What the trial records actually say
The period of intensive witch prosecution in Europe runs roughly from 1450 to 1750, peaking sharply between 1560 and 1630. Estimates of executions across the whole period cluster between forty and sixty thousand, well below the figures that circulated in the twentieth century and are still occasionally repeated.
The geography is uneven in ways that matter. The German-speaking lands account for a disproportionate share; Ireland saw almost none. Where central courts held tight review over local ones, prosecutions stayed rare. Where jurisdiction was fragmented, they multiplied.
The accused were predominantly women, but not exclusively; in Iceland and Estonia most of the accused were men. The pattern tracks local ideas about who did magical work more than any universal rule.
Trial records are frustrating sources. They record what interrogators asked and what the accused said under duress, which tells us a great deal about the interrogators and much less about any practice. Folklorists reading them for evidence of surviving pre-Christian religion have generally found what they brought with them.