A Witch's Burning Secret

During the reformation and post reformation, claims of witches living amongst the people of Europe became very frequent. Accusations that certain people, mostly women, were witches and housed the devil himself within them. In 1515 outbreaks of witch hysteria rained over Geneva, Switzerland as they accused and burned over 500 people at the stake. Just nine years later in Como, Italy, another 1000 people were executed under accusations of witchcraft. The only thing necessary for an execution of a "witch" was someone simply saying "He/She is a witch!" and they were then taken to trial. During these "trials" a witch would be found guilty of witchcraft with practically no way of escaping the accusation. Since witches house the devil they are known to lie. In this case anything they say is a lie unless they admit to being a witch of course. Even in this scenario they will be found guilty and executed. All of this chaos stems off of paranoia of the catholic church and the protestants.

The following piece is called 'The Examination of a Witch' by Matteson. Although this painting is from 1853 it holds the same value of those during the European witch trials. In the painting, the woman is being deemed a witch due to body markings that the town has seen. In this the presumed judge is examining these markings as others in the scene are fainting because of the disbelief that they are in the presence of a "witch". The woman's expression is that of a person who knows their fate. Being executed in a way only fit for a witch.

http://www.wsc.mass.edu/mhj/pdfs/TEACHING%20RESOURCES%20Teaching%20the%20Salem%20Witch%20Trials.pdf
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/witchhistory.html