During our last several episodes, Europe and the European-controlled world have been in crisis. Wars, disease, climate changes, and shifts in religious and political power threw the European world into turmoil. People were looking for a scapegoat, and for many it was a time of magical thinking. So, maybe witches were responsible for all the problems? It was a popular idea, but, alas, the witches weren’t responsible.
Sources:
Godbeer, Richard, ed. The Salem Witch Hunt: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2018.
Kupperman, Karen. Indians and English: Facing Off in Early America. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000. Plus additional personal communications.
Parker, Geoffrey. Global Crisis: War, Climate Change, and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013.
Roper, Lyndall. Oedipus and the Devil: Witchcraft, Sexuality and Religion in Early Modern Europe. London: Routledge, 1994.
Roper, Lyndal. The Witch in the Western Imagination, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012.
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I have a black cat and she's the best.
Darn you, Stan!!!
Fascinating, thank you for sharing this history with us!
John’s a witch because of that stare.
" 'witches were, among other things, practicing cannibalism and causing male impotence' Because of course, if you have magical powers, that's how you're gonna use them"
I mean, obviously ! 😂
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:
00:00 🧙♀️ Joan of Arc was not a witch but became a symbol of the superstitions and fears of witchcraft during her time.
01:19 🌿 People in history believed in unseen powers, and many sought help from wise individuals who practiced potions, charms, and predictions.
03:12 🌟 In the 16th and 17th centuries, people commonly believed that the hand of God and the Devil constantly shaped events in their lives, seeking narratives to make sense of the world.
05:54 🔨 Heinrich Kramer's "Witches' Hammer" in 1487 fueled the witch hunts, describing witches as mostly female practitioners of evil and advocating for their persecution.
07:19 🧙♀️ Between 1560 and 1800, 50,000 to 100,000 people were tried for witchcraft in Europe, with the majority being women, and many were executed.
09:13 🌐 The lines between Christianity and paganism were blurred, and accusations of witchcraft often led to torture and execution, fueled by fear of the devil's influence.
12:29 🎩 People in towns and cities examined and tortured suspected witches, trying to discern who was in league with the devil, often targeting vulnerable and marginalized women.
14:51 🌍 Persecution of witches diminished by 1700 as people developed a more positive view of the divine and a better understanding of natural laws.
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Fun Fact: The King James Version of the Bible (Where the phrase from Exodus makes it's first appearance) was published in 1611, during the height of the witch hunts.
What do you call a witch from the middle east? … a sandwitch. rable rable rable
Stan! you are NOT the Man!!!!!
Love the video disagree with black cats being "great cats" as "great cat" is an oxymoron
Reminder witch trials were rare
The heavenly or democratic hand that has puzzled and scared people for millennium is just entropy…ticking away
great
Balabak nevuzaz haha 😃
Thank you Stan for not trapping a cat in a small ball, you’re a good guy.
Thank goodness I'm an atheist. One of the many greatest wrongs in the world was based on religion.
Good luck getting a cat in that globe 🤣
I clicked on this video thinking it was actually going to be talking about some form of witchcraft, like how european paganism evolved, not projected “witchcraft” as a religious-political tool. But even then you should’ve added stuff from more modern times, going up to the Satanic Panic
Hither and thither
Comet sighted! – I wish I lived in more enlightened times…
I've become a huge John Green fan of late. These CrashCourse videos are among the best stuff out there on literary and historical topics. I can't thank you enough for creating and sharing them.
More witches have been killed by pagans than by christians. When the auguries are not desireable or innacurate…When YOURE the victim of a curse, or its YOUR relative's grave thats being desecrated and plundered for spell components (binds, shawl, teeth, hair, etc.)… When the plague hits they are not "wisewomen" anymore, they are instantly exposed as witches. Sometimes the mob goes crazy and howls for blood and doesnt care to omuch where it gets it from. Sometimes witches are rightfully executed for grave sins against their community; graver than grave desecration. There IS such a thing as blood magic and it requires human sacrifice. Its practiced almost openly in many places in Africa to this day and its downright mainstream in some places. Congo for example has a serious witchcraft problem.
Europe leave back Africa
Do not watch white Europe.
So allegedly a woman would sell her immortal soul and condemn herself to eternal damnation for a large amount or even unlimited satanic power just to give men erectile dysfunction. Makes perfect sense.
i believe in witchcraft
What amazes me is in spite how the bible was interpreted as a tool for sexism and women oppression, John Green is still going to church.
Its funny how christians is hungry for power and its a proof that they are acting by themselves not for the god they worshipped. And if they are acting by the will of their god then its hilarious bc a God is a great existence and he is making his followers fight for religion and resources in this small planet when the universe is vast lol
Idk John Greene….
I think that's what the Witches want you to think
Witchcraft is any way to gain knowledge or power other than obeying implicitly the Lord by His word. All men are rebellious and witches to one degree or another. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. You must be born again. Most religion has been polluted by mans sinful selfish nature. Same as ever and more so today. Start with Gods spoken words by Him in the flesh in the gospel of John. Pay special attention to the words in red. God is talking directly to everyone. He made the entire universe very simple. Our job is to trust believe and obey. Everything will follow. Knock and it will be opened to you.
people fear what they don't understand
oh these guys are IDIOTS!!
I watched this with my black cat.
This has opened my eyes to the devlish nature of the European areas…… All the Evil Devilish and Horrible actions where taken by men especially the middle passage where captives were usually pregnate by the time the captives made it to America. I notice that the colonizers emptied thier jails and ghettos to inflict this torture on the rest of the world.from the 1500 until now the most ignorant most insignificant of you all Is the Descruction of the World
what is real???
John. I've been watching your european history and you are less annoying in it than world history. Please keep up this tone. The world history episodes feel like blues clues for adults…
Witchcraft still exists in media and politics unfortunately. This will continue unless we believe that there are always different perspectives to each story.
Things that made you a witch "hardened nipples"
Me: "chuckles" I'm in danger
1537 GERMANY
SHE IS A WITCH
SOLDIER: WHY
SHE KISSED A MAN I DIDNT ALLOW
SHE IS A HORE
SOLDIER: WHY SHE IS TO YOUNG TO DIE WE CANT BURN HER
MOM: BURN HER
THE CROWD: BURN HER BURN HER
many of the councils of men also had the ownership of all the womens properties after she was executed for witchcraft, so many of the nurses and doctors who were women were just killed so that men could gain their wealth
Why is the witch depicted as an african rather than european woman? Is there some subliminal thought process here that draws a connection to what an oppressed person should look like?