By the end of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth century, witch trials were in full flow across Europe. The reformation had plunged Europe into religious conflict; nations conducted a series of wars against each other, and within their own territories as seen brutally in the religious-civil wars that ravaged France from 1562-1629; 2 climate change, known as the Little Ice Age 3 which affected much of Europe causing numerous famines. It was believed Christendom was under attack from the devil, and because witches were his vessel, they should be exterminated according to Exodus 22:18