft operations tended to be poor or widowed (215). In fact, the entire journal does not identify other genders as witches but instead males, either religious leaders or law enforcers were males.

Barstow’s work is more about sex and in this case, the female gender as the culprits for prosecutions of witchcraft allegations which made up to 80 percent of witch-related charges (9). Barstow reveals the perception placed on women in earlier history as the minority or weaker sex and therefore, a majority of prosecutions happened for females compared to men (9).
Yehuda indicates gender disparities in witchcraft accusations in which the author indicates women as the primary victims. In fact, Yehuda reveal while quoting Midelfort’s 1972 research, how women accounted for 90 percent of all witchcraft victims (6). Monter’s focus is not specifically on women participation in witchcraft. Instead, the writer’s works is a review of existing works by various researchers and tries to identify their authenticity as well as the current gap in studies about witchcraft. Nevertheless, Monter acknowledges that women covered the largest part as sufferers for witchcraft-related allegations in an era where women were minority groups accounting for over 80 percent (450). Curries study deals on the general aspect of witchcraft without any inclination to gender or females, and the aim rather lies on the practice in two regions, England and Renaissance Europe.
2. Periodization or Master Narrative?
Oster uses various data to identify the relationship between economic and weather changes and witch lynching and killings throughout different periods. For instance, the Oster suggested that although there was a 0.21 correlation between farm value and black lynching occurrences, the occurrence of the Great Depression was more of inconsistency in comparison to an earlier era (225). Barstow’s involves the master narrative concept in which the author uses numerous researches to support the master idea that females were the primary targets of witch allegations and charges and resultant murders. Yehuda employs both the master narrative and periodization concepts in which the scholar investigates various timelines and utilizes several data from other resources to support the main idea which is the witch craze in the 14th-17th centuries. Similar to Barstow, Monter’s research employs the master story ideology in which the scholar utilizes many findings by other researchers to support the idea of witchcraft.
Nevertheless, Monter’s system differs from other discussed journals in that it is more of a review and critic of other people’s findings than a discussion on the analysis of the main idea. Currie’s work only utilizes the periodization idea in a limited way where the author indicates the different seasons that witchcraft had. These periods include a period where the issue was ignored and perceived as an illusion, before the 13th century (Currie 9). Another season included the acknowledgment of the practices existence and its seriousness between the 15th and 16th century a period that saw the Inquisition obtain legal power to prosecute offenders (Currie 10). Nevertheless, Currie indicates a decline in the believed in the 18th century following educational and economic developments that reduced people’s belief in the act’s influences on the Society (10).
3. Woman: Concept or a Historical Subject?
Oster’s article indicates a woman as a concept in which the writer conceptualizes them as the majority of persons discovered to engage in witchcraft operations. On the other hand, Barstow identifies women as a historical subject in which they are identified to play several roles in earlier times including healers, counselors, and midwives (8). Yehuda, however, engages women as a concept whereby the writer’s delves on three broad areas including timing, content, and the witch hunt targets. Therefore, women are only a single part of the overall research objective in Yehuda’s work. Monter depicts women as a concept, though not in much details as with other authors where the scholar reveals them as the core sufferers in witchcraft victimization. Currie does not include any study on female witches or alleged witches and instead the focus is more on how the problem transpired in England and Renaissance Europe.
4. Woman: A Singular Part of Evaluation?
Oster’s work, however, does not analyze women involvement in witchcraft as a single aspect and instead generalizes the issue and evaluates its impact of economic and climatic factors. Barstow’s article, on the other hand, uses females as an individual feature in which the entire work involves evaluations conducted by numerous studies and their perception of women and the issue of witchcraft. Yehuda’s work covers three core areas including timing, targets for witch hunts and content and therefore, the analysis performed on women is very short although it offers different statistics from several regions. The analysis of females in Monter’s study is not singled out, and more specifically the author provides little focus on women in the entire article and instead, the study is more generalized than touching particular areas. Currie’s work does not specialize in women and instead the core focus is on witchcraft in particular regions.
5. Changes over time
There is an identifiable transformation over time in relation to witchcraft in which during the earlier period before the 12th century, witchcraft is not a concern and in fact leaders and the general public suggest witches have no powers or effects. Nevertheless, Oster points out how controversies increased between the 13th and 16th centuries as characterized by many witchcraft issue frequencies and related killings totaling to about 1 million (1). Yehuda identifies different timelines in which witch hunt craze happened starting from early 14th centuries, reaching optimal limits in 15th and 17th centuries and ending towards the end of 17th century (8-11). Monter, while referencing Trevor-Roper and Mandrou’s investigations, reveal that the witch craze became more apparent during the 15th century with witch trial considerably rising in the 16th century (440). Monter, however, points out that a decline in the overall belief in witchcraft by Europeans was evident after the mid 17th centuries following great developments in people’s views (440).
Lastly, Currie also agrees with the timeframes suggested in others articles reviewed in this paper. In particular, Currie indicates the onset of increased witchcraft activities in the 15th century (9). However, Curry points out that both the Catholic Church and European legislators did not deem these practices as a concern and in fact viewed them as an illusion before this period (9). It is, nevertheless important to note that both the non-religious authorities and religious rulers only begun seeing the activity as a serious issue during the 15th century (Currie 9). Currie adds that from 15th to 17th centuries, this period saw increased actions against witchcraft with those in authority recognizing the act as a form of “deviance” that attracted punishment (10). The intensity in the issue continued until the 18th century (Currie 10).
6. Similarities and differences in studies
While using Hovland and Sears’s 1940 findings, Oster indicates the existence of a link between economic welfare and land value and the number of lynching (225). These results match with Miguel’s 2003 findings suggesting how extreme weather patterns in the new Tanzania correlate with increased witch killings with the primary suspects being old women ( Oster 225). Nonetheless, Green, Glaser and Rich’s 1998 study that extended a period suggest how the Great Depression was more of an anomaly than previous times (Oster 225). Barstow, while quoting Wallace Notestein, indicate that women were by nature six times more expected to face witchcraft blames than their male counterparts (10). Hansen’s study confirms Wallace’s whereby the author suggested the accused women were murderous at heart whose confession were deceitful and full of vanity (Barstow 10). Yehuda’s findings from Midelfort, Garrett, and Weisensteig and Rothenberg’s research identify similarities in which all study agree over 85 percent of witchcraft victims were women (6).
7. Historians Work Concerning Witchcraft and their Approach to the Topic
Numerous historians have conducted a variety of studies extensively concerning witchcraft. These works reveal a varied set of information with some historians’ findings matching whereas some other parts are differing. For example, Currie suggested men as having the largest proportion internationally (22), which contradicts other studies that suggest women account for over 80 percent of witchcraft blame. On the other hand, a majority of historians tend to narrow down to one major concept that connects women to witchcraft in the historical times. These historians have employed different methods such as editing their findings and attempting to make the topic inclusive of gender which may explain Currie’s findings that suggest men constitute a larger percentage than women in witchcraft accusations than women. It is, however, noteworthy that indeed an extensive research is necessary to omit these doubts of whether mean or not the distribution of witchcraft claims was equal between the two genders. The performance can involve performing an overall international tally than singling out particular regions around the world as a majority of studies does. That way, there may be an apparent determination if a particular gender was more susceptible to witchcraft issues than the other.

Works Cited
Barstow, Anne. “On Studying Witchcraft As Women’s History: A Historiography of the
European Witch Persecutions.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 1988, (4)2, 7-19.
Currie, Elliot. “Crimes without Criminals: Witchcraft and Its Control in Renaissance Europe.”
Law & Society Review, 1968, (3)1, 7-32.
Monter William. “The Historiography of European Witchcraft: Progress and Prospects.”
The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 1972, (2)4, 435-451.
Oster, Emily. “Witchcraft, Weather and Economic Growth in Renaissance Europe.” Journal of
Economic Perspectives, 2004, (18)1, 215-228.
Yehuda, Nachman. “The European Witch Craze of the 14th to 17th Centuries: A Sociologist’s
Perspective.” American Journal of Sociology, 1980, (86)1, 1-31.