Men Standing Trial for Witchcraft at the Łobżenica Court in the Second Half of the 17th Century (original) (raw)

For m any years research on witch trials held in E urope in the early m odem period focused on witches, for it w as m ainly women who were accused of w itchcraft and collusion w ith the devil, and it w as m ainly women who were sen t to the stake. Men did play a very im portant role in every witch trial, mainly as prosecutors, judges, assessors, executioners, priests, rulers (secular an d spiri tual), inquisitors, lawyers, demonologists, confessors an d wit nesses and also as defenders or opponents of w itch-h u n tin g 1. B ut in course of time they too becam e victims of w itch-h u n tin g 2. In the Swiss canton of W aadtland (Pays de Vaud), one of the centres of w itch-hunting in Europe, 1,700 persons were b u rn t a t the stake for w itchcraft in 1580-1665, of whom ab o u t o n e-th ird were m en3. Scholars engaged in research on the persecution of persons practising w itchcraft have so far accepted th a t m en were

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