History Coursework

Hey!! I did my coursework on witchcraft and it's super interesting! I can't remember exactly what time period I did but I think it was the mid-1500s to 1647 or around that time, so that included Elizabeth I, James I and a little bit of Charles I and the Civil War. It's also easier to choose one specific area to focus on, I did England and Scotland as there's just too much stuff to do America and Europe too lol

I was hoping to focus on America and maybe Central Europe but I'm unsure if this will be to big. I've also been suggested to pick two mini topics to focus on. For this I'm definitely going to do misogyny but I'm unsure what to further pair it with. I'm thinking religion, social status or demonology but I'm unsure which one will provide the most resources. As someone who done witchcraft as their coursework, can you remember what points you used as mini arguments?

I argued that religion was the main cause of the witch craze and counter argued with gender bias, socioeconomic conditions and the role of James I (which wouldn't be possible with your geography but perhaps you could find out if there were any significant figures that were especially invested in the witch hunts) There are lots of feminist historians who have argued for gender bias as a cause and Hugh Trevor Roper is a good historian for religion being a cause (esp in Europe)

Yeah, there's loads of information on the web and I also had the OCR textbook which was super helpful. I found my sources from the said textbook and I found my historians by going through Wikipedia and then purchasing their books


(Original post by CourteneyMachinx)Was you able to find enough information to support both these views for gender bias and religion? Also, where did you find your resources and trusted historians for your coursework?

OMG you are such a stupid idiot can you not just search these things up yourself?

wow okay lol...
If you have nothing useful to contribute why waste the time lol

Hiya I've been thinking about a similar question re. rise in witch persecutions in England being due to socioeconomic factors/religion/gender etc. from a similar time period (about 1550-1650) but I can't think of the exact start and end dates and how to word the question? If its okay with you do you have the exact question you used? Also a pretty major part of the essay needs to be about continuity and change so how did you include those? Thanks!

Hii, I think my question was 'To what extent was religion the main cause of the witch trials from 15-something to 16-something in England and Scotland?' Your start dates and end dates need to be when something significant happened, so, for example, my start date was when a law was brought in that made witchcraft punishable by death. I struggled a lot with change and continuity, but I tried to structure it by talking about how each monarch dealt with witchcraft, and what socioeconomic issues were happening at the time (ie the Little Ice Age)

Hope this helped a little bit!!

Thanks so much! Yeah I was thinking about starting it with the 1542 witchcraft act - I'm anticipating change/continuity stuff to be hard but it's good to know other people have done it before!

Oh no that sounds like such a drag! Do you mind me asking if you did okay? Like you don’t have to say what mark/grade if you don’t want to just is it a good subject choice and did it work out okay in the end - just want to know before I finally commit to it!

Yeah I was really happy with my mark - 31/40 which by last years grade boundaries was an A* I think (don't want to jinx it though as it could change on results day lol). I really stressed myself out about it, but it's easier if you just get down to it for a couple of hours and write out huge chunks of it and modify it later, I procrastinated for so long and then had to message the board to change my dates - all a bit of a mess really! But yes, it turned out okay in the end and I really recommend doing the witches! Just don't stress too much over it and you'll do great

wow that’s so good! It’s great to know other people have done well in that topic - I hope everything else goes well with your a levels and good luck!

Yeah I was really happy with my mark - 31/40 which by last years grade boundaries was an A* I think (don't want to jinx it though as it could change on results day lol). I really stressed myself out about it, but it's easier if you just get down to it for a couple of hours and write out huge chunks of it and modify it later, I procrastinated for so long and then had to message the board to change my dates - all a bit of a mess really! But yes, it turned out okay in the end and I really recommend doing the witches! Just don't stress too much over it and you'll do great

Hey!! I did my coursework on witchcraft and it's super interesting! I can't remember exactly what time period I did but I think it was the mid-1500s to 1647 or around that time, so that included Elizabeth I, James I and a little bit of Charles I and the Civil War. It's also easier to choose one specific area to focus on, I did England and Scotland as there's just too much stuff to do America and Europe too lol