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Hidden Voices<br />
The Forgotten Male Witches<br />
Contrary to the popular thought of a witch with a<br />
black cat, broomstick and screeching cackle, male<br />
witches were common, accounting for 20-25% of<br />
all those tried for witchcraft in early modern Europe.<br />
In some places such as Normandy, Estonia<br />
and Russia, more men than women were prosecuted<br />
for witchcraft. Although male witches are less well<br />
known, their stories are fascinating and are worthy<br />
of exploring. In this article, I will explore the male<br />
witches specifically in Normandy where almost ¾<br />
of its 380 recorded witches were men and around<br />
2/3 of 100 people condemned to death by the<br />
Rouen Parlement were men.<br />
So who were these male witches? A large range<br />
of occupations seem to commonly arise when<br />
discussing male witches. Some of these include<br />
blacksmiths, clergymen and shepherds. Clergymen<br />
surprisingly accounted for 10% of those tried for<br />
witchcraft in the 17 th century, unexpected due to<br />
their presumed respectability in the villages. Although<br />
it isn’t fully understood why the clergymen<br />
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