The Witch Craze (also called: 'Burning Times') and Inquisition.

This is what i've read in 'Wicca Made Easy' book by Phyllis Curott:

In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII published a papal edict authorizing the use of torture to elict confessions of Witchcraft (which has yet to be rescinded).

Two years later, two german monks published a handbook called 'Malleus Maleficiarum', an anti-woman screed on how to fulfill the Pope's orders, and in 1542, Pope Paul III established the Holy Office of the Inquisition (which also continues to this day).

It is considered that the Witchcraze, or Burning Times started in the late 1300s and finally ended 500 years later in the early 1800s.

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See also, if You wish:
> [ About witch-hunting and about the 'Burning Times' ],
> [ Inkubus Sukkubus - 'Burning Times' ].