WITCHCRAFT IN EUROPE.   Term Paper ID:28871 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Concept of witches & witchhunts during 10-19th Centuries. How witchcraft became a crime. Role of Catholic Church. The Inquisition.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Concept of witches & witchhunts during 10-19th Centuries. How witchcraft became a crime. Role of Catholic Church. The Inquisition. Paper Introduction: Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe Introduction Through the luxury of time, we are able to look back on the concept of witchcraft and determine several things about it, the most important being the derivation of the word itself, a fact that will help us as we pursue the witch hunters with the an academic zeal similar to the religious zeal with which they pursued witches. Most linguists today concur that the word “witch” comes to us from the Middle English word “wycche” which in turn came from the Old English “wicce” (for women) or “wicca” for men. Although most dictionaries today claim that “wicca” refers to neo pagans who perform sorcery, or magic, the actual Old English root word, “wy” meant to twist or weave, and referred specifically to people who tended to create thatched huts out of grass, reeds, mud and boughs. ( Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. In 1484, reacting to pressure from his priests (and also to thefrightening development of the printing press which meant that now peoplewould be able to read, and, therefore think), Pope Innocent VIII officiallysanctioned the arrest and trial (that is to say, the torture, conviction,removal of property, and execution) of all persons accused of witchcraft. Now how does this relate to witches and witchcraft? Finding the Witches The history of the Catholic Church is basically a history of Popesstriving to control all aspects of human behavior. So strictly is it forbidden.... This led to the civic witchtrials that were the rule in towns such as Salem Massachusetts (Guazzo,1988). Satan was clearly Evil, andthose who believed in Satan were members of an "anti-church" (Jardine &Stewart, 2 ). (1995), Fearless Wives and Frightened Shrews: TheConstruction of the Witch in Early Modern Germany, Amherst, MA: Universityof Massachusetts Press Gies, G.; Bunn, I. Official records show that priests used a variety of persuasive techniquesto obtain a confession. His quote -- "Kill them all. Why Was This A Crime? One of the best practitioners of this was a priest named Torquemada,who managed to elicit confessions from thousands of Spanish and Italiannoblemen. It took more than twoyears for the scholars to come up with a Bible that satisfied all points ofview. One would either go to hell,and live with Satan for committing any one of a number of "sins" ("venalsins" -- those of the mind and spirit, or "carnal sins" -- those of theflesh) or one would go to heaven. Don't forget, however, that all of the above acts of torture, andhundreds of others, were done during the questioning phase of the trial.The philosophy of the trial was that you are guilty until confirmed guiltyby your confession. In the Greek language,there is a word "hairesis" which means "free choice." Therefore, a"heretic" is one who chooses what to believe. The final quote, not from apope but from Saint Dominic, a priest who was raised to sainthood becauseof his skills at the Inquisition. Men were not sodomized, although young boys were, perhapsin a drive to maintain one aspect of the priesthood. For whoever comes into the witch prison must become a witch or betortured until he invents something out of his head and - God pity him -bethinks him of something" (Brauner, 1995, p. 82) By the way, in 1988, the Catholic Church released a list of peoplewho had been erroneously tried for witchcraft. 81). (1954), The Inquisition of the Middle Ages: Its Organizationand Operation, New York: Citadel Press Macfarlane, A. Actual Confession of a Witch In the reference material of witchcraft, there is a stunning document,a letter written by Johannes Junius, a doctor in Bemberg Germany in 1628.Before being burned at the stake, he smuggled a letter out to his daughter. And wiccans, who sometimes told people "you can liveyour life as you choose" were considered a major threat to the church. Typically, anyone who tried to tell the future wasusing Satan's magic. If one died and wasn't in a state ofgrace, one would go to purgatory. Into this category went Copernicus, Galileo, Shakespeare,Bacon, Martin Luther, and others. And then Nature intervened in a helpful way with the BlackPlague, which killed almost one-third of Europe in less than two months.It was a boon to the Catholic Church who was quick to declare that thePlague was punishment from God against a society that had allowed people tostray from the Christian life. For an innumerable multitude, deceived by this false opinion, believe this to be true and, so believing, wander from the right faith and that relapse into pagan errors when they think that there be any divinity or power except the one God. I have taken several days to writethis - my hands are both broken." When he was burned, the executioner readoff his crimes: renouncing God and recognising the devil as his god; was baptised in the devil's name; had a succubus; gone to sabbats on the back of a black dog which would fly with him there; attempted to kill his youngest son but killed a horse instead; had been beaten for refusing to kill his daughters; had taken the holy wafer from his mouth and given it to his succubus; had sex with his succubus (Brauner, 1995, p. (1974), Salem Possessed: The Social Originsof Witchcraft. A curse onhim who keepshis sword from bloodshed!" (Jeremiah 48:1 ). Some theorists believe that much of the persecution camefrom the Pope having no more heretics to kill (the Crusades had been afailure because the Muslims, fighting for a different God, kept winning. Witchcraft Not A Crime Until the Tenth Century, Witchcraft was not a crime, and a witch couldget in trouble only if he or she caused physical harm. However, it was still no sin, therefore no crime, to be a witch. Of course, getting the public to believe this was, at times, achallenge. The reasoning was, that if the Bible were named after him (theKing James Bible) then anyone who went against it would, in effect, becommitting a double crime -- heresy and treason. One must not forget that the Church had spent a great deal oftime and money and energy creating a storyline that there were only twokinds of magic in the world -- that of Jesus Christ (wine into water,walking on water, coming back from the dead) or the magic of Satan.Satan's magic was harder to explain, since it was considered more acorruption of the mind. Most of thisproperty which was "saved" by the Crusaders was turned over, for safekeeping, to the Catholic Church (Gies & Bunn, 1997). At the same time that these crusaders (including theRosicrucians) were saving people's souls, they found that there was a greatdeal of profit to be made from also saving their property. (1973), Witchcraft in Europe 11 -17 , London:Knights Press Lea, H.C. Until the Eleventh Century, these people, when mentioned at all, wereconsidered harmless peasants or fools and more to be pitied than bothered.Roughly in the Twelfth Century, certain priests (the only ones who had theintelligence or training to read) began to take notice of these people forthe very simple reason that members of their flock could often be foundgoing to these wiccans for medicines, poultices, and often advice. (This ancestry gives uswords such as "wicker," and "wicked" (which originally meant highlycomplex) (Barstow, 1994; Boyer & Nissenbaum, 1974). It begins "Manyhundred thousand good-nights, dearly beloved daughter Veronica. Anyone who thought "troubling thoughts" wasalso a Satanist. Let Godsort them out!" -- is wonderfully pragmatic (Guazzo, 1988). The connectiongoes like this. (1997), A Trial of Witches: A Seventeenth-centuryWitchcraft Prosecution, London: Routledge Guazzo, F. Most linguists today concur that theword "witch" comes to us from the Middle English word "wycche" which inturn came from the Old English "wicce" (for women) or "wicca" for men.Although most dictionaries today claim that "wicca" refers to neo paganswho perform sorcery, or magic, the actual Old English root word, "wy" meantto twist or weave, and referred specifically to people who tended to createthatched huts out of grass, reeds, mud and boughs. Suspects were pulled apart by being tied betweentwo or four horses, flayed (the skin peeled off), painted with boiling tar,locked in cages that would crack ribs or legs, testicles were crushed, aswere nipples. But the effort was worth it, since now there was a codified documentthat stated what was good, and what was evil. The "sin" here was to read any of theworks of these men, and the best way to ensure that the works weren't readwas to burn them. New York: MJF Books Brauner, S. Now the world had become more simple, philosophically, and allactivity was a battle between the forces of Good (guess who) and the forcesof Evil (guess who.) Anyone who was not a good Christian (still undefined)was now committing a crime against the state by allowing an atmosphere ofun-faith (which some called "reason.") (Kors, 1973). But it were well if they alone perished in their infidelity and did not draw so many others along with them into the pit of their faithlessness. If, for instance, aperson was having a problem of any sort, the church wanted that person tocome to one of their priests for aide. (2 ), Hostage to Fortune: The Troubled Lifeof Francis Bacon, New York: Hill & Wang Kors, A.; Peters, E. They ranged fromwearing bright colors, speaking loudly, missing mass and arguing withauthority, to having sex, and even laughing. If a person thought that therewere other choices to life, he or she might not be willing to turn some orall of their money over to the church. A separate act,then, would purify the witches property which was then given to the churchfor safe keeping (Macfarlane, 197 ). Three quotes from the history of the Catholic Church might helpunderstanding. Women, however, were kept alive long enough to be raped,since one of the beliefs was that sperm from a God fearing Christian woulddestroy Satan. And then in 9 6, acurious document appeared, called the Canon Episcopi, sponsored it isbelieved by Pope Clement, that discussed the evilness of witches for thefirst time. "Exquisite" Punishments Before they could be punished, however, it was necessary to hold an"Inquisition" (conducted by the Church) in which heretics who had committedany of the crimes listed above, and any others that might come to mind.Depending on which history of the Inquisition that you read, the numbers ofmen, women and children killed by the church ranged from 5 , to 25 , . This was a predetermined route, and nooptions were allowed. Anyone who thought non-Christian thoughts waspossessed by Satan's magic. It was the problem of"heresy" that prompted King James in 16 4 to bring together a group ofscholars from around the world to come up with the one accepted Bible.(There were some 2 different versions of the Bible at the time, and theproblems of interpretation were causing splits in the Church, and betweenStates and the Church.) King James, who had problems with his subjects because of his rampanthomosexuality (he made his lover, James Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham)was seeking a way to win the populace to his side, and was convinced by SirFrancis Bacon that creation of the one, uniform Bible would be a brilliantstroke. Along about the same time, the English and French nobility, incollusion with the Catholic (or Mother Church) began a series of Crusadesin which they set out to protect the Church from the Godless heathens,(usually Muslims). Witchcraft Becomes a Crime The document just quoted was official policy until the 14 s, when itbecame quite a bother, since it had said that believing in witches was nota crime but a sin. So instead of going to a doctor, for instance, they would learnto create medicines out of herbs, and instead of going to a physician toaid in birthing, would perform mid-wifery. And most Popes were terrified ofthose wiccans who used the Tarot, or the Ouija board, or any other methodto determine a person's future, since this went against a basic teaching ofthe church. Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe Introduction Through the luxury of time, we are able to look back on the conceptof witchcraft and determine several things about it, the most importantbeing the derivation of the word itself, a fact that will help us as wepursue the witch hunters with the an academic zeal similar to the religiouszeal with which they pursued witches. The people who built their homes from reeds, grass, andmud, i.e., the wiccans, were poor and unable to afford many of the luxuriesof life. These three quotes, and the attitudes behind them, show how easy itwas during the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries to get involved in aWitch Hunt. Innocenthave I come into prison, innocent have I been tortured, innocent must Idie. (197 ), Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England: ARegional and Comparative Study, Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press Thereason was more financial than spiritual. The bottom line of that document is that "believing in witches" is asin. When it came time to destroy the witches, it had to bemade a crime. It was Torquemada who was able to expand the Inquisition beyondthe church, and get entire governments of towns, cities and states, toagree to punish anyone who might be a witch. Johannes Junius' name wason it, and at that time, his soul was declared pure. After many pages detailing the torture, he ends "Dear child, keep thisletter secret, so that people do not find it, else I shall be tortured mostpiteously and the jailers will be beheaded. Dear child, pay this man a thaler. The first is from Pope Leo X, who asked "What profit hasnot that fable of Christ brought us!" (note the word "fable.") The secondis from Pope Gregory the VII who had this quote from the Bible inscribed onhis bed, "A curse on him who is lax in doing the LORD's work! (1988), Compendium Maleficarum: The Montague SummersEdition, New York: Dover Publications Jardine, L.; Stewart, A. References Barstow, A. It details his arrest, his questioning, his torture. (1994), Witchcraze: A New History of the European WitchHunts, New York: Pandora Press Boyer, P.; Nissenbaum, S. The church has a long history of punishing heretics, and to see why ithelps to see where the word "heresy" comes from. When the Plague ceased, the "cleansing"expanded from witches to Jews, Gypsies, scholars, musicians, authors, andanyone else who happened to be "different" (Lea, 1954). The argument was that anyonewho did any of the heresies was either a witch or under the influence ofwitches, and therefore had to be punished. The church stated that It is also not to be admitted that certain abandoned women perverted by Satan, seduced by illusions and phantasms of demons, believe and openly profess that, in the dead of night, they ride upon certain beasts with the pagan goddess Diana, with a countless horde of women, and in the silence of the dead of night fly over vast tracts of country, and obey her commands as their mistress, while they are summoned to her service on other nights. This led to the development of "heresies" (crimes against God), andthere were some 4 of them that were used in the trials. The torture was done according to the officialprocedures of the Inquisition (revised, by the way in 1965 as part of aCanonical housecleaning, which also decided that Gallileo had been right,and that the sun was the center of the Solar System.) The torture continued until the person confessed, and then the personwould be taken into another room, and told to confess again. At that time,his or her soul would be officially purified, and then they would beexecuted by hanging, drowning, or burning at the stake. One's future was predetermined. In the Fifteenth Century, when Protestants got into the act, theCivil Authorities in towns such as Bamberg Germany, London, Rome, Munichand others found that destroying witches was not only a civic duty, butcould be very helpful for the town's coffers. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.