People were being influenced by the ruling powers of their time.
People did not understand witchcraft, making them more afraid.
Persecutions stopped because people became educated.
Those practicing witchcraft stopped doing so out of fear.
Throughout the late 1500's and into the mid 1700's in Europe there was a great deal of unrest. The people of European society feared anything that would disrupt their relatively tranquil lives. Witchcraft gained much negative publicity in Europe in theses times. Even though some people may not have believed in witches, they did not want to be accused of witchcraft themselves, so they joined in on the hunt. In the late 16th century to the middle of the 18th century, witchcraft persecution gained popularity because the ruling powers were influencing their subjects to believe that witches were a negative power, and because people were not educated enough to understand that witches could not exist; the persecutions gained less popularity in Europe because people became more educated, and because there were no more people left who practiced witchcraft.
In the late 1500's, the ruling powers feared that they would be usurped and that their family dynasty would no longer be influential in society. Henry VIII was one man who tried everything in his power to ensure that he had an heir. Other rulers much like him could not secure heirs to their thrones. As a last resort, they tried to get people less interested in their personal lives and made the peasants more interested in finding evil folks and getting rid of them. The subjects did not know if what they were doing was right, or even if there were such things as witches. But each member of a successful society will obey the orders of the king. No one was strongly opposed to the idea of there being witches trying to disrupt society, in fact, people who practiced sorcery or used herbs to cure could have been called witches. People latched onto the ideas that their rulers told them to be true, and the witch hunt had begun.
People in 17th century Europe were not always educated. Peasants in society were not able to get good educations and women were hardly allowed to learn anything at all. This ignorance kept the heat of the witchcraft persecution alive, because people did not fully understand what they were doing. They did not understand religion, so when they were told that the witches were consorting with Satan, they were frightened. The people who had acquired the title of being witches did not fully understand their role in society, either. Europeans did not have enough education to say that what they were doing was wrong, so no one in particular stood up against the masses and stopped the persecutions. So they raged on, the witches being burned, and the murderers not knowing the entire story. Facts were skewed and not one single person in society knew the true reason of the witch trials.
The burning of witches soon evaporated out of the public's eye. Throughout the 200 year period that contained the witch trials, people became more educated. The entirety of society could not be ignorant for two centuries, and people began to research witches. The people who had been accused of being witches were only trying to find a profession, but the common people of society did not understand sorcery while the witches did. The people had been frightened by the instruments used by witches, and their medicinal practices. Eventually, people gained overall intelligence and the truth escaped. It was impossible for anyone to make contact with the devil or demons, and once peasants realized that the witch burnings ceased.
Once word got out that people who practice witchcraft would be killed, most people who had previously been gifted in that area stopped what they were doing. They did not believe that they were messengers for the departed, it was all just a clever ruse for them to make money and be successful. They could easily give it up, and out of fear of death, that is what happened. As soon as the murderers had no one else to kill, they had to admit that their conquest was over. Between the professionals who had been killed and the witches who were still alive but retired from the business, the common people had to give up. Soon afterwards the witchcraft paranoia was no longer a topic of discussion for Europeans.
In 16th and 18th century Europe, there were many upheavals. Witchcraft was a very notable example of how people would do whatever their king commanded without any holds barred. The education system did not cover witchcraft or sorcery, so the common people of society were in the dark about what they were up against. European society was intended to be blissful, and the people living in it wanted to keep it that way. If anything were to disrupt that peace, the people of European society would do anything they could to eliminate it.
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