Elizabethan England - Witchcraft

Lesson Objectives: To know key details of witchcraft in Elizabethan England

To describe key features in the rise of witchcraft

To interpret sources about witchcraft

Designed for the OCR B Elizabethan England module, this lesson looks at Elizabethan attitudes to witchcraft, the features of witchcraft beliefs and trials, and looks at a source question as a plenary. This lesson does require the use of the OCR B textbook.

The starter features images for students to begin discussing ideas around witchcraft and the powers Elizabethans believes witches had. The lesson goes on to discuss differences between cunning women and witches, and changes in society that led witchcraft accusations to go up. The lesson discusses who was particularly vulnerable to witchcraft accusations, and the interpretations used by historians to explain why accusations rose in this period. The lesson analyses a source in the plenary and provides prompts for students to use.