Witchcraft Timeline
672-735CE- Bede writes History of English, a history of Christianity in England. His book is referred to in the Malleus Maleficarum
775-790- Catholic church taught that Witches did not exist. It was considered heresy to say that they were real. A capitulary from Saxony states: 'If anyone, deceived by the Devil, believes after the manner of the Pagans that any man or woman is a witch and eats men, and if on this account he burns [the alleged witch]... he shall be punished by capital sentence."
906- Regino of Prum, the Abbot of Treves, wrote the Canon Episcopi. It reinforced the church's teaching that Witches did not exist. It admitted that some confused and deluded women thought that they flew through the air with the Pagan Goddess Diana. They said that this did not happen in reality; it was merely some form of hallucination.
circa 975 - Penalties for Witchcraft and the use of healing magic were relatively mild. The English Confessional of Egbert said, in part: "If a woman works witchcraft and enchantment and [uses] magical philters, she shall fast for twelve months.... If she kills anyone by her philters, she shall fast for seven years." Fasting involved consuming only bread and water.
Circa 1012-first persecution of "heretics" in Germany
1095- Pope Urban II proclaims First Crusade
circa 1140- Gratian, an Italian monk, incorporated the Canon Episcopi into canon law.
circa 1203- The Cathar movement, a Gnostic Christian group, had become popular in the Orleans area of France and in Italy. They were declared heretics. Pope Innocent III approved a war of genocide against the Cathars.
1227- Pope Gregory IX established the Inquisitional Courts to arrest, try, convict and execute heretics
1252- Pope Innocent III authorized the use of torture during inquisitional trials. This greatly increased the conviction rate.
1258- Pope Alexander IV instructed the Inquisition to confine their investigations to cases of heresy. They were to not investigate charges of divination or sorcery unless heretics were also involved.
1265- Pope Clement IV reaffirms the use of torture.
1233- First Papal ordinance directly dealing with witchcraft- Bull by Pope Gregory IX (Ugolino, Count of Segni), to Conrad of Marburg, bidding him to proceed against the Luciferians. In July 30 of that year, Conrad of Marburg is murdered on the highway in pursuit of his duties.
1258- Bull by Pope Alexander IV (Rinaldo Conti), to Franciscan Inquisitors, bidding them refrain from judging any cases of witchcraft unless there was some very strong reason to suppose that heretical practice could also be amply proved.
1321- The last known Cathar was burned at the stake in 1321 CE.
1398-University of Paris declares that the pact with the devil is not merely magic but heresy
1428 to 1450- Witch trials of Brianqon, in the Dauphin6. where 167 local people are burned as witches
1431-Trial of Joan of Arc includes allegations of witchcraft. She was burned on May 30 at Rouen
1484- December 9 The Bull of Innocent VIII, decreeing rights to "be empowered to proceed to the just correction, imprisonment, and punishment of any persons, without let or hindrance, in every way as if the provinces, townships, dioceses, districts, territories, yea, even the persons and their crimes in this kind were named and particularly designated in Our letters."
1486/87- Publication of a code for witch-hunters Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches) written by Sprenger and Kramer. Maximilian I, Emperor of Germany and King of the Romans signs papers in Brussels giving permission to these two to carry out duties, and commands cooperation with them.
1490 King Charles VIII issues edict against fortunetellers, enchanters and necromancers
1493-1541Life of Paracelsus a physician who claimed that everything he learned came from an old witch.
1515-1588 Weyer, Johan. Born in Brabant (Belgium). German physician. Believed most witches were melancholy mentally disturbed old women, incapable of harm. Believed that the belief in witchcraft was caused by the devil. In 1563 wrote De Praestigiis Daemonum. Was forced out of Netherlands by the Catholic Governor, Duke of Alba. His book was denounced by Jean Bodin.
1529-Trial at Luxeuil by the Inquisition
1530-1616- Remy, Nicholas. French Lawyer fighting against witches. In 1595 writes Demonaltry and sites 128 cases
1532-Issue of the Carolina Code. This code imposed torture and death for witchcraft. The code was technically adopted by the 300-odd small independent states which then comprised the Holy Roman Empire
1542-Statute of Henry VIII against witchcraft
1547-Repeal of statute of 1542 in reign of Edward VI
1557-Toulouse witch trials: forty accused witches burned
1563-Statute of Queen Elizabeth against witchcraft
1563-Council of Trent resolves to win back Germany from Protestantism to the Catholic Church: intensification of religious struggles and persecutions
1566-The first Chelmsford witch trials
1566 to 1625-King James VI of Scotland a.k.a. James I of England and "author" of the King James Bible
1579-The Windsor witches; also the second Chelmsford trials
1580-Jean Bodin, French judge, writes De la Demonomanie des Sorciers . Claims that those who denied the existence of witches were themselves witches.
1582-St. Osyth Witches of Essex (case tried at Chelmsford)
1584-Publication of Discovery of Witchcraft, by the sceptic Reginald Scot suggesting that maybe witches don't really exist.
1589-Third Chelmsford witch trials
1589-Fourteen accused witches at Tours appeal to King Henry III who, is in turn, accused of protecting witches
1590-William .V begins witch hunt in Bavaria
1590 to 1591The North Berwick Witches tried.
1593-Warboys witches of Huntingdon
1597-Publication of Demonology by James VI of Scotland (later James I of England)
1597-Case of the Burton Boy (Thomas Darling) in Staffordshire
1604-James I statute against witchcraft
1608- Publication of Compendium Maleficarum, by Francesco Maria Guazzo
1610- Execution of accused witches in the Netherlands ceased, probably because of a book written by Weyer's 1563
1611-The Basque Trials of 1611. They were trials where the Spanish Inquisition wanted to burn witches as heretics, when an inquisitor by the name of Antonio Salazar de Frias stepped in. After much deliberation and methodical research into the stories of witchcraft he decided that the men and women charged were under a form of mass hysteria. He further found that "witches" were not harmful, merely delusional and needed help, not condemnation.
1612-Lancashire witch trials
1616- A second witch craze broke out in Vizcaya. Again an Edict of Silence was issued by the Inquisition. But the king overturned the Edict and 300 accused witches were burned alive.
