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Renaissance witchcraft was a totally different thing than it is today. We don't have witch hunts or hang people we believe that are witches. Witchcraft isn't even a federal offense so you cant be punished for it. witchcraft is now a hobby you could say, a lot of people practice it. Witchcraft in the renaissance left behind stories and I believe sparked the plug for people who practice it

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Early court records tell the tale of Grace Sherwood, who was tried in 1706 as Virginia Beach's first witch.  Witchcraft was a very serious and real thing to the colonists. The cult was believed to be a threat to the Christian Church, and everyone during the early 1700's was on the lookout for witches, who could be recognized by so-called unusual or mysterious behaviors. Grace lived her entire life in the Pungo area of Virginia Beach and married James Sherwood with whom she had three sons. She was said to be strikingly attractive, string-willed, and a non-conformist by nature. These traits were resented by her neighbors, who began spreading rumors about her witch-like behavior. She was accused of blighting gardens, causing livestock to die, and influencing the weather. After eight years of constant slander and bickering by her neighbors, Grace was formally charged with suspicions of witchcraft. A jury of women were ordered to search her body for suspicious or unusual markings, thought to be brands of the devil himself, and naturally the jury found some. However, neither the local court nor the Attorney General in Williamsburg, would pass judgment on declaring her a witch. It was finally decided that Grace, by her own consent, be tried in the water by Ducking. On July 10, 1706, Grace was marched from the jail down the dirt road to the Lynnhaven River. This being a big event, hoards of people from all over the colony flocked to the scene as news of the Ducking had spread. Grace Sherwood was tied up and thrown into the water. As predicted by her accusers, Grace managed to stay afloat until she could free herself and swim to shore. She was jailed and awaiting trial for witchcraft for nearly eight years, when the charges against her were dropped due to the softening of her accusers hearts, and she was set free. She moved back to her Pungo home and lived there until her death at the age of 80.

Many stories have been told and retold over the years about this most remarkable woman. One of the many tall tales that have been handed down from generation to generation has to do with the day of her ducking. When they led Grace Sherwood through the crowd that had turned out to see her put into the water she told them, "All right, all of you po' white trash, you've worn out your shoes traipsin' here to see me ducked, but before you'll get back home again you are goin' to get the duckin' of your life." When they put Grace into the water the sky was as bright blue as a bird's wing, but immediately afterward it grew pitch black, the thunder rolled and the lightning flashed all across the heavens. The terrified people started for home, only to be washed off the roads and into the ditches by a regular cloudburst.

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National Geographic Witchcraft Myths and Legends

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Witchcraft in the late Italian renaissance

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Witchcraft in the late Italian renaissance

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The Malleus Maleficarum, Latin for “The Hammer of Witches”, is one of the most famous books written the Reniassance. It was written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, and was first published in Germany in 1487. Its main purpose was to challenge all arguments against the existence of witchcraft and to instruct magistrates on how to identify, interrogate and convict witches. The Catholic Church banned the book in 1490 by placing it on the Index Librorum Prohibritorum (“List of Prohibited Books”).

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Mobs were formed by villagers who feared the power of those who were different. Witch hunts were often used to silence a witness of a crime or to kill a mistress to get away with adultery. Mobs where often large groups of farmers attacking with farm tool to capture the accussed. The mobs used the power of numbers to over power the accussed and to torture them till death or till they admit witch craft. The mob tortured and killed many good people because of the mob mentality.The mob mentality created a power unlike any other. The trials developed into a hysteria so large that no person, no matter how upstanding and godly, was free from conviction. By the time the trials ended, the church had been affected the trials in some way. Both women and men were convicted and soon it was not only neighbors accusing each other, but in some cases family members. People began behaving immorally the moment the trials began. They took the opportunity to accuse people they had simple problems with simply because they had some bone to pick with the accused. All across Europe, millions of people were hung, stoned, and burned at the stake. The mob mentality spiraled out of control for years before it was eventually put to rest. The decline finally came when individuals began thinking for themselves once again and no longer buying into the beliefs of the crowd.

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http://hysteriasinhistoryperiod2.wikispaces.com/Witch+Hunts+of+Renaissance+Europe

https://hysteriasinhistoryperiod6.wikispaces.com/Witch+Hunts+of+Renaissance+Europe

http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/

http://www.madblood.net/grace.html

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Up until the Renaissance, women who had knowledge of plants and herbs were known as healers and were highly respected members of their communities, as their knowledge of herbs and plants allowed them to be the medical professionals of their time. However, as the culture in Europe changed during the Enlightenment, people began to view healers as witches and blamed them for causing things they could not understand, like the Plague. About 270 witch trials took place during this time. During this time of witch persecution, England did not allow the torture of accused witches, and only about 20 percent of convicted witches were executed by hanging. Scotland however, liked to burn the accused withes instead of hanging them. This made for a more painful death. By the end of the eighteenth century, most of the European witch trials ended.

The hysteria in the witch-hunts of Renaissance Europe ended by the late eighteenth century with 9 million women burned and hung as witches after about 270 trials took place. European witch trials declined after 1680, though Poland and Eastern Europe experienced one more wave of persecution in the early eighteenth century. England abolished the death penalty for witchcraft in 1736. Switzerland executed its last witch in 1782. During later centuries, the fight against witchcraft soon made the church a laughing stock by those who did not believe in magic and demonic actions.