THE PHENOMENON OF DEMONOLOGY AND WITCHCRAFT IN THE COUNTRIES OF EUROPE XVI ‒ XVII CENTURIES

Abstract

The article raises the question of the phenomenon of demonology and witchcraft in European countries in the final period of the fight against this phenomenon. The author noted that witchcraft is an integral part of the culture of medieval Europe. In the modern sense, sorcery can be viewed as a set of certain actions that lead to obtaining what you want, or the craft of a person who calls himself a sorcerer. The phenomenon of witchcraft has a long history and covers the period of the XV-XVII centuries. For the first time they drew attention to this phenomenon during the flourishing of Christianity, since at that time witchcraft was considered heresy and was persecuted. The author highlighted the issues of the idea of witches in this period, the forms of their persecution and struggle against them. In the article, the author reveals the motivating factor for the emergence of witchcraft and the process of persecution of witches? This article can be used by other authors to study the phenomenon of witchcraft, the process of the Inquisition, drawing parallels with other countries, in a historical aspect as a whole.