1232-"We would gladly burn a hundred [witches] if just one of them was guilty."
-Conrad of Marburg
1347-1359- The black death kills a third of Europeans population. Largely
believed that withes were responsible.
14000-16000-Between 40 and 50 thousand people murdered on accusations of
witchcraft in Germany, England, France, & Italy.
-Conrad of Marburg
1347-1359- The black death kills a third of Europeans population. Largely
believed that withes were responsible.
14000-16000-Between 40 and 50 thousand people murdered on accusations of
witchcraft in Germany, England, France, & Italy.
1431-Trial of Joan of arc took place. she was burned at the
stake on allegations of with craft.
*1629-King Charles
1st- Let puritans have a charter in America.
1629-Salem is settled.
1641-English law makes witch
craft a capitol crime.
1648-The
first witch trial in Charleston mass. Margret Jones put to
death.
1688-Cotton Mather
publishes Memorable Providences.
Late February
1692-Pressured by ministers and townspeople to say who caused her odd behavior,
Elizibeth identifies Tituba. The girls later accuse Sarah good and Sarah Osborne
of witch craft.
March
1, 1692-Tituba confesses to practicing witch craft and confirms good and Osborne
are her co-conspirators.
April 30 1692-Several girls accuse former Salem minister George
Burroughs of witchcraft.
June 15, 1692: Cotton Mather writes a letter requesting the court not
use spectral evidence as a standard and urging that the trials be speedy. The
Court of Oyer and Terminer pays more attention to the request for speed and
less attention to the criticism of spectral evidence.
Mid-September, 1692: Giles Cory is indicted.
October 3, 1692: The Reverend Increase Mather, President of Harvard
College and father to Cotton Mather, denounces the use of spectral
evidence.
October 8, 1692: Governor Phipps orders that spectral evidence no
longer be admitted in witchcraft trials.
October 29, 1692: Phipps prohibits further arrests, releases many
accused witches, and dissolves the Court of Oyer and Terminer.
November 25, 1692: The General Court establishes a Superior Court to
try remaining witches.
January 1693: 49 of the 52 surviving people brought into court on
witchcraft charges are released because their arrests were based on spectral
evidence.
1702: The General Court declares the 1692 trials unlawful.
1711: The colony passes a legislative bill restoring the rights and
good names of those accused of witchcraft and grants 600 pounds in restitution
to their heirs.