How did the Gutenberg Printing Press prompt the witch hunts of the Elizabethan Era?

The Elizabethan Period and the intellectual era of the Renaissance introduced English persecution of Elizabethan Witches and Witchcraft. Ironically, this period of great learning brought with it a renewed belief in the supernatural including a belief in the powers of witchcraft, witches and witch hunts. Ironically the introduction of the printing press, one of the greatest tools in increasing knowledge and learning was responsible. Johannes Gutenberg introduced the printing press c1456.

The first printed books were bibles or contained religious themes. Unfortunately many of these books promoted ideas about witches and witchcraft which in turn led to the intensified witch hunts of the 15th and 16th centuries. Additional new renaissance thinking and books about Astrology, Alchemy and Magicincreased the interest in witchcraft, witches and witch hunts even further. The 1562 Elizabethan Witchcraft Act was passed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It was an act 'agaynst Conjuracions Inchauntmentes and Witchecraftes'.

Timeline of Elizabethan Witchcraft and Witches

The Renaissance period brought about the following events which culminated in Witchcraft Acts and Laws being passed in England. The following timeline of Witchcraft and Witches describes the growth of the belief in Witches and Witchcraft:

1486 Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches), published by two Dominican inquisitors vividly describing the satanic and sexual abominations of witches

1521 - Pope Leo X issues a Bull ensuring that the Religious Courts of the Inquisition would execute those convicted of Witchcraft

1542 King Henry VIII passed the Witchcraft Act against conjurations and wichescraftes and sorcery and enchantmentes. His second wife, Anne Boleyn, was accused of being a witch

1545 The word occult first appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary meaning "that which is hidden or is beyond the range of ordinary apprehension and understanding"

1547 Repeal of 1542 Witchcraft during the reign of King Edward VI, the son of Henry VIII, who was more liberal in his thinking about witches and witchcraft

1562 Elizabethan Witchcraft Act was passed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It was an act 'agaynst Conjuracions Inchauntmentes and Witchecraftes'.

1566 The Chelmesford Witches. The first witch trial to appear in a secular court in England resulting in a series of witch trials in Chelmsford, Essex. The first woman to be hanged for witchcraft was Agnes Waterhouse

The Agnes Waterhouse trial in Chelmsford produced the first Chapbookrelating to witchcraft

1579 The Windsor witch trials

1579 The second Chelmsford witch trials

1582 St. Osyth Witches of Essex (the case was tried at Chelmsford)

1584 The Discoverie of Witchcraft was published by Reginald Scot following the Chelmsford witch trials. Reginald Scot argued that witches might not exist

1587 Clergyman George Gifford publishes 'A Discourse Concerning the Subtle Practices of Devils by Witches and Sorcerers'

1589 The Third Chelmsford witch trials

1593 The trial of the Warboys witches of Huntingdon

1593 George Gifford published 'A Dialogue Concerning Witches and Witchcraftes'

1597 Publication of Demonology by James VI of Scotland (later James I of England)

1604 James I released his statute against witchcraft, in which he wrote that they were "loathe to confess without torture."