utually exclusive, and in fact it seems most likely that rather than one tidy explanation, that all of them are true and contributed to varying degrees to the witch-hunts and to explaining them. It is likely that the concept of witchcraft was developed over many years, and likely much of that concept involved remnants of paganism in Europe such as worship of some of the old fertility gods. It is also likely that the hunts were influenced by both ecclesiastical fears and misogyny, and also that many of the victims were mentally ill.
First of all it is necessary to understand the general social conditions that allowed the witch-hunts to occur. Alan Kors and Edward Peters argue that there are four critical elements required before witch persecution could occur. First is a detailed Christian cosmography which was a common frame of reference throughout Europe (did not exist before 1100). Second was a system in which both witches and demons had a logically consistent place (which did not exist before 1200). Third was to have a permanent ecclesiastical judicial and investigative apparatus with the power to seek out and eliminate theological error (which did not exist before 1300). Lastly and most importantly is a populace that is governed by centralized and consistent laws, and is vulnerable to widespread social strain and fear (which did not exist before 1400)(Kors & Peters). Thus we see that it was not long after the last element was in place that the widespread witch-persecution in Europe began.
The reason for the original initiation of the witch-hunts is unknown, but it was very likely begun by the Catholic church hierarchy rather than started at a grass-roots level. In the early Medieval period the Catholic church focused the attention of the people on the holy land with the Crusades into the middle-east. The Crusades proved a failure and were a great sap on both the resources and the military manpower of the European...