Many writers have inaccurately attributed the rise of demonology and the witch-hunts to the Middle Ages and have associated the decline of these activities with the Renaissance and the period of the scientific revolution (1500-1700). An examination of medieval Church proclamations indicates that during the early part of the Middle Ages, the Church denied the reality of witchcraft and

was relatively tolerant toward alleged or self-proclaimed witches. More credulous views were developed during the Renaissance, and the height of the witch mania did not occur until the mid-seventeenth century. This misperception of the data is seen as related to a more general "Whig" myth concerning the historical relationship between science and superstition.