It is perhaps an auspicious day, given the release of the new Harry Potter book, to have a look at the phenonemon of witches and the persecution of women in the middle ages (1100 - 1700). Estimates of the number of people executed vary quite considerably however 300,000 seems to be a realistic figure. Of this 85% were women.
So who were the women that were hung or burnt at the stake for practicing witchcraft? Predominately they were midwives and healers, although in the period of most fervent persecution (1500-1700) it was not uncommon for every woman in a village to be executed.
The persecution of women for the practice of witchcraft was controlled by a manual on the identification of witches called Malleus Malleficarum which was published by University of Cologne on May 9th, 1487. It states "No one does more harm to the Catholic faith than midwives".
So did witches actually exist? I think it is quite clear that they did and that today we would call them health care professionals. As indicated earlier some were midwives and some made potions for the sick, an example being the extraction of pain killing drugs from the bark of willow. In some cases their execution was a very final version of the medical malpractice law suits that occur today.
So why did the church have such a problem with witches? It didn't really, although it did have a big problem with paganism. When the Inquisition was created in the 13th century, several inquisitors requested permission to try Witches. Pope Alexander IV pointed out to inquisitors that there was nothing heretical about Witchcraft. It was not a religious crime, therefore it was not the Inquisition's business. He said that the Church would not assume, ipso facto, that a Witch was a Pagan. In fact only about 1% of the witches executed were executed by the church.
The problem was that scientific knowledge was so limited that events, such as a fungal disease in a crop, were not explainable. The tendancy was to blame witches for any unexplainable misfortune that befell a community. Thus the persecution of witches was carried out mostly by the lay community not the church itself.
There are many jewels hidden amongst the leaves in this forgotten part of the ancient forest. Spend some time browsing and you are sure to find some. Click here or continue your search below
or read the most recent entries here.In ancient times, peoples, like the Egyptians for example, considered the cat a God and treated them accordingly.
Cat have never forgotten this ;)
Posted by: Niall at June 22, 2003 05:25 PM
Stumble It!