Witch Timeline

Timeline of the Witch Hunts to 1800

This timeline includes a selection of events, people, books and more directly and indirectly related to the Witch Hunts. For further explanations, click on the term, or go to List of Important Events for the Witch Hunts.

GENERAL

HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE*

FRANCE*

BRITAIN
England* and Scotland*

THE REST OF EUROPE (Spain*, Italy*, Eastern Europe*, Northern Europe*)
and AMERICA*

THE MIDDLE AGES		Caesarius of Arles (ca. 530)	Isadore of Seville, Etymologies (ca. 600)
	Regino of Prüm, Canon Episcopi (ca. 900)	Heretics of Rheims (ca. 1176)

Waldensian and Albigensian Heresies (12th-13th Centuries) Inquisition			Pope Alexander IV (r.1254-61) Thomas Aquinas (b. 1225-d. 1274)


1300	1300	1300


Pope John XXII (r. 1316-1334) Hundred Years War (1337-1453)	Trials of the Templars (1307)	Trial of Lady Alice Kyteler (1324) in Ireland	Bernard Gui, Manual for Inquisitors (1327) Franceso d'Ascoli (1327) in Florence
Black Death (1347-1359) Commercial Revolution (1350-1650)
	University of Paris Pronouncements (1398)		Nicolas Eymeric, Directorium inquisitorum (1376)


1400	1400	1400

RENAISSANCE (1400-1600)	Simmerthal, Switzerland (1395-1405)
Pope Alexander V (r. 1409-1410)
Pope Eugenius IV (r. 1434-1437)		Trial of Joan of Arc (1431) Trial of Gilles de Rais (1440)		Bernardino of Siena (1427) Florence (1427)
Council of Basel (1431-9)	Johannes Nider, Formicarius (1435-1438)	Claude Tholosan, Ut magorum et maleficiorum errores (1437)		Errores Gazariorum (1437)
	Lausanne (1438-1498)	Martin LeFranc, The Defender of Ladies (1440) Trial of Gilles de Rais (1440)	Margery Jourdemayne and Roger Bolingbroke (1441)


1450	1450	1450

Fall of Constantinople to Ottoman Turks (1453)	printing press (ca. 1450-)	Hunts in Arras (1459-1462)


Pope Innocent VIII, Summis desiderantes (1484)	Trials at Innsbruck (1485)
Discovery of the Americas (1492) Pope Alexander VI (r. 1492-1503) French Invasion of Italy (1494)	Henry Krämer (Institoris) and James Sprenger, Malleus Maleficarum (1486) Ulrich Molitor, De Laniis et pythoncis (1489)		Spanish Inquisition (1478-1834)


1500	1500	1500

REFORMATION (1517-1559)	Martin Luther (b. 1483-d. 1546)		King Henry VIII of England (r. 1509-1549)	Erasmus (b. 1466-d. 1536) Machiavelli, The Prince (1517)
Anabaptists	Emperor Charles V Habsburg (r. 1519-1556)	John Calvin (b. 1509-d. 1564)
	Wars of Charles V (1521-1559)		English Reformation (1534-1559) Anne Boleyn (d. 1536)	Martín de Castañega, Tratado muy sotil y bien fundado (1529)
Holy Office [of the Inquistion] (1542-1965)	Faust Carolina Law Code (1532)
Pope Paul IV (r. 1555-1559)


1550	1550	1550

Scientific Revolution (1543-1687)		French Civil Wars (1562-1598)	Queen Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603)	King Philip II of Spain (r. 1556-1598)
	Johann Weyer, De praestigiis daemonum (1563)	Lambert Daneau, De veneficiis (1564)	1st Chelmsford Witches (1566)
	Styria (1578-1600)	Michel de Montaigne, “Concerning Cripples” (1588)	Spanish Armada (1588)
	70 Years War of Dutch independence (1581-1648)		King James VI Stuart (r. 1567-1625) of Scotland
	Trier (1581-1593) Trial of Walpurga Hausmannin of Dillingen (d. 1587) Dr. Dietrich Flade d. (1590) Cornelius Loos Quedlinburg 1589 Bavaria (1589-1600) Pappenheimers Noerdlingen (1590) Rebecca Lemp	Jean Bodin, On the Demon-Mania of Witches (1580) Nicholas Rémy, Demonolatry (1595)	2nd Chelmsford (1579) 3rd Chelmsford (1589) Reginald Scot, The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584) John Dee William Shakespeare Scottish Persecutions (1591	Russian "Time of Troubles" (1584-1613) Trial of Anna Pedersdotter in Norway (1590) Johanne Jensdatter Flamske (1593)


1600	1600	1600

	Ellwangen (1611-1618) Emperor Rudolf II (r. 1576-1612) Last execution in the Dutch Netherlands (1610)	Henri Boguet, Discourse on Witches (1602) Aix (1611)	King James I Stuart (r. 1603-1625) of Great Britain: English Witchcraft Law (1604)	Francesco Maria Guazzo, Compendium Maleficarum (1609) Basque Country (1609-1614) Friuli (early 17th cent.) Martn Del Rio, Disquisitiones magicarum (1603)
Rene Descartes (b. 1596-d. 1650)	30 Years War (1618-1648) Bamberg ( John Junius (1628) Würzburg (1629)	King Louis XIII (r. 1610-1643) Cardinal Richelieu Pierre de Lancre The Devils at Loudun (Urban Grandier) (1636)	Lancashire (1612) Lancashire (1633)	Trial of Marie Cornu (1611) in the Spanish Netherlands Alonso de Salazar Frias (1564-1635) Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639)
	Friedrich Spee, Cautio Criminalis (1631) Peace of Westphalia (1648)		English Civil War (1642-1648) Witch-Finder General Matthew Hopkins (1644-1646) Huntingdon	Trial of Suzanne Gaudry (1652) in the Spanish Netherlands

		King Louis XIV (r.1643-[1661]-1715)		Galileo Galilei (b. 1564-d. 1642)


1650	1650	1650

Agricultural Revolution (1650-1800)
	Württemburg (1673-1680)	Chambre Ardente Affair (1673)	Scottish Persecutions (1661-1662) Bury St. Edmunds (1661-1662)	Mora, Sweden (1668)
ENLIGHTENMENT (1687-1789)	Salzburg (1680)		Isaac Newton (b. 1643-d. 1727)	Mary (Bliss) Parsons (1674) Torsåker Witch Trial (1675)
			Bideford, England (1682)	Balthasar Bekker, The Enchanted World (1691) Goody Garlick (1685) Salem (1692)


1700	1700	1700

“Enlightened Despotism” (18th cent.) War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714)		King Louis XV (r. 1715-1774)	Joseph Glanvil, Sadducismus Triumphatus (1700); Henry More, Demon of Tedworth	Trial of Grace Sherwood in Virginai (1704) Christian Thomasius (1655-1728) Szeged, Hungary (1728-1729)
	Maria Theresa Habsburg r. (1740-1780) Frederick II Hohenzollern (r. 1740-1786)	Voltaire (b. 1694-d. 1778)

	Last execution (1775)	Encyclopedia (1751-80)
French Revolution (1789-1815)	Last execution in Switzerland (1782)			Manuel in Illinois (1779)


1800	1800	1800

GENERAL

HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE*

FRANCE*

BRITAIN
England* and Scotland*

THE REST OF EUROPE

Ten Theories about the Causes of the Witch Hunts: ideas by historians about the origins of the Witch Hunts	Ten Common Errors and Myths about the Witch Hunts: corrections to mistaken ideas people frequently have about the Witch Hunts	Timeline: chronology of key events, sources and people involved in the witch hunts
	Sources for Salem Witch Hunt
Primary Source: Letters from the Witch Trial of Rebecca Lemp: a family deals with accusations.	Torture: a review of torture in the witch hunts and today.	Suffer your own persecution! Try a witch hunt simulation: make choices to survive or not.

Professor Pavlac’s

WITCH HUNTS

Timeline of the Witch Hunts to 1800