June 1, 1563: England's Witchcraft Act Kicks In

On June 1, 1563, the English Witchcraft Act went into effect. Kept in place until 1951, the laws basically allowed courts to prosecute people for any hint of witchy activity at all. There's a brief but excellent paper available online from one of the History Dudes at Ohio State, entitled simply Witchcraft Law in Early Modern England, which is well worth reading. Authot Thomas Watson discusses everything from the Lancaster witches to how the first Queen Elizabeth had Parliament pass witchcraft laws in an effort to bring social and political stabilization to her religiously divided country.