By
Audrey Stanley
History 101
Dr. Luisa Bonillas
April 30, 2013
Outline
Thesis statement: Although the world has come a long way from the prosecution of women during Western Civilization, sexism is still prevalent.
I. Introduction
A. Background
A. Today’s view of witches
B. The view of witches before the 17th century
B. Thesis: the prevalence and effects of the witch hunts
II. Body
A. The German Trails
1. Catholic Beliefs
2. Outcome and ending
B. The Salem Witch Trails
1. Protestant Beliefs
2. Outcome and ending III. Conclusion
A. Women turning on women during med evil times
B. women turning on women today
What are witches? What kinds of powers do witches posses? Do witches really exist? We have all been fascinated with these questions since we were children. Halloween movies depict witches to be women in long black dresses with a …show more content…
However, during the 14th to the 17th century magic was seen as an evil entity. This is when the witch hunt trails occurred. What once was a normal daily routine, which could be seen as good or bad depending on the objective, was now demonic and had to be stopped. This was exactly the theory that inquisitors or witch hunters needed to legitimately execute thousands of witches across Europe.(Ben-Yehuda3)
The Catholic German territories were frightened by two beliefs. The first was that the Satan wanted to destroy Christian society and needed a multitude of witches to do so. Therefore, witchcraft was now seen as an attempt to overthrow state and church. Secondly, since witchcraft was such a monstrous crime it was justified by torture. The Holy Roman Emperor decreed in 1532 that witchcraft could be determined by judicial torture and punishable by death specifically being burned at the stake.(