Between the 1100s and 1300s, the Church continued to discredit Witches. Christian zealots presented a picture of Witches as evil creatures who cavorted with the devil, despised all things sacred, ate children, and held wild orgies to seduce innocents. Stories of Sorcerers who required that supplicants renounce the Church or Christ as payment for their services ran rampant.

Members of the European learned community railed against the evils of Witchcraft in flowery language, and preachers disseminated these ideas among the common folk. In effect, the Church labeled everything magical as heresy. Witchcraft became a crime against God and the Church. From the twelfth century onward, both clerical and civil law grew harsher toward Witchery. Between 1317 and 1319, Pope John XXII authorized a religious court, known as the Inquisition, to proceed against Sorcerers and all persons who were believed to have made a pact with the devil.

Thousands of trials proceeded. Punishments included burning and excommunication, as well as hanging. The interrogation process involved torturing people to get them to confess the "truth" - that is, to force them to admit to whatever the inquisitor wished - and to name other Witches.

In the process, accusing someone of Witchcraft became a bureaucratic convenience. Not only those who actually practiced the Craft were tortured, imprisoned, and killed - anyone whom the authorities disliked or feared might be accused of being a Witch. Conviction rates soared as many "undesirables" fell prey to the Inquisitors.

The atmosphere in England was less radical than on the continent. Because Henry VIII had separated from the Catholic Church, practicing Witchcraft was regarded as a civil violation, and fewer instances of death sentences were handed out. In part, this may have been due to the influence of  John Dee, a Wizard of some renown, who served as an advisor to Queen Elizabeth I.