Yao 1

Conjuring Up a Storm: The European Witch Hunts

Since the beginning of time, Europe has witnessed much turbulence, strife, upheaval. However, few periods in European history have seen events more unique than those that occurred between 1530 and 1680. The witch craze of the 16th to 18th centuries was characterized by widespread fear and instability within nations dealing with internal strife. It was not attributed to any one cause; a multitude of other factors contributed to the rise of witch hunting during the time period. The witch craze was an inevitable product of this tumultuous era, reigned by a society that was highly religious, misogynistic, and politically unstable. The different beliefs that emerged during the 15th century are largely attributed to the rise and spread of the witch hunts. The concept of sorcery and witchery had existed long before the witch trials had even occurred, and in the Middle Ages, European society was extremely religious and believed that mans greatest enemy was Satan, who intended to destroy Christian civilization and required hordes of witches as his minions to do so.1 People feared that the devils power was greater than that of Gods himself.2 The key to understanding the start of the witch craze lies in understanding the misconceptions to the theories as well. It was widely believed that large waves of social change correlated with an increase in witch hunting.3 However, witch hunting was mostly endemic, which meant that it was largely contained within the boundaries of a nation and rarely spread elsewhere or influenced the witch hunt movements in other countries.4 Another fallacy regarding the witch craze was that the hunts themselves
1

Anne Llewellyn Barstow. Witchcraze: A New History of the European Witch Hunts. (Harper: San Francisco, 1995), 61. 2 Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, Malleus Maleficarum. http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/mm/ 3 Rodney Stark. For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-hunts, and the End of Slavery. (Princeton UP: Princeton, 2003), 214. 4 Stark. 215.

Yao 2 were solely based on societys notion of spiritual righteousness- that society only hunted down members who were potential threats to its religious purity. Although many people did accuse witches out of their own sense of righteousness, many individuals selfishly attempted to exploit the witch hunts for their own personal gain. Accusations were thrown indiscriminately out of personal vendetta sometimes over trivial matters such as jealousy or spiteand other times for political gain. Aristocrats could ruin the relationships and reputations of political rivals by accusing their wives of witchery.5 People even began taking up witch hunting as a full time occupation. In 1649, a Scottish pricker (referring to the method of torture used while interrogating presumed witches) was hired to rid Newcastle-upon-Tyne of witches, and was promised 20 shillings for every woman who was condemned. Over 30 women were stripped and tortured by having pins thrusted into their bodies, and predictably, most of them were indeed found guilty. The spread of capitalism throughout Europe directly influenced the spread of witch accusations, because capitalism displaced families who were dependent on agriculture, and thus the family members were forced into wage laboring; women lost their main source of incoming, and were essentially forced to resort to begging. These beggars, out of desperation, indiscriminately threw out accusations in an attempt to salvage any property they could.6 Another common misconception about the witch hunts was that witch craze correlated with increasing poverty. This notion was not entirely true, since the Netherlands provide to be a very prosperous nation that still produced a witch hunt.7 The Netherlandss witch hunts were largely uncontrolled by the Hapsburg emperor until about 1579, when the Hapsburg laws encouraging witch craze were revoked.8 However they were still considered mild; less than 150 people were executed, and no mass panics ensued. And despite the laws encouraging
5 6

Ibid. 216. Barstow 104. 7 Ibid. 89. 8 Barstow, 88.

Yao 3 witch hunts, the Dutch were known for their tolerance and restraint. Dutch society however did display traces of misogyny, as over 90% of those accused were women.9 Between the 16th and 18th centuries, the status of European women dropped significantly. Inflation and overpopulation due to wealth from the overseas colonies contributed to the increased vulnerability of women.10 A combination of both factors led to land shortages, ultimately causing food shortages, unemployment, and societal turmoil. They were seen as the cause for the crisis in industrial production, which ended the financial success of the wealthy and worsened the condition of the impoverished.11 Some women were nurses and midwives, which made them victims to the myths of imps and familiars, who were believed to have fed off of witches disguised as nurses.12 However, misogyny played an important role in the decreasing status of women as well. Punishments for crimes were often more severe for women than those for men for the same crime, especially crimes that involved sexual encounters. In some areas of Europe, charges of sex crimes and witchcraft were one and the same. Women were seen as inferior because of their association to Eve, who succumbed to temptation, and therefore were believed to have greater susceptibility to Satans enticement.13 On the other hand, women were trapped by the inability to practice birth control, which was considered to be European societys greatest sexual sin.14 In the 1620s, a woman was burned at the stake for teaching women how to prevent pregnancy, and between the years of 1627 and 1629, over a hundred women were put to death for practicing these methods of birth control.15 As the status of European women continued to decline, social pressure to restrict court officials
9

Ibid. 156. Barstow. 99. 11 Ibid. 100. 12 Ibid. 141 13 Ibid. 139. 14 Ibid. 133. 15 Ibid. 134.
10

Yao 4 from acting upon women more harshly soon reduced as well.16 And because women had never before been prisoners in such large numbers, men for the first time had unrestricted access to them; as a result, prosecution for abortion, infanticides, and witch accusations increased. But why exactly was the womans body such an influential factor in the witch hunts? It was one factor to single out women as a group and target them exclusively; in fact, the witch hunts were the first instances in which women were specifically targeted and criminalized as a group.17 One reason was that distinctively female external body parts were models for the Devils teat, which was considered a sure sign of guilt.18 In addition, women were seen as submissive and weak, and therefore would be more likely to psychologically deteriorate in the face of shame and guilt, a notion that was exploited severely during the witch trials. Many innocent women were overcome with humiliation at having their bodies probed by a foreign man that they became numb and could feel nothing, thus having the appearance of guilt when faced with interrogation.19 The policy of forcing a witchs confession was almost like a cover for making a socially sanctioned assault upon the womans body.20 Women, particularly old, lower class women, were feared because many had great power as healers, nurses, midwives, apothecaries, divinersmany of whom had the ability to manipulate supernatural forces. Midwives used charms to assist pregnant women in labor.21 These midwives and healers were widely respected, and were seen as miracle workers if the infant and mother survived.22 Many herbal remedies developed by female apothecaries are
16 17

Ibid. 133. Norman Cohn. Europe's Inner Demons: an Enquiry Inspired by the Great Witch-hunt. (Basic: New York, 1975), 48
18 19

Stark. 37. Barstow, 130. 20 Ibid. 132. 21 Selma R. Williams and Pamela Williams Adelman. Riding the Nightmare: Women & Witchcraft. (New York: Atheneum, 1978), 18. 22 Ibid. 20.

Yao 5 presently still in use. But in lieu of the respect they garnered, males perceived such capabilities as threatening, fearing an imbalance of power in the male dominated society; many believed that she who can cure, can kill.23 The witch trials allowed men to assert their authority over the women. The trial officials constituted of a panel of male only judges, and these judges were free to subject their victims to any kind of torture they pleased, including sexual favors, and in many cases, such events were displayed public.24 The magistrate would often watch as a male searcher stripped a woman down, rendering her speechless from humiliation and shame.25 Such spectacles were meant to teach society that women were untrustworthy and susceptible to seduction, and therefore must be controlled and, if the situation wills it, punished by men.26 The misogynistic attitudes prevalent during the time period were also evident in the fact that laws were erected regarding witchcraft and rape which worked against women.27 In 1556, the French Parlement passed a law dictating that all women had to register their pregnancies and required a witness at birth. If a witness is not present and the infant dies, the mother is liable for the death sentence on a murder charge; the law essentially turned infanticide into a crimen exceptum, the worst type of crime.28 Witchcraft and rape were difficult crimes to disprove since there was little to no substantial evidence toward them, and also that it was difficult to pinpoint exactly what that evidence consisted of, since few people knew about demonology and sorcery. In regards to rape, women virtually unable to prove their innocence since they were automatically suspected for having invited the assault. Jailers and court officials took sadistic pleasure in inspecting women accused of rape, because it established their authoritative positions. According to Barstow, the witch hunts basically gave influential European men to
23 24

Ibid. 109 George L. Burr. The Witch Persecution at Trier. Hanover Historical Texts Project. 25 Ibid. 26 Barstow, 131. 27 Ibid.165. 28 Ibid, 135.

Yao 6 punish [women] in a sexually sadistic manner.29 In general, witch hunts were the first instances in European history when women as a group were criminalized, and the extent to which a man would go just to prove his dominance was far.30 The ultimate form of torture, a live, public burning was the most horrifying symbol of mans power over women, because even in the presence other accused males who were being tortured, she was still below them. The torturing methods demonstrate that there was a clear psychological component to the witch craze as well. Walpurga Hausmann in Southern Germany was charged with the murder of her children. Upon questioning and torture, she confessed to her crimes and declared that the devil had given her an ointment to kill babies and induce labor to give birth to premature children, and even claimed to have had a love affair with the Devil. Since these testimonies were given solely upon torture, there was a chance that her statements were false, which were later proven to be so. So why did she confess? The most likely possibility was because her body simply could no longer endure the pain of being tortured any longer, so she told the officials what they wanted to hear. Another possibility was that she felt that she had to redeem herself for a past guilt, and since she was a midwife, she may have harbored a great deal of guilt over being unable to save a child as a midwife.31 But women were not the only ones who were psychologically tormented by the prospect of being convicted for witch craft. The Bamberg witch hunt which took place in Germany from 1628 to 1631 was a particularly wild case of hysteria. Fifty-five year Johannes Junius is accused of performing witch craft and in a letter to his daughter, he reports his mental anguish: Innocent have I come into prison, innocent have I been tortured, innocent I must die. For whoever comes into the witch prison must become a witch or

29 30

Barstow, 168. Ibid. 143. 31 Ibid. 18.

Yao 7 be tortured until he invents something out of his head andGod pity him bethinks of something32 Clearly, Juniuss experiences depicts how hopelessly out of control the witch hunts became. Victims were essentially forced into confession either way, either physically through brute torture or psychological deterioration. Even if they knew that they were truly innocent, they realized that the trial was a lose-lose situation altogether: either they plead guilty and end up burned at the stake, or they could plead innocence and continue to endure torture from the officials. There was no escaping their fates, and many believed that their fates truly were bestowed upon them by God, and he in fact willed their circumstances. They then believed that if they were to somehow escape their fates, God would raise hell with them for disobeying him, and banish them to hell in the afterlife; hence, the only alternative was to plead guilty and repent. The more and more people confessed, the crazier the hunts had become, and quickly spread like wildfire. The influence of the witch craze was most clearly seen in Central Europe; three out of four of all witchcraft executions were carried out in the Holy Roman Empire, especially in Germany, the location where the concentration of the witch hunts was the heaviest. The Rhineland region had no special unity, and was largely characterized by instability. The lack of a centralized government was a major contributing factor of the witch hunts, because there was no way to contain the spread. In Southwestern Germany alone, over 3,229 of the 4,208 people accused were burned at the stake.33 Not only was the spread of the witch craze unattainable, but the ruling classes were tasked with the job of keeping order amongst the lower classes. They needed to find scapegoats to mitigate the impact of social disasters for which they had

32 33

George L. Burr. The Witch Persecution at Trier. Hanover Historical Texts. Stark. 239.

Yao 8 no remedy, such as poverty, disease, famine, and the plague.34 It was also no coincidence that the majority of religious wars took place in these regions as well. These factors all contributed to societal instability, which further fueled the witch movement.35 In 1562, a freak hailstorm wiped out all local crops, and mass hysteria ensued. Desperate for an explanation for this natural disaster, the people lashed out at people whom they presumed to be witches. Amidst the religious turmoil, fear of war, and the food shortages, it was really no wonder that the height of the witch craze was predominantly in the Central Europe regions. In general, areas with weak political governance were susceptible to witch hunts. For example, Hungary and the Balkan region were areas that were faced with extreme panic. Political stability was lacking in these regions because the North was dominated by the Hapsburg Empire and the Ottoman Turks controlled the south. The struggle for autonomy kept the nation in constant turmoil. 90% of accusations and 91.8% of death sentences were against women, which again show the extreme gender bias against women. Statistician Gabor Klanisczay, believed it was because women garnered so much power in the late Middle Ages as mystics and saints, and men felt that they had no choice but to diabolize women out of self defense. Hungarians also had a deep belief in folk magic, which contributed to the spread of the belief in witches and consequently the spread of the witch craze itself. However, the largest witch trials in Hungary, the Szeged Trials which lasted from 1728 to 1729, were instigated by the authorities attempt to deal with the discontent due to famine and drought. 36 The witch craze in Hungary showed how witch craze could have been influenced by situations outside of personal vendetta.37

34 35

Barstow, 57. Stark. 264. 36 Ibid. 87. 37 Ibid. 88.

Yao 9 However, on the outskirts of the continent, the witch craze was much less dramatic and more contained than those of the central regions. In fact, Italy had absolutely no witch craft related crime executions.38 Spain, on the other hand, did experience some degree of witch craze, though much milder than that of Central Europe. Spain had a strong, but lenient inquisition to help prevent widespread panic throughout the country. Spains systematic method of dealing with the witch hunts largely contributed to the lack of trials and executions, but also because Spain was more concerned with the eradication of the Muslims and Jewish, who were perceived as a larger threat than witches.39 Even so, the Spanish Inquisition was also largely restrained by the Spanish monarchy because of its lack of restraint when dealing with the Jewish. Subsequently, the Inquisition ruled over the nation with a rational mind.40 Another important aspect of Spanish culture was their view of women: Spanish men did not see women as outsiders because all Spanish citizens took immense pride in their pure blood, and did not wish to distinguish between genders.41 In 1526, the Inquisition declared witchcraft to be a delusion, and while fear and suspicion grew throughout Spain, there was no mass targeting of women. Several were interrogated for superstition, but none were trialed and executed.42 Great Britain experienced very mild witch hunts as well due to its strong, centralized government, which was much more efficient in dealing with the witch crisis. England was governed by common law instead of Roman law, which forbade torture and had no inquisitional courts, which made for little likelihood of mass panics.43 Despite the lower concentration of witch hunts in Great Britain, among the earliest and most influential witch

38 39

Ibid. 157. Stark, 260. 40 Barstow. 92. 41 Ibid. 93. 42 Ibid. 94. 43 Ibid. 76.

Yao 10 hunts took place in Ireland and Scotland.44 The North Berwick witch trials are among the most well known of the Scottish trials. These trials primarily dealt with accused, wealthy women, and whose accusations were somewhat politically motivated; men would accuse the wives of political rivals in order to slander them or lessen their support. Scottish witchcraft analyst claimed that the witch hunt of Scotland was one of the major witch hunts of Europe because of its belief in sabbats and conspiracy.45 The trial of Dame Alice Kyteler which lasted from 1324 to 1352 dealt with a rich woman who was accused of murdering her husband, and accused of engaging in sexual relations with the Devil. The truth was that her husband had been a political rival, and her high class position had been exploited for political gain.46 Alice escaped, and her maid was instead burned at the stake in Alices place. The trial of Alice Kyteler set a precedent for many European witch trials to come: women from then on became associated with demonic sex, man-hating, and infanticide and women who were hostile to their husband were associated with witchcraft as well. From then on, sorcery became synonymous with heresy, and deserved the same punishment as heretics.47 New industries that began to spring up in Britain also increased the concentration of air pollution throughout the country, which led to an increase in infant death, and led to the belief that spiritual forces were at work. Men were eager to find scapegoats in order to clear up the unexplained phenomenon, and were increasingly convinced that women became enticed by the Devil to attend Sabbaths to teach women exclusively the techniques of infant births and deaths.48

44 45

Ibid. 77. Ibid. 78. 46 Ibid. 67 47 Ibid. 79. 48 Williams and Adelman. 28.

Yao 11 The witch craze began to die out in the 18th century, but the social impact that the turmoil of the last three hundred years had on women was great. Women learned to live with a fear and distrust that extend beyond the prospect of rape or assault. The public executions displayed the absolute power of the state over the individual, and sent messages to the public that the witches were beasts and were not to be dealt with lightly.49 The public witch trials also gave women the message their sexuality had to be concealed at all times; otherwise, she may be exploited by devil, and as the witch trials proved, even by men themselves.50 The scars of the witch hunts can be seen in Europes prejudice against women throughout the later portion of the second millennium. Women who worked were frowned upon and received lower wages than that of men, and were not granted suffrage until the 20th century. With such mass hysteria spread throughout such a large part of the world, it is almost impossible to imagine how this movement could have died down. How exactly did it happen? In hindsight, collectively, the witch hunts seem almost unfathomable to the modern day scholar, because the movement was predominantly fueled by irrationality. Irrationality was a key component in the spread of this movement, because the actions taken during the witch hunts were directly influenced by fear and panic. The antithesis of irrationality is reason. The notion of utilizing and taking advantage of mans ability to reason emerged in the 18th century, with the intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment. Enlightenment ideas began spreading through Europe, quelling the panic caused by irrational fears, as well as ushering in a degree of secularity to European society. Once Europe became more secular, religious superstition such as witch craft became less prominent in society, and the witch hunts slowly died away. Rationality replaced fear and became the new driving force for action in Europe.

49 50

Barstow. 149. Ibid. 150.