witch hunting

…With the collapse of the medieval political and religious situation, social unrest spread, especially in Central Europe, and people saw this as a sign of the devil's rule at the end of the world. The so-called "witch hunting" occurred, in which witches were sacrificed as scapegoats. The investigation of witch beliefs from the church's perspective was compiled in the book Malleus Maleficarum (1486) co-written by two Dominican monks, J. Sprenger and H. Kramer. This work marked the beginning of witch hunting, witch trials, torture of suspected witches, and burning at the stake, which expanded to become "an industry" (K. Seligman) in the 15th and 16th centuries, and their ferocity reached its peak in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. …

*Some of the terminology that refers to "witch hunting" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…中世の政治･宗教的状況の崩壊とともに，とりわけ中部ヨーロッパに社会不安が蔓延し，人々はこれを世界終末時に悪魔の支配がおこる兆候とみた。そのためのスケープゴートとして魔女たちを血祭りにあげるいわゆる〈魔女狩りwitch hunting〉が発生した。教会側からみた魔女信仰の調査は，2人のドミニコ会士，J.シュプレンガー，H.クレーマー共著の《魔女の槌》(1486)にまとめられたが，この著作を契機に，魔女狩り，魔女裁判，魔女容疑者への拷問，火刑は15～16世紀における〈一つの産業〉(K.セリグマン)にまで膨張し，その猛威は16世紀末～17世紀初頭に頂点を迎えた。…

※「witch hunting」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報