WITCH HUNTS DURING THE MIDDLE AGES https://endofcapitalism.com/2009/11/05/who-were-the-witches-patriarchal-terror-and-the-creation-of-capitalism/ THE MALLEUS MALEFICARUM The Malleus Maleficarum, is a handbook published in 1486 by two German Dominicans. It discusses why women were more prone to witchcraft. • At that time, these two people put to trial 50 people for witchcraft, 48 of them women. • In their writings, they always used a feminine noun in the title to describe witches, because it was thought that women were especially prone to witchcraft. “Women are more credulous and more impressionable than men” “ Women have “slippery tongues and cannot conceal from other women anything they have learned by the evil arts.” They wrote, ”Women are defective and cannot control their affections or passions and so they “search for, brood over, and inflict various vengeances, either by witchcraft or by some other means.” German artist Hans Baldung Grien: Witches' Sabbath, Wood block print showing three naked women in the foreground with an inscribed urn; several staffs, bones and other objects on the ground, a cat on the left above a witch riding backwards on a goat and holding a fork. Dated on the trunk of the tree. 1516. HTTPS://WWW.BRITISHMUSEUM.ORG/RESEARCH/COLLECTION_ONLINE/COLLECTION_OBJECT_DETAILS.ASPX?OBJECTID=1333755&PARTID=1 HOW DID THEY PROVE A PERSON WAS A WITCH? • The water-test • The pricking-test • The tear-test • The fire-test • The bier-test • The weight-test T.H. Matteson’s The Examination of a Witch, 1853 The Water Test: the most known and most commonly used method. The accused was tossed into a lake to see if she would float or sink to the bottom. It was said that the water would refuse to accept witches. This meant that if the person drowned, then she was not guilty; if she floated then it proved she was a witch and she would therefore be burned at the stake. If people held their breath the moment they were thrown in, they might stay afloat for a second, and that was enough to be mistaken for a witch. Those who sank were supposed to be pulled out of the water, but usually they were not. https://famous-trials.com/medievaltrials/2325-images A known fact was that witches had a mark on their body and that they didn’t feel anything. To find this mark, they would prick them with long needles. After a while, the "witches," would be so numb that they could not tell one sting from another. Since they would not cry in pain during this particular prick, the accusers would declare that they had found the mark, and the accused was therefore a witch. Other marks they found might have been mole or any kinds of small wounds. Witch prickers were always males and were paid well to find the devil’s mark on witches in the 17th century. The Devil's mark was said to be the mark from the Devil's hoof. https://www.historicmysteries.com/witch-prickers-inquisition/ The Pricking Test The Tear Test: It was a known fact that Witches cannot cry. • If a "witch" stopped crying after a few hours of torture, it was thought to be solid proof that she was a witch. • If she did cry, it was perhaps because the Devil had helped her, and also accused a witch. The Fire Test: • The accused had to carry red-hot coals in their hands. Their hands would later be bandaged, and after a few days the bandaging would be removed. • If there were no wounds or the skin was clean, she was not a witch. The Weight Test: Witches were considered to have a low body-weight, thus having the ability to fly. One judge would guess the weight of an accused person, and that person would then be weighed. If he/she weighed less than the guess, he/she was a witch. The Bier Test: not widely used The accused was supposed to touch the body of a newly deceased, and if blood came out of the person's nose, she was a witch because blood does not float in dead bodies. HTTPS://I.PINIMG.COM/ORIGINALS/4B/DA/3F/4BDA3F25006E20B79440379F8AA1A6CB. JPG WITCH TRIALS Witch trials were rapid, often lasting two weeks or less. Usually conducted by a group of male judges. Sometimes by witch experts who toured the countryside to “help” communities eradicate evil. Evidence was circumstantial and not scientific. THE PEAK OF WITCH-HUNTS • It was only in the sixteenth century that large amounts of women were put to death as witches; however, this occurred in virtually every corner of Europe. • The peak lasted from 1560-1670, and we will never know the exact number of executions. • Most historians estimate that 100,000 people probably went on trial for witchcraft, about a third of them being convicted and executed. • Although the rates of trials and executions varied across Europe, women were the majority of the victims. • https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/common-misconceptions/whoburned-the-witches.html