Witchcraft Woodcuts

This fifty slide powerpoint includes accurate background and statistics regarding witchcraft in Britain and Europe from the fifteenth century to the seventeenth century.
It presents fourteen contemporary woodcut pictures depicting witches. For the first activity, students write a one sentence description of what they can see in the woodcut. The next step is to then analyze what the woodcuts reveal about historical beliefs in witchcraft and culture. Example answers are provided for both activities.
Students are then asked to evaluate how reliable the evidence is, bearing in mind that many pamphlets were written for political purposes, and whether the woodcuts reflect popular ideas or actually create stereotypes.
his powerpoint can be used in history lessons as an investigation into the beliefs of the day and can also be used as a background activity before reading Shakespeare’s Macbeth.