Hundreds of Years Later…

⚖️ Catalonia has formally pardoned more than 700 women executed for witchcraft between the 15th and 18th centuries. The Catalonian parliament used research by the local scientific journal Sapiens and Pau Castell, a professor of modern history at the University of Barcelona, to call for the resolution.

• The move follows similar gestures in Scotland, Switzerland and Norway after more than 100 European historians signed a manifesto titled: “They weren’t witches, they were women”.
• Between 1580 and 1630, an estimated 50,000 people were condemned to death for witchcraft across Europe. About 80% were women.
• Witches were often blamed for the sudden death of children or for poor harvests, the BBC reports.
• According to Castell, witch-hunts were more common in Catalonia because rural areas came under the absolute power of feudal lords, and confession alone was sufficient proof of guilt.

+Where it all started: What’s thought to be the first European law against witchcraft was passed in Lleida in 1424. 👇