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Modern witch hunts surpass the body counts of early-modern witch-hunting. [1] Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, and Nigeria, experiences a high prevalence of witch-hunting.
The term 'witch-hunt' can be used in contexts other than witchcraft, to describe an irrational search for alleged offenders who then become the victims of the witch-hunt. Examples include Stalinist witch-hunts [ 165 ] and McCarthyite witch-hunts. [ 166 ]
The myth of the witch had a strong cultural presence in 17th century New England and, as in Europe, witchcraft was strongly associated with devil-worship. [3] About eighty people were accused of practicing witchcraft in a witch-hunt that lasted throughout New England from 1647 to 1663. Thirteen women and two men were executed. [4]
Many modern scholars argue that the witch hunts cannot be explained simplistically as an expression of male misogyny, as indeed women were frequently accused by other women, [133] [134] to the point that witch-hunts, at least at the local level of villages, have been described as having been driven primarily by "women's quarrels". [135]
Examples of these were the trials against Eleanor Cobham and Margery Jourdemayne in 1441, which resulted in lifetime imprisonment for the former, and an execution for heresy for the latter. It was, however, not until the second half of the 16th century that a widescale witch hunt took place in England.
The witch hunt migrated in waves through the villages through village inquisitors toward other cities and Prince Bishoprics and resulted in recurring waves of persecutions with high points in 1593–1598, 1601–1605, 1611–1618 and 1627–1631. [2]
Witch hunts began to increase first in southern France and Switzerland, during the 14th and 15th centuries. Witch hunts and witchcraft trials rose markedly during the social upheavals of the 16th century, peaking between 1560 and 1660. [72] The peak years of witch-hunts in southwest Germany were from 1561 to 1670. [73]
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