Why did a large number of witches execute frequently in the dark Middle Ages of Europe?

The Middle Ages in Europe was a dark age, where religious power was higher than royal power, many speeches were suppressed and heresies were executed. As a witch who is said to have magical powers, she is not immune. According to historical records, witches were persecuted in medieval Europe for more than 300 years, and a large number of witches were executed, including many innocent people. Today, through historical records, we can still see countless evils brought to witches and women in the Middle Ages.

witch

Who is the "witch"

The word witch originally meant "wise woman", and later it was extended to "witch" and "witch girl". In the childhood of human society, witchcraft is a kind of magic that controls the natural forces and the transfer of ideas. Archaeologists found the pattern of half-man, half-beast wizard calling the god of the forest on the cave murals of Neolithic Age.

Wizards in ignorant society bear a very heavy social role: they use spells, but they also use potions to protect people from natural disasters, foreign invasion and enemies; Correct mistakes in the supervision department and measure right and wrong; Explain natural and terrible phenomena, etc. ...

In European folklore, the early "witches" were represented by the witches Cecil and Medea in ancient Greek mythology. According to legend, Sisi has powerful magic power. With the help of herbs, she can recite spells and summon the gods to cast spells. People who offend her will become animals and create the illusion that they don't exist. Ceci can also hide the moon and the sun, darken the earth, and poison her enemies.

witch

Medea, another witch in European legend, is a princess of Kocsis Island and the goddaughter of the goddess of the moon, who knows how to modulate dark magic such as elixir, divination and poisoning. Medea fell in love with Jason, a foreign prince who opposed his father in order to get golden fleece. Medea killed her brother Jason for her love. Later, Jason moved on and married the princess of a neighboring country. In a rage, the abandoned Medea made a dress full of poison, gave it to Jason's fiancee, killed her and brutally killed her two young sons.

For most of the time after mankind entered the "civilized society", female witchcraft practitioners had good social status and economic interests, which caused jealousy and revenge of male witchcraft practitioners and the whole male society, so they deliberately fabricated various charges to persecute them, or equated female colleagues with mental patients.

Mad persecution in the Middle Ages.

In medieval Europe, it was generally believed that witches coated themselves with "devil's oil" made of babies every night, then slipped in through cracks and keyhole, climbed up the chimney, rode on broomsticks, spindles or spaceships, and flew to the gathering place of demons to attend witches' parties ... If they had evil thoughts, they would be tempted by demons, and women's abortion and debauchery were often considered to have suffered from witches' witchcraft, hail, crop failure and diseases.

Persecuted women

From the15th century, Christian priests persecuted witches for nearly 300 years according to the "Quotations" in the Bible that "a sorcerer should not let her live". In this dark 300 years, countless good women have been wrongly labeled as "witches", or beheaded, or tied to the stake and burned to death. 1487, the church published a professional book on witch hunting, malleus maleficarum.

With the spread of modern printing invented by Gutenberg in Europe, this book was reprinted nearly 30 times in the nearly 200 years from 1487 to 1669, which triggered a lasting witch hunt. Malleus maleficarum describes in detail the specific interrogation methods for "witches" and the effective methods to ensure the success of the interrogation. This kind of trial has neither prosecution procedure nor defender. In addition to torture as a means of extracting confessions, there are so-called "witch" tests.

According to the theory provided in the book, because the "witch" is enchanted by the devil and is no longer sensitive to pain, she can torture at will. Such as burning the defendant's hand with a red-hot iron block. If the hand is burned, the defendant is guilty; Let the defendant put a holy ring in boiling water with his hand, then tie a bandage and seal on his hand. If there is no trace after 3 days, he is innocent, and so on.

An even more incredible identification method is to tie the defendant's hands and feet and throw them into the lake-if she sinks to the bottom of the lake, she is innocent; On the contrary, if she floats on the water, it means that she is blessed by the devil and must be sent to the stake. As a result of this absurd practice, whether the defendants are "guilty" or not, they will only die. According to legend, there was a saying in Europe that year: "Isn't the witch going to fly all over the sky on a broom?" The way to test whether a woman is a witch is related to her weight. Anyone who is underweight is considered a witch. "

Persecuted women

Due to different statistical sources, future generations have been unable to give an accurate answer to the number of "witches" who died in the witch-destroying frenzy. Various statistics range from hundreds of thousands to millions. Bambeck, a small town in Bavaria, was once a town with 6,000 people, but within five years, 600 people were convicted as witches and died in the fire.

In Wü rzburg, another small town with a similar population, at the same time, nearly 900 "witches" were buried in the fire, which is equivalent to one "witch" being executed every two days. 1597, Clara geissler, a German widow who worked as a day laborer, was 67 years old, but she was still framed as a "witch". She was accused of living with three demons, causing more than 240 deaths, causing the house to catch fire nine times and even burning down the city ... She swallowed her breath under torture.

At the end of the interrogation record, this sentence was written: "The devil didn't want her to give anything more, so he tightened her neck." Judges and priests benefit from it: they enjoy people's gratitude to them, and after burning a witch, they also ask the family of the deceased for firewood and money for holding a celebration party.

Persecuted women

At that time, Europeans regarded cats as witches' accomplices and killed them. This greatly reduced the number of cats in the Middle Ages and was almost extinct. The cat disaster led to the proliferation of mice, which triggered a terrible plague and killed more than 25 million people in Europe. In Switzerland, people stab a bag full of cats with a sharp knife until the cat is stabbed to death; In Copenhagen, people throw cats from the tall bell tower and listen to their dying cries. 1533, when Queen Elizabeth I held the coronation ceremony, the screams of boxes of cats in the fire were accompanied by the priest's loud prayers.

Rehabilitate the "witch"

169 1 year, the daughter of a priest in Salem village, Massachusetts, USA suddenly got a strange disease: she stumbled while walking, her whole body ached, she suddenly twitched, and her expression was very scary. Subsequently, seven girls who were always inseparable from her also had the same symptoms. From the perspective of modern medicine, this is a manifestation of "dancing sickness".

The chief culprit of such symptoms is a fungus "ergot" parasitic on rye. But it is generally believed that the real cause of children's strange diseases is Tituba, a slave in the village, another beggar and an old woman who never goes to church. People tortured these three poor women to extract confessions, and the number of "witches" and "wizards" increased step by step. More than 20 "wizards" and "witches" died in this unjust case, and more than 200 people were arrested or imprisoned. 1992, the Massachusetts legislature passed a resolution to restore the reputation of all victims in the Salem witch trial 300 years ago.

Persecuted women

Not long ago, an independent organization submitted a petition to the Scottish local Council in England, demanding that more than 4,000 Scottish witches and wizards executed in the Middle Ages be rehabilitated. Not only Britain, but also the Parliament of Glarus, Switzerland, declared it "the last witch in Europe" to be rehabilitated last year.

Ignorance and ignorance are the greatest evils of the Middle Ages. This evil not only persecuted these tragic witches, but also stifled a lot of science and freedom.