The witch trials that swept Europe from the late 15th through the 17th centuries, culminating notably in America’s Salem Witch Trials of 1692, were driven substantially by specific biblical ...

The sudden emergence of witch trials in early modern Europe may have been fueled by one of humanity's most significant intellectual milestones: the invention of the printing press in 1450.

The advent of the printing press fuelled the spread of misinformation and the emergence of witch trials across Europe in the second half of the 15th century, according to a new study. The witch ...

While the Salem witch trials involved trying more than 150 people across the Atlantic Ocean in Europe, where the Little Ice Age also wreaked havoc, about 100,000 people were tried for witchcraft.

(Burchard of Worms, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons) One change that led to witch trials across Europe was a change in how the Catholic Church viewed witchcraft. In the 10th century ...

The "Malleus Maleficarum" spurred centuries long witch-hunts and trials within Europe, codifying folklore into fact. Additionally, gender played a large role in shaping the stereotypes of witchcraft.

In the Medieval period, Europe had a feudal system in which kings ... executed for devil worship in South and Central America, witch trials arrived in the North American colonies.

doubts about witch hunts grew and the number of trials across Europe fell. This may be because profound changes were taking place in European society. In 1584, an English gentleman named Reginald ...