Witch burning. Myths and reality. Horrors from the depths of the Middle Ages. Witches and torture How witches were identified in the Middle Ages

Mikhail Ikhonsky| Jul 9, 2018

Witchcraft rituals have accompanied people throughout their history. Since ancient times, inexplicable natural phenomena have been attributed to otherworldly forces, with which only sorcerers or witches could come into contact.

Before the spread of Christianity, witchcraft in Europe was generally treated calmly. The pagan rituals of the Germanic, Celtic and Slavic tribes were based on magical rituals. The Roman Empire preferred not to notice magicians and sorcerers until they caused harm to the population or state through their actions. Everything changed with the spread of Christianity in Europe.

The Cathar Heresy and the War on Witchcraft

In the early years, the Church, of course, condemned the practice of witchcraft. But the half-mad shamans hiding in the forests could do little harm to the new religion, and it ignored them.

A turn in relations with witches occurred in the 12th – 13th centuries during the first heresies. The Cathar movement that arose in the south of France lured parishioners, reducing the income of the Church, which attracted the attention of the papal throne.

Residents of the region were declared sorcerers and witches. A bloody crusade began.

Realizing that such heresies would arise constantly, the Church declared a large-scale war on witches. The Inquisition was created to counter the sorcerers.

The persecution of witches has begun

For almost a hundred years, inquisitors fought for the purity of faith in fairly humane ways. Trials and investigations were held. Sentences were passed. Sometimes even exculpatory.

Large-scale persecution of sorcerers, as well as accusations of witchcraft and connections with the devil against all undesirables, began under Pope John XXII. The clergyman immediately after ascending the throne burned the bishop from his hometown.

John was truly obsessed with the idea of ​​destroying all witches. Papal legates were sent to the south of France, Switzerland, Germany and northern Italy. The number of death sentences increases sharply during this time. An accusation of “heretical witchcraft” appears.

How people imagined witches

The enemy had to be personified. Since all accusations of witchcraft were generally false, a variety of people fell into the category of witches and sorcerers under a variety of pretexts. There were accusations of possession, damage by witchcraft, the evil eye, etc.

It was then that the classic image of a witch on a broom was formed; witch changing appearance and doing evil to people.

Bonfires are burning all over Europe

In the 60s of the 15th century, all of Europe was catching witches. Sorcerers were destroyed with particular zeal in Germany. Books dedicated to the fight against Evil were even published here: “The Bull on Witchcraft” and.

The accused were arrested for any reason. As soon as a neighbor looked at someone else’s estate, its owner was denounced and sent to the dungeons of the Inquisition. Denunciations spread everywhere. Women who suffered most often were women who could be caught for a sidelong glance, an incorrect movement, or even for their beauty.

At first, the trials were conducted by inquisitors. There was even a special code with a list of actions that fell under the definition of witchcraft. However, fairly quickly, witch trials began to be held in secular courts.

While the inquisitorial court often acquitted the accused, ordinary courts punished almost everyone.

Witch Trial

Particularly cynical is the search for devilish marks on the body of the accused and the ongoing witch trials.

Any mole, birthmark, or skin defect could be mistaken for a witch's mark. Everything depended on what the judge wanted: to punish or spare. In search of marks, women were subjected to severe torture and had their hair shaved off.

A common test was the "test by water." A bound woman was thrown into the river. It was believed that water, being a pure matter, would be determined by the witch in front of it or not. If a woman drowned, then she was declared innocent, since “the water accepted her.”

If the unfortunate victim surfaced, then she was declared guilty of witchcraft.

Executions carried out by inquisitors

Before sending the victim to the stake, she was tortured, extracting a confession of evil intent and witchcraft.

The execution of a witch by burning was a public spectacle attended by the entire city. Events were often held during fairs and other folk festivals.

Very rarely, beheading, drowning or hanging were used for execution. It was believed that death at the stake was “pure” due to its “bloodlessness,” and thus the clergy seemed to forgive their victim and give her a chance for eternal life.

The end of the witch hunt

The end of the witch hunt is associated with the development of science, the emergence of Protestantism and the Thirty Years' War, the cruelty of which forced Europeans to take a fresh look at their own lives and church dogmas.

The last witch in Europe died in 1782 in Switzerland. Her head was cut off.

In total, approximately 100,000 people were executed during the Inquisition, 20,000 of whom died in Germany.

Many people have risen to heights of fame and notoriety due to their supposed knowledge of magic and arcane knowledge. For some, laying parquet is something secret and incomprehensible, but some, thanks to their talent, became rich and famous, others became victims of violent death.

The people in the list below came from different walks of life and from different periods of history. Some had friendly personalities, while others had creepy personalities. But they all had one thing in common and the world still remembers these people as witches and sorcerers.

10. Moll Dyer

Moll Dyer was a woman who lived in the 17th century in St. Mary's County, Maryland. Much about her is shrouded in mystery, but everyone knew that she was a strange woman. An herbal healer and outcast who survived on the generosity of others, she was eventually accused of witchcraft and had her hut set on fire on a cold night. But she ran away into the forest and was not seen for several days... until a local boy found her body.

Moll Dyer died of cold on a large rock, kneeling, with her hand raised, cursing the men who attacked her. Her knees left a mark on the stone. The villagers quickly discovered that they had disturbed the wrong woman. The curse of Moll Dyer fell on the city, and for several centuries, it caused cold winters and epidemics.

The Moll Dyer stone became a place of worship

Her ghost, often accompanied by various strange animals, has been sighted many times and is still said to haunt the place. Her creepy reputation eventually became the inspiration for the movie The Blair Witch Project. Although Moll Dyer is an influential folk figure in American witchcraft, no reliable historical evidence of her existence has been found.

9. Laurie Cabot

Laurie Cabot was a popular witch in the United States. A California girl with a legendary history as a dancer, her keen interest in the witchcraft arts led her to New England. After studying the witch's craft for several years, she opened a shop in Salem, Massachusetts, the historical epicenter of the witch hunts. She was initially wary of declaring herself a witch.

But when her black cat got stuck in a tree for days and the fire brigade refused to rescue her, she was forced to say she needed the cat for rituals. The year was 1970 and the word "witch" was like a stigma in Salem. The cat was immediately rescued by the extremely gentle and polite firefighters.

Cabot became a national celebrity. She created a coven of witches and opened a witchcraft store, which became instantly popular. The store, which subsequently moved online, became a favorite destination for tourists. Cabot became one of the world's top witches. Even the Governor of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis, declared her the official "Witch of Salem" for her positive influence And Good work in society.

Cabot claims that any evil curse sent by a witch will return to her and the evil intent will not be fulfilled. According to her, witchcraft is all about magic, astrology and a sense of nature.

8. George Pickingill

George Pickingill sounds like he stepped straight out of a horror novel. A tall, intimidating 19th century man with a hostile demeanor and long, sharp fingernails. He was a famous cunning man who practiced folk witchcraft. Old George, as he was generally known, was a farm worker who claimed to be a hereditary witcher.

His magical lineage could be traced all the way back to the 11th century, to the witch Julia Pickingill, who was a sort of magical assistant to a local lord. Pickingill was a vile, unsympathetic man who often terrorized other villagers for money and beer. However, he was respected as much as he was feared. George was said to be a skilled healer and would sometimes settle disputes between villagers.

In secret circles, Pickingill was a superstar—essentially the Aleister Crowley of his day. He was recognized as an assistant to the ancient horned god, a frequent ally of the Satanists, and wielded primary authority in the witchcraft arts. Even his lawyer was wanted by other witches.

However, this authority was somewhat tainted by the fact that Pickingill was something of a fanatic (he could approve of a witches' coven if its participants could prove that they were of pure descent), and something of a sexist (all work at his covens was made by women, who also had to submit to some rather dubious conditions).

7. Angela de la Barthe

Angela de la Barthe was a noblewoman and notorious witch who lived in the 13th century. She was burned at the stake by the Inquisition for a number of brutal deeds committed. Her crimes were limited to not only having sex with a demon, giving birth to a snake and wolf demon, being blamed for missing children, but also being a generally unpleasant person.

In reality, of course, Angela was probably a mentally ill woman, and her main crime was supporting the religious sect of Gnostic Christianity, which was denied by the Catholic Church. Her unusual behavior led to accusations of witchcraft, which in turn led to a gruesome death. In those days, such a fate was quite common.

6. Mage Abramelin

The true story of such a 15th century personality as the magician Abrmelin has been lost. However, his legacy lives on in the form of thousands of followers and imitators. Abramelin was a powerful sorcerer who is described by Abraham of Wurzburg as a magician's apprentice who convinced Abramelin to give him his secrets. Abraham did painstaking work on the magical system of Abramelin, which included complex processes for commanding spirits, evil and good.

The system was based on magical symbols that could only be activated at certain times and using certain rituals.

In 1900, the manuscript was published in book form under the title The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin. The book became an instant hit in the occult community, and had a direct influence on notorious practitioners such as Aleister Crowley.

5. Alice Kyteler

For a long time, Ireland was less concerned about witchcraft than continental Europe. Eventually, the witch hunt arrived there too. One of the first and most famous victims was Dame Alice Kyteler, a wealthy moneylender whose husbands had a nasty habit of dying and leaving her everything. The fourth husband began to feel sick, and the children began to stink like rats - just when they saw that their father was going to leave everything to Kyteler.

In 1324, the church recognized Dame Kyteler for conspiring with a secret heretical society. She was not only the first Irish woman to be accused of witchcraft, but also the one to have a relationship with an incubus. The authorities tried to imprison Alice several times, but she had many allies and, each time, she avoided sentencing.

Ultimately, Kyteler disappeared, leaving behind her son and servant. She is said to have fled to England, where she lived in luxury for the rest of her days. Whether she truly practiced the dark arts or not, she is remembered to this day as Ireland's first witch.

4. Tamsin Blythe

A well-known figure of the 19th century in Cornwall, England, Tamsin Blythe was a highly respected medicine woman and natural witch. The term nature witch comes from the fact that European villages were surrounded by a fence or forest, and acted as a symbol of the boundary between this world and the next. Blythe was said to be particularly good at removing spells and curses, as well as being a healer. She could go into a trance and predict the future.

Either way, she also had an arsenal of bad fetishes, and her reputation was tarnished by her husband, James Thomas, a magician like her. Although Thomas was a respected magician, he often drank and became a hooligan, for which everyone disliked him. Tamsin eventually broke up with him, but they got back together late in her life.

Tamsin Blythe's curses were effective in practice due to her reputation and respect. Tamsin cursed the shoemaker for not fixing her shoes - she had no intention of paying for it - and as a result, she said he would be out of work. When word got out about this, no one would do business with the man, and as a result, he was forced to leave his position.

3. Eliphas Levi

Alphonse Louis Constant was known as Eliphas Levi Zahed. He demanded that the name given from birth be translated into Hebrew. Alphonse was the man responsible for the mystical arts as they are known today. During the 19th century, Eliphas Levi explored a variety of faiths - from Christianity to Judaism - to combine beliefs such as the Tarot and the writings of historical alchemists - into a strange hybrid that became known as "Occultism".

A trained theologian who almost became a priest, Levi was always more of a scholar than a practicing magician. However, he was extremely charismatic and had extensive knowledge in many areas of witchcraft. He wrote many books on ritual magic. Levi was especially famous for his work "Baphomet", a satanic deity supposedly worshiped by the Knights Templar.

He considered this figure to represent the “absolute.” Eliphas drew famous painting"Baphomet" as a winged, female figure with the head of a goat. One of the first pictures anyone will think of when the occult is mentioned.

2. Raymond Buckland

Raymond Buckland, the "Father of American Wicca" was deeply impressed by modern Gardnerian Wicca. He took Gerald Gardner's New World teachings and eventually refined them into his own variation called Sixx Wicca.

A veteran of witchcraft, Backlund has been involved in witches' covens since the '60s, usually as a leader. He is a Wiccan priest and a respected expert in all things neo-pagan. Until his retirement from active witchcraft in 1992, he spent decades as the most recognizable and foremost expert in the magical craft. These days, he lives in rural Ohio, where he writes books about witchcraft and continues to practice a solitary version of his magical craft.

1. Agnes Waterhouse

Agnes Waterhouse, commonly known as Mother Waterhouse, was one of the most famous witches England has ever known. The crimes she was accused of were quite heinous - Mother Waterhouse and two other witches were put on trial for entertaining the devil, cursing people, and even causing bodily harm and multiple deaths due to their black magic.

The surprising thing is that the church did nothing towards Agnes. She was the first English witch to be sentenced to death by a secular court. In her testimony, Agnes openly admitted that she practiced the dark arts and devil worship.

Agnes had a cat, which she called Satan, which she claimed to send to kill the livestock of her enemies, or, on occasion, the enemies themselves. She was a sinner and stated that Satan told her she would die, hanged or impaled, and Agnes could not do anything about it. Mother Waterhouse was indeed sentenced to hang, despite the fact that two other witches who faced similar charges were released (one was found not guilty, the other was sentenced to a year in prison - although later charges led to her death).

Her satanic bravado disappeared somewhere after the verdict. On her way to the gallows, Waterhouse made one final confession - she once did not kill a man because his strong faith in God prevented Satan from touching him. She went to her death praying for God's forgiveness.

The call to “Burn the Witch” used to be often heard in relation to young and beautiful women. Why did people prefer this method of execution for sorcerers? Let's consider how cruel and strong the persecution of witches was in different eras and in different countries peace.

In the article:

Medieval witch hunt

Inquisitors or witch hunters preferred to burn the witch because they were sure that people who practiced magic had concluded. Witches were sometimes hanged, beheaded, or drowned, but acquittals in witch trials were not uncommon.

The persecution of witches and sorcerers reached particular proportions in Western Europe in the 15th-17th centuries. The hunt for witches took place in Catholic countries. People with unusual abilities were persecuted before the 15th century, for example, during the Roman Empire and in the era of Ancient Mesopotamia.

Despite the abolition of the law on executions for witchcraft, in the history of Europe there were periodic incidents with the execution of witches and fortune-tellers (until the 19th century). The period of active persecution “for witchcraft” dates back about 300 years. According to historians, the total number of executed people is 40–50 thousand people, and the number of trials of those accused of conspiring with the Devil and witchcraft is about 100 thousand.

Witch burning at the stake in Western Europe

In 1494, the Pope issued a bull (a medieval document) aimed at combating witches. Convinced him to make a decree Heinrich Kramer, better known as Heinrich Institoris- an inquisitor who claimed to have sent several hundred witches to the stake. Henry became the author of "The Witches' Hammer" - a book that told and fought with the witch. The Witches' Hammer was not used by the Inquisitors and was banned by the Catholic Church in 1490.

The Pope's bull became the main reason for the centuries-long hunt for people with magical gifts in Christian countries of Europe. According to statistics from historians, the most people were executed for witchcraft and heresy in Germany, France, Scotland and Switzerland. The least hysteria associated with the danger of witches to society affected England, Italy and, despite the abundance of legends about Spanish inquisitors and instruments of torture, Spain.

Trials of magicians and other “accomplices of the Devil” became a widespread phenomenon in countries affected by the Reformation. In some Protestant countries, new laws appeared - more severe than Catholic ones. For example, a ban on reviewing cases of witchcraft. Thus, in Quedlinburg in the 16th century, 133 witches were burned in one day. In Silesia (now the territories of Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic), a special oven for burning witches was erected in the 17th century. Over the course of a year, the device was used to execute 41 people, including children under five years of age.

Catholics were not too far behind Protestants. Letters from a priest from a German town addressed to Count von Salm have been preserved. The sheets date back to the 17th century. Description of the situation in his hometown at the height of the witch hunt:

It seems that half the city is involved: professors, students, pastors, canons, vicars and monks have already been arrested and burned... The chancellor and his wife and the wife of his personal secretary have been captured and executed. At Christmas Holy Mother of God They executed a pupil of the prince-bishop, a nineteen-year-old girl, known for her piety and piety... Three-four-year-old children were declared lovers of the Devil. Students and boys of noble birth aged 9–14 were burned. In conclusion, I will say that things are in such a terrible state that no one knows who to talk to and cooperate with.

The Thirty Years' War became good example mass persecution of witches and accomplices of evil spirits. The warring parties accused each other of using witchcraft and powers given by the Devil. This is the largest war on religious grounds in Europe, and, judging by statistics, up to our time.

Witch Searches and Burnings - Background

Witch hunts continue to be studied by modern historians. It is known why the Pope's witch bull and the ideas of Henry Institoris were approved by the people. There were prerequisites for the hunt for sorcerers and the burning of witches.

At the end of the 16th century, the number of trials and people sentenced to death by burning at the stake increased sharply. Scientists note other events: economic crisis, famine, social tension. Life was difficult - plague epidemics, wars, long-term climate deterioration and crop failure. There was a price revolution that temporarily lowered the standard of living of most people.

The real reasons for the events: an increase in the population in populated areas, climate deterioration, epidemics. The latter is easy to explain from a scientific point of view, but medieval medicine could neither cope with the disease nor find the cause of the disease. The medicine was invented only in the 20th century, and the only measure protecting against the plague was quarantine.

If today a person has sufficient knowledge to understand the causes of an epidemic, a bad harvest, climate change, a medieval resident did not have the knowledge. The panic that the events of those years generated prompted people to look for other causes of daily misfortune, hunger, and disease. It is impossible to explain the problems scientifically with that amount of knowledge, so mystical ideas were used, such as witches and sorcerers who spoil the harvest and send plague to please the Devil.

There are theories that try to explain the cases of witch burnings. For example, some believe that witches actually existed, as depicted in modern horror films. Some people prefer the version that says that most trials are a way to enrich themselves, because the property of those executed was given to the person who passed the sentence.

The last version can be proven. Trials of sorcerers have become a mass phenomenon where the government is weak, in provinces remote from the capitals. The verdict in some regions could depend on the mood of the local ruler, and personal gain cannot be ruled out. In states with a developed management system, fewer “accomplices of Satan” suffered, for example, in France.

Loyalty to witches in Eastern Europe and Russia

In eastern Europe, the persecution of witches did not take root. Residents of Orthodox countries practically did not experience the horror that people living in Western European countries experienced.

The number of witch trials in what is now Russia was about 250 for all 300 years of hunting on accomplices of evil spirits. The figure is impossible to compare with 100 thousand court cases in Western Europe.

There are many reasons. The Orthodox clergy were less concerned about the sinfulness of the flesh when compared with Catholics and Protestants. A woman as a being with a bodily shell frightened Orthodox Christians less. Most of those executed for witchcraft are female.

Orthodox sermons in Russia in the 15th–18th centuries carefully touched on topics; the clergy sought to avoid lynching, which was often practiced in the provinces of Europe. Another reason is the absence of crises and epidemics to the extent that residents of Germany, France, England and other Western European countries had to experience. The population did not search for the mystical causes of hunger and crop failure.

Burning of witches was practically not practiced in Russia, and was even prohibited by law.

The code of law of 1589 read: “And whores and women of dishonor will receive money against their trades,” that is, a fine was imposed for their insult.

There was lynching when peasants set fire to the hut of a local “witch”, who died due to the fire. A witch on a bonfire built in the central square of the city, where the population of the city had gathered - such spectacles were not observed in an Orthodox country. Executions by burning alive were extremely rare; wooden frames were used: the public did not see the suffering of those convicted of witchcraft.

In Eastern Europe, those accused of witchcraft were tested with water. The suspect was drowned in a river or other local body of water. If the body floated up, the woman was accused of witchcraft: baptism is accepted with holy water, and if the water “does not accept” the person being drowned, it means that this is a sorcerer who has renounced the Christian faith. If the suspect drowned, she was declared innocent.

America was virtually untouched by witch hunts. However, several trials of sorcerers and witches have been recorded in the States. The events in Salem in the 17th century are well known throughout the world, as a result of which 19 people were hanged, one resident was crushed by stone slabs, and about 200 people were sentenced to prison. Events in Salem They have repeatedly tried to justify it from a scientific point of view: various versions have been put forward, each of which may turn out to be true - hysteria, poisoning or encephalitis in “possessed” children, and much more.

How they were punished for witchcraft in the ancient world

In Ancient Mesopotamia, laws on punishment for witchcraft were regulated by the Code of Hammurabi, named after the reigning king. The code dates from 1755 BC. This is the first source to mention the water test. True, in Mesopotamia they tested for witchcraft using a slightly different method.

If the accusation of witchcraft could not be proven, the accused was forced to plunge into the river. If the river took him away, they believed that the person was a sorcerer. The property of the deceased went to the accuser. If a person remained alive after immersion in water, he was declared innocent. The accuser was sentenced to death, and the accused received his property.

In the Roman Empire, punishments for witchcraft were treated like other crimes. The degree of harm was assessed, and if the victim was not compensated by the person accused of witchcraft, the witch was subject to similar harm.

Regulations for burning alive witches and heretics

Torture of the Inquisition.

Before sentencing an accomplice of the Devil to be burned alive, it was necessary to interrogate the accused so that the sorcerer would betray his accomplices. In the Middle Ages they believed in witches' sabbaths and believed that it was rarely possible to solve a problem with just one witch in a city or village.

Interrogations always involved torture. Now in every city with a rich history you can find museums of torture, exhibitions in castles and even the dungeons of monasteries. If the accused did not die during interrogation, the documents were handed over to the court.

The torture continued until the executioner managed to obtain a confession of committing the crime and until the suspect indicated the names of his accomplices. Recently, historians have studied the documents of the Inquisition. In fact, torture during interrogations of witches was strictly regulated.

For example, only one type of torture could be applied to one suspect in one court case. There were many techniques for obtaining testimony that were not considered torture. For example, psychological pressure. The executioner could begin his work by demonstrating torture devices and talking about their features. Judging by the documents of the Inquisition, this was often enough for a confession of witchcraft.

Deprivation of water or food was not considered torture. For example, those accused of witchcraft could be fed only salty food and not given water. Cold, water torture and some other methods were used to obtain confessions from the inquisitors. Sometimes prisoners were shown how other people were being tortured.

The time that can be spent interrogating one suspect in one case was regulated. Some torture instruments were not officially used. For example, Iron Maiden. There is no reliable information that the attribute was used for execution or torture.

Acquittals are not uncommon - their number was about half. If acquitted, the church could pay reparations to the person who was tortured.

If the executioner received a confession of witchcraft, and the court found the person guilty, most often the witch faced a death sentence. Despite a considerable number of acquittals, about half of the cases resulted in executions. Sometimes milder punishments were used, for example, expulsion, but closer to the 18th–19th centuries. As a special favor, the heretic could be strangled and his body burned at the stake in the square.

There were two methods of making a fire for burning alive, which were used during the witch hunts. The first method was especially loved by Spanish inquisitors and executioners, since the suffering of the person condemned to death was clearly visible through the flames and smoke. This was believed to put moral pressure on witches who had not yet been caught. They built a fire, tied the convict to a post, covered him with brushwood and firewood up to his waist or knees.

In a similar way, collective executions of groups of witches or heretics were carried out. A strong wind could blow out the fire, and the topic is still debated to this day. There were both pardons: “God sent the wind to save an innocent man,” and continuation of executions: “The wind is the machinations of Satan.”

The second method of burning witches at the stake is more humane. Those accused of witchcraft were dressed in a shirt soaked in sulfur. The woman was completely covered with firewood - the accused was not visible. A person burned at the stake managed to suffocate from the smoke before the fire began to burn the body. Sometimes a woman could burn alive - it depended on the wind, the amount of firewood, the degree of dampness and much more.

Burning at the stake gained popularity due to its entertainment value.. The execution in the city square attracted many spectators. After the residents went home, the servants continued to maintain the fire until the heretic's body turned to ash. The latter usually scattered outside the city so that nothing would remind of the machinations of the person executed at the witch’s fire. Only in the 18th century did the method of executing criminals begin to be considered inhumane.

The Last Witch Burning

Anna Geldi.

The first country to officially abolish prosecution for witchcraft was Great Britain. The corresponding law was issued in 1735. The maximum penalty for a sorcerer or heretic was one year in prison.

The rulers of other countries around this time established personal control over matters that concerned the persecution of witches. The measure severely limited prosecutors, and the number of trials decreased.

It is not known exactly when the last burning of a witch took place, since methods of execution gradually became more and more humane in all countries. It is known that the last person officially executed for witchcraft was a resident of Germany. The maid Anna Maria Schwegel was beheaded in 1775.

Anna Geldi from Switzerland is considered the last witch of Europe. The woman was executed in 1792, when the persecution of witches was banned. Officially, Anna Geldi was accused of poisoning. She was beheaded for mixing needles in her master's food - Anna Geldi is a servant. As a result of torture, the woman admitted to conspiring with the Devil. There were no official references to witchcraft in the case of Anna Geldi, but the accusation caused outrage and was perceived as a continuation of the witch hunt.

A fortune teller was hanged for poisoning in 1809. Her clients claimed that the woman had bewitched them. In 1836, a lynching was recorded in Poland, as a result of which a fisherman’s widow drowned after being tested by water. The most recent punishment for witchcraft was imposed in Spain in 1820 - 200 lashes and banishment for 6 years.

Inquisitors - arsonists or saviors of people

Thomas Torquemada.

The Holy Inquisition- the general name of a number of organizations of the Catholic Church. the main objective inquisitors - the fight against heresy. The Inquisition dealt with crimes related to religion that required a ecclesiastical court (only in the 16th–17th centuries did they begin to refer cases to a secular court), including witchcraft.

The organization was officially created by the Pope in the 13th century, and the concept of heresy appeared around the 2nd century. In the 15th century, the Inquisition began to detect witches and investigate cases related to witchcraft.

One of the most famous among those who burned witches was Thomas Torquemada from Spain. The man was distinguished by cruelty and supported the persecution of Jews in Spain. Torquemada sentenced more than two thousand people to death, and about half of those burned were straw effigies, which were used to replace people who died during interrogation or who disappeared from the sight of the inquisitor. Thomas believed he was purifying humanity, but towards the end of his life he began to suffer from insomnia and paranoia.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Inquisition was renamed the “Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.” The work of the organization has been reorganized in accordance with the laws that apply in each specific country. The congregation exists only in Catholic countries. Since the founding of the church body to this day, only Dominican friars have been elected to significant positions.

The inquisitors protected potentially innocent people from lynching - about half of the acquittals were made, and a crowd of fellow villagers with pitchforks would not listen to the agreed upon “accomplice of Satan” and would not demand to show evidence, as the witch hunters did.

Not all sentences were death sentences - the result depended on the severity of the crime. The punishment could be the obligation to go to a monastery to atone for sins, forced labor for the benefit of the church, reading a prayer several hundred times in a row, etc. Non-Christians were forced to accept baptism; if they refused, they would face more severe punishments.

The reason for denunciation to the Inquisition was often simple envy, and witch hunters tried to avoid the death of an innocent person at the stake. True, this did not mean that they would not find reasons to impose a “mild” punishment and would not use torture.

Why were witches burned at the stake?

Why were sorcerers burned at the stake and not executed in other ways? Those accused of witchcraft were executed by hanging or beheading, but such methods were used towards the end of the Witch War period. There are several reasons why burning was chosen as a method of execution.

The first reason is entertainment. Residents of medieval European cities gathered in squares to watch the execution. At the same time, the measure also served as a way of putting moral pressure on other sorcerers, intimidating citizens and strengthening the authority of the church and the Inquisition.

Burning at the stake was considered a bloodless method of killing, that is, “Christian”. This can be said about hanging, but the gallows did not look as spectacular as a witch at the stake in the city center. People believed that the fire would cleanse the soul of a woman who had entered into an agreement with the Evil One, and the spirit would be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Witches were credited with special abilities and were sometimes identified with vampires (in Serbia). In the past, it was believed that a witch killed in another way could rise from the grave and continue to harm with black witchcraft, drink the blood of the living and steal children.

Most of the accusations of witchcraft were not very different from the behavior of people even now - denunciation as a method of reprisal is still practiced today in some countries. The scale of the atrocities of the Inquisition is exaggerated to attract attention to new releases in the world of books, video games and films.

We have all heard that in the 15th-17th centuries, Western Europe experienced a terrible period in its history, called by historians the “Witch Hunt”. In the Catholic and Protestant states of Europe, as well as in the American colonies of England, during this period women who were considered witches were massively persecuted and executed.

During the Middle Ages, the clan of witches included women who possessed knowledge and skills incomprehensible to most ordinary people. Witches knew how to “harm” by depriving livestock of the ability to produce milk, meat, lard, wool, and poultry to lay eggs. Witches allegedly robbed peasants of their harvests and poisoned food, sent terrible diseases to people, and caused droughts or floods.

On the one hand, they were respected and feared. On the other hand, such women were considered to have conspired with the devil, participated in Sabbaths and copulated with male demons.

It was for such “misconducts” that “advanced” women of that time were persecuted by the Inquisition for any denunciation and slander, and were mercilessly destroyed, having previously been subjected to severe torture.

Let us recall some of the most vividly recorded witch trials in the history of medieval Europe.

1. Bridget Bishop "The Witches of Salem"

This process took place in 1692 in New England. Then, as a result of the actions of the Inquisition, 19 people were hanged, one was crushed by stones and about 200 more were imprisoned. The reason for the trial was the illness of the daughter and niece of Pastor Salem. A local doctor diagnosed it as the influence of witches.

What to do? Search for witches! And they were found. First, an elderly woman, Bridget Bishop, owner of several local taverns, was found guilty “without trial” and hanged. And then more than seventy more “witches” were deprived of their lives.

2. Agnes Sampson

And these terrible events happened in Scotland. Allegedly, several female witches, who were friends with the devil himself and practiced black magic, tried to sink the royal ship with the help of witchcraft.

There was simply a strong storm, common in those places, and the ship was “on the brink” of destruction, but miraculously escaped. And the king of Scotland, being a superstitious man, considered this to be the work of real witches. And a witch hunt began in Scotland...

Again, the “witnesses” of the terrible witch rituals testified against the witches under terrible torture, and the first to be captured was a very respected lady in the city, a midwife named Agnes Sampson. She was terribly tortured, wearing a “witch’s bridle.” In the end, she told everything, confessed to everything and gave up five more of her accomplices. Of course, Agnes was sentenced to death, strangled and burned at the stake.

3. Anna Coldings

Among the five accomplices named by Agnes Sampson, the first was Anna Coldings. She was also accused of witchcraft, subjected to a series of terrible tortures, during which the woman admitted her participation in a ritual to summon a storm at sea, named five more accomplices and was burned alive at the stake. For some reason, history remembers Anna Coldings as the Mother of the Devil.

4. Kael Merry

Somehow, in the Dutch town of Roermond, everything went “wrong”: children began to get sick and die en masse, livestock behaved strangely, cow’s milk stopped churning into butter, it quickly turned sour and disappeared. Of course, all this was attributed to the hands of a local witch - the Danish Kael Merry.

The Spanish judges really wanted to torture Kael, but the local court took pity on Mary, leaving her alive, and simply decided to extradite her, in modern terms. Merry left Holland, but this did not save her. The Spaniards did not abandon their attempt to punish the witch; their mercenary tracked down Mary and drowned her in the Meuse River.

5. Anthony Gillis

Midwife Anthien Gillies, a resident of the Netherlands, was accused of witchcraft and the murder of unborn children and newborn babies. She was terribly tortured. And she had to confess that she slept with the Devil, killed unborn children, and hunted babies. In addition, Entien pointed out several more witches, sent a farewell curse to the entire city and accepted execution by hanging.

In total, 63 witches lost their lives in this process. They all had to confess to their crimes, led by the Devil himself. This process went down in history as the process in which the largest number of witches were killed.

Incredible facts

Various countries of modern Europe attract hundreds of millions of tourists every year. Countless people goes there from all over the world to briefly touch the history, architecture and culture of this part of the world.

However, from the 15th to the 18th centuries, Europe was far from the most pleasant and comfortable place. And for many adult women, Europe was simply a terrible place. The reason for this was religious terror due to the confrontation that existed between the Catholic and Protestant churches.

In Europe at the time, cases in which women were accused of serving the devil were commonplace. More than two hundred thousand people living in Germany, Sweden, France, Britain and other countries, found themselves involved in a terrible ordeal to discover whether they were witches.

Witch hunters used absolutely wild methods to test women for their adherence to evil spirits. Some of these methods were as cruel as they were stupid, as they left no chance for the suspects to survive. We invite you to familiarize yourself with some of these methods.

Witch-hunt

Don't let the witch sleep

The Italians were the first to use this cruel method of identifying witches, which later became very popular in Scotland. We know it as sleep deprivation.

At first glance, it does not look so scary - many of us have experienced what it is like when work required it. This is what parents face when their young children keep them awake.

However, this does not even compare with what those accused of witchcraft experienced, for whom sleep deprivation was not only a cruel ordeal, but real torture.

Potential witches had a metal hoop with four sharp metal pins inserted into their mouths. Then this hoop was attached to the wall behind the unfortunate people at such a height that they could not even try to lie down, as it caused the sufferers extreme pain.

It also happened that those who guarded the witches were ordered to prevent women from sleeping by any means, whatever the jailers could think of. Usually, after three days of forced wakefulness, the victims began to experience severe hallucinations.

When women in such a state began to be interrogated, many of them told fantastic stories about their own flights, about turning into animals. And few people had the strength to deny their participation in satanic rituals.

Witch hunters claimed that this test could "awaken" the witch in women. And this is precisely what, in their opinion, was the main evidence of the guilt of the accused. After this in Scotland, for example, the victims were strangled and then burned.

Touch test

In 1662, two elderly women in England were subjected to a notorious test called the "touch test." These women's names were Rose Kallenberg and Emmy Denny.

The women were accused of bewitching two young girls who subsequently began to have seizures. The witch hunters believed that he who is under the influence of witchcraft, should show an unusual reaction when physical contact with the one who bewitched him.

The suspect was taken into a room and then forced to place her hands on the victim, who was suffering from seizures. If the seizures stopped, this fact became evidence of the guilt of the accused.

In the Kallenberg and Denny case, prosecutors reported that young girls (allegedly their victims) during seizures they clenched their fists with such force that even the strongest men in the village were unable to unclench their fingers.

However, as soon as the elderly women accused of witchcraft put their hands on the girls, their fists unclenched, opening their palms. After this, the judge decided to check the girls themselves: they were blindfolded and began to bring dummies into the room, who also touched the victims of witchcraft.

As it turned out, the girls reacted in a similar way to the touch of any person. Thus, the judge recognized that they were fraudsters. However, this fact did not prevent the judges from convicting Kallenberg and Denny, after which they were executed by hanging.

Rack

The country that punished the largest number of witches is usually considered to be Germany. It is estimated that more than nine hundred people were killed during the five-year period of the so-called Würzburg Witch Trials in the 1620s.

Not a single suspect managed to elude Prince-Bishop Philipp Adolf of Ehrenberg, involved in mass trials. Even his own niece, 19 Catholic priests and several boys were harmed.

Seven of them were charged with having sex with demons. After this, some were beheaded and others were burned at the burning stake. The unfortunates were found guilty after their own confessions, which were obtained as a result of torture.

Torture was not unusual or illegal in Central Europe during this period. The Germans had many of their own cruel methods of extracting forced confessions from their victims. One of the most popular methods was the rack.

The rack was usually a metal frame with a wooden rotating shaft at one end (or both ends). The hands of the unfortunates were tied to one shaft, and their legs (by the ankles) to another. During their interrogations, executioners used shafts to increase pressure on joints and bones, stretching them.

If the victim was strong and stubborn, then the torture could continue until the moving bones of the skeleton came out of their joints. The unfortunate people felt terrible pain, accompanied by terrible sounds made by their own bones. After such a thing, how could anyone not admit that he was consorting with the devil himself?

Medieval witch torture

Witch Piercings

Piercing suspects with needles was considered one of the most exact ways revealing their connection with the devilish world. Suspects were stripped almost naked in front of judges and then shaved from head to toe.

Then a witch piercer (a very respected profession, by the way, at that time) looked for the so-called devil's mark on the victim's body by piercing the human body with a thick needle.

In those days, it was believed that if it was possible to find a point, the piercing of which did not lead to bleeding or cause acute pain, then this was the most irrefutable evidence of the suspect’s contacts with the devil.

This torture was akin to what is now considered one of the most egregious forms of sexual perversion and violence. In a society in which modesty was elevated to the rank of the highest virtue, many women were ready to admit anything to stop this humiliation.

In Scotland, a witch piercer could expect a reward of six pounds for identifying one witch. Given the fact that in those harsh times the average daily wage could not exceed one shilling, there is no doubt that the piercers did their best.

Like most other jobs, piercers were usually only male. However, this did not stop one woman from becoming, probably, one of the most famous witch piercers throughout the history of the existence of this method of identifying witches. Her name was Christine Caddle.

But she called herself John Dixon. Christine participated in the trials, dressed in men's attire. She is known to have sent dozens of witches to their deaths. As a result, her forgery was discovered, for which she was sent to the plantations in Barbados, where the fever was raging.

Considering the fact that many convicts did not even survive the journey to the island, and Christine got there, we can conclude that this woman had remarkable strength. Or she was just very lucky. Nothing is known about Christine's further fate.

Witch seers

The Swedes turned out to be the most inventive in their persecution of witches. They relied heavily on the children's testimony. Moreover, sometimes these were the children of the accused themselves. At the same time, children were tortured until they began to tell the necessary fantastic stories about the activities of witches.

During interrogations, children were mainly required to talk about their experience of visiting Blokula - rocks in the middle of the sea where witches supposedly gathered for their Sabbath. It was believed that at the top of the rock there was a hole through which hell could be seen.

Under torture, some young witnesses told such “creative” fantastic stories that their unfortunate parents immediately lost their lives. The Swedes believed that some boys had the ability to detect the so-called devil's mark on the faces of witches.

It was quite common practice for such boys to go around the parishioners after a church service, pointing out some of the women who were then accused of having connections with the devil. The boys were paid for each witch they discovered, and the unfortunate ones were usually executed within just a few days.

It is not surprising that among those who allegedly saw witches, most often there were homeless orphans and beggars - for them this was the easiest way to earn money. However, this work also came with very real risks. There were many cases when such “clairvoyants” were beaten to death by relatives of “witches”.

Shameful chair

The type of test known as the "chair of shame" was the most common, as it was considered the most reliable way to identify a witch. It was often used as punishment or even execution.

The victim was tied to a chair, sometimes also having his ankles and wrists tied together. The chair itself was then attached to a long beam, part of a simple mechanism resembling a well crane, after which the suspect was lowered into cold water.

The logic of this test was simple. The judges assumed that if the woman was guilty, she must have come to the surface somehow. After this, the suspect would be executed like a real witch.

If the suspect began to sink to the bottom, then she was considered innocent. The witch hunters had several reasons to believe that this type of trial was plausible.

Some believed that witches automatically floated to the surface of the water because they rejected the fact of their baptism as an act of rejection of God. Others believed that witches could use their magical powers in order to stop diving and float to the surface.

Finally, the women were convinced of their innocence by the fact that they sank to the bottom and drowned. This meant that they were not guilty of anything, and, therefore, the Lord God was ready to accept them into His Kingdom of Heaven.

According to the witch hunters, this was a much more enviable fate than the one that awaited the “guilty” - torture, punishment, execution and hell. Sometimes such immersion in water was used as a form of torture: the unfortunates were immersed several times until they confessed to what was demanded of them.

It is noteworthy that the shameful chair was created specifically for women. It was also used to execute prostitutes and so-called shrews. Vixens were considered women who brought trouble, causing confusion and discord between, for example, household members and neighbors, spreading false rumors, scolding and quarreling with them.

A special punishment was invented especially for such cases: the shameful chair was attached in such a way to the cart that it was located on a raised platform. The victim was taken through the entire city to the place of immersion in water. Humiliation was added to the other suffering of the unfortunates.

Witches of the Middle Ages

Weighing the Witch

In Holland, in the town of Oudewater, there was a very famous weighing chamber. Women came here from all over Europe, including Germany and Hungary, to prove their innocence of witchcraft.

The meaning of this idea was very simple. It was believed that the human soul is quite a heavy burden. And since a witch does not have a soul, it means that she will weigh significantly less than women innocent of witchcraft.

The weighing room contained several scales of various sizes. The woman stood on one pan of the scale, and cast iron counterweights were installed on the other. If the person weighed turned out to be the “correct” weight, then she received a certificate that confirmed her innocence.

The Dutch were not unique in their idea that weighing a woman could determine whether she was associated with evil spirits. In the English town of Aylesbury was quite normal practice, when women were stripped naked and then weighed on scales, using a heavy cast-iron Bible as a counterweight.

And if the scales turned out to be unbalanced, then the suspect being weighed was declared a witch. In other places in England, witches were weighed using several Bibles as a counterweight. If no direct evidence of guilt was found, a few more copies of Scripture could always be added to the balance...

Confrontation of the witch with the murdered man

If someone was accused of committing murder through witchcraft, in many European courts of the era guilt was proven using a very curious method, which could be called a confrontation with a corpse.

In medieval Europe, people believed that the soul of a person killed (or who died a natural death) remained in his body for some time. And that is why the body can react in some unusual way to the presence of a killer next to it.

The accused person was forced to say out loud the name of the murdered person, then walk around his body, and then touch his wounds. If blood appears on the body, if somehow the body could twitch, or if foam appeared on the lips of the dead man, then the suspect was accused of being guilty.