In order to understand exactly what happened during the Witchcraze in Europe we must understand what it means first. The word witch comes from the Old English noun wicca, meaning "sorcerer" and the verb wiccan "to cast a spell (Muhlberger)." The meaning of witchcraft is a form of sorcery, or the magical manipulation of nature for self-aggrandizement, or for the benefit or harm of a client. This manipulation often involves the use of spirit-helpers, or families ("Witch Hunt").
Europe was going threw a very unstable time when the withcraze started. There was a lot going on that contributed to make this craze as big as it was. Many Catholics were converting to the Protestant religion, Parliament was empowered for the very first time, populations were increasing at an exponential rate, and women monarchs were holding high social positions in society (Muhlberger). All of these drastic changes contributed to the tension and conflict that followed. This also started to make men feel threatened by women. In order to keep their masculinity they thought if they accussed women of practicing black magic that somehow they would look and feel more masculine.
Authorities in many countries organized the witch-hunt of the 16th and 17th centuries. They had many small towns and villages demanding the prosecution of witches. Without laws, lynchings were a possibility, but states did not want people taking matters into their own hands (Barry, Hester and Roberts, p.45). So they went out to .
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destroy the witches, since they were thought of as "a deadly threat to the Christian society (Barry, Hester and Roberts, p. 67) The men who started this hunt had to make sure that they separated the witch-hunting from their own beliefs of witches and magic. People of the town believed that it was dangerous to go after witches (they do have a powerful friend) so they were happy to let the state take over the task.
