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Witch-hunt - Early modern Europe

Witch-hunt - Early modern Europe: Encyclopedia II - Witch-hunt - Early modern Europe

For several centuries, dominantly Christian societies believed that Satan was acting through human and animal servants. These beliefs can be seen as a reaction to emerging alternatives to the Christian hierarchical order, such as the worldly knowledge and cultural practices brought into a relatively backward Europe from the Middle East by those returning from the Crusades. It had been proposed that the witch-hunt developed in Europe after the Cathars and the Templar Knights were exterminated and the Inquisition had to turn to persecut ...

Witch-hunt: Encyclopedia II - Witch-hunt - Early modern Europe

Witch-hunt - Early modern Europe

It had been proposed that the witch-hunt developed in Europe after the Cathars and the Templar Knights were exterminated and the Inquisition had to turn to persecution of witches to remain active. In the middle of 1970s, this hypothesis was independently disproved by two historians (Cohn 1975; Yieckhefer 1976). It was shown that the pursuit originated amongst common people in Switzerland and in Croatia that pressed on the civil courts to support them. The Inquisition gets involved in the witch-hunt only in the 15th century. This proves also the case of Madonna Oriente where the Inquisition of Milan was not sure what to do with two ladies, who in 1384 and in 1390 confessed to have participated in a type of white magic.

Over the centuries, there were extensive efforts to root out the supposed influence of Satan by various measures aimed at the people that were accused of being servants of Satan. To a lesser degree, animals were also targeted for prosecution, as described in the article animal trial. People suspected of being "possessed" by Satan were put on trial.

As shown by the scholar Max Dashu, the medieval concept of a witch began to develop already in pre-Christian times, as its elements can be found in the Roman cult of Bacchanalias, especially when led by Paculla Annia, and in the Roman mythological creature of strix. Many suspects were women who lived in towns, villages or rural areas and who may have been practitioners of herbalism, natural healing or midwifery; but often it was simply poor, uneducated women who did not have influential friends. Early Modern Christian authorities in Europe (both Catholic and Protestant) regarded any such expression of non-Christian spirituality with intense paranoia and hatred. This was in accord with literal readings of the Old Testament, which contains fierce attacks against the polytheism of non-Hebrew peoples.

Witch-hunt - Evidence

The most important form of evidence in many of the witch trials was attained by "ordeal". These efforts included torture of the most horrific nature including hot pincers, the thumbscrew, and many other such methods. Torture methods varied by region and the person carrying out the ordeal.

The East Anglia region of England at one point during the chaos of the Civil War had a self-proclaimed "Witchfinder General", one Matthew Hopkins, who led searches, and who claimed to be able to identify a witch using techniques such as witches' marks. Today it is not believed that most of the accused ever regarded themselves as witches. Research into the laws and records of the time show that the witchfinders often used peine forte et dure and other torture to extract confessions and condemnations of friends, relatives and neighbors.

"At the height of the Great Hunt (1567–1640) one half of all witchcraft cases brought before church courts were dismissed for lack of evidence. No torture was used, and the accused could clear himself by providing four to eight "compurgators", people who were willing to swear that he wasn't a witch. Only 21% of the cases ended with convictions, and the Church did not impose any kind of corporal or capital punishment."

However, most witch trials were held before secular courts, not church courts, and the secular courts were decidedly less scrupulous in their methods.

Witch-hunt - Execution

Common forms of execution included burning, hanging and drowning. Historically, the majority of such trials have been conducted within "Christian/European/American cultures; they were justified in those contexts with reference to the Bible's prescription: "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." (Exodus 22:18)

The measures employed against alleged witches were some of the worst ever practiced in the Western world. In A History of Torture, George Ryley Scott says:

"The peculiar beliefs and superstitions attached to or associated with witchcraft caused those who were suspected of practising the craft to be extremely likely to be subjected to tortures of greater degree than any ordinary heretic or criminal. More, certain specific torments were invented for use against them."

Part of a larger culture which was very religiously and socially intolerant, the witch-hunts resulted in the loss of much traditional knowledge and folklore (or so it is alleged, without the least bit of solid evidence) among Europeans when the practitioners were "lawfully" killed.