Witchcraft Timeline

BCE — Hebrew Scriptures addressed witchcraft.

200–500 CE — Talmud described punishments for witchcraft.

910 — Canon Episcopi recorded.

1140 — Gratian compiled canon law.

1154 — John of Salisbury expressed skepticism.

1230s — Inquisition against heresy established.

1258 — Pope Alexander IV linked sorcery with heresy.

Late 13th century — Aquinas wrote on sorcery.

1306–15 — Knights Templar eliminated; accused of witchcraft.

1316–1334 — Papal bulls linked sorcery with pacts.

1340s — Black Death increased fear of witchcraft.

1450 — Papal decree linked witchcraft with heresy.

1484 — Pope Innocent VIII authorized witchcraft investigations.

1486 — Malleus Maleficarum published.

1500–1560 — Rise in witchcraft trials.

1542 — English Witchcraft Act passed.

1552 — Russia made witch trials civil matters.

1560s–70s — Witch hunts in southern Germany.

1563 — Johann Weyer published skepticism of witchcraft.

1580–1650 — Peak witchcraft trial era.

1584 — Reginald Scot published “Discoverie of Witchcraft.”

1604 — Act of James I expanded witchcraft laws.

1612 — Pendle witch trials.

1618 — Handbook for English judges published.

1634 — Loudun possessions and trials.

1640s — Frequent English witch trials.

1660 — Witch trials in northern Germany.

1682 — France banned witchcraft trials.

1692 — Salem witch trials.

1717 — Last English witch trial.

1736 — English Witchcraft Act repealed.

1755 — Austria ended witch trials.

1768 — Hungary ended witch trials.

1829 — Forged witchcraft history published.

1833 — U.S. witchcraft prosecution.

1862 — Michelet reframed witchcraft positively.

1893 — Gage published feminist witchcraft history.

1921 — Murray published “Witch Cult in Western Europe.”

1954 — Gardner published “Witchcraft Today.”

1970s — Feminist reinterpretations.

2011 — Witchcraft execution in Saudi Arabia.

My Photo Gallery

A poster reproduction of a 1855 painting by T.H. Matteson of the August 5, 1692 Salem witch trial of George Jacobs.