Witchcraft in the times of henry viii and beyond
Years before Henry acceded to the throne, Pope Innocent VIII had decreed in a papal bull document of 1484 that ‘sorceresses were real and harmful through their involvement in the acts of Satan’
Unlike growing paranoia over witchcraft and the practising of it on the continent, England’s climate was more muted and more accepting of some forms of divination.
This tradition of practising magic, spell casting and communicating with the dead, didn’t always attract the wrath of the Catholic Church to the point of condemnation until such assumed practices were viewed as demonic and heretical.
For King Henry sorcery was acceptable as long as it tallied with his own beliefs and favoured his ambitions and prejudices.
REF: Sky history,
PIC: Sky history, Mental Floss, Britanica, Screen Daily, Vulture, history.com