England's first statute against witchcraft made it a capital offense to invoke evil spirits or use witchcraft to kill or harm others. This law marked a shift from ecclesiastical to secular jurisdiction over witchcraft cases and reflected growing anxiety about magical practices during the Reformation period.

The criminalization of witchcraft in Tudor England created a cultural atmosphere that influenced Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. Playwrights like Shakespeare incorporated contemporary fears and legal definitions of witchcraft into their works, while poets explored the tension between folk beliefs and emerging rational thought.