In the Middle Ages through the 1700’s witchcraft ran through Europe like crazy. Witches were supposedly connected with the devil, and were viewed as horrid. More than one hundred thousand people were put on trial for witchcraft. They were tortured and even killed for their so-called “actions.” Religion was a major cause of their persecution. Because they were supposedly connected with the devil, they were blamed for many reasons that were not where in their own fault. Also, their persecution was caused by other’s greed. Witches were persecuted and killed because others wanted money. Third, a big cause was social prejudices. People’s biased opinions of others were a major reason of the type of people persecuted. Religion is one of the major causes of the persecution of many witches during this time. In Document 9 Martin Luther proclaims, “witches are Devil’s whores…bring illness and plagues and kill children…” Being the leader of the Protestant Reformation many under him followed him and listened to him. As influential as he was the also believed the fact that witches were the causes of the death and illness in the world, even though, they probably were died of other reasons and the plague wasn’t their fault at all.“…use any and all methods deemed necessary, to extract confessions of wrongdoing…” (Document 8). Pope Innocent VIII said this. Knowing that he is the head and leader of all religion. Many people also follow him and see him as their leader. He himself proclaimed that there really is the existence of witches made others believe it too. The problem with their proclamations is that with the power it is obvious that they use fear to keep peoples’ loyalty. They can’t be believed because all they really wanted was power that made them biased to themselves, and their cause. In Document 5 Peter Myer wonders if he were make a witches’ verdict innocent would the then proclaim him as a witch too. He is more believable because this looks more like an entry to a journal or diary, which are usually more truthful. Greed is another major cause of the wrongly blamed people of this time period. Document 3 is an excerpt from a letter sent by Johannes Junius, the mayor of Barnberg, Germany, sent to his daughter. He said that he had been tortured and was forced to lie about being a witch. Since he was the mayor he obviously had connections and money. People tried him for being a witch knowing that they would get some type of profit out of it. Also in Document 5 Peter Myer wonders if he would be next, knowing that all of these so called “witches” were really innocent. Others tried those persecuted for reasons other than just “death” and “illness.” They knew they were not really witches and wanted something out of it, most likely, money. Junius sent his letter the day before he was to die. If you were going to die you would
