Ten General Historical Theories, about the Origins and Causes of the Witch
Hunts

Like the Holocaust/Shoah/Final Solution (the attempted extermination of
Jews and others by the Nazis in the mid-20th Century), the Witch Hunts demand
some sort of explanation.

The "theories" for the causes of the Witch Hunts listed below are drawn from
what various historians have suggested. They are called theories, because
they are based on reasonable information (or were, when they were first
proposed), and make some sense in explaining the phenomena. Each theory below
describes the main idea briefly, and after "BUT" lists some of the problems in
applying the theory to witch hunts.

None is perfect, some are better than others, and a few are now supported by
only few historians. Some better explain certain hunts in specific places
during limited periods. No one explanation or theory will suffice to explain all
Witch Hunts in Europe from 1400 to 1800. To understand the Witch Hunts in
their totality, we must keep all of the theories in mind, and even look for
more still. Multiple causation is merely common sense. Any historian who tries
to apply one cause to the hunts, or even perhaps to just one hunt, is being
too simplistic.

1. Illness Theories: These are variously related to physical and mental
conditions of people involved in the hunts. According to a Mass Hysteria Theory,
peasants went a little wacky, becoming clinically neurotic and even psychotic,
and in a group panic went after the witches. According to a Delusion Theory,
credence given to children’s fantasies and psychosomatic illnesses are some
sources for the panic. Further, a Disease Theory suggests syphilis or
ergotism (caused by mold on rotten bread) as causes for mental instability.
Similarly, Drug Theory suggests that the effects of consuming bad mushrooms, herbs
like deadly nightshade or henbane, or bufotenine from the skin of some toads
could have affected people’s minds.

BUT, it is hard to explain how so many people, even in one area, could
become seriously ill or disturbed all at once. Additionally, an important
characteristic of the witch hunts were their systematic organization by ruling elites
and government officials, not some chaotic outbreak.

2. The Geographic Origins Theories: The Witch Hunts originated in specific
locations, for example first in mountainous regions of the Alps and Pyrenees or
out of economic differentiation between regions which were normally
self-sufficient suddenly caught in new competition because of the commercial
revolution.

BUT these explanations are contradicted by counter examples (regions where
the lowlands first hunted and then spread to the hills), or the difficulty of
quantifying economic differences.

3. The Greed Theory: Elites initiated the hunts in order to confiscate
property of others.

BUT many persecuted people did not have much wealth. And, in many hunts
property was not confiscated, even from very wealthy targets.

4. The Religious Rebellion Theories: These theories are of two kinds:
A. First, the Satanic Religious Rebellion Theory: devil worship actually
existed, in particular as a subversive attack on the ruling Christian order.
Early historians of witchcraft, such as Jules Michelet (1862) or Montague
Summers, take the tortured confessions of witches at their word.

BUT no credible evidence supports the existence of any actual Satanic cults
before the 19th century. See Myth #8.

B. Second, the Pagan Religious Rebellion Theory: Certain forms of worship
from the ancient world continued through the Early Modern period and was
misinterpreted by the Christian hunters as Satanic. This theory was formulated by
the Folklorist Margaret Murray (The Witch-cult in Western Europe (1921), The
European Witch Cult (1926), The God of the Witches (1960)), who said worship of
the horned god Janus or "Dianus" was focus of pagan continuity into modern
times. It could be called the Murrayite Theory, and it remains popular in
Neo-pagan circles.

BUT no credible evidence reveals the survival of much paganism or any
organized fertility cults, beyond common superstition and simple folk traditions.
Professional scholars have largely discredited Murray’s work. See Myth #8 and
Myth #10.

5. The Confessional Conflict Theory: Reformation and its resultant fights
between Protestants (mainly Lutherans, Calvinists and Anabaptists, as well as
Anglicans) and Roman Catholics led each to use witchcraft to attack one
another.

BUT adherents of one branch of Christianity only rarely used the accusation
of witchcraft specifically to persecute someone of another branch. Usually the
Witch Hunts were carried out by people of the same type of Christianity as
the victims. See also Myth #2.

6. The Disaster Theory: As actual misfortunes struck (plague, famine, war,
storm), people blamed supernatural forces and found scapegoats in witches.
BUT many persecutions were done during times of relative peace and plenty.
Further, many such troubles were not new to early modern Europe, but have been
endemic throughout history. Thus, why were "witches" to blame, and not other
common scapegoats (Jews, Sodomites, deviants, foreigners) or other
supernatural forces (such as demons without the aid of human witches)?

7. The (Mistaken) Conspiracy Theory: In the Late Middle Ages, religious
elites created a new, and mistaken, intellectual framework out of Christian
heresy and theology concerning demons. They linked the idea of witches to an
imagined organized sect which was a danger to the Christian commonwealth. Thus
authorities sincerely believed in and acted against this Satanic threat, even
though it did not really exist.

BUT how could a rather minor idea, with so little supporting evidence, lead
to such enormous efforts by so many people, especially those with little to
gain?

8. The Social Control or State-building Theory: Early modern governments
exploited the fear of witchcraft in order to centralize authority, increase
bureaucratic jurisdiction, impose cultural uniformity, and dominate the Church.
The hierarchy may have believed in witchcraft or not, but a dangerous
conspiracy provided the premise for expanding government intervention. This theory has a certain similarity to The Church Oppression Theory, popular in the 19th
century but held by few today, according to which the Church fraudulently
invented witches so as to crush its opponents and grow rich.

BUT why should witchcraft be the specific target in these years? And why
should the hunts be so vicious, and as a result cause such disturbances in the
state? And the theory gives too much credit to the elites over the "ignorant"
masses.

9. The Social Functionalist or Social Accusations Theory: Witch accusers
acted on a psychological need to blame others for their own personal problems.
Drawing on functionalist anthropology, psychology and post-modernist criticism,
supporters of this theory argue that witch hunts were therapeutically
beneficial for society, since they defined what was right and wrong and rid society
of its troublesome marginalized folk, like the old and the poor. Thus the
hunts functioned to reinforce and define social boundaries of moral and
acceptable behavior.

BUT these theories do not take into account motives of individual
accusations (such as local feuds and grudges), and contemporary explanations of those involved (the religious and political context). And why should the hunts be so
vicious? And again, why should witchcraft be the specific target in these
years?

10. The Misogyny Theory: The Witch Hunts embodied a social hostility toward
women. Such theories are often tied with popularizing feminist writers, who
might also see in witchcraft a source of empowerment for women. Indeed, the
ongoing subordination of women, women’s connection to folk-magic and healing,
and changing views of women’s social and economic place in Early Modern Europe
were important factors in the hunts. The majority of accused and executed
were female, yet also old, living alone (whether widowed or spinster), and poor.

BUT, such theories exaggerate the proportions of women involved and the
extent to which women were the focus. See Myth #4. Men in some witch hunts were
the majority of victims; and some hunts persecuted children of both sexes.