The Stuarts: Persecution of Witchcraft

PowerPoint (with 5 slides) and three word documents that examine the causes of persecution of witches in Early Modern Europe. The lesson covers causes such as poverty, climate change, misogyny, warfare, changing attitudes to magic, the Reformation and the invention of the Printing Press. Specific witch hunts which are considered are the St Osyth witches (1582) the North Berwick Witch trials (1590) and the Manningtree Witches (1645).

Activities include

• Starter activity in which students analyse the mortality records from Cumbria to identify high levels of popular superstition.
• Matching activity on the causes of witchcraft persecution with the correct explanation.
• Reading and comprehension of three examples of witch hunts from the early modern period to identify what factors caused persecution to take place.
• Linking activity to consider how the causes of persecution were interrelated.
• Source analysis to identify how the rise in scepticism helped end witchcraft persecution.

Designed for teaching an academically able Key Stage 3 class covering aspects of Stuart Britain / Early Modern Europe.
Lesson Length: 1hr depending on pace.

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