Witch-hunting: Past and Present Lecture by Professor Ronald Hutton 15^th October 2025

Our second lecture of the 2025-26 programme was a packed event with 147 in the audience of whom over a third were local sixth formers.  Professor Hutton began with historic definitions of witches including the familiar wicked witch of fairy tales. He presented the modern world-wide problem of witch-hunting. The scale of the modern problem astounded some of us with examples of 5,000 burnt to death in 1990s Tanzania.  The UN had now identified witch-hunting as a human rights issue.  Having set up witch-hunting’s contemporary context he took us into the past.  He covered the ancient world’s practices, including Roman persecution. However, the early Christians had not been witch-hunters so why had it re-emerged after a thousand years of Christianity and why had certain areas of Early Modern Europe been at the epicentre of this persecution?

This was a complex story but several key themes emerged in Professor Hutton’s lecture. Three great changes had preceded the outbreak of witch-hunting; the status of the devil had increased from a “minor player” in the Bible; there was new obsession with hidden groups not just the existing outsider groups and lastly there was a new interest in hidden thoughts rather than just sinful actions. As well as these underlying menaces three factors had led to an increase in witch-hunting as European Christians felt more threatened and that God was angry with them. The threat of the spread of Islam(the Ottoman Empire), the decline in the climate (colder and wetter) and the increase in disease with recurring outbreaks of plague.   Professor Hutton argued that much of these persecutions were seen as ‘daft’ by most Christians and that strong centralised powers like the Papal states, Spain, England, and France were largely immune from the scrouge of witch-hunting. However, in the numerous tiny German states and Calvinist Scotland with its local court system witch-hunting spread. The death of children tended to be blamed on witches and women were seen as the magical sex. However, in some areas other groups were identified. In Iceland 93% of the victims were men and in Normandy shepherds were likely to be identified as witches. 

So why did this persecution that claimed 40,000-50,000 lives end?  Professor Hutton argued it was seen as a failed experiment.  Pragmatically rulers saw it did not work.  Children were no healthier and the weather was no better.  Witch-hunting outbreaks did not re-occur in the same areas. The threats that had fanned witch-hunting’s flames also died down. The advance of the Ottoman Empire in Europe began to be pushed back and the climate wobbled again as the weather improved and Europe became a continent of plenty without famine by the 18^th century.  Plagues also ceased, religious toleration increased and Europeans turned their attention towards colonialism.  The end of witch-hunting in Europe took over a hundred and fifty years and several stages, with vigilante attacks as late as 1940.  History gives us insights. Professor Hutton contended the lessons from Europe’s witch-hunting past are especially relevant as the struggle against modern witch-hunting continues.   The lecture was followed by some excellent questions from our audience and we finally stopped at 8.50pm.  Another successful meeting. One reviewer said ‘That was absolutely brilliant. The guy is a superstar lecturer’