who was accused of witchcraft in the 16 century ?

Mostly women, often herbalists or midwives, often older and widowed with some money (the accusers got part of the worth of any property or money after the 'witch' confessed and was killed).

Anyone that the people in power didn't like or were afraid of.

These were all innocent people who no more had a link with the devil than you do.

Most of the 'crimes' were wild accusations of making milk go sour, or owning a black cat, or not going to church regularly, etc.

The 'signs' were as made up as the accusations - didn't attend mass regularly; had a black cat; knew about herbs; had a mole or other mark on their body (did you know that almost everyone has a mole or birthmark somewhere on themselves?)

harperta has hit the nail on the head. Most people or should I say women went through 3 types of torture to make them confess, I think the first were thumb screws, which were used to break toes and fingers, the second was more severe resulting in disfigurement or death, and the 3rd type of torture was impossible to survive. In fact that's where some say the term "The 3rd degree" comes from. So it was the case of, your dead if you do confess or your dead if you don't.

The Edinburgh University(Scotland) has a Witchcraft database of the witches(or should I say innocent women) trialled in Scotland, shows court proceedings and lists what they where accused of. I find it interesting and at the same time disturbing when you think of the reasons they died.

Anyone who committed a crime was usually accused of being a witch. If you just didn't like someone all you had to do was to call them a witch and everyone would join in. I'm really surprised the north east was able to advance past that.

Anyone who was considered odd or eccentric would be accused of being a witch. Mostly it was individuals who had radical or independent ways of thinking, or speaking out against the fallacies of society and/or the Church were accused of witchcraft and heresy.

i think they acused anyone that was old, lived by themselves, was an outsider, or didnt go to church and had a mind of there own and spoke their mind