Why were witches, in the early modern period, women? The simple answer is that they were not. In all parts of Europe there were male witches and in some part of Europe male witches (witch = those put on trial for that crime) outnumbered narrowly or substantially the number of female witches. So at one end of the scale, in the Bishopric of Basel from 1571-1670 only nine male witches were tried, a mere 5% of the total. In nearby Venice from 1550-1650 24% of all cases were men. In Finland…