Her trial and death are elements of the Doctor Who novel The Witch Hunters. (There is uncertainty regarding the relationship between the slaves and their ethnic origins. Over the following year many trials were held and many people imprisoned. In 2008, rumors that a successful soccer player was using witchcraft triggered a riot in Kinshasa, Congo. In 2021, the 400th anniversary of Nurse's birth, the first full biography of her life was published, Daniel A. Gagnon's A Salem Witch: The Trial, Execution, and Exoneration of Rebecca Nurse.[14]. Compare your views with those of the other groups. The earliest witchcraft allegations on record against an English settler in the British North American colonies were made in Virginia in September 1626. It is unclear whether the second trial ever occurred. [5] At age 71, she was one of the oldest accused. While the witch trials had begun to fade out across much of Europe by the mid-17th century, they continued to a greater extent on the fringes of Europe and in the American colonies. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. Reading a novel. Rebecca Nurse, Yarmouth, England 1621. 1853 painting by Thompkins H. Matteson, American painter. For Americans, that number was even higher: 21 percent. Nineteen were executed by hanging. All rights reserved. English Parliament overturns the Witchcraft Act of 1604 and replaces it with the Witchcraft Act of 1735, which criminalizes the pretense, not the practice, of using black magic. Many babies are abandoned or killed. In accordance with the procedures at the time, Mrs. Nurse, like others accused of witchcraft, represented herself since she was not allowed to have a lawyer. By dint of her respectability, many members of the community testified on her behalf, including her family members. Cruel and frightened. The PBS film Three Sovereigns For Sarah features Vanessa Redgrave as one of Rebecca Nurse's sisters, Sarah Cloyce; although accused, she escaped execution. People project their fears onto unfortunate victims. It proves that the courts were never actually looking for witches in Salem. "I desire to be humbled before God for that sad and humbling providence that befell my father's family in the year about '92; that I, then being in my childhood, should, by such a providence of God, be made an instrument for the accusing of several persons of a grievous crime, whereby their lives were taken away from them, whom now I have just grounds and good reason to believe they were innocent persons; and that it was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time, whereby I justly fear I have been instrumental, with others, though ignorantly and unwittingly, to bring upon myself and this land the guilt of innocent blood; though what was said or done by me against any person I can truly and uprightly say, before God and man, I did it not out of any anger, malice, or ill-will to any person, for I had no such thing against one of them; but what I did was ignorantly, being deluded by Satan. Their names were John Nurse (born 1645), Rebecca Nurse (born 1647), Samuel Nurse (born 1649), Elizabeth Nurse (born 1655 or 1656), Mary Nurse (born 1657 28 June 1749), Francis Nurse (born 1660 or 1661), Sarah Nurse (born 1662) and Benjamin Nurse (born in 1665 or 1666). In the medieval and early modern eras, many religions, including Christianity, taught that the devil could give people known as witches the power to harm others in return for their loyalty. On February 29, under pressure from magistrates Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne, colonial officials who tried local cases, the girls blamed three women for afflicting them: Tituba, a Caribbean woman enslaved by the Parris family; Sarah Good, a homeless beggar; and Sarah Osborne, an elderly impoverished woman. Wright was acquitted despite her own admission that she did in fact have knowledge of witchcraft practices. England produced two adolescent witches and one child-witch. Squabbles over property were commonplace, and litigiousness was rampant. Around 1622, however, once the Virginia colony had stabilized and its English population grew, the colonists began to turn their suspicions inward, no longer focusing their accusations on the Indians, but on each other. People accused of witchcraft are said to be able to control natural events such as storms or droughts. Why do some people believe in witchcraft? A general definition of witchcraft is the changing of everyday events using supernatural or magical forces. Please select which sections you would like to print: Jeff Wallenfeldt, manager of Geography and History, has worked as an editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica since 1992. Casting a spell to be wealthy or lucky in love is an example of witchcraft. In the North Berwick witch trials in Scotland, over seventy people were accused of witchcraft on account of bad weather when James VI of Scotland, who shared the Danish kings interest in witch trials, sailed to Denmark in 1590 to meet his betrothed, Anne of Denmark. Born February 13, 1621, her baptism is recorded as February 21, 1621. Rebecca was portrayed by actress Shirley MacLaine in the 2002 CBS miniseries, Salem Witch Trials. Some of the accused are leaders in the scientific community or government advisers. Soccer WitchesIn 1992, the Ivory Coast sports minister hired witch doctors to help support his country against Ghana in soccer. Terms of Use Three family members were held accountable for treating the girl as a witch. Hex Murder and trials. Odd but necessary. In February, unable to account for their behaviour medically, the local doctor, William Griggs, put the blame on the supernatural. With the seeds of paranoia planted, a stream of accusations followed over the next few months. ", The Nurse family accepted Ann's apology and were reconciled with her:[10] by contrast, they never forgave Samuel Parris, the village minister, whom they held personally to blame for their bereavement "none can know what we suffered by the loss of such a mother" and they did not rest until Parris was removed from office in 1697. Justices charged the accused, a woman named Mary, with using witchcraft to find lost items and treasure. Dozens of people have been killed in Papua New Guinea, the eastern half of the tropical island of New Guinea in the Pacific Ocean. The witch trials of Catholic Austria and Protestant Switzerland were both severe. Since then, witchcraft has been largely forgotten as an aspect of life in colonial Virginia. If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. She was fully exonerated fewer than twenty years later. President Jammeh also claims to be able to cure AIDS on Thursdays and fires doctors who disagree with him. On March 23, 1692, a warrant was issued for her arrest based upon accusations made by Edward and John Putnam. They also sent police to work with traditional healers and village chiefs. How did Joseph McCarthy contribute to the Red Scare? Three hundred years ago, the people of Salem were told they could save their souls and their lives by confessing to be a witch. A Witch Trial at Mount Holly. It reveals how it was impossible not to be put to death as a witch in Salem. She was convicted and imprisoned, but by 1714, she had been released. Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2021. Grace Sherwood undergoes a water test to determine whether she is guilty of the charge of witchcraft. Cf. Sometime around 1644, she married Francis Nurse (or Nourse; 16181695), who was also born in England. The world redeemed from Superstition's sway. With fear What do different witch hunts often have in common? Rebecca and Francis frequented the Salem Village meeting house and Francis was quite active in the community becoming well respected in Salem Village; he was often asked to serve as mediator to help settle matters. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. In 2005, an eight-year-old girl in London, England, was accused of being a witch by a family member. It led to the death of about 386 people, and was perhaps the biggest mass execution in Europe during peacetime. The Salem trials also went on to become a powerful metaphor for the anticommunist hearings led by U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare of the 1950s, famously in the form of Arthur Millers allegorical play The Crucible (1953). The Salem witch trial breaks from this pattern. The Salem Witch Trials, the events of 1692 in Salem Village which resulted in 185 accused of witchcraft, 156 formally charged, 47 confessions, and 19 executed by hanging, remain one of the most studied phenomena in colonial American history. The Witch Trials of Trier in Germany was perhaps the biggest witch trial in European history. [1] This farm still exists, and is today preserved as the Rebecca Nurse Homestead. Scholars offered up competing explanations for the strange behavior that occurred in Salem, with scientists seeking a medical cause for the accusers afflictions and historians more often grounding their theories in the communitys tense sociopolitical environment. The height of the European witch trials was between 1560 and 1630, with the large hunts first beginning in 1609. If she drowned, she was innocent of witchcraft. with fear What do different witch hunts often have in common? Even animals fell victim to the mass hysteria, with colonists in Andover and Salem Village killing two dogs believed to be linked to the devil. In their descriptions of Virginia Indians, the Jamestown colonists often used supernatural terms: John Smith described the paramount chief Powhatan as more like a devil then a man, while George Percy recalls the Indians making noise like so many Wolves or Devils. Alexander Whitaker, an Anglican minister, reported that he found the Indians to be very familiar with the Devill and observed, Their Priests are no other but such as our English Witches are. This perception stemmed partly from the colonists interpretation of the Powhatans religious beliefs and rituals (some settlers believed that the Powhatans main deity, Okee, was the devil incarnate) and partly from the Indians unfamiliar appearance. the one century which consist ently, and throughout the whole range of human activities, provided intellectual genius adequate for the greatness of its . A fire broke out in Salem caused by disgruntled witches. How many people were killed during the Salem witch trials? They told Rebecca openly that if she was innocent, they prayed that God would show her innocence, for "it is a sad thing to see church members accused". [1] Rebecca had three sisters, Susan (baptized October 26, 1625; died July 29, 1630), Mary (baptized August 24, 1634; executed 1692) and Sarah. (From the poem "Christian Martyr," by John Greenleaf Whittier), In 1706, her accuser, Ann Putnam, Jr., gave a public church confession upon entering the Salem Village congregation. Nurse's trial was featured in an episode of the CBS radio program "CBS Is There," which aired on July 28, 1947. However the jury had changed their verdict and sentenced Nurse to death on July 19, 1692. If Sherwood sinks, she will be presumed innocent; if she floats, she will be presumed guilty. O Christian Martyr who for Truth could die. Omissions? An image of a witch and her familiar spirits taken from a publication that dealt with the witch trials of Elizabeth Stile, Mother Dutten, Mother Devell, and Mother Margaret in Windsor, 1579. Nurse can also be found as a supporting character in Katherine Howe's historical fiction, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. Governor Phipps banned spectral evidence and stopped the court - without spectral evidence, only 3 of 56 were found guilty - the others were freed A couple of young girls accused others of witchcraft. of Criminal Law 432). She or he will best know the preferred format. Gunnar Heinsohn and Otto Steiger in a 1982 publication speculated that witch hunts targeted women skilled in midwifery specifically in an attempt to extinguish knowledge about birth control and repopulate Europe after the population catastrophe of the Black Death. But it wasnt until 1957more than 250 years laterthat Massachusetts formally apologized for the events of 1692. By the end of the Salem witch trials, 19 people had been hanged and 5 others had died in custody. Men, women, and children are accused of spreading HIV/AIDS through witchcraft. Offenders will be fined 1,000 pounds of tobacco. The inscription on the monument reads: Rebecca Nurse, Yarmouth, England 1621. This belief was first manifested in the Jamestown colonists early perceptions of the Virginia Indians, whom they believed to be devil worshippers. Due to the public outcry and renewed fits and spasms by the "afflicted", the judges reviewed her case with the jury. But Tituba confessed, The devil came to me and bid me serve him. She described elaborate images of black dogs, red cats, yellow birds and a tall man with white hair who wanted her to sign his book. After a long investigation, the court justices decided to use the water test to determine her guilt or innocence. Historians know of some two dozen cases dealing with witchcraft in colonial Virginia. Rebecca Nurse is a central character in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible. Gagnon, Daniel A., A Salem Witch: The Trial, Execution, and Exoneration of Rebecca Nurse. The 1692 Salem witch trials were a brief outburst of witch hysteria in the New World at a time when the practice was already waning in Europe. As recently as 2007, children accused of witchcraft in Nigeria were burned, poisoned, and abused. Generally, the witch trails are often described as very cruel and frightened. What is the name of the fourth son. Witchcraft was a genuine concern for colonial Virginians. The Salem trials occurred late in the sequence, after the abatement of the European witch-hunt fervour, which peaked from the 1580s and 90s to the 1630s and 40s. The jury asked Rebecca to explain her remark that another accused witch, Deliverance Hobbs, was "of her company", the implication being that they had both signed a pact with the Devil. (Salem Village is present-day Danvers, Massachusetts; colonial Salem Town became whats now Salem.). Jess Blumberg She was convicted and whipped thirty-nine times. It was later written that Rebecca had "acquired a reputation for exemplary piety that was virtually unchallenged in the community," making her one of the "unlikely" persons to be accused of witchcraft. The examining magistrates, John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, who normally regarded the guilt of the accused as self-evident, took a notably different attitude in Rebecca's case, as they also did in the case of her sister Mary Eastey. Today, witch trials occur all over the world. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. The colony's English settlers brought with them a strong belief in the devil's power and his presence in the New World. Belief in witchcraft is widespread. A couple of young girls accused others of witchcraft. Luke Hill formally charges Grace Sherwood with witchcraft. The so-called baby witches have been blamed for poor agricultural seasons or illnesses. On October 3, following in his son Cottons footsteps, Increase Mather, then-president of Harvard, denounced the use of spectral evidence: It were better that ten suspected witches should escape than one innocent person be condemned.. Nigerias oil boom, which began in the 1970s, has made a few of its citizens extremely wealthy. Other girls and young women began experiencing fits, among them Ann Putnam, Jr.; her mother; her cousin, Mary Walcott; and the Putnamss servant, Mercy Lewis. Working with a small group, imagine you represent the interests of one the following: consumers, workers, clothing makers, or environmentalists. . 1656: Thomas Ady publishes A Candle in the Dark . This is especially true in places with poor medical care or few educational opportunities. In 1678 they were offered the opportunity to lease-to-own a 300-acre (120ha) farm in the rural village area of Salem (today Danvers, Massachusetts), originally a part of a grant given to Townsend Bishop in 1636. The clergy and intellectuals began to speak out against the trials from the late 16th century. What is the legacy of the Salem witch trials? People are unjustifiably persecuted and/or killed. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. No longer were witches viewed as sorcerers who had been deceived by the Devil into practicing magic that went against the powers of God. When it was all over, 141 suspects, both men and women, were tried as witches. Around the year 1000, when there were increasing fears that the end of the world would soon come in Christendom, the idea of the Devil had become prominent. The law of the Salem Witch Trials is a fascinating mix of biblical passages and colonial statutes. Are there more points of agreement or disagreement? Parliament passes a law making witchcraft "a felony punishable by death and forfeiture of goods and chattels. Those who were accused of witchcraft were portrayed as being Devil worshipers. In January 1692 Bettys and Abigails increasingly strange behaviour (described by at least one historian as juvenile deliquency) came to include fits. This infamous event lead to prosecution and eventual hanging of several people, some of which had been falsely accused. A bizarre form of counter-magic, the witch cake was a supernatural dessert used to identify suspected evildoers. In 1711, colonial authorities pardoned some of the accused and compensated their families. The Malleus described child-witches. Cookie Settings, Photo by Jim Davis / The Boston Globe via Getty Images, Five Places Where You Can Still Find Gold in the United States, Scientists Taught Pet Parrots to Video Call Each Otherand the Birds Loved It, Balto's DNA Provides a New Look at the Intrepid Sled Dog, The Science of California's 'Super Bloom,' Visible From Space, What We're Still Learning About Rosalind Franklins Unheralded Brilliance. Science and the Modern World (New York, 1925) Chap. In three days of vivid testimony, she described encounters with Satans animal familiars and with a tall, dark man from Boston who had called upon her to sign the devils book, in which she saw the names of Good and Osborn along with those of seven others that she could not read. As the trials continued, accusations extended beyond Salem Village to surrounding communities. How were people controlled by witch hunts? The haphazard fashion in which the Salem witch trials were conducted contributed to changes in U.S. court procedures, including rights to legal representation and cross-examination of accusers as well as the presumption that one is innocent until proven guilty. Democratic congressman Henry Bedinger of Virginia invokes the Salem witch trials as a defense against Northern claims that Southern culture is inherently immortal and brutal. The last witchcraft trial on record in Virginia took place in 1730, five years before Parliament repealed the English statute against witchcraft. Sometimes, though, normally logical people blame supernatural powers for their misfortune. She was tried and convicted in the spring and summer of 1692 and executed on July 19. Watch his lively and engaging presentation. Charges against Martha Corey, a loyal member of the church in Salem Village, greatly concerned the community; if she could be a witch, then anyone could. During the colonial period of the United States, an event known as the Salem Witch Trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts. People are unjustifiably persecuted and/or killed.