Concetti Chiave
- During Elizabeth I and James I's reign, witchcraft was redefined as an ordinary crime, leading to harsher penalties and increased trials.
- James I described witches as mostly elderly women with familiars and supposed 'devil's marks,' living solitary lives and holding odd ceremonies.
- The Act of 1735 shifted focus from punishing witches to penalizing those pretending to be witches, marking a societal change in attitudes.
- By 1700, belief in witches waned, with the 1735 law targeting frauds like fake spirit summoners and fortune-tellers.
- The last witchcraft-related legislation was used in 1944 against two women, highlighting the lingering influence of these outdated laws.
During the reign of Elizabeth I nad James I, the laws regarding withcraft changed in England. Witches were no longer tried by church courts. Witchcraft was now an ordinary crime, and was defined as ‘the use, practise or exercise of any witchcraft, Enchantment, charm or sorcery, whereby any person shall be killed or destroyed.’ Now, someone who was found guilty of being a witch was no longer burnt: she was hanged. Also, the person who was convisted could lose his or her property to the crown. This made it profitable for government officials to convict somebody of witchcraft and as a result the number of trials increased greatly.
James listed the ain characteristics of witches:
- They are almost always women.
- They are often old.
- They have familiars - animal - shaped spirits that help the witches do their magic. - They have ‘witch’s mark’ or ‘devil’s mark’-this was supposed to be a sign made by the Devil himself on the witch to show that she belonged to him. In reality, they were any ordinary markings on the skin. - They amake models of their victims in wax and put spells on them.
- They generally live by themselves.
- They hold odd ceremonies.
It is not hard to imagine how almost any woman could be accused of being a witch. It is also not hard to imagine somebody confessing to practising witchcraft after being tortured-even if the punishment was death.
The last piece of Legislation in Britain associated with witches was the Act of 1735. It was in force untill 1951. In fact, two women Helen Ducan and Jane Rebecca Yorke, were accused under this law in 1944. However, by 1700, the government no longer acted as if witches existed and this 1735 law did not punish people who were witches but people who pretended to be witches by calling up spirits, foretelling the future, casting spells and discovering spirits. So, some people believed that the publishers of astrology columns in newspaper could be punished under thw witchcraft Act. Fortunately, in England the tragedy of witch-hunts had been trasformed into the comedy of astrology.
Domande da interrogazione
- ¿Cómo cambiaron las leyes sobre la brujería durante los reinados de Isabel I y Jacobo I en Inglaterra?
- ¿Cuáles eran las características principales de las brujas según Jacobo I?
- ¿Qué cambios trajo la Ley de 1735 sobre la brujería en Gran Bretaña?
Durante estos reinados, la brujería dejó de ser juzgada por tribunales eclesiásticos y se convirtió en un crimen ordinario. Las personas condenadas por brujería ya no eran quemadas, sino ahorcadas, y podían perder sus propiedades a favor de la corona.
Jacobo I enumeró características como que las brujas eran casi siempre mujeres, a menudo ancianas, tenían familiares en forma de animales, marcas del diablo, hacían modelos de cera de sus víctimas, vivían solas y realizaban ceremonias extrañas.
La Ley de 1735 ya no castigaba a las personas por ser brujas, sino a quienes pretendían serlo mediante la invocación de espíritus, predicción del futuro o lanzamiento de hechizos. Esta ley estuvo vigente hasta 1951.
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