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- Despite the official view that all magic was evil, some communities disagreed and even defended cunning folk from accusations since they were seen as providing valuable services including protection from witchcraft.
www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zj77xbk/articles/z9y7m39
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Why were cunning folk not conflated with witches?
How did cunning people oppose witchcraft?
Why did people hate Witches so much?
Why did people Fanne the flames of a witch hunt?
Cunning folk were not to be conflated with witches. Witches were, to Christians, evil and to be feared; cunning folk, on the other hand, were of use to communities and therefore were not classed as witches or hunted in the same way.
Although the British cunning folk were in almost all cases Christian themselves, certain Christian theologians and Church authorities believed that, being practitioners of magic, the cunning folk were in league with the Devil and as such were akin to the more overtly Satanic and malevolent witches.
Although some cunning folk were denounced as witches themselves, they made up a minority of those accused, and the common people generally made a distinction between the two.
There were cunning folk who were put on trial but for the most part few were accused of being witches. The Survey of Scottish Witchcraft database lists 141 folk healers who were accused of...
It seemed like most of the accusations were made without clear proof, such as claiming you got sick because of a witch. It seems like the same accusations could be made against cunning folk, in reverse. They were supposed to do this spell and it didn’t work, so it caused me harm, you know?
Oct 23, 2021 · Sometimes cunning folk “fanned the flames” of a witch hunt, for they were consulted when someone seemed bewitched, and might make accusations against suspected evil-doers themselves. Sarah: In the 1610s, the Earl of Rutland’s family suffered.
Oct 31, 2008 · Although in the last twenty-five years early-modern historians have continued to take a strong interest in the witch-trials, and the social dynamics of witch-accusations, cunning-folk have, by and large, been neglected.
