Witchcraft Beliefs

In 1487, two Dominican inquisitors Henirich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger wrote the Malleus Maleficarum, which in English can be translated to the Hammer of Witches. The Malleus Maleficarum was a one of a kind document, meaning that it was the first resourceful document for witch beliefs and was also the first document that was written for how to prosecute people who were believed to have used witchcraft. Kramer and Sprenger believed that women were more likely to be witches than men because they believed that women had wicked tendencies. In early modern Europe there were plenty of prejudices against women and accusations about women being witches. These prejudices and accusation have angered many women in both the past and present day. So what

Witches have been around for centuries and everyone has either seen them or even dressed up as them for Halloween. It is a common thought that witches are bad and that they are the stereotypical look with the pointy black hat, broomstick, or the horrid looking face. Yet it is not common to know that it is believed that witches are tightly tied with the Devil and that was one reason that they would be executed. It is now a normal idea that all witches are women but why is that? Is it because women have always been subjugated to be worse than men or is it just another way that women were being controlled? To demonize something or another group it allows some to show them as a threat and this was an easy way for those who held the power to not let anyone rise above or to have the entire community go against one singular group or person. When someone was demonized between the 14th century to the 18th century it was common to call them a witch or state that they were associated with the Devil. During this set of time religion had most control over people so stating that they were associated with the Devil instantly set that they were evil and needed to be killed.

In the mid 1400’s, witchcraft trials began in Europe. The main people accused were Cathars. Cathars were members of a medieval European heretical Christian Sect, who believed that salvation lay in the adoption of a spiritual way of life. The majority of Cathars fled to Germany and The Savoy when these trials started. However, some were captured. “Torture inflicted on heretics suspected of magical pacts or demon-driven sexual misconducts led to alarming confessions”[1]. They admitted to flying on poles or animals to attend meetings presided over by Satan himself, appearing in the form of a goat or other animal. As if this wasn’t horrifying enough to the Christian community, the other acts that were confessed were downright disgusting. Some of the defendants told the investigators that they repeatedly kissed Satan’s anus, as a display of their loyalty to him. Others admitted to casting spells on neighbors, having sex with animals, or causing storms[1]. In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII announced that these meetings had been taking place and

Witchcraft was defined for the masses by the publication of the Malleus Maleficarium also known simply as the Handbook. Written by two Dominican friars in 1486 it’s purpose was to be used as a handbook to identify, capture, torture, and execute suspected witches. Opinions stated as facts and written in the Malleus Maleficarium, “handbook”, were based their faith, church doctrine, and the Bible. No doubt a religious masterpiece in it’s time this handbook is a neatly woven together a group of beliefs, experiences, wisdom of ancient writers, religious ideas, and God inspired writings that justify it’s purpose. Written by and used by Catholics this handbook proved useful for Protestants as well. Based on biblical interpretation and ideas the handbook provided Protestant Church leaders biblical authority to prosecute witchcraft as well. Translated into today’s vernacular phrases such as, “everybody knows that women are feeble minded” or “everybody knows that women are more superstitious than men” and “all women have slippery tongues” are included in the handbook and presented to the reader as foregone conclusions. Specific

The Puritan belief in witchcraft extends as far back as early Mesopotamia, as Hammurabi’s Code expresses the death penalty for any convicted witch (Goss 1). Judaism as witchcraft as a means to “place a curse upon a neighbor or telling the future”, to which the latter was seen as “strictly restricted to the realm of God who only spoke through His holy prophets”; “any other type of prophesying or fortune-telling...necessitated the establishment of a relationship between a human and an unholy spirit” (Goss 1). As Judaism and Christianity spread, so did the fear of witches and alliances with unholy beings. Christianity looked to the Old Testament law for teaching on what witches were and how to deal with them. The expansion of Christianity lead

In all of human history, people have written about inhuman beings, many of which include gods, demons, wizards, sorcerers, sorceresses, and witches. Nowadays mystical beings are seen everywhere in media. Most of society stopped believing in these creatures years ago, but for 17th-century Salem, witchcraft became a living nightmare (Fremon, 1999).

The modern film The Witch by Robert Eggers is set in the 1630’s in New England and follows a Puritan family in their struggles against witches and witchcraft after being banished from the Commonwealth. The story depicts the fears of witches and witchcraft from a Puritan perspective while drawing on portrayals from the Pagan and Christian tradition of the witch to reinforce this image. The Witch uses Pagan, Christian and Puritan concepts of witches and witchcraft to establish an superstitious atmosphere filled with fear, uncertainty and paranoia; this effect aims to represent a similar psychological state of mind the Puritans had towards witches during the Salem witch crisis. Firstly, the elements The Witch uses to develop this atmosphere are images of common witch familiars and animals that have been attributed to them throughout history. Secondly, witchcraft that have been believed to be performed by witches as well as their association with the devil establishes a sense of superstition. Finally, the personality and physical traits of the witch’s character is used to enhance the fearful atmosphere throughout the film. Appearances of animals and familiars associated with witches occur throughout the film and gives a foreboding sense of what is to come.

Accusations of witchcraft whether factual or simply made up would be the driving force behind the growing belief in these figures. According to Walter Stephens in Demon Lovers: Witchcraft, Sex, and the Crisis of Beliefs, witchcraft in 1400s through the 1700s differed in two ways, with emphasis on maleficia (or acts of harmful magic) and demonaltry. “Many individuals tried for witchcraft were not accused of performing any maleficia at all; their crime was simply worshipping evil… And sexual relations with demons were conceptualized as the most common expression of demonaltry. Although often those accused of witchcraft were often accused of maleficia (or acts of harmful magic) and demonolatry, as stated earlier, one could perhaps be accused due to their deviation from social and often religious norms.

Human bodies, legitimacy, and evolution are three of the categories that were the foundation in finding those to be a witch or in bed with the devil during the time of 1455 in Germany. Human bodies were tortured, disfigured and viewed as wicked by many individuals at the time. The legitimacy of an individual’s confession, accusation, trial and holiness was constantly tested for wickedness of the devil. While the category of evolution displays how as time progress the witch craze declined but the methods of finding witches intensified.

It should be taking into account that this paper is not meant to speculate on whether or not the existence of witches was or is real and the existence of such people will be conceived as real for the purpose of the essay. The goal of this paper is strictly to determine what was the cause of decline in witch prosecutions and executions during the time of the seventeenth and eighteenth century, where we have the last recorded trials

The Trial of Tempel Anneke reveals a disgusting trend of society’s attitude towards witchcraft in early modern Europe. It exhibits a sick double standard that displays a society that offers no true justice and demonstrates outright inequity. It is also a depressing display of extreme negligence and hypocrisy. Suspected witches were not able to secure a fair trial due to their social disposition or lack thereof. Harnessing the power of witchcraft in the eyes of society was a clear indication of a pact made with the Devil and those who did so represented power and dark knowledge. Their blind way of thinking becomes so massively ingrained in the ideology of society that eventually paved the way for the emergence of witchcraft’s clear role as the universal scapegoat. The trial and recordings illustrate an early modern European ignorance and flawed methodology.

The concept of witchcraft and superstition stretches over a long period of time. The idea became familiar around 560 B.C when the two old testaments denounced witches and the belief in them. The idea is said to have originated in Europe, rapidly spreading around the world. Medieval Europe was an era that solely believed in magic, witches and the supernatural. In the Middle Ages witchcraft was viewed as a heinous crime that was punishable by death (ordeal by fire). The heroine known as Saint Joan of Arc (1412-1431) is just one individual who was burned at the stake after being accused of procuring heretic beliefs including that of witchcraft. People believed that magic was an illusion

The Malleus Maleficarum, published in 1487 and authored by Dominican Inquisitors Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, was used by Catholics and Protestants as a bank of knowledge on how to locate and prosecute witches. Though the text was published in 1487, it was still used as the premier text on witches well into the 18th century. The text is incredibly thorough, covering the topics of witch identification, explanations of how witches make their pacts with the devil, and how to effectively conduct a trial. This text was written to be read by upper class members of the clergy and secular governments. The audience of this text largely informed the language and content which Kramer and Sprenger used and included. Because of the very clear and directed audience who was intended to read this text, the authors got away with rhetoric which would not necessarily be believed or agreed with by the laypeople who would actually be affected by the contents of The Malleus Maleficarum. The Malleus Maleficarum is explicitly misogynistic when addressing who can be a witch, when describing the pact that a woman makes with the devil, and the process by which an accused witch is questioned and tried.

The early modern period in Europe was marked by the hunting and trial of those believed to be witches. Witches were defined as those who used magic (both benevolent and malevolent). However, witches in these trials were often accused of maleficium. Maleficium is a type of sorcery meant to hurt other and where the user has made a pact with the devil. Having made a pact with the Devil, these witches would gather to perform a series of rituals involving naked dancing, cannibalism, and the murder of children (Levack, 2006). Those who worshiped the devil were considered “worse than a pagan and a heretic” (Institoris, Sprenger, Mackay, 2006). These accusations sound both bizarre and impossible. So why did so many Europeans believe in witchcraft and fear it enough to put at least 45,000 people to death? The fact of the matter is that there was no singular cause, but a multitude of causes.

The beliefs about witches during the Rennaisance were influenced by old legends spread throughout the British Isles by bards and minstrels. These tales tell of a pagan past when it was common for people to practice magic and when many different gods and goddesses were prayed to. These ancient deities had both good and evil facets. It was not uncommon for a goddess to be destructive as well as creative. This duality was unreconcilable to the Christians, who demonized these deities and the people who worshipped them.