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| opium poppy |
These gardens were tended diligently because they were a valuable asset to the families and midwives who used them. These “wise women” who passed down the knowledge of these plants, flowers and herbs would later be branded, beginning in the 1300’s, as “witches” by the Catholic and Protestant churches of both the Old and New World. Between the 1300’s and 1700’s in Europe, millions of women were executed for “witchcraft”, and men were also, at times, executed as “warlocks.” During a witchcraft investigation in Europe in 1593 a man (who was married) was examining a woman for any unusual marks or disfigurements which could be interpreted as proof of a relationship with the devil. Quite by accident, he “discovered” her clitoris, but, not knowing what it was, labeled it as a “devil’s teat,” sure proof of the woman’s guilt. At first, he did not want to reveal this discovery because, “…it was adjoining to so secret a place which was not decent to be seen.” In the end he was not willing to hide such a serious and strange piece of evidence. When he showed his discovery to onlookers (all men), they were amazed because they had never seen anything like it. The “witch” was convicted and burned at the stake.
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| drying herbs, flowers and plants |
On the other hand, apothecaries (pharmacists) of the Middle Ages (we’re talking about men here) dealt in some weird and fantastic remedies. They sold things such as viper’s flesh, crab’s eye, lion dung, earthworm oil, moss from the skull of a dead man, goat urine, powdered mummy, and that most rare of things, horn of unicorn. These and other substances were mixed to create remedies. It appears that women were more in touch with effective medicine than the male physicians and apothecaries of the day. During the bubonic plague which swept through Europe in the mid-1300s and killed anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 of the population, the survival rate for patients who went to female practitioners (“wise women” or “witches,” depending upon your perspective) was higher than that of those who were treated by male physicians and apothecaries.
And speaking of drugs, where does the “Rx” symbol come from? We see it everywhere and everyone knows it refers to a prescription (drugs). But what does it mean?
In the Middle Ages, and later, astrology was considered a science and was studied seriously and extensively. The belief that the planets, moon and stars had a significant influence in the affairs of “men” (and women), was widely accepted. One of the beliefs of astrology was that the planet Jupiter wielded a tremendous influence over the physical health and well being of human beings. The astrological symbol for the planet Jupiter was “Rx”, and as time went by this symbol came to represent the medicines/drugs given to people to improve their health or cure an illness. That is why on every bottle of medicine dispensed by a pharmacy, you see the symbol “Rx.” It is now virtually interchangeable with the word “prescription.” When you are asked for your prescription number, you immediately look for the “Rx” symbol, followed by a series of numbers.
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| The planet Jupiter |
Note: I just remembered that the English word “wife” derives from the Middle English word “wyf” which meant “woman.” Just throwing that in because this post deals primarily with women's history.
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| Women of the Middle Ages |
In 1486, 6 years before Columbus sailed, two Dominican priests from Germany named Kramer and Sprenger wrote and published a book entitled Malleus Malefic- arum (“The Hammer of Witches”). It was a witch-burning manual, a sort of “how-to” book, which described in detail how to identify, detect, question, torture (to be piously done with the sprinkling of holy water and the saying of prayers), convict and cure those, mostly women, suspected of witchcraft. It became an instant best-seller and unleashed a pent-up hysteria that had existed in Europe for over 150 years.
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Title page of "The Hammer of Witches."
In 1321, Dominican advisors to Pope John XXII agreed with him that his enemies were trying to kill him via the use of magic. The Pope and his Dominican advisors spearheaded a campaign throughout Christian Europe against what were commonly known as the “cunning arts,” the ancient folk traditions, knowledge and lore having to do with fertility, childbirth and medicine - commonly known as “witchcraft,” and its practitioners, mostly women, as “witches” - from the Anglo-Saxon word “Wicca.”
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Goya's vision of a meeting of witches. |
This campaign was slow to take root and few people were punished or burned for the crime of witchcraft.” However, this all changed with the publication of “The Hammer of Witches” in 1486. It cloaked, under the guise of Christian piety, a crusade to rid Europe of anyone suspected of practicing either the black arts or not conforming to church doctrine (heresy). This hysteria condoned the use of torture to extract “voluntary” confessions. It opened the doors to false accusations against neighbors, the settling of old hatreds, and the means of coveting and gaining lands of those who would not sell their ancestral homes. What did one have to do to be declared a “witch” or “warlock”? One had to renounce the Christian faith (any words interpreted as counter to Church teachings were deemed heretical), devotion to and worship of the devil, the sacrifice of unbaptised children to the devil (a missing child could set off a storm of accusations and lead to the arrest of someone, whether or not the child was ever found), and engaging in carnal lust with either the devil or his demons (the “incubi” and “succubi”). This was difficult to prove, but a confession under torture was a valid admission of guilt.
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The torture of an accused witch with someone ready to take down a confession or words implicating other individuals. |
The panic that swept through Europe was most virulent in Germany, Switzerland and Scotland. In retrospect it is easy to point out that Protestant Europe practiced a male-oriented religion which denied the value of women as equal, contributing members of society. Women were viewed as the “weaker vessel.” After all, hadn’t the serpent in the Garden of Eden first approached Eve to ask her to pick the fruit of the Tree of Life? (According to The Koran , it was a banana, but The Bible states that it was an apple - BUT, there were no apple trees in that part of the world.) Thus, she was weaker and more vulnerable to the wiles of Satan.
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| Woman, the "weaker vessel." |
Femininity itself became suspect as the search for practitioners of witchcraft continued through the 1700s. Some churchmen spread the idea that women had no souls, just as animals had none. Only men had souls and were the superior sex. Any woman who was thought odd or different was at risk of being accused, tortured and executed. To be accused was a death sentence in itself. If they confessed under torture they were burned at the stake (or pressed to death). If they refused to confess, they were burned at the stake anyway. If, as the flames began to rise about them, they finally confessed, they would be strangled at the stake before the flames consumed their body. Note how this occurs during the following scene.
THIS IS A VIDEO CLIP FROM THE FILM "1492: THE CONQUEST OF PARADISE" IN WHICH CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AND HIS SON COME UPON THE BURNING OF ACCUSED "WITCHES" AT THE HANDS OF THE SPANISH INQUISITION.
In a sadistic turn of mind, some women were partially burned at the stake, the flames extinguished, and then they were taken back to a prison cell to suffer in agony for hours, and then, finally, brought back to the stake and the flames to finish the execution. It was an epidemic that would not stop for hundreds of years. Some places in Europe saw the complete disappearance of the female population. “Witch prisons” existed in many parts of Europe and were filled entirely with the accused and condemned. A male witness to the torture of these inmates, a man named Weyer, said they were “slaughtered with the most refined tortures that tyrants could invent, beyond human endurance. And this cruelty is continued until the most innocent are forced to confess themselves guilty.” The common practice was to continue torturing the accused until they named accomplices, who were then arrested and tortured until they named others, and on and on and on… Not surprisingly, then, whole regions of Europe were found to be infected with witchcraft.
The children of accused women were in great danger as well from the techniques of torture available to interrogators. Children of the accused were tortured (even “infants,” those under the age of ten, were subjected to the brutality their mothers suffered), to elicit evidence that their mothers were, indeed, witches, even though their testimony was not admissible in trials of any other kind. The tortures inflicted upon women were creatively brutal and beyond understanding, and I will not go into detail here.
Although it is impossible to know for sure, some historians estimate that between the 1300s and 1700s as many as 4-5 million women were executed for witchcraft in Europe and the Americas. Other historians place the number much lower, approx. 200-300,00 women executed. But no matter what the number, it qualifies as a holocaust of major proportions. It is for this reason that this period between the 1300s and 1700s in both Europe and America are referred to as "The Burning Time." Travelers in Europe commented about coming upon whole areas/villages/towns/rural areas almost devoid of women. It truly was "The Season of the Witch."
To end on a lighter note, think of your pets at home, that cute little dog or cat that keeps you company. During these years it would have branded you as a witch to have an animal inhabiting your dwelling. It would have been thought of as a witch’s “familiar” (or “imp”), a spirit that connected you to the devil. It took centuries for people to get over this prejudice.
To end on a lighter note, think of your pets at home, that cute little dog or cat that keeps you company. During these years it would have branded you as a witch to have an animal inhabiting your dwelling. It would have been thought of as a witch’s “familiar” (or “imp”), a spirit that connected you to the devil. It took centuries for people to get over this prejudice.
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| This cute pet might have gotten you in trouble during the witch hysteria of the Middle Ages. |
In the Middle Ages animals, as well as people, were tried and publicly executed for witchcraft. Birds, wolves, insects, cats, dogs and many other animals were victims of ecclesiastical courts who accused these animals of being witches and heretics. The were punished by being excommunicated, tortured and killed. The last such trial took place in 1740, when a French judge found a cow guilty of sorcery and sentenced it to be hung by its neck until it was dead. In 1386, also in France, a judge ordered a pig to have its legs broken and mutilated, and to then be hanged, for the killing of a little girl. The pig was dressed up in the child’s jacket and dragged to the town square just as if it had been a condemned human criminal or witch. There, the public watched and cheered as the torture and execution was carried out.
Note:
The following video was sent to me by a reader who thought I might be interested in this, her creation. The piece is an engaging "wrap-up" of my post/lesson/story. Give it a look before I leave you with my final thought.
The following video was sent to me by a reader who thought I might be interested in this, her creation. The piece is an engaging "wrap-up" of my post/lesson/story. Give it a look before I leave you with my final thought.
FINAL THOUGHT:
FINIS.