Superstition: Belief in Witches

1. Superstition: Belief in Witches

2. Overview - traditional beliefs and fears still retained their hold on Western culture, Almost all Europeans believed in the power of demons and were preoccupied with sin, death and the devil

3. Witch Hunts and Panic • B/t 1400 and 1700 courts sentenced an estimated 70,000-100,000 ppl to death for harmful magic and diabolical witchcraft. • Witches were said to attend mass meeting known as sabbats- where they were believed to fly, accused of conspiring with the devil, cannibalistic practices, and ritual acts.

4. Causes of Witch Hunts • 1) Societal chaos created by religious division and warfare. Religious wars created panic. Scapegoating for community problems. • 2) Church influence • Reformation-ppl felt compelled to protect themselves against the powerful devil by executing those perceived witches. • RCC claimed magical powers came from God or devil. • 3) Political motives-gov’ts wanted to eliminate competition and painted their competitors as “devilish”. • 4) Explaining unexplainable occurrences. Most midwives were women; if babies died in childbirth midwives could be blamed. • 5) Misogyny – Europe was a patriarchal society

5. Village Origins Cunning folk helped people cope with calamity in villages. They gave hope that magic could undo calamities Knowledge of magic made a person important in village society Village Satanism - a substitute for an impossible social revolt, a way spurn the values of one’s masters, reaction against urban Christian society’s attempts to impose law on the countryside Local fertility cults-semipagan practices acquired features of diabolical witchcraft (possible, though not probable origin)

6. Influence of Clergy Popular belief in magic was the essential foundation of the great witch-hunts. Christian clergy practiced magic-exorcism of demons, Holy sacraments. Clergy actively encouraged fear of demons and the devil which gave clergy more moral authority. Church declared only its priests possessed legitimate magical power.

7. Influence of Clergy • Made witch-hunts a life-and-death struggle against Christian society’s worst foes - those with allegiance to the devil. • Attacking witches allowed Christian society to extend its power and influence over villages or territories • Other potential causes: • Ten Theories of the Origins of the Witch Hunts

8. Why Women? • 80% of victims were women-45-60 years of age and single. • Male hatred (misogyny) and fear of women when women threatened to break out from male control, witch-hunts were simply woman hunts. • Older single women were easy targets-dependent social group in need of public assistance and became natural targets for the “social engineering” of the witch-hunts. • More women laid claim to supernatural powers.

9. The Hammer of Witches by Kramer and Springerl

10. End of the Witch Hunts • Emergence of a new scientific worldview disbelieved powers of witches. • Advances in medicine and the beginning of insurance companies allowed people to rely on themselves more. • Witch-hunts got out of hand, threatened anarchy. Accusers could become the accused. Sometimes powerful people were accused. • Reformation made devil less fearsome. Emphasis on God as only spiritual force in universe, though witch trials occurred in Protestant countries as well as Catholic • Both imaginative and philosophical literature of 16th/17th C suggested human beings have a significant degree of control over own lives, no need to fear demons.