For hundreds of years, women were tortured and killed for various reasons throughout Europe and also in the colonies in America. There was no difference between Catholics and Protestants in this sad area
In some countries of the world, Halloween is celebrated today. One of the hallmarks of the holiday is dark costumes and the most prominent is the Halloween witch costume. But it was not always worthwhile for a woman to dress up as a witch, not in late medieval Europe (15th-17th centuries).
In chapter 7 of his book "A World Haunted by Demons - The Science of Fiddler in Alta" (Ma'ariv Publishing House, translation: Emanuel Lotem) Carl Sagan writes: "The compulsive involvement with demons reached its peak in the famous bull of Pope Innocent VIII from 1484 which stated that "Stealing into our ears which members of both sexes are not Avoid coming into contact with malevolent angels, incubs and succubi, and that with their witchcraft, oaths, spells and snakes they suffocate, turn off and destroy women's births."
And many other disasters are perpetrated. This bull of Innocentius started a systematic campaign of torture accusations and executions of countless "witches" throughout Europe. They were found guilty of what Augustine called "sinful interference in the unseen world". Even though the bulla spoke in a tone of voice about members of both sexes, the victims - not surprisingly - were girls and women. In the following centuries, many of the Protestant leaders, despite all their differences with the Catholic Church, adopted almost identical views. Even humanists like Desiderius Erasmus and Thomas More believed in witches. "Apostasy in witchcraft" said John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, "weighed against heresy in the Holy Scriptures".
Would you like to read more on the science website?
- The mushroom, the witch and the dirty wardrobe of the soul - on the dark side of the Salem witch trials
- An ancient curse writing from 1700 years ago was discovered in the excavations of the Antiquities Authority in the city of David
- A 12-year-old 'witch' skeleton was discovered in a cave in the Galilee
- the witch
Later in the chapter, he notes that witch hunts were employed in Britain, also called 'spikers': they were handsomely rewarded for every girl and woman who was executed thanks to their efforts. They had no incentive to be careful with their charges. These usually looked for "devil marks" - scars or birthmarks or moles that did not bleed or hurt when stabbed. A simple eye contact usually gave the impression that the pin had penetrated deep into the witch's flesh. If no visible signs were found, invisible signs would suffice." One thorn gave thanks to the gallows, in the middle of the 17th century, because it resulted in the death of more than 220 women in England and Scotland for a reward of twenty shillings each.
In chapter 26, Sagan adds that: "In the witch trials, the accused were not allowed to bring defense witnesses to the stand, or present extenuating circumstances. And in any case, it was almost impossible to present a convincing alibi for those accused of witchcraft: the laws of evidence were unique. More than once, a husband testified that his wife was sleeping in his arms at the moment when she was supposed to make out with the devil on the 'Sabbath of Blasphemy', but the archbishop patiently explained that a succubus had taken his wife's place. The husband should not imagine that his senses are capable of overcoming the devil's deception. As such, those beautiful young women were condemned to go to the stake."
For hundreds of years, women were tortured and killed with various arguments, until in the end there were some brave-hearted opponents of the crazy witch hunt, and also thanks to the spread of the persecution to the circles of the upper classes while endangering the growing institutions of capitalism, and especially thanks to the spread of the ideas of the European Enlightenment, the burning of the witches finally stopped. The last execution for witchcraft in the Netherlands, the cradle of the Enlightenment, was in 1610, in England in 1648, in America in 1692, in France in 1745, in Germany in 1775 and in Poland in 1793. In Italy, the Inquisition continued to sentence people to death until the end of the 18th century. The Catholic Church abolished the investigation by torture only in 1815. The last bastion of support for the existence of witches and the need for punishment is found in the Christian churches.
5 תגובות
Contrary to the prevailing myth - in quite a few countries - men - who were suspected of witchcraft, made up the majority of those tortured and murdered:
Therefore, I recommend adding information from Wikipedia to the article:
The fear of witchcraft was not limited to women only and many men who were suspected of witchcraft were also tried, tortured and executed. Despite the common belief, in some countries it was men and not women who made up the majority of those accused of witchcraft.[3] For example: in Iceland, 92% of the accused were men,[4][5] and in Estonia 60% of the victims were men,[6][7] mostly middle-aged farmers who practiced folk medicine. In the witchcraft trials held in Moscow, two thirds of the accused were men.[8] In the British Isles, men made up about 60 percent of the accused in the witch hunt,[9] and in the Swiss region they were higher and accounted for about 80 percent of the accused.[9] In Germany men of high social status were the focus of accusations, later between the years 1500-1650, it was young men who were at high risk of finding themselves accused of the crime of witchcraft.[9]
In addition, although in most cases children were the accusers and not the accused, children were also sometimes put on trial for witchcraft.[10] For example: in the Wurzburg trials in 1629, children made up 60 percent of the accused, even though the number decreased to 17 percent later that year.[11] Several decades later, in the late 17s, children in Sweden publicly claimed that adults had taken them to a witches' meeting. As a result, 15 boys over the age of 16 were executed, and about 40 younger boys were flogged as punishment.[12]
The full entry is here:
https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%93_%D7%9E%D7%9B%D7%A9%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%AA#%D7%90%D7%99%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%A8_%D7%95%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%A9%D7%A2%D7%AA_%D7%9E%D7%9B%D7%A9%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%AA_%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%9B%D7%A9%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%9D
For those interested in the subject, you should read the book "History of Witchcraft" written by Russell:http://simania.co.il/bookdetails.php?item_id=604736
There is much more to it than this short article. By the way, it was a bit strange to find an article about witches here, a matter of mood perhaps?
In Dr. Richard Brandzen's book it is claimed that the reason witches were usually painters was because they had not yet learned the social codes.
Witches were usually young girls who reported to the wrong person about balls of fire (comets) in the night sky (a sign of death and the fall of the kingdom), from there it was a short way to the center. They didn't lie, indeed last night there was an asteroid rain.
Of course adults even if they saw a falling star already knew the social code of silence.
The source is in the recommended book -
Fictional physics or in English pulp physics by Dr. R. Berendzen
My wife bewitched me but in the 21st century men don't have a word anymore.
In Papua New Guinea this still exists today. Sociologists-anthropologists claim that socially the male population feels insecure due to the mixing of tribes and populations.