This article is dedicated to witches and the torture that was used against them. At all times, humanity has been extremely inventive when it comes to executions or bullying. After reading this article, cutting off a head for murder or cutting off hands for theft will seem like child's play to you.
Who are witches?
An ugly old woman or, conversely, a beautiful young woman is often called a “witch.” In general, a witch is any woman.
Here are the main charges brought against witches and sorcerers:
1. flying by air and looting wine cellars;
2. lycanthropy – the ability to turn into a wolf and kill cattle;
3. the ability to become invisible with the help of herbs;
4. curing diseases and paralysis caused by witchcraft by sending them to another person;
5. kidnapping and eating children;
6. calling Satan and making a deal with him;
7. planning to undermine the authority of the Church.
To begin with, it is necessary to clarify that our ancestors were extremely selective, even to the point of drawing up instructions and huge treatises on catching and destroying “witches”.
Devil's mark.
This “seal” meant everything that outwardly at least somehow distinguished a person from his fellow tribesmen. Big mole? Strabismus? Incredible beauty? "Burn the witch!" Anyone could fit such parameters, so if, dear reader, they decided to burn you in those days, they would have found the “seal of the devil” and that would have been the end of it.
The German treatise "The Hammer of the Witches" is sometimes called the single medieval European instruction for identifying and punishing demonic forces. In fact, there was no single set of signs of a witch. But many instructions on this topic were issued by individual secular municipalities for their lands. Moreover, they could be very different and unexpected. (which seems to suggest certain thoughts)
"He is strange".
Most often, suspicions of witchcraft fell on people not because of the discovery of evidence, but because their behavior and lifestyle seemed strange to their neighbors, and they themselves were different from others. Witches and sorcerers were declared to be strangers, unsociable loners, excessively sick people, or, conversely, the only ones who did not get sick during the epidemic, those who had special talents, who were lucky in the household, who turned out to be richer than others.
How were witches tortured?
Oh, there were more than enough ways here. However, now we will look at the most unpleasant and sophisticated methods of bullying the unfortunate accused.
Bonfire
This was the main way to eradicate witch influence on other people's sinless souls. The burnt soul excluded any possibility of confusing or staining the sinless soul. What doubts can there be?
Witch bathing chair
The sinner was tied to a chair suspended from a long pole and lowered under water for a while, then allowed to take a breath of air, and again - under water. A popular time of year for such torture is late autumn or even winter. A hole was made in the ice, and after some time the victim not only suffocated under the water without air, but also became covered with a crust of ice in such coveted air. Sometimes the torture lasted for days.
Water torture
This method was “seen” by inquisitors in the east. The sinner was tied with barbed wire or strong ropes to a special wooden device like a table with a very raised middle - so that the sinner's stomach would stick out as far as possible. His mouth was stuffed with rags or straw so that it would not close, and a tube was inserted into his mouth, through which an incredible amount of water was poured into the victim. If the victim did not interrupt this torture in order to confess to something or the purpose of the torture was clear death, at the end of the ordeal the victim was removed from the table, laid on the ground, and the executioner jumped on her bloated stomach. The ending is clear and disgusting.
Pear
This device was inserted into the most piquant orifices of the body and opened so as to cause unimaginable pain to the victim, tearing these orifices. In general, there were a lot of variations of torture involving intimate parts of the body. The most loyal of them was considered to be the use of the “cradle”. Visually it looked like a large triangle. The witch was lifted on a rope and then placed on a “cradle”, and the top of the triangle was inserted into the same holes as the Pear. It hurt to such an extent that the sinner lost consciousness. He was lifted, “pumped out” and put back on the Cradle.
Soul cleansing
In many Catholic countries, the clergy believed that the soul of a sinner could still be cleansed. For these purposes, they had to use either pouring boiling water into the sinner’s throat or throwing hot coals there. You understand that in caring for the soul there was no room for caring for the body.
Iron Maiden.
Our list closes with an extremely cunning and popular device of those times. This is a huge sarcophagus in the form of an open empty female figure, inside of which numerous blades and sharp spikes are reinforced. They are located in such a way that the vital organs of the victim imprisoned in the sarcophagus are not affected, so the agony of the person sentenced to execution was long and painful.
The opinion of historians.
Many scientists consider the so-called “witch hunts” to be a method of social regulation and a convenient way to eliminate “undesirables.” The list of accusations that you have already read above and a bunch of clarifications for different regions made it possible to blame the witch for whatever your heart desires (hunger, loss of livestock, crop failure, theft and vandalism, diseases and epidemics, loss of children, etc.)
The Hundred Years' War was drawing to a close and life was very, very hard, so in order to restore order and control over society, it was necessary to find an enemy who could be blamed for all the misfortunes.
Anastasia Yalkina.
The concept of a “witch” is akin to “UFOs”: everyone talks about them, but no one has seen them. If you do not take into account the identification with an alien ship of air or light illusions. But witches were either driven out of their homes or burned at the stake throughout Europe from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries.
Some etymology needed
Rus' did not escape the persecution of witches, mostly females. In Slavic, the words “witch” and “witcher”, “witch” and “witch” consisted of the same root. And he had nothing to do with curses, envy or sarcasm. This word is “to know,” that is, “to know.” And the particle “ma” is mother. That is, a woman with knowledge. This is where the names came from - healer, witch. People came to them for help in the troubles that befell them.
The concepts of witchcraft, fortune-telling, spells, evocation of spirits, that is, what was blamed on witches, do not even come close to knowledge. In Europe, witch is the word “witch”. But the word witch is also interpreted differently: wise or wisdom. That is, witchcraft is the prerogative of the wise.
How to become witches
Both sexes practiced witchcraft, but in Western Europe called witches more women. Initially, they were called in a modern, even very beautiful way - fairies. Opponents of witchcraft claim that there are no witches. Supporters: because they are endowed with the ability to change their appearance, turn invisible, therefore they kill at a distance, and according to Apuleius, they can set fire to the Underworld.
Modern science has its own knowledge about witches. Soviet neurophysiologists scientifically proved almost half a century ago that “sorcerers” are real. Only those that are extremely different in physiology from others.
In modern times, people are afraid, first of all, of the evil eye. The ancient philosophers, Cicero and Ovid, wrote that it is characteristic of women with two eyeballs in one eye, or containing poison in the other. There may be two yolks in a chicken egg, but about four eyes, that’s too much...
Are cats also witches?
Oddly enough, witchcraft is attributed not only to people, but also to cats, and also... to apples. The persecution of cats, as the offspring of the devil, was no less than that of female witches. Due to prejudice or superstition, people are still afraid of black cats in our times.
“Apples” go back to Avalon, according to Celtic legends, the island where the fairy Morgana lived.
Translated from the ancient Breton language, Avalon means “Island of Apple Trees,” where Satanists and sorcerers danced around the trees.
In what century were witches burned at the stake?
The witches were already in Ancient Egypt. But this trend was adopted from the neighboring Chaldeans. They were engaged in three “Ps”: predictions (weather), love spells and curses (protection of the tombs of the pharaohs). Love spells are superstition, esotericism, magical influence(love potions) on a person to increase attraction to another person. No witches were burned there.
In Europe, the love potion was drunk by famous persons Tristan and Isolde, and the origin of witchcraft began in the thirteenth century, when Christianization found its final goal, and part of the population began to fight against it, cultivating occultism and magic.
But terrible persecutions (“witch hunts”) went on from the 15th century to the 18th by Christian centers that considered witches to be heretics - servants of the devil.
In the vast majority of cases, women were sent to the stake on charges of witchcraft, although men and even children could fall under the hot hand
According to various estimates, during the witch hunt, from the 15th to the 17th centuries, from 50 to 200 thousand people were executed in Europe. What could lead others to believe that a person was collaborating with the devil?
Appearance
There is an opinion that the shortage beautiful women in Western Europe is a consequence of witch hunts. There is some truth in this statement. First of all, attractive girls who attracted the attention of the opposite sex were accused of witchcraft. The beauties clearly bewitched men through the mediation of the devil. This means that if a husband is looking at his neighbor, he can simply tell the Inquisition about it, and the issue will be resolved. Red-haired people and those with bright moles had no chance of acquittal.
There were also life-threatening defects in appearance: scars, bumps, warts. Old age could also serve as an indicator of a connection with the devil: gray hair, wrinkles, a hunched back. Well, why not a witch? The oldest “witch” burned at the stake was a 70-year-old woman.
Was deadly in the Middle Ages excess weight, although excessive thinness could indicate a connection with the devil.
Most known victim the fight against witchcraft Joan of Arc. One of the charges brought against her was wearing men's clothing.
Intelligence
Trouble threatened not only the beauties, but also the smart ones. Women who knew too much frightened their contemporaries. Possession foreign languages, incomprehensible to the neighbors, suggested bad thoughts. Although not only ladies could pay for their intelligence. Thus, in Bonn, at the beginning of the 17th century, dozens of students, university professors and even members of the clergy were executed on charges of witchcraft.
Money
The homeless and beggars who went from house to house and begged for alms were often sent to the fire. But this does not mean that wealthy citizens were safe. Financially independent women were especially frightened by medieval people. Only witches could survive without the support of men.
Girlfriends
Medieval bachelorette party lovers risked their lives. A group of women gathering without men made one wonder if they were witches organizing secret rituals or covens.
Extramarital affairs
A woman who gave birth to a child out of wedlock was considered a witch. The devil was recognized as the father of the newborn, since none of the people admitted it. The child in this case also had little chance of life.
Pets
The owners of black cats, owls, mice and other animals were most likely considered witches. In one of the principalities of Germany, a woman was burned at the stake because she was not afraid during a christening. black cat ran into the room.
pixabay.com
Accident
All troubles and damage to individuals, cities and countries were attributed to the machinations of witches. If a woman walked past her neighbors’ house and their beer went sour that day or their dough didn’t rise, the lady would be in big trouble.
The presence of spoiled food in the cellar could indicate that the hostess was keeping it for preparing witchcraft potions.
Witches were also to blame for the widespread epidemics of syphilis, cholera and plague in those years. Witches were found among healthy residents of plague-ridden cities and burned to improve the epidemiological situation.
And in 1586, in the Rhine provinces, 118 women and 2 men were executed because of the cold that lasted until June. Residents of Hungary burned dozens of witches in 1615 so that they would stop causing hail.
"Witch hunt" is now just a simple term associated with bandits or criminals who are no longer found these days. It's all about false accusations and exaggerations. This (obviously) comes from actual witch hunts that were practiced previously. Of course, it is now easy to discredit those past actions, and these witch hunts seem to be a thing of the past, but there are still parallels that can be compared to our problems today. We need to remember this, otherwise we risk repeating similar acts of unjust sentencing.
The Basque witch hunt took place in Spain during the Inquisition (in the 17th century), it was recognized as the largest and most extensive in human history. It has been proven that more than 7,000 people were burned. It is unclear why the witch hunt began, as there were no reports of witchcraft in the area before the trials began. Many believe that this all came from the church as it tried to suppress old customs and bring Catholicism to the world.
The numbers are amazing
There were several stages, for example, during the first of them, 12 convicted witches were burned. The hunt did not end there, it continued, about 2,000 more people were caught. Many of them admitted that they were witches and said that there were about 5,000 more people who were engaged in the same profession. Almost all of the people who later confessed said that their testimony was the result of excruciating torture.
Witches of Berwick
The North Berwick witch trials began in the late 1500s and continued for over two years, resulting in 70 people being accused of making a "deal with the devil". It began when King James VI was caught in a severe storm on his way home from Denmark. The officer on the ship accused bad weather, which was allegedly the result of witchcraft. After this, a witch hunt was declared in Denmark, but the involvement of women from Scotland was subsequently proven, where executions continued. It was there that the biggest witch hunts took place. First one person was tortured. No matter how hard he tried to justify himself, he eventually admitted that he was involved in witchcraft, and then called all the other “conspirators.” Many were accused and burned at the stake just because King James VI had a troubled trip to Denmark.
Matthew Hopkins
This is one of the most experienced hunters on witches throughout history. Hopkins and his team are believed to have been involved in more than 60% of the witch executions in England (1644 to 1646). It is known that Hopkins began his campaign after overhearing women discussing their encounters with the devil. He did not use conventional torture to extract confessions from the women he accused. Torture was illegal in England, so he developed his own ways of identifying witches. He deprived the accused of sleep and pricked the accused with a dull knife to extract confessions. If the wounds did not bleed, then the woman was recognized as a witch.
He also used the swimming technique, which was as follows: if the accused could safely swim out of the water, then he was guilty. But for this test, the accused was tied to a chair and thrown into a lake. One more distinctive feature was the so-called sign of the devil. This is usually a mole or birthmark, but if the suspect did not have any on his body, Hopkins believed that he could still have some “invisible” signs. Hopkins died in 1647, most likely from tuberculosis. But many believe that Hopkins was subjected to his own swimming test and then executed, just like the witches, but there is not enough evidence to support this claim.
Pendle Hill Witch Hunt
In 1612, a witch hunt was declared in the quiet town of Pendle Hill, which then continued throughout England. It began when Alison Worth asked a simple merchant named John Lowe about a pin she saw on his clothes. John refused to admit why he needed the pin, and soon after that he was paralyzed. He explained that it was witchcraft and it was all Alison's doing. She eventually admitted that she had made a deal with the devil. Alison then accused many more women of being powerful witches too. Accusations continued to come from everywhere, and 19 people were eventually arrested for witchcraft. Of these, 10 people were executed for witchcraft, and this was the beginning big hunt on witches all over England. Pendle Hill is considered the most mystical place in England, as there are many things that have been associated with witches in the area.
Salem Witches
The Salem Burnings are probably the most famous of all the witch hunts on this list and remain a reminder of what can happen when hysteria emanates from a society. The story involved 11-year-old Abigail Williams and 9-year-old Betty Paris, who experienced seizures considered too extreme for normal epileptic seizures. The doctor did not find any physical ailments and noticed similar strange behavior in other girls around them. A group of poor girls accused three women - Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba - of tormenting them. The three women were considered social outcasts and were considered "usual suspects" under the bill. From then on, the situation began to get out of control, and by the end of May 1693, 20 people were executed. These burnings remain a reminder of what can happen when religious extremism and false accusations spread through society.
© wikipedia.orgThe Inquisition is associated mainly with Catholic Church and the bloody Spaniard Torquemada. But not everyone remembers how both Orthodox and Protestants were burned for blasphemy.
They have been fighting heretics since the first centuries of Christianity, but for a long time the most terrible punishment was excommunication from the Church. From the 13th century, heretics and witches began to be burned at the stake en masse.
“The purpose of the Inquisition is the destruction of heresy. Heresy cannot be destroyed without the destruction of heretics,” writes Bernard Guy in “The Inquisitor’s Guide.” “This can be achieved in two ways: by converting them to the true Catholic faith or turning their flesh to ashes.”
Most of the tribunals were political - already due to the fact that the full power belonged to the church, and none of the sovereigns of medieval Europe could argue with the Pope. Thus, Joan of Arc was burned allegedly for intercourse with the devil, but in fact for her role in the war against England, Giordano Bruno for believing in the infinity of the universe, Jan Hus for preaching against the Roman Church. The Inquisition also dealt with Jews and Protestants.
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The first inquisitorial courts were led by Dominicans - followers of Dominic Guzman. People began to call the Dominicans "Domini Canes", which in Latin means "dogs of God", and this nickname was loved by the order itself: they imagined themselves as dogs driving away wolves from the flock of Jesus.
The persecution of witches and sorcerers was carried out by the Inquisition with exceptional cruelty.
“I saw how executioners crushed a slender human body, loosened it in all joints, forced the eyes to pop out of their sockets, pulled out the feet from the legs, the shoulders from the shoulder blades, jerked a person into the air, crushed bones, stabbed him with needles, burned him with sulfur, poured oil on him,” - this is how contemporary Pastor Mayfarth describes torture at the beginning of the 17th century.
Formally, the church did not punish heretics. The heretic was declared deprived of the patronage of the church and was “set free” with the words “let him be punished according to his deserts.” After this, the accused was handed over to the secular authorities, whose jurisdiction included execution.
The clergy called on the authorities to show mercy, as the inquisitors themselves admitted, so that it would not seem that the Inquisition agreed to the shedding of blood. However, the church vigilantly ensured that its verdict was not misunderstood by the secular authorities, and the heretic was guaranteed to be sent to the stake. At the same time, burning alive was the preferred execution precisely because “no blood was shed.”
Succubi and Incubi
In 1486, the most famous work on witches was published, Malleus Malificarum, or "The Hammer of the Witches", written by the inquisitors Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. An opus that described the importance of recognizing the vileness of witchcraft and step-by-step instruction witch trial, became a reference book for inquisitors of all times.
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“It is no miracle that wives are more defiled by witchcraft heresy than men,” says the “Hammer of Witches.”
Women were more often accused of witchcraft, since it was believed that women were more lustful and more easily susceptible to the influence of the devil.
The first witch, burned in 1275 in Toulouse, was accused of carnal relations with the devil. In the Middle Ages, people believed in incubi and succubi - lustful demons in male or female guise that come during sleep and rape their victims. The intercourse of a man with such a demon was equated to sodomy - it did not matter whether he was an incubus or a succubus, since behind each mask there was a devil hiding.
Persecution of Jews
The Inquisition received its greatest development in Spain, which was densely populated by Jews and Moors, which contributed to xenophobia and religious fanaticism. Jews began to be baptized initially, but even after their conversion to Christianity they were constantly suspected of secretly adhering to the Jewish faith.
Even tempting smells from the kitchen could serve as a reason for persecution. At the end of the 15th century, Spanish Sephardic Jews were identified by the fact that they observed Shabbat, the Holy Saturday, by preparing a special dish, cholent, in advance.
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The book “A Drop of Honey. Recipes and fates of secret Jews in Spain,” which culinary expert Elena Chkalova cites in her article for Kommersant, tells how Jewish Beatriz Nunez cooked a dish of lamb stomachs, eggs and chickpeas. She was taken in the spring of 1485 following a denunciation from a maid, tortured, declared a heretic and burned at the stake. The recipe for the dish came to us in the interrogation reports.
“Maria Gonzales loved to cook a casserole of eggplant, eggs, cheese and herbs on Friday for Saturday. She was arrested in 1510 following a denunciation from a neighbor who smelled a “devilish” aroma coming from the kitchen. Maria was sentenced to life imprisonment with confiscation of property,” - writes Chkalova.
Holocaust in Bamberg and Würzburg
In the 17th century, two German towns gained fame as centers of witch hunts. In 1625-30, a number of high-profile trials took place in Bamberg. The ruler of the city, Gottfried Johann Georg II Fuchs von Dornheim, received the nickname “the witch bishop.”
Over five years, about 600 people, including noble people, were burned in Bamberg. Among the witches who died in the fire were dozens of little girls as young as seven years old.
Von Dornheim created a special prison for witches, where they were tortured. The trials took place so quickly that the defendants were interrogated in groups of ten and were recorded not by name, but by number: No. 1, No. 2...
“They all confessed that there were more than 1,200 of them, connected among themselves by serving the devil, and that if their witchcraft and devilish art had not been discovered, they would have caused all the grain and everything to perish within four years in the whole country. wine, so that people would eat each other out of hunger," the sources wrote. "Others confessed that they produced such strong storms that trees were uprooted and large buildings collapsed and that they wanted to cause even stronger storms to bring down the Bamberg Tower ".
Anyone who showed sympathy for the victim was arrested. Among these was the district vice-chancellor, Dr. Georg Haan, who tried to stop the witch trials, but was himself convicted; he was burned at the stake along with his wife and daughter.
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At the same time, a witch hunt unfolded in neighboring Würzburg. The number of victims reached 900 people, while about 40% of those executed for witchcraft were men, while usually the vast majority were women. Among the sorcerers there were many priests who “betrayed the holy church and entered into an agreement with the devil.”
About 300 of those burned alive were boys and girls as young as nine years old. The list of those executed includes 19-year-old Gobel Babelin, “the most beautiful girl in the city".
Protestant fanaticism
In the 17th century, the Inquisition targeted Protestants, followers of Martin Luther. But Protestants acted not only as victims, but also as executioners.
The first victim of Protestant fanaticism is considered to be the Spanish physician and philosopher Miguel Servet, who discovered the pulmonary circulation. His enemy was John Calvin, the founder of Calvinism. Servetus's book "The Restoration of Christianity", in which he called for a return to the origins of the Bible, refuted the dogma of the Trinity and advocated baptism at a conscious age, was recognized as heretical.
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Servet fled from the Inquisition. But in Geneva he was unlucky enough to go into a church where Calvin himself was preaching at that moment. It was he who recognized the fugitive and called the guards. On a cold October morning in 1553, a fire was prepared for 42-year-old Servetus. There were few logs, the weather was chilly, and the scientist had to burn slowly and painfully.
The most notorious Protestant witch trial (Salem's Lot) took place in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. Suddenly, one pastor fell ill nine year old daughter and a 12-year-old niece. Their doctor decided that the cause of the illness was the influence of a witch. The first to be arrested were a slave maid, a beggar woman and a lonely widow. The sick girls claimed that they saw these women during seizures.
Then the circle of suspects began to grow exponentially. 150 people were jailed on charges of witchcraft, the youngest of whom was a four-year-old girl. 19 people were hanged. One suspect, an 80-year-old farmer, was subjected to particularly brutal torture - heavy stones were placed on his chest to extract a confession. The old man died two days later.
The trial ended when one of the pastors admitted that the visions could not be the basis for an accusation. Thanks to this, the remaining 28 suspects were released. But the sentences against “witches” were finally declared illegal only in the middle of the twentieth century.
Bonfires of the Russian Inquisition
Witch hunts and the fires of the Inquisition are common among Orthodox arguments for the fallacy of the Catholic faith. However, cruel sentences for blasphemy were characteristic of the history of Orthodoxy in Kievan Rus and the Moscow Empire.
The 12th century chronicle “The Tale of Evil Spirits,” compiled by Metropolitan Kirill, notes the need to punish witches and sorcerers by church courts. It says that in 1024, in the Suzdal land, wise men and “dashing women” were captured and put to death by burning. They were accused of being the culprits of the crop failure, writes Efim Grekulov in the book “The Orthodox Inquisition in Russia.”