THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES:
WHAT THEY DID – The churches laid the groundwork that made the persecution possible. During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church taught that there was no such thing as neutral magic. All magic was evil and all of it came from Satan. While there weren’t many witch trials during the Middle Ages, this teaching set the stage for the tragedy to come. Moreover, in the eleventh century the church suppressed religious diversity y executing “heretics”. Their methods, such as burning at the stake – became the traditional method for killing a Witch. When Protestant churches arose during the religious turmoil of the Reformation, they carried on the Catholic Church’s footsteps, prohibiting magic and violently persecuting religious minorities.
WHAT THEY DIDN’T DO – During the Middle Ages, when the Church controlled most Witch trials, very few witches were killed. Witch hunting didn’t skyrocket until the Early Modern Period in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries after the Reformation split “the Church into warring Catholic and Protestant sects. Even then, church courts killed very few witches – generally less than one percent of the people they tried. Most Witches were killed by local, non-religious courts. People were put to death by their own neighbors.

THE INQUISITION
WHAT THEY DID – The Inquisition encouraged the stereotypes that drove the panics. The earliest Witch hunting manuals were written by inquisitors. At the height of the persecution of Witches, most manuals were written by non-religious authors. However, these letter writers had built off of the earlier writings of the inquisition. In fact, the most influential anti-Witch manual of all times was written by two men, Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. Non-religious courts seized upon the text and followed many of it’s horrifoc uidelines. The Inquisition inspired others to commit atrocities, even if their own trails were generally more restrained.
WHAT THEY DIDN’T DO – The Inquisition didn’t kill many Witches. When it was first created in the early thirteenth century, the Inquisition was not allowed to try Witches, as the Church did not consider Witchcraft a heresy. This changed in the early fourteenth century. Yet, even then, the Inquisition did more talking than killing. Scholars could only find a few hundred witches who were definitely killed by the Church and Inquisition from 300-1500. By the time of the main persecution in the mid-sixteenth century, the Inquisition no longer existed in most countries. Odder still, the place where the Inquisition did try Witches (Spain, Italy and Portugal) had some of the lowest death tolls in Europe. In Spain, the Inquisition actually opposed the witch trials.