How cruel was it to kill witches in medieval Europe?

You will be tortured as thin as a wing, and the sun will penetrate your body.

In this19th century woodcut, a young woman regarded as a witch will face all-round "examination" and "inquiry" from monks. After being stripped of all her clothes, the poor man will be tortured in all kinds of ways until the recorder next to her induces her to tell the confession that the monks want. Only the instruments of torture shown in the picture include finger flail, soldering iron, violin flail, chain flail, fetters, pliers, and some horrible limb stretchers (right). After she repents, she may be hanged or beheaded kindly, or she may be burned at the stake as the home of ordinary witches.

Heinrich Kraemer and John Sprenger, two famous Dominican monks from Germany, wrote a wonderful book "Malleus Maleficarum". The full name of this book means "Like the most powerful spear, malleus maleficarum will give a devastating blow to witches and their heresies".

Let's take a look at how the book malleus maleficarum promotes witches. It says:

(Witches) They will summon hail and harmful storms and lightning; Infertility in humans and animals; The devil does whatever he says, killing or swallowing the child. (They) drove the manned horse crazy; They can transport themselves from one place to another in the air. ...

They can confuse judges and religious judges so as not to hurt them; They not only silence themselves, but also silence others who have been tortured. ...

Witches get together at the midnight party every year and swear to Satan that they will try their best to kill as many children under the age of 3 as possible. They will kiss the devil's ass to show that the agreement is reached, and then begin their ultimate atrocities (that is, baking and swallowing babies without restraint) ...

In this painting, a demon flies out of the mouths of three witches who are about to burn to death, and there is a witch who is about to be beheaded kindly behind the painting.

No matter how self-styled Europe is today, medieval Europe can be said to be one of the darkest times in human history. Full of bloody killings between people, especially men's killings of women. Maybe just because of a birthmark on a woman or a malicious report from a neighbor will lead to all kinds of cruel punishment beyond everyone's imagination.

Taking history as a mirror, we will try to avoid some real cases that are particularly cruel and dark and easy to cause discomfort in the following discussion, and only cite a few cruel cases recorded in history books.

"Demon mark" is a very empty concept, and the right of interpretation belongs to monks who take pleasure in eradicating witches.

When meeting a suspicious witch, these monks first stripped the victim naked, shaved her hair and looked for the so-called demon mark on her.

In the monk's view, the birthmark, mole and mole on the suspected witch are all demon marks. If the suspect has six fingers, ears are sharper than others, and tiger teeth are longer than others, it can basically be concluded that the other person is a witch.

If a suspected witch is clean and can't find any so-called demon marks, is the other person innocent?

Unfortunately, even if this happens, they will confidently claim that those marks are invisible, and the skin with invisible marks will not feel pain, even if it is punctured, it will not bleed.

So in order to find the so-called invisible mark, monks and practitioners repeatedly stabbed every inch of skin on the suspected witch with a big iron needle. When the victim's skin was completely necrotic somewhere and was stabbed again, he didn't feel pain. So these monks will successfully announce that they have found the invisible demon mark, and then pronounce each other witches and execute them.

The above picture shows a retractable spike, and its name is Bitter Witch Spike.

Later, this method became more subtle. Monks invented a retractable acupuncture therapy. To outsiders, it was a very sharp and long needle that pierced the skin of a suspected witch, but in fact the iron needle shrank into the handle when it touched the skin. In this way, the suspected witch naturally felt no pain, so she was judged as a true witch.

If a monk catches your neighbor and thinks she is a witch, you must never think that everything is all right, which is often the beginning of a large-scale tragedy.

1611On April 7th, a 70-year-old woman was arrested for desecrating the Eucharist in a village in Germany, without knowing whether she spilled the Eucharist or something.

The old woman named Barbara Lu Fen happened to have a bad temper. She not only scolded her husband, but also offended many neighbors. So when the old couple quarreled, they were scolded by the old man: "You are a witch …", and they were also reported as evidence by their neighbors.

As the news spread, more and more people accused her of being a witch, even including the daughter-in-law of the old lady.

After days of torture, Barbara Lavin, who refused to admit that she was a witch, finally changed her mind.

After recording her confession, she was beheaded and burned on May 16. But Barbara's death was only the beginning, and monks began to arrest people according to Barbara's confession.

By the end of 166 1, there had been as many as 17 large witch execution ceremonies in Erwin, Germany, and more than 100 witches and wizards were executed.

By 1662, more than 150 of the Elf Roots had fallen victim to witch hunting.

Another "masterpiece" is an illustration of how to find witches. The author is Matthew Hopkins, an English witch hunter.

Generally speaking, when interrogating witches, the process is like this.

After the witch was "censored", the interrogator asked: Who lured you to become a witch?

Panicked interrogators replied: no one lured.

So the judge recorded that she volunteered to be a witch.

The next step is to extort a confession by torture, and then the judge can induce the victim to report the witch gang by reducing the punishment or reducing the death penalty. Few people can avoid this temptation, and after the victim confessed the so-called "accomplices", the judge refused to admit the promise by changing judges or other reasons, saying that these so-called witches were sent to the stake together.

In the above-mentioned fairy witch incident, one woman gave up 29 associates and another woman gave up 24. Obviously, few people on these lists can escape.

Therefore, ordinary Europeans living in the Middle Ages simply lived in hell. Even in the Western Zhou Dynasty in China, which was still in slavery two thousand years before the Middle Ages in Europe, such large-scale incidents involving ordinary people rarely occurred in normal years.

Witch hunting movement was a huge social movement in modern Europe, which mainly occurred from15th to17th century. In this movement, more than 50 thousand people were persecuted as witches, and 80% of the persecuted witches were women.

This period happened to be an important transitional period between medieval Europe and modern Europe. Various social and economic contradictions, coupled with frequent conflicts between witches and Christians, have slowly caused social unrest. This activity mainly started during the Renaissance, reached its climax during the Reformation, and gradually disappeared after the Enlightenment. The main source of this movement is a book called malleus maleficarum. Tens of thousands of innocent people were executed, and various punishments and torture methods came into being in this movement. They regard human life as an ant, and their methods are extremely cruel.

129 October, 1485, 10, a witchcraft trial was held in the Innsbruck municipal conference hall. There is a man named Kramer who wants to launch a witch purge in this place. The defendant is a woman named Helena Schuberlin. Because this woman is tough and looks like a woman, she once cursed Kramer. In addition, because she attempted adultery and killed people with poison (witchcraft), this woman became a representative of evil and was sent to court for trial. Once her crime is established, there will be many charges, and maybe the witch hunt will start early. But Kramer failed in this experiment, but in the face of failure, he seems to have an obsession, and spent a long time writing a book "malleus maleficarum", recounting all kinds of evil deeds of witches. The completion of "malleus maleficarum" became the prelude to witch hunting and the beginning of this bloody massacre.

They believe that witches will harm others with witchcraft through evil supernatural forces. Besides, witches will do many immoral things, such as fornication, killing children, cannibalism and so on. They are representatives of the devil. /kloc-In the 6th century, "malleus maleficarum" was widely circulated, and all departments seemed to use this book as a model and basis to carry out witch hunting activities. As long as any woman is regarded as a witch, there is basically only one dead end, because no one will sympathize with a lecherous cannibal demon, and of course the people dare to speak out, and they think that the standards of witches are super funny, as long as you have moles on your body.

Of course, people who are identified as witches can't escape punishment. For those who confess, they may be lenient and die happily. For example, they admit to killing children and eating human flesh, and it is even more cruel not to admit it. Some will be hanged, some will be beheaded, some will be used as tools for priests to vent their lust and then executed, some will be burned at the stake until they turn to ashes, and some punishments are even more cruel than the top ten tortures in the Qing Dynasty.

With the help of this sentence, a frenzy arose in medieval Europe, that is, the "prey movement", also known as the "witch hunting movement." At that time, many so-called scholars believed that witches used babies to extract "devil's oil." They are willing to serve the devil and are his servants. They are arrogant, jealous, vain, greedy, disloyal, indulgent and cold-blooded ... In short, witches have all the negative aspects of human morality. To this end, we must do everything possible to execute those damn witches at all costs.

In fact, where there are witches, the "witches" who are tortured to death are just ordinary women. They don't know anything about witchcraft. They haven't even seen the devil's face. The reason why they are considered witches depends on their status. These women who are regarded as "witches" are either witch doctors, midwives, pagans or widowed people in the wild. In a word, if you are a witch, there is no room for quibbling. Even Joan of Arc was dubbed a witch before her death. Those dirty guards tortured and ravaged her crazily in the three days before her death, completely smeared her virgin body, euphemistically speaking, completely destroyed the demons in her body.

This heroine, who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie VII of France drive away the British without hesitation, was finally recognized as a witch by Charles VII and sold to the British for 10,000 pounds. The British burned her in front of the French. Before the execution, they tore off her only tattered skirt and humiliated her to the greatest extent. Poor Joan was burned twice before the British stopped, and it was decades before her witch status was restored.

In fact, those women who were identified as "witches" suffered unspeakable pain and suffering. The executioner is not executing them at all, but torturing them as much as possible. They can use any torture they want, because the leader told them that "when a witch turns her eyes because she can't stand the pain, it means she is looking for the protection of the devil. If her eyes don't move, it means she sees the devil." The devil's possession of her means that she has the strength to bear any torture. Therefore, it is necessary to torture these witches possessed by the devil more severely. If she can't bear to die, it is obviously caused by the devil, in order not to let her reveal any secrets related to the devil. "

When a woman is accused of being a "witch", no matter whether she is really guilty or not, there is only a dead end waiting for her, because every answer, every expression and even every look in the trial are regarded as a sign of guilt. No matter how to defend, it is futile, because the leader will think that this is the devil defending her.

/kloc-in the 0/7th century, a book called Memories of Christians once described the picture of punishing witches, in which it was written that "the torturer is a demon in a prison far away from the resort, grinning and roaring, torturing those witches in any way. I saw limbs separated, eyeballs dropped, hands and feet broken, muscles wrapped around joints, scapula twisted and tortured. Howling spread all over the square, while onlookers shouted excitedly, and even some people personally participated in it, torturing witches in their own way ... The defendants were lifted and put down, rotated or inverted, and the executioners whipped them, beat them with barbed sticks, pricked them with needles, stabbed them with spears, burned them with sulfur, branded them with soldering irons, and splashed them with fish oil ... In short, everything was more terrible than the real devil. God, are we really fighting the devil? "

According to incomplete statistics, in the "witch hunting movement" in the15-18th century, 200,000-300,000 women considered as "witches" were killed in various ways. Although the witch-burning flame has long since been extinguished, this cruel behavior is still worthy of reflection. The Renaissance allowed people to see a new life, but the witch hunting movement plunged people into darkness!

Wow, a strange crow, an old woman riding a broom flying through the air, gave a sharp laugh. This seems to be our first impression when we mention witches. But do you know that in Europe, during the 300 years from 15 to 17 century, countless young women were branded as "witches" and died in raging fires. Why is this? Do they really think witches bring disaster to the world? And follow the author to find out.

First of all, let's have a general understanding of the social background of medieval Europe. In the Middle Ages of Europe, it was also named the "Dark Age". During this period, barbarians in western Europe invaded and established countries. The previous classical culture was replaced by the medieval culture with strong religious color. Religious power and kingship compete for control, and the church is above the king. At the same time, the Black Death that broke out in14th century also cast a shadow over this land. In this context, people caught in religious fanaticism blamed all these disasters on the witch's magic, so an absurd witch-killing movement began.

How do they judge who is a witch? Either, it's an ugly woman. If she is ugly and has a hooked nose, there is no doubt that she is a witch. Or, a woman who knows something about pharmacology. Because in their concept, witches use the magic of herbs and spells when casting spells. They call monsters by chanting, and anyone who offends them will be cursed and die painfully. It is also believed that witches will use babies to extract oil that will keep them young forever, and will also lure decent people to become slaves of the devil. Therefore, some women who are beautiful in appearance or whose behavior does not meet the standard of "lady" in their minds will also be accused of being witches. Then there are women who have cats, especially black cats. At that time, people thought that black cats were psychic and evil. They will devour people's souls and are the messengers of witches. So they not only persecuted women, but also killed cats.

So, how should women who have been framed as witches prove their innocence? The answer is almost impossible. At that time, people would test whether they were witches or not, but the methods they used were creepy. They believe that witches feed their monsters with blood, so they will strip off their clothes and examine them carefully without touching any suspicious wounds. They also believe that witches are insensitive to pain because of the devil's power, so they will use needles, even eyelids. They will also press women's hands into boiling water to take sacred objects. If the burns subside after a few days, they will be innocent. Or tie their hands and feet and throw them into the water. If they sink, they are innocent. If they float, they will be burned to death. All kinds of cruel and bizarre inspection methods are not listed here. Countless women cannot survive the torture.

In fact, the stake is only one of the means of killing, but it can be seen by more people. When the "witch" was tied to a post full of firewood by the "messenger of justice", the crowd cheered as if they had really killed a heinous bad man. When the fire began to burn, the "witch" made a painful sound. Some prayed and some were excited, as if the flame was the light to save their souls from going to heaven.

The upsurge of burning witches in medieval Europe actually killed innocent women, which was a barbaric and cruel act and also oppressed women. It can be seen that every time a person loses his mind, it will become a terrible disaster.

From 14 to 17 century, Europe fell into the most notorious "witch trial" storm in human history. The history of witch hunting is definitely the most important reason why the Middle Ages were regarded as dark.

In that ignorant age, "executing witches" was equivalent to the lowest circus erotic performance. Whenever there is a "good show" to execute witches, it often leads to a temple fair-like scene. When a "witch" is tried, she must undergo a naked examination to satisfy the male sensory stimulation. There are also many vendors selling food in the square where stakes are levied, just like festivals. In a report in 168 1, a man fell off his horse and broke his neck because he was anxious to see the witch executed.

From 14 to 17 centuries, plagues and natural disasters broke out in Europe every once in a while. In the era of lack of technology, people are happy to attribute these to demons and witches. Witches are often regarded as the mistress left by Satan and the accomplice of the devil. They will use mysterious techniques and curses to make people sick and even die.

The image of witches appeared in the Bishop's Code in the 10 century. In the centuries of word of mouth, their strength is getting stronger and stronger, and their evil is getting stronger and stronger. At night, they ride a broom or some kind of animal, fly from the window to the darkness, and harm people everywhere in the dark.

Witches have powerful and evil power, which comes from their lover Satan. Witches tryst with the devil and join satanism. Witches and demons usually hold meetings in the middle of the night. They make fires in secluded mountains and deep forests. First, they hold the "Black Mass" ceremony, and the devil will take many forms. After the ceremony, the witches surrendered to the devil, and finally they had promiscuity.

This out-of-nothing witch club became an important evidence to convict witches in the Middle Ages. Countless women accused of being "witches" were brutally tortured and asked to admit that they had participated in witch clubs!

People's misfortunes will be blamed on demons and witches. Demons are powerful and difficult to catch, but witches are much simpler and become the best scapegoats.

1484, the Pope issued an order: "(Witches) can never be forgiven. They are heinous and shameless. " This is equivalent to a legally binding witch wanted order. Two years after the Pope issued a decree, two monks published a book called malleus maleficarum, which mainly taught judges how to distinguish witches. This book summarizes the so-called magic and witchcraft. The terrible thing is that there is no bottom line in judging witches. Any woman who is found and exposed will be arrested and the arrested woman will be tortured. Most people will eventually be forced to admit that they are witches.

Some people accused of being witches will be punished very badly and put through the cruel witch test. In court, prisoners will be stripped naked and shaved, and female prisoners will be hung in the middle of the court. A person will take a needle and stick it all over her body, looking for the trace of the devil. If there is no pain or bleeding at a certain point on the needle, it is the so-called witch sign, or even the scar on the female prisoner.

The other is to throw a person accused of being a witch into the water. If she sinks into the water, it means she is innocent. If she comes to the surface, she will be regarded as a witch and executed immediately.

Many women were executed as witches because of absurd accusations. 1692 In February, the daughter of a priest in Salem, Massachusetts, USA, got a strange disease, showing lethargy, throwing things and screaming, and then seven girls who had been inseparable from her also showed the same symptoms as her. The priest invited the doctor to see him, and the doctor asserted, "They were bewitched by witchcraft." Then these girls recognized three women and suspected that they were witches. These three women are slaves, beggars and unbelievers.

Three months later, more and more people were accused of witchcraft, about 200 people. Cases of witches continue to increase. Six women were sentenced to be hanged as witches in the summer. However, more and more people show the symptoms of evil diseases, and more and more people are accused of witchcraft. Finally hanged 19 people, and one person was crushed to death by a stone pile.

The absurd proof of witches in medieval Europe also led fanatics to lynch witches. This sloppy law enforcement action is usually composed of so-called evil spirit victims. In the extreme chaos, "witches" were chased and whipped, and finally they were killed alive in a mess of sticks or stones.

If the witch is convicted of repentance, the court can be more lenient and hang her; If she does not repent, she will be tied to the stake and burned alive.

This absurd and disastrous era for women lasted for three centuries. Countless women have been casually labeled as "witches" and become the targets of religious hunting. Many weak and innocent women were labeled as witches by various cruel criminal laws because of a word or a little gesture, and were hanged and burned after being tortured. Once accused by unscrupulous people as "witches", they have to face death!

Nature is full of predatory killing, which is caused by the laws of nature. Animals kill to survive. Humans are the only higher animals that violate the laws of nature, because humans kill animals or similar animals not only for food, but also for more significance. The cruelty of human cannibalism far exceeds all the killings in nature, and the atrocities of hunting witches in medieval Europe are the most obvious examples.

From 15 to 18, there was a wave of witch hunting in Europe. In three centuries, about100000 witches were executed. These so-called witches are just ordinary women. They are not real witches. There are three purposes to hunt them: First, to reduce the population, because the Black Death made Europe very poor and could not afford to raise more people, so killing women was the choice at that time; Second, maintaining religious authority, Christianity can't cure the Black Death, and they blame the disease on witches, so many ordinary women are executed as witches; Third, framing women. At that time, if poor men couldn't get a wife, they would identify the woman they liked as a witch and torture them to death.

From 65438 to 0486, Catholic monks and inquisitors Kramer and Lucy Blanche published the book malleus maleficarum, which introduced in detail how to identify, judge and execute witches. This book has become a treasure house for hunting "witches", and many guardians use this book to deal with witches. In fact, once others identify you as a witch, no matter how you defend or keep silent, malleus maleficarum will identify you as a witch and execute you cruelly. Usually, witches are executed by burning and beheading, that is, burning alive or beheading in public. In addition, there are many tortures used to force women to admit that they are witches.

In the invention and use of torture methods, East and West have reached the same level. Torture in Europe is no less than that in China, and the degree of cruelty is the same. In 20 13, Austrian writer Robert published the book "Hunting Witches", in which he wrote that many innocent women admitted that they were witches because they could not bear the torture, and finally they were brutally executed. Death is a relief for them, but living is a pain. The use of torture against women shows that the executioner lacks sufficient trust in his beliefs. They are afraid of the power of the devil and witchcraft. They not only get strength from church and prayer, but also torture witches to increase their inner security.

Maria of Nordlingen, Germany has withstood the test of 62 kinds of instruments of torture, and her perseverance is the fundamental destruction of the white terror of Nordlingen. She stubbornly survived the torture of torture instruments, proved her innocence with flesh and blood and iron willpower, and was finally released. 20 12 June, Germany rehabilitated the "witch" who was persecuted 385 years ago, and returned those victims with innocent lives. Facts have proved that witch hunting is an atrocity and a true embodiment of human selfishness and evil. During the same period, European Crusaders made many crusades and brutally slaughtered cities. They fight for God, but actually for land and wealth!

The so-called civilization is just the rules of the game formulated by capitalists when they find that stable social development is conducive to the long-term development of capital. ...

Witch hunting at that time seemed to regard women who pursued fashion and freedom as witches!

The Middle Ages in Europe ended in 1453. The case you cited has reached the17th century, when even the Renaissance was over. I really don't know what you wrote this article for. Your own attitude towards history is not rigorous. What is written will have no other effect except being laughed at by others.