Crime and Punishment
The first documented case of a woman burned as a witch dates from 1275. Over the next century, the Inquisition claimed hundreds of lives. Witch trials spread from France to parts of Switzerland and Italy, and in the 15th century, secular courts, too, began prosecuting witches. It is difficult to quantify the intensity of witch hunting, but many lost their lives over a 350 year period, from 1400 to 1750. Recent estimates number in the 50,000-100,000 deaths, with as many as half occurring in a concentrated period from 1580 to 1630. The frequency of witch hunting varied from country to country, with about two thirds of the executions concentrated in west-central Europe (present day Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and Switzerland).
Assuming a priori the guilt of the accused, most trials were designed to secure convictions. A guilty verdict was usually a death sentence. England chose to hang witches; elsewhere they were burned “quick” (alive) or after being killed, usually by strangulation. The Cornell Witchcraft Collection is noteworthy for its holdings of trial records, including original manuscript depositions taken from victims in courthouses or torture chambers.
