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This paper is concerned with the phenomenon of witchcraft and paranoiac
persecution of witches in Europe and in England in the Middle Ages - an
incredibly complex subject, having its’ roots deeply in both Pagan beliefs and
customs and Christian policies of intolerance, which can be seen, among many
other things, as persecution of heresy and unorthodox ideas, expression of
religious fanaticism and ignorance of the contemporary folk, and fear of
woman’s sexuality, thus presenting an intellectual challenge to today’s
historians, so it cannot possible be well described and analyzed in such a
short writing as this one.
From the dawn of time the beliefs in witches existed as unorganized
and scattered part of folk-lore - only a fraction of a rich fruits of wild
imagination of simple-folk - the beliefs in witches, magic, spell-casting,
converse with spirits existed throughout history more or less unchanged,
but, ironically, not until the end of the Middle Ages, while the majority
of the world started to leave the darkness of the period, the phenomenon began
to take a new, much more dangerous and bloody form. To understand this
metamorphosis we would rather have to analyze the earlier history of
relationship between the holders of "supernatural" powers and the rest of the
world, state of and changes in the contemporary church, changes in secular
society and the state of mind of the people of all classes that allowed the
widespread of panic all over the continent, than the nature of witchcraft
itself.
The relationship between the folk and the witches and wizards was quite
tight in all ages - the first mentions of prohibitions of witchcraft were
recorded during the evolution of the first monotheistic religion on earth -
in Old Testament; In that primitive society the magic was an accepted part
of religious rituals, so the witches seemed as unauthorized and malevolent
practitioners, who also cling to the old idolatry ideas, so King Saul and
Josiah prohibited witches to practice their rituals, but the famous command
"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" wasn’t amplified. But in defiance to
his own prohibition, Saul himself consulted the witch of Endor, who also, on
request from Saul evoked the spirit of the long dead Samuel (!).
Witches also appear in the New Testament, where the witchcraft is equated to
the Roman practices of the divination, and thus, with notable exceptions, not
persecuted or prohibited. One of those exceptions directly relates to Bri-
tain - in order to maintain their power in Gaelic Britain and in North Gaul,
Romans prohibited the Druids, the heathen Celtic priests, from their prac-
tices, but the reason for that was strictly political - the priests fed the
local separatist moods, and stayed as the last reminder of the Gaelic
independence. When the Christianity became the leading and the only religion
of the Roman Empire and then of the whole old world, combining numerous
heathen customs and thus introducing the elements of the witchcraft into the
new religion, it became a ‘carrier’ of the civilization and the "enlighter"
of the world, it officially regarded the old superstitions as nonsense and the
legacy of the paganism, view that prevailed for the next thousand years…
In the eighth century St Boniface declared that the belief in witchcraft and
werewolves is "unchristian" . In the end of the same century, Charlemagne
issued a decreed, saying that anyone burning a witch is to be punished by death, since such deed is an unchristian and pagan custom, prohibited in a
Christian country . In the next century, about the year 820,St. Agobard,
Bishop of Lyon, in his "Liber contra insulsam vulgi opinionem de grandine et
tonitruis", announced that the beliefs that the weather can be changed by the
means of witchcraft are unjust, and other Church dignitaries declared that the
witches’ night-flights and other magic abilities attributed to them, are
mere hallucinations or products of imagination of ignorant common folk.
In eleventh century, Coloman, King of Hungary, announced that the witches do
not exist, and the whole idea of the witches’ Sabbat was accepted by the
hurch as a "fabulous dream"; However, as it was already said above, the Europe
of the time wasn’t free of the prejudice ideas and from beliefs in witches at
all, and from time to time laws aimed against witchcraft were issued , and
trials of witches were held , but, it is important to note, that the
punishments promised by those laws, that almost exclusively were issued by
secular rulers, were considerably lighter, and the general position of the
people towards witchcraft was quite different than the ones of the later
centuries, and the laws themselves were aimed against the Heathenism and
idolatry, and not against the action of witchcraft itself (it is important to
remember that the witchcraft has its’ roots in heathen religions, that were
still remembered and followed by many Europeans, and was very important part
of them, so in many early cases of witchcraft the issue of an ancient religion
and the issue of the witchcraft itself are inseparable).
So, it can be clearly seen, that the general tendency of the church was to
denounce the witchcraft as a delusion, and its’ stand was against persecu-
tions, and in deed, although the witches and wizards were sometimes persecuted
for such specific crimes as murders and poisonings, no legislations against
sorcery itself were issued by the church until about fourteenth century - by
no means witchcraft was considered to be a Satanic religion, and the theory
that witches obtained their magical powers from the Devil never appeared until
the beginning of the "witch-craze" of the end of the Middle Ages.
The first historian, who looked for rational explanation of the phenomenon
of witch-hunt was W.Lecky, who connected the outbreak of the witch-hunt in
Medieval Europe with demoralization , following the Black Death epidemic ‚ in
14th century. Sigmund Freud’s investigation into the etiology of the hysteria gave historians and additional insight into the phenomena of the "demoniac possession".
The second major factor, indorsing the persecution of alleged wizards and
witches in the fourteenth and later centuries, was the appearance of abnormal
weather patterns and changes in climate that were harmful or destructive to
crops or to domestic animals - the "explosion" in number of witch-hunts often
occurred immediately after such misfortunes.
So, the severe persecutions came to Europe together with the decease: in
1348, in the middle of the epidemic, the popular beliefs that Jews caused the
plague by poisoning the water and the air, caused major persecutions of the
last, and although the Pope Clement VI tried to intervene and dispel the
illusion that they are the ones to blame, it often wasn’t enough. This atmos-
phere of common fear, stress and social disorganization established the
grounds for the future witch-hunts.
However, quite aside to the plague and social grievances that struck Europe,
deep feelings of anxiety were awaken among the faithful. Strong reformist
ideas appeared all over Europe; People like John Wycliffe and John Huss denied
Papal authorities and preached theological independence of the person, threa-
tening the authority of the established church, and making the Catholics
believe that they are the messengers of the devil himself… Many carriers
of the new ideas like Wycliffe and Huss were ruthlessly burnt. Following such
incidents, many contemporary leading European intellectuals and church leaders
began to accept the idea that the power of Satan is growing stronger, that
his agents, in form of witches and heretics, are everywhere, and that heroic measures must be undertaken by them in order to save the mankind - thus, the direct identification between the witchcraft and heresy was first made, and
in the first time the idea of "offensive" persecutions first took shape.
St. Thomas Aquinas announced that witchcraft is an undeniable reality,
witches exist and the Satan has the power to transport them through air,
transform them into different animals, cause storms and epidemics, The wit-
ches’ Sabbat became an undeniable fact, disbelieved only by "those of the
unsound mind" - all things that, according to previous church’s beliefs, did
not exist. Old laws prohibiting such persecution, were forgotten, old canon
laws were explained very differently, and very quickly after such beliefs
were adopted by majority of the churchmen, the witchcraft became the most
feared and hated, and was considered the most diabolic form of the heresy.
To deny the reality of Satan’s deeds on Earth was officially declared here-tical, and many of such opponents of the witch-hunts were executed for their
disbelief in witchcraft. The people, who according to popular beliefs were
the agents of the Devil (i.e. Witches, Jews, Moors and Heretics), were accused
in causing all the misfortunes of the time, tried and burnt by thousands all
across Europe, but in England such trials were still quite rare, and the mass hysteria there did not take place there yet.
About the same time, the accusation in witchcraft also became the a poli-
tical tool - two widely known examples can be presented - the first is the
accusation of the whole Order of Tempiliers in Devil-Worship in 1307, and
disbanding of the same order in 1312. The reason for that was, apperantly,
most political and economical - The power of the order grew too strong, and
had to be eliminated from the European political arena. 9000 manorial estates were confiscated, fifty four members of the order were burnt on the slow fire
outside Paris in 1312; many other members, including the Grand Master, Jacques
de Moley , were destroyed.
The second example is the one of the most famous girl - Jeanne d’Arc, whose
trial was held in 1430, and who was proclaimed witch, and burnt but the English in the same year . The essence of this trial was almost purely political, so it is obvious that the witchcraft accusations could be used as a political tool in the struggle against certain enemies.
The first official bull, or manifesto, "Summis Desiderantes Affectibus"
legalizing and endorsing the persecutions of the "Sorcerers, magicians and
witches", was issued in 1484 by certain Italian priest - Giovanni Battista
Gibo. This Bull was made effective by the appointment of suitable judges in
different areas. Soon afterwards, two Dominican Priests: Father James Sprenger and Father Henry Krämer, "Chief Inquisitors" for Germany, wrote and published the infamous "Malleus Maleficarum" , or "Witches’ Hammer" - book which
is often compared to the 20th’s century "Main Kampf"… It was a "manual" for
running the whole campaign of witch-hunts, rules for their interrogation,
torture and extermination ; book of horrors… and "…the most important work in the whole history of the witchcraft… ".
Another thing characterized the witch-hunts of the late Middle Ages: since the
beginning of the fifteenth century a new belief appeared; many of the best
minds of Europe began to research the new "science" of witchcraft - the
"facts", that were obtained under torture, and their absurd conclusions had a
gruesome effect on the faiths of thousands of people - they "found" out that
the witches are no more singular enemies of the mankind: that they form an international and social structures of major sophistication; they found a
"conspiracy" of the witches, their pact with the Devil, the confirmation
to the old-suspected existence of Sabbat, orgies, ritual murders of infants, Incubus and Succubus, and numerous other things, that were so well described
in the work of Sprenger and Krämer . Finally, the Witchcraft took the shape of
Heretic Christianity - the witch-craft hysteria has begun.
In every European country, in every county, every city and in every village, men and women accused in malevolence and Devil-worship were tried, tortured
and executed. The witches were found everywhere, even in places traditionally
"free" of witchcraft - it seemed that the whole Christendom was in mercy of
the devil and his agents, who had to be exterminated at any price; About
anyone could be considered a witch and executed . The last traces of sanity
and opposition grew extremely rare or disappeared at all, since the ones who
tried to protect the witches were themselves likely to be accused in being a witch or a wizard.
After the beginning of the division of the Church in 15th century the
witch-hunt took yet an another form. Reformists and Catholics accused each other in being the followers of the Devil. The Catholics explained the birth
Luther by his mother having intercourse with the Incubus, and saw Protestants
as Heretics, while the Protestants saw the Catholics as Heathen followers of
the old religions, with unchristian customs and beliefs:
In England the witch-hunt took a somehow different and less cruel and bloody
form than on the continent, where the main notion was that Witch is to be punished for her heretic beliefs and relations with the Devil; but across the
Channel this idea was far less popular , and the witchcraft was seen mostly as
anti-social crime, very much like a theft or murder, but, of course, one,
involving supernatural powers. English witch beliefs, like the ones elsewhere,
helped people to explain and account for everyday’s misfortunes, like the
injury, decease or sudden or suspicious death of a man; As Reginald Scot
argued in his "Discoverie of Witchcraft": "…any adversitie, greefe, sicknesse,
losse of children, corn, cattell, or libertie happen unto them… they exclaime
upon witches…". Thus, to some extend, the accusation in witchcraft also became
a kind of tool in solving local disputes. The punishments were different -
although tortures existed legally, they were applied not as often as on
continent, and no witch was ever burnt in England. The approximate number of
executed witches in England between 1542 and 1736 exceeds a thousand, and
however horrible this number is from our point of view, it is only a small
fraction of the total of at least two hundred thousands killed in the rest of
the world.
Although laws against heresy and homicide and injury by witchcraft existed
before, the "organized campaign" again witches began in England relatively
late - close to the end of the reign of Henry VIII - the first law against
sorcery itself, of the continental kind, was, under the strong influence of
Reformation , issued only in 1542, ending the legal uncertainty concerning the
issue of minor cases of witchcraft. However, this law was repealed in 1547,
immediately after the accession of his son to the throne, but the new law was
issued under the Queen Elizabeth the First, in 1563, undoubtedly due to encouragement from some English Bishops . It was aimed at all who "use,
practice, or exercise invocations or conjurations of evil and wicked spirits
to or for any intend or purpose". Although the Queen was reluctant to pass
this law, she was persuaded by John Jewel to do so. Yet, even so, this law was far milder than the ones on the continent - if a person was killed by means of witchcraft, he was to be put to death. If the death wasn’t involved, but only
injury, the witch was punished by imprisonment or "quarterly pillory" for her
first "offense", and by death by hanging (not by burning) for her second one.
Imprisonment and the pillory ware also promised to anyone who, "by arts of magic", practicing the discovery of treasures or stolen property etc. The
number of witch trials rose suddenly in the end of 1550s, probably due to return of many Marian exiles - mostly Protestant fanatics, who saw essence of
the witch-hunt of the continent, and brought some European customs concerning
the issue to England.
Further developments came with accession of James I, who came from Scotland
and whose ideas about witchcraft were, to certain extend, more radical .
In the first Bill of his first Parliament in 1604 he repealed the Elizabethan law from 1563, and introduced a new legislation about witchcraft, far
more severe than the one passed under Elizabeth; Rephrasing Elizabeth’s law,
it promised death penalty for invocation of spirits, of any kind and for any
purpose, on the first conviction. Another major change was that this law made
it capital offense to "consult, covenant with, entertain, employ, feed or
reward" and man employing the means mentioned above. Penalty for confection of
evil love charms, hurting and maiming of men or cattle was increased from
lifelong imprisonment to death.
However, James was the last English monarch who was under the influence of
Witchcraft hysteria, but even he recanted his views about witchcraft closer to
the end of his reign - his successors exercised growing skepticism towards
witchcraft, and this law was the last law concerning the issue, issued in
England.
Although there was a sudden jump in a number of held witch-trials during
the 1640s and 1650s , but this was the last outbreak of the mass witch-hunts
on the territory of England. Here, the decline of witchcraft began.
The decline of witchcraft became apparent in 1660s, buth it is still not
clear why those sudden changes took place. The learned men, representing upper
classes, who only a number of years before presented the witchcraft as "undeniable and terrifying reality", grew more and more skeptic towards the
subject, beginning to regard the whole concept of witchcraft as "vulgar fraud", and were more and more reluctant to accuse and prosecute alleged
witches. In France, the young Louis XVI refused to sign death orders for several convicted witches… The number of witch-trials and executions decreased everywhere - the last recorded execution in South England occurred in 1657. Hangings went on at Chester during the 1670s, but the records there are incomplete. Random and rare bursts of trials and hangings went on during the next 50 years (the last known witch-trial took place in Leicester in 1717),
until the law of 1604 was finally repealed in 1736 by the Parliament under
George II. Although another law, penalizing the people who pretend "…to exercise or use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, inchantment or conjuration,
or undertake to tell fortunes, or pretend from his or her skill or knowledge
in any occult or crafty science, to discover where or in what manner any goods
or chattels…" was immediately issued. This law was aimed at white-witches,
charlatans, gypsies and "wisemen", and was supposed to protect simple folk
from the above listed; the penalties were light (mostly monetary fines), so
this law cannot be compared with the ones of the previous centuries. The
Witch-Craze in England has over….
There is a multitude of different theories about the reasons behind sudden
end of witchcraft in Europe and in the world. As far as I understand, the next
explanation is the most plausible one: The beliefs in witchcraft compensated
for the full or partial loss of the "magic" of Medieval Catholicism during the
wave of reformation in Europe, but the beginning of the understanding of the
laws of nature, development of physics, astronomy (witch almost eliminated the
"science" of astrology in that period) and other sciences, in its’ turn,
helped the educated class to overcome the belief in such superstitions as
witchcraft, Sabbat etc. Yet, we cannot possibly describe the total change
of medieval comprehension of the supernatural world in only a few sentences…
As many historians argue: "increasing scientific knowledge does not nessesarily destroy beliefs in wizardry" and that "(the end of witches’ persecutions)…cannot be attributed entirely to rationalism" , although the impact of
the scientific revolution on the subject is undeniable. A number of other,
anthropological, explanations were proposed - some argued that the witch-craze was the product of the small, rural societies, that became less and less
important with the growth of major industrial centers - thing which caused the disappearance of tensions between neighbors, but this assumption doesn’t
seem to hold - large cities, like Rome, Paris and London, existed throughout Middle Ages, and accusations in witchcraft did not always involved neighbors…
But, apart of those guesses, the changes in people’s life were far from being
radical - mortality remained the same and the medical science did not prog-
ress, but the people learned to accept the fortunes and misfortunes of life
without involving witchcraft in the subject…
However, in other, less fortunate, countries, the persecutions, although in
form of illegal lynches, continue even today ; In the Western democratic
countries the organization of witches - "Wicca", that is constantly becoming
more and more popular in the last, was legalized and many different societies
of modern "witches" and pagans legally and peacefully co-exist with the
Church… There is a lesson to be learned from the shadow of horror, that, for
three hundred years kept the Europe in fear and hatred… Whatever form this
hatred shall take - it should never be allowed to return to this world again…
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