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Historians cite several reasons why witches were burned. In the Middle Ages, there was an opinion that sorcerers, witches and vampires had the ability to rise from the dead.

Therefore, a simple murder and ordinary burial could not guarantee complete neutralization, neutralization of the demonic threat. Burning the body at the stake, as it were, cleansed the soul of a heretic. This manifested a kind of mercy to the apostate - after death at the stake, the soul cleansed of sins got a chance to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Another version, Why were witches burned?, indicates special mercy Christian religion. The bottom line is that the church did not want to shed the blood of a person, even a sinner.

In this context, burning at the stake represents a merciful Christian execution without the shedding of blood.

The third version lies in the cruelty of medieval customs. The auto-da-fe procedure was organized and carried out very theatrically and spectacularly. Almost all the inhabitants of the village gathered to look at the execution.

The impressive performance and observation of the torment of the burning witch must have rendered deepest impression on observers. Potential witches and sorcerers were supposed to perceive the fire as a kind of warning and warning. This is a peculiar method of preventing anti-religious offenses.

The everyday version of why witches were burned takes into account such widespread phenomena in society as envy, greed, personal hostility, and the desire to get rid of a competitor by denunciation.

The fact that the property of the burned person was transferred into the possession of the accuser could contribute to the widespread dissemination of denunciations and slander. This can explain the large number of denunciations and accusations of witchcraft of rich people. In such denunciations, one can consider an elementary desire to profit at the expense of the accused witches and sorcerers.

However, fiction and cinema largely exaggerate the “lawlessness” of the Inquisition.

• It is generally accepted that a suspected witch was tortured with sophisticated methods until the unfortunate person died or signed a confession.
• An analysis of historical documents showed that about half of the accusations of witchcraft, divination, and defacement ended in acquittals by the court of the Inquisition.
• In some cases, a witch undeservedly accused and acquitted by the court could even receive compensation for moral and material damage.

The use of torture in witch trials was strictly regulated. It is likely that a fair amount of the torture equipment exhibited in European museums may be a fake and in reality never existed.

The duration of the investigation into accusations of witchcraft was strictly limited. That is, the inquisitors could not torture the suspect or the suspect for years. Often, instead of real torture, the inquisitors used methods of psychological influence, kept on a starvation diet in a cold room.

Often the fire was arranged in such a way that the executed was completely closed and the audience could not see the terrible torment of the burned. The practice of "merciful" auto-da-fé was common. Simply put, the accused of witchcraft gave the executioner a bribe. For money or jewelry, the executioner strangled the condemned with a rope even before lighting the fire.

It is known that the famous inquisitor Torquemada, who became famous for his cruelty and intransigence in the hunt for witches, in more than half of the cases burned not living people, but straw effigies at the stake.

Presumably, the scarecrow was used as a substitute for the prematurely deceased in the process of investigating the sinner or in cases where the criminal managed to escape from the justice of the Inquisition.

In one of the first written documents in the history of mankind, the Laws of Hammurabi, there is an article describing the process of investigating those accused of witchcraft.

• It is suspected that they were lowered into the water. The so-called "water test".
• If the unfortunate drowned, he was found guilty of witchcraft.
• But if the test subject floated out of the water, he was considered innocent.

It is noteworthy that in the event of an acquittal, the accuser had to hand over his property to the person against whom the false denunciation was written. As you can see, the Mesopotamian Laws of Hammurabi did not encourage or encourage whistleblowing.

On the contrary, in this situation, the perjurer had to think three times before writing a denunciation of a knowingly innocent person.

The widely held belief that the Spanish inquisitors were the most zealous is not true. Most likely, the idea of ​​the atrocities of the Spanish Inquisition is an element of the Anglo-Saxon information war, with the aim of demonizing a powerful competitor - Spain.

In England itself, witch burning was not widespread. However, the English establishment executed many more people than during the entire period of the Inquisition, during the "fencing" on charges of vagrancy.

People were first driven from their land, and then they were broadcast on charges of not having a permanent place of residence. In just one year, more than 100,000 vagabonds were hanged.

It is known from historical documents that the largest number of witches and cleavers were burned not in Catholic countries, as is commonly believed, but in reformist Protestant Germany of the 16th century.

In North America, almost the only case of a witch trial that ended in burning was the case of the notorious "Salem witches." This process is fairly publicized and inflated in the media and Hollywood film production.

Scientists believe that it is likely that the girls accused of Salem really had paranormal abilities or were simply crazy with deviant behavior.

In the Orthodox countries of Eastern Europe, there was no practice of burning sorcerers and widespread witch-hunting. Moreover, the Church often tried to protect witches and sorcerers from lynching by local residents.

As you can see, the reasons Why were witches burned? several can be named. In general, it is not always possible to reliably explain sociocultural phenomena.

Mikhail Ikhonsky| Jul 9, 2018

Witchcraft rituals have accompanied people throughout their history. Since ancient times, inexplicable natural phenomena have been attributed to otherworldly forces, with which only sorcerers or witches could come into contact.

Before the spread of Christianity, witchcraft in Europe was generally treated calmly. The pagan rites of the Germanic, Celtic and Slavic tribes were based on magical rituals. The Roman Empire preferred not to notice magicians and sorcerers as long as they did not cause harm to the population or the state by their actions. Everything changed with the spread of Christianity in Europe.

Heresy of the Cathars and the War on Witchcraft

In the early years, the Church, of course, condemned the practice of witchcraft. But the half-mad shamans hiding in the forests could do little harm new religion and she ignored them.

A turn in relations with witches occurred in the XII-XIII centuries during the first heresies. The Cathar movement that arose in the south of France lured away parishioners, reducing the income of the Church, which attracted the attention of the papal throne.

The inhabitants of the region were declared sorcerers and witches. A bloody crusade has begun.

Realizing that such heresies would constantly arise, the Church declared a large-scale war on witches. To counter the sorcerers, the Inquisition was created.

Witch persecution has begun

For almost a hundred years, the inquisitors fought for the purity of the faith in quite humane ways. There were trials and investigations. Sentences were passed. Sometimes even excuses.

Large-scale persecution of sorcerers, as well as the accusation of witchcraft and connections with the devil of all objectionable, began under Pope John XXII. Immediately after ascending the throne, the clergyman burned the bishop from his native city.

John was truly obsessed with the idea of ​​exterminating all witches. Papal legates went to the south of France, to Switzerland, Germany and northern Italy. The number of death sentences at this time increases dramatically. There is an accusation of "heretical witchcraft."

How people imagined witches

The enemy had to be personified. Since all accusations of witchcraft were generally false, the category of witches and sorcerers included the most different people under various pretexts. There were accusations of possession, damage by witchcraft, the evil eye, etc.

It was then that the classic image of a witch on a broom was formed; the witch who changes appearance and doing evil to people.

Bonfires are burning all over Europe

In the 1560s, all of Europe was already catching witches. With special zeal, sorcerers were destroyed in Germany. There were even published books dedicated to the fight against Evil: "The Bull on Witchcraft" and.

The accused were arrested for any reason. It was worth a neighbor to look at someone else's estate, as its owner, on a denunciation, went to the dungeons of the Inquisition. The denunciations spread everywhere. More often than others, women suffered, who could be caught for a sidelong glance, wrong movement, and even for their beauty.

At first, the trials were conducted by the inquisitors. There was even a special code with a list of actions that fell under the definition of witchcraft. However, it was not long before witch trials began to be held in secular courts.

If the inquisitorial court often acquitted the accused, then ordinary courts punished almost everyone.

Witch Trial

Particularly cynical is the search for diabolical marks on the body of the accused and the trials of witches.

Any mole, birthmark, or skin defect could be mistaken for a witch's mark. It all depended on what the judge wanted: punish or spare. In search of marks, women were subjected to severe torture and shaved bald.

A common test was the "water test". The bound woman was thrown into the river. It was believed that water, being a pure matter, would determine the witch in front of her or not. If a woman drowned, then she was declared innocent, since "the water accepted her."

If the unfortunate victim surfaced, then she was declared guilty of witchcraft.

Executions used by the Inquisitors

Before sending the victim to the fire, she was tortured, knocking out a confession of malice and witchcraft.

The execution of a witch by burning was a public spectacle, to which the whole city gathered. Often events were held during the days of fairs and other festivities.

Very rarely, beheading, drowning, or hanging were used for execution. It was believed that death at the stake is "clean" because of its "bloodlessness", and thus the clergy, as it were, forgave their victim and gave her a chance for eternal life.

End of the witch hunt

The end of the witch hunt is associated with the development of science, the emergence of Protestantism and the Thirty Years' War, the cruelty of which forced Europeans to take a fresh look at their own lives and church dogmas.

The last witch in Europe died in 1782 in Switzerland. She had her head cut off.

In total, approximately 100,000 people were executed during the Inquisition, 20,000 of whom died in Germany.

I won’t reveal a secret that in the history of civilization, the Middle Ages occupies a special page in World history, many curious people began to turn to legends, literature, architecture, even the “Pre-romanticism” movement arose - in generally accepted literary criticism - a complex of phenomena in English, for example, literature of the second half of the 18th century, including cemetery poetry, the Gothic novel and Ossianism. Particular interest was shown in early and medieval times European nations especially northerners.

In any country in Europe, there were two branches of power: the church and the monarchy, and so the first, in pursuit of ABSOLUTE power, used quite cruel measures of intimidation and obedience to the flock, which the most formidable monarch never dreamed of

Jan Luyken. Preparations for execution in 1544. Engraving of the 17th century.

Here is a fairly well-known fact of those times, which became a household name - "Witch Hunt" (not for the faint of heart)

Medieval witch trials - witch trials - continue to confuse the minds of scientists and those who are interested in history today. Hundreds of thousands accused of witchcraft or connection with the devil were then sent to the stake. What are the reasons for such a crazy outbreak of fear evil spirits, witchcraft that swept Western Europe in the 15th-17th centuries? They are still unclear. Science almost always considers the medieval witch hunt as something secondary, completely dependent on external circumstances - the state of society, the church. In this publication, I will make an attempt to explain the phenomenon of witch-hunting, based on private facts, which at first glance are insignificant and have not received the attention of researchers. Much in the published article may seem unexpected. I hasten to assure you: by publishing my findings, I am not striving for a sensation, but I am firmly convinced that the facts presented and their analysis deserve attention and further study.

The burning of witches at the Reinstein Castle (near Blankenburg). 1555

Throughout Europe, since the 15th century, the bonfires of the Holy Inquisition have blazed.

For most historians (domestic and foreign), the witch hunt is a terrifying phenomenon, but it fully corresponds to the general structure of the superstitious, dark Middle Ages. This point of view is very popular today. And yet it is easy to refute it with the help of chronology. Most of the witches were burned at the stake of the Inquisition by no means in the initial period of the Middle Ages. The persecution of witches was gaining momentum in Europe in parallel with the development of humanism and scientific outlook i.e. during the Renaissance.

Our historiography has always considered the witch-hunt as one of the manifestations of the feudal-Catholic reaction that unfolded in the 16th-17th centuries. True, she did not take into account the fact that the servants of the devil were burned with might and main in Protestant countries: everyone could become a victim, regardless of social status and religious beliefs. The most popular social theory today has not escaped such a view: witch-hunting is only a very clear indicator of the degree of aggravation of intra-social relations, the desire to find "scapegoats" who can be blamed for all the problems and difficulties of being.

Of course, the witch hunt, like any other historical phenomenon, cannot be studied abstractly, in isolation from the general historical outline. There is no need to argue with this. However, when such an approach becomes prevailing, one has the right to ask the question: is the phenomenon itself with its inherent features not lost behind the general conclusions? Facts and evidence from sources often only illustrate the picture drawn by the researcher. Although it is the study of facts and their details that is primary in any historical research.

None of the authors talking about the witch hunt ignored all the stages of the witchcraft process: the arrest of the witch, the investigation of crimes, the sentencing and execution. Perhaps the greatest attention is paid to various tortures, which brought almost one hundred percent confession in all the most heinous and monstrous accusations.

However, let us turn our attention to a much less well-known procedure that preceded torture and, in fact, served as the main evidence of guilt. We are talking about the search for the so-called "seal of the devil" on the body of a witch or sorcerer. She was searched for, first simply by examining the body of the suspect, and then inflicting injections with a special needle. The judge and the executioners tried to find places on the accused that differed from the rest of the skin surface: whitish spots, sores, small swellings, which, as a rule, had such reduced pain sensitivity that they did not feel the prick of the needle.

Devil Seals

Here is what the Russian pre-revolutionary historian S. Tucholka says about this in his work "Processes on witchcraft in Western Europe in the 15th-17th centuries": "Even before the torture, the sorceress was subjected to an operation to search for the stigmata of the devil. For this, the patient was blindfolded and long needles were pierced into the body." Ya. Kantorovich also writes about this in his work Medieval Witch Trials, published in 1889: turned to the test with a needle. Often such a place devoid of sensitivity was actually found on the body. " The Soviet researcher I. Grigulevich also reported that the presence of the "Vedov's seal" was considered an absolute sign of guilt. True, such facts were cited only in order to show the superstition and obscurantism inherent in both the medieval world in general and the clergy in particular.

Knocking out confessions. Engraving

However, the attitude of the direct participants in the events, especially demonologists, to the witch marks on the body was extremely serious. One of the first who speaks in his writings about devilish marks is the theologian Lambert Dano: "There is not a single witch on whom the devil would not put some kind of mark or sign of his power." This opinion was shared by almost all theologians and demonologists. For example, Peter Osterman, in a treatise published in 1629, argued: "There has not yet been a person who, having a stigma, would lead an impeccable life, and not one of those convicted of witchcraft has been convicted without a stigma." The same point of view was held by the demonologist in the crown - James I Stuart. This tireless fighter against witches in the treatise "Demonology" declared: "No one serves Satan and is not called to worship before him without being marked with his sign. The stigma is the highest evidence, much more indisputable than accusations or even confessions."

There is nothing strange and wonderful in the very existence of some spots or marks on the human body. But if we admit that the stories about witch signs have a real basis, then the question should be asked: what were these marks? There are two main types of mysterious signs - the devil's stain and the witch's sign. The latter was a kind of tubercle or outgrowth on the human body and, according to demonologists, was used by witches to feed various spirits with their own blood. The brand of the devil can rather be compared with a birthmark.

Instruments of torture

Researcher N. Pshibyshevsky at work "Synagogue of Satan" gives a fairly detailed description of these signs: "The surface of the body of the possessed is marked on the outside with special signs. These are small, no more than a pea, places of the skin insensitive, bloodless and lifeless. They sometimes form red or black spots, but rarely. Just as rarely they are marked by a deepening of the skin "For the most part they are invisible from the outside and are on the genitals. Often they are on the eyelids, on the back, on the chest, and sometimes, but rarely, they change place."

instruments of torture

The Italian demonologist M. Sinistrari notes: "This mark is not always of the same shape or contour, sometimes it looks like a hare, sometimes like a toad's foot, a spider, a puppy, a dormouse. It is placed ... in men under the eyelids or under the armpits , or on the lips, or on the shoulders, in the anus or somewhere else. In women, usually on the chest or in intimate places. "

Instruments of torture

And yet the main feature by which the devilish spot was distinguished in the Middle Ages was his insensitivity to pain. Therefore, when examining a potential witch, suspicious spots were necessarily pierced with a needle. And if there was no reaction to the injection, the accusation was considered proven. (Another significant feature of the "devil's marks": when pricked, these places not only did not feel pain, but also did not bleed.)

devil stain

Let us renounce fantastic details, such as a devil burning with malice, branding his adherents with his own hand (or other limb), and admit the presence of any specific marks on the human body. But after all, the description of "witch signs" is very reminiscent of some kind of skin disease. Indeed, why not assume that the overwhelming majority of people accused of witchcraft had a common disease for all? And only one disease fits all of the above symptoms. This is leprosy, or leprosy, - and today one of the most terrible ailments, and in the Middle Ages - a real scourge of God.

Here is what the medical encyclopedia, published in 1979, says about this disease: “It usually begins imperceptibly, sometimes with general malaise and fever. Then whitish or red spots appear on the skin, in these areas the skin becomes insensitive to heat and cold, does not feel touch and pain. Isn't it true that the picture of the disease is very reminiscent of demonological treatises?

In the information gleaned from the medical literature, one can find an explanation for such a phenomenon as a witch's nipple. At further development diseases, the skin begins to gradually thicken, ulcers, nodes are formed, which can really resemble a nipple in their shape. Here is another quote: “Sometimes, on unchanged skin, limited lepromatous infiltrates appear in the dermis (tubercles) or in the hypodermis (nodules), which can merge into more or less powerful conglomerates. The skin underneath is oily, may differ in peeling, sensitivity is normal at first, later it gets upset and goes down in varying degrees. Even the location of the "devil's signs" and lepromatous spots on the human body coincides.

And, finally, one more argument that allows identifying leprosy and "devil's marks": according to modern medical data, "sensitivity impairment in skin lesions is observed only in leprosy and in no other skin disease."

So, with a high degree of certainty, it can be argued that almost all sorcerers and witches condemned to death were stricken with leprosy at one stage or another. The following conclusion suggests itself: the persecution of witches was based on the desire of medieval society to protect itself from a terrible disease, the spread of which reached its climax in the 15th-17th centuries. Destroying lepers (a measure, no doubt, cruel), by the end of the 17th century, Europe to some extent coped with the epidemic of leprosy.

And yet, seeing in the hunt for witches and sorcerers only a quarantine measure, and in judges and executioners - fighters with a dangerous disease, we are unnecessarily modernizing a phenomenon more than five centuries old. Leprosy at that time could and probably was considered as a sign of possession by the devil's power, and that is why the carriers of this disease were declared a merciless war of extermination. This side of the matter deserves careful study. Did the judges themselves believe that it was the devil's offspring that were sent to the fire, and not sick and outcast people?

There is no absolutely sure answer to this question yet. However, it is likely that in the Middle Ages people knew the symptoms of leprosy quite well, and at least the privileged, educated layer of state and church leaders realized that they were fighting not with the servants of Satan, but with a contagious disease. After all, it is no coincidence that doctors played a huge role in conducting witch trials. According to a contemporary scholar, doctors "took quite an active professional part in the trials of witches. Their duties included diagnosing diseases that arose as a result of witchcraft and medical treatment of torture. Often their imprisonment decided the fate of the unfortunate witch."

And yet there are sufficient grounds to assert that the witch hunt was objectively a fight against lepers. But first, let's turn to the procedure for identifying witches that existed among the people. It is known that the fear of the evil eye and damage, inherent in mankind since ancient times, is still alive. What can we say about the time of the early Middle Ages? An angry mob often staged lynching of a person in whom they saw a sorcerer. But in order to punish a witch or sorcerer, they must first be identified. What means, born in the depths of superstitious consciousness, were not used here!

The witch was recognized by the flight of a knife with the image of a cross thrown over her. And in order to identify all the witches in your parish, you should have taken to church Easter egg. True, the curious risked at the same time: if the witch had time to tear out and crush the egg, his heart should have burst. The children's shoes, smeared with lard, brought to the church threatened to immobilize the witch. But perhaps the most common was the water test. Having tied right hand witches to the left foot, and left hand to the right leg, the sorceress was thrown into the nearest reservoir. If she began to sink, then she was innocent, but if the water did not accept the sinner, then there was no doubt: she definitely served Satan. It was widely believed that the witch differs from other people in her smaller weight: it is not for nothing that she flies through the air. Therefore, often those accused of witchcraft were tested by weighing.

Each of these methods could be used in one place in Europe and remain unknown in the rest. However, since the end of the 15th century, spontaneous massacres of witches have been replaced by a clear system of combating them, in which the church and the state take an active part. To identify a witch, only one procedure is used - pricking with a needle. The hitherto unknown trial is spreading across Europe, from Sweden to Spain. And everywhere the procedure is carried out the same way. Doesn't this fact itself raise suspicions?

An indirect proof of my version is the nature of witch processes (after all, it is not for nothing that they are called epidemics in the literature devoted to them). It cannot be said that witches were persecuted regularly and evenly throughout Western Europe. Rather, we can talk about local and time-limited outbreaks of witch-hunts. In one town, bonfires are blazing with might and main, and in others no one seems to have heard of witches - perhaps because a sharp fight against witches unfolded in places most affected by leprosy, and ended with the destruction of the threatening number of lepers.

If we assume that the medieval slayers of witches and sorcerers knew what they were actually fighting, then we consider it logical their desire to isolate those accused of witchcraft from society as thoroughly as possible. Many authors (for example, Ya. Kantorovich and N. Speransky) mention that witches were kept in special, separate prisons. Demonologists in their instructions warn of the danger of close contact with witches, and judges are advised to avoid the touch of witches during interrogations. Although theologians believed that those who fought witches had the blessing of the church, and therefore were not subject to their charms, practice often spoke of the opposite. In the literature, there are cases when the executioner and the judge who led the trials were accused of witchcraft. This is not surprising: they had enough opportunities to become infected.

Place of execution in Sweden

The execution of children accused of witchcraft has always caused the greatest horror and was considered as wild fanaticism. In the XV-XVII centuries, even two-year-olds were erected on a fire. Perhaps the most shocking example comes from the city of Bamberg, where 22 girls from 9 to 13 years old were set on fire at the same time. As already mentioned, belief in witchcraft is characteristic of all mankind, but the mass accusation of witchcraft of children distinguishes only Western Europe of the 15th-17th centuries. A fact in favor of the stated hypothesis: leprosy does not make out age, and every infected person, adult or child, is a danger.

Der Hexenhammer.hammer of witches.Title page. Hammer of witches. Lyon 1519.

Another piece of evidence supporting the hypothesis is the stereotyped image of a sorceress created by popular consciousness. People climbed the fire without distinction of gender, age, social status, anyone could be accused of witchcraft. But the descriptions of a typical witch turned out to be the most stable. English historian R. Hart in "The History of Witchcraft" cites the testimonies of contemporaries about how, in their opinion, a typical witch looks like. Here is one of them: " They are crooked and hunchbacked, their faces constantly bear the seal of melancholy, terrifying everyone around them. Their skin is covered with some spots. An old hag, battered by life, she walks bent over in an arch, with sunken eyes, toothless, her face furrowed with pits and wrinkles. Its members are constantly shaking."

In the medical literature, this is how a patient with leprosy is described in the last stages of the development of the disease. In addition, the medical encyclopedia reports, "in advanced cases, eyebrows fall out, ear lobes increase, facial expression changes greatly, vision weakens to complete blindness, and the voice becomes hoarse." A typical witch from a fairy tale speaks in a hoarse voice and has a long, sharply protruding nose on her face. This is also no coincidence. With leprosy, "the nasal mucosa is very often affected, which leads to its perforation and deformation. Chronic pharyngitis often develops, damage to the larynx leads to hoarseness."

Title page. Rare Books.: Psychiatry

Of course, it is easy to reproach me for the fact that the hypothesis does not find direct confirmation in historical sources. Indeed, there is no document, and it is unlikely that there will ever be, that would directly speak of a witch hunt as a fight against lepers. And yet indirect evidence of this can be found. Let us turn, for example, to the most famous demonological treatise - The Hammer of the Witches.

Matthew Hopkins, The Witch. 1650

The pious inquisitors Sprenger and Institoris ask the question in it: can witches send various diseases to people, including leprosy. Arguing first that "there is a certain difficulty, whether or not to consider it possible for witches to send leprosy and epilepsy. After all, these diseases usually arise due to insufficiency of internal organs," the authors of The Hammer nevertheless report: "We found that these illnesses are sometimes sent by sorcery." And the final conclusion is: "There is no such disease that witches could not send to a person with God's permission. They can even send leprosy and epilepsy, which is confirmed by scientists."

There are examples when demonologists themselves speak of witchcraft as a contagious disease. The Italian theologian Guazzo, in his Compendium malefikarum, notes that "Vedic infection can often be transmitted to children by their sinful parents. Every day we meet examples of children being corrupted by this infection."

(Witch), statue by Christopher Marzaroli - Salsomaggiore (Italy)

Of great interest in the study of witchcraft processes are the works of anti-demonologists, people who, during the period of general fear of witches, dared to say a word in their defense. One of these rare personalities was the doctor Johann Weyer, who expressed his view on the problem of witchcraft in the essay "About the tricks of demons". In it, he argues with famous demonologists and tries to prove the inconsistency of their views. What were the latter? Oddly enough, one of them, Karptsov, believed that "themselves witches and lamias benefit if they are put to death as soon as possible." Weyer believes that "Karptsov's argument is an excellent argument that could justify the murder: what if one of us took the life of an insignificant person, born only to eat fruits, stricken with a Gallic disease, and would explain his deed by what is best for him would die sooner?"

Monument in Anda, Norway. In memory of the witch hunts and the burning of women in these parts

A very curious remark, especially when you consider that the same leprosy was called the Gallic disease. This allows us to see in the words of Karptsov the desire to justify himself before himself and society, to assure everyone that the mission of mercy was carried out by the extermination of leper witches.

In 1484, after the exhortations of Heinrich Institoris Kramer, the author of The Hammer of the Witches, Pope Innocent VIII issued the bull “Summis desiderantes affectibus” (“With all the powers of the soul”), directed against witches, which became the cause of many processes of the Inquisition in the countries of Christian Europe.

Witch monument in Arbrück in Rhineland-Palatinate.

The "Great Hunt" for witches began in the middle of the 16th century and lasted about 200 years. This period accounts for about 100,000 processes and 50,000 victims. Most of the victims were in the states of Germany, Switzerland, France and Scotland, to a lesser extent, the witch hunt affected England, Italy and Spain. Only a few witch trials took place in America, the most famous example- Salem events of 1692-1693.

Statue of a stone witch in Herschlitz (Northern Saxony), a memorial to the victims of the witch hunt between 1560-1640.

Witch trials were especially widespread in the territories affected by the Reformation. In Lutheran and Calvinist states, their own, even more severe than Catholic, laws on witchcraft appeared (for example, the review of court cases was canceled). So, in the Saxon city of Quedlinburg with a population of 12 thousand people, 133 "witches" were burned on one day in 1589. In Silesia, one of the executioners designed a furnace in which in 1651 he burned 42 people, including two-year-old children. But even in the Catholic states of Germany, the witch-hunt was at that time no less cruel, especially in Trier, Bamberg, Mainz and Würzburg.

Monument to the victims of the witch hunt at Maria Hall Fountain in Nördling, Germany

In Cologne in 1627-1639, about a thousand people were executed. A priest from Alfter, in a letter to Count Werner von Salm, described the situation in Bonn at the beginning of the 17th century as follows: “It seems that half the city is involved: professors, students, pastors, canons, vicars and monks have already been arrested and burned ... The chancellor with his wife and the wife of his personal secretary have already captured and executed. At Christmas Holy Mother of God they executed the pupil of the prince-bishop, a nineteen-year-old girl, known for her piety and piety ... Three or four-year-old children were declared lovers of the Devil. They burned students and boys of noble birth 9-14 years old. In conclusion, I will say that things are in such a terrible state that no one knows with whom to speak and cooperate. Witch persecution in Germany culminated during the Thirty Years' War of 1618-1648, when warring parties accused each other of witchcraft.

Pointer in the lands (Hesse, Germany) to the memorial of 270 victims of the witch hunt.

According to historians, at the end of the 16th century, the number of witch trials skyrocketed due to the economic crisis, famine, and growing social tensions, which were caused by an increase in population and a long-term deterioration in the climate during this century, along with a price revolution. Crop failures, wars, epidemics of plague and syphilis gave rise to despair and panic and increased the tendency of people to look for the secret cause of these misfortunes.

Memorial stone to the witches burned in 1563 in Eckartsberg

The reason that the trials of witches became massive was also the transfer of witchcraft cases from church courts to secular ones, which made them dependent on the mood of local rulers. The epicenter of mass witchcraft processes was either in the remote provinces of large states, or where the central government was weak. In centralized states with a developed administrative structure, such as France, witch-hunts were less intense than in states that were weak and fragmented.

Witch Memorial in Bernau (part of the list of names).

Eastern Europe hardly experienced a witch hunt. The American researcher Valerie Kivelson believes that witch hysteria did not touch the Orthodox Russian kingdom, since Orthodox theologians were less absorbed in the idea of ​​the sinfulness of the flesh than Catholic and Protestant ones, and, accordingly, a woman as a bodily being disturbed and frightened Orthodox Christians less. Orthodox priests were careful in their sermons on the topic of witchcraft and corruption and sought to prevent popular lynching of sorcerers and witches. Orthodoxy did not experience the deep crisis that resulted in the Reformation in the West and led to a long era of religious wars. Nevertheless, in the Russian kingdom, Kivelson found information about 258 witch trials, during 106 of which torture was used on the accused (more cruel than in other cases, except those related to high treason).

The first country to decriminalize witchcraft was the United Kingdom. This happened in 1735 (Witchcraft Act (1735)).

In the German states, the legislative restriction of witch trials consistently took place in Prussia, where in 1706 the powers of accusers were limited by royal decree. This was largely influenced by the lectures of the rector of the University of Halle, the lawyer and philosopher Christian Thomasius, who argued that the doctrine of witchcraft was based not on ancient traditions, as the witch hunters claimed, but on the superstitious decrees of the Roman popes starting with the bull "Summis desiderantes affectibus". In 1714, Friedrich Wilhelm I issued an edict according to which all sentences in witchcraft cases were to be submitted to his personal approval. This severely limited the rights of witch hunters within Prussia. Frederick II, upon accession to the throne, abolished torture (1740). At the same time, in Austria, Empress Maria Theresa established control over witchcraft affairs, which was also facilitated to a certain extent by the “vampire panic” of the 1720-1730s in Serbia.

Idstein, Germany, memorial plaque to the victims of the witch hunt in 1676

The last person executed in Germany with the wording “for witchcraft” was the servant Anna Maria Schwegel, who was beheaded on March 30, 1775 in Kempten (Bavaria).

The last person executed in Europe for witchcraft is Anna Geldi, who was executed in Switzerland in 1782 (under torture she confessed to witchcraft, but officially she was sentenced to death for poisoning). However, sporadic accusations of witchcraft were encountered in the judicial practice of the German states and Great Britain until the end the first quarter of the 19th century, although witchcraft as such no longer served as a basis for criminal liability. In 1809, the fortune-teller Mary Bateman was hanged for poisoning, whose victims accused her of bewitching them.

Memorial plaque in front of the Church of St. Lawrence in Sobotin, Czech Republic, in memory of the victims of the witch hunt in 1678.

In 1811, Barbara Sdunk was convicted in Rössel and officially executed for arson (in 1806 Rössel was devastated by fire). However, the case of Zdunk does not fit into the usual practice of witchcraft, since she was executed by burning for witchcraft in a country in which witchcraft was no longer a criminal offense and this type of execution was also no longer used (there are suggestions that Zdunk was hanged and then publicly cremated ). Uncertainty about the true reason for Zdunk's conviction is also introduced by the fact that her sentence was upheld by the courts of appeal up to the king himself. Historians tend to believe that Zdunk's execution was a measure to relieve social tension, a concession to public opinion that demanded revenge on Polish soldiers, who, according to historians, are the most likely arsonists.

In 1836, in Sopot, the widow of a fisherman, Kristina Seinova, accused of witchcraft, was drowned during a water test. Her case illustrates the fact that belief in witchcraft continued to persist among the public long after the courts stopped accepting such accusations, and how, in exceptional cases, the public took the law into their own hands when witchcraft was suspected.

Woodcut: "Witch's Kitchen": Two witches prepare a decoction to produce hail.

The last punishments for witchcraft in Spain (200 lashes and a 6-year exile) were imposed in 1820. Modern researchers estimate the total number of people executed for witchcraft in the 300-year period of active witch hunting at 40-50 thousand people. In some countries, such as Germany , mainly women were accused of witchcraft, in others (Iceland, Estonia, Russia) also men ...

Well, who wants in the Middle Ages?

Literature

Sprenger J., Institoris G. Hammer of witches. - M., 1991.

Demonology of the Renaissance. - M., 1995.

Robbins R.H. Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology. - M., 1996.

Tucholka S. Proceedings on witchcraft in Western Europe in the XV-XVII centuries. - St. Petersburg, 1909.

Kantorovich Ya. Medieval witch processes. - M., 1899.

Grigorenko A. Yu. Magic as social institution// Bulletin of the Russian Christian Humanitarian Academy. - St. Petersburg: RKHGA, 2013. - T. 14, No. 4. - S. 13-21.

Gurevich A. Ya. Medieval world: the culture of the silent majority. - M., 1990.
Gurevich A. Ya. Witch in the village and before the court // Languages ​​of culture and problems of translatability. - M., 1987.
Ginzburg K. The image of the coven of witches and its origins // Odyssey. Man in history. - M., 1990. - S. 132-146
Demonology of the Renaissance. - M., 1996.
Kantorovich Ya. A. Medieval trials about witches. - M .: Book, 1990. - 221 p. — (Reprint reproduction of the 1899 edition)
Orlov M. A. The history of human relations with the devil. Amfiteatrov A. The Devil in everyday life, legend and literature of the Middle Ages. — M.: Eksmo, 2003. — 800 p. - Series "Great Initiates".

One of the biggest mysteries in history remains a strange insanity that swept Europe in the 15th-17th centuries, as a result of which thousands of women suspected of witchcraft went to the fires. What was it? Malicious intent or cunning calculation?

There are many theories regarding the fight against witches in medieval Europe. One of the most original is that there was no insanity. People really struggled with dark forces, including witches that bred all over the world. If desired, this theory can be developed.

As soon as the fight against witchcraft was stopped, revolutions began to break out here and there in the world, and terrorism began to acquire ever greater scope. And in these phenomena, women played a significant role, as if turning into vicious furies. And in inciting the current "color" revolutions, they also play a significant role.

pagan tolerance

Pagan religions were generally tolerant of sorcerers and witches. Everything was simple: if witchcraft was for the benefit of people, it was welcomed, if it was harmful, it was punished. AT Ancient Rome they chose punishment for sorcerers depending on the harmfulness of their deeds. For example, if the one who harmed by witchcraft could not pay compensation to the victim, he should have been mutilated. In some countries witchcraft was punishable by death.

Everything changed with the advent of Christianity. Drinking, walking on the side and deceiving your neighbor began to be considered a sin. And sins were declared the machinations of the devil. In the Middle Ages, the vision of the world among ordinary people began to form the most educated people of that era - the clergy. And they imposed their worldview on them: they say that all the troubles on earth come from the devil and his henchmen - demons and witches.

All natural disasters and failures in business were attributed to the machinations of witches. And it seems that an idea has arisen - the more witches to exterminate, the more happiness will be brought to all the remaining people. At first, witches were burned singly, then in pairs, and then in tens and hundreds.

One of the first known cases was the execution of a witch in 1128 in Flanders. A certain woman splashed water on one nobleman, and he soon fell ill from pain in his heart and kidneys, and after a while he died. In France, the first known burning of a witch took place in Toulouse in 1285, when a woman was accused of cohabiting with the devil, from which she allegedly gave birth to a cross between a wolf, a snake and a man. And after some time, the executions of witches in France became massive. In the years 1320-1350, 200 women climbed the fires in Carcassonne, more than 400 in Toulouse. And soon the fashion for massacres of witches spread throughout Europe.

World has gone mad

In Italy, after the publication of the bull on witches by Pope Adrian VI in 1523, more than 100 witches were burned annually in the Como region alone. But most of the witches were in Germany. The German historian Johann Scherr wrote: “Executions committed at once on whole masses begin in Germany around 1580 and continue for almost a century. While the whole of Lorraine was smoking from the fires ... in Paderborn, in Brandenburg, in Leipzig and its environs, many executions were also carried out.

In the county of Werdenfeld in Bavaria in 1582, one process brought 48 witches to the stake ... In Braunschweig, between 1590-1600, so many witches were burned (10-12 people daily) that their pillory stood in a "dense forest" in front of the gates. In the small county of Genneberg, 22 witches were burned in one year in 1612, 197 in 1597-1876 ... In Lindheim, with 540 inhabitants, 30 people were burned from 1661 to 1664.

There were even their record holders for executions. The judge of Fulda, Balthasar Foss, boasted that he alone burned 700 sorcerers of both sexes and hoped to bring the number of his victims to a thousand. The Bishop of Würzburg, Philipp-Adolf von Ehrenberg, distinguished himself with particular passion in the persecution of witches. In Würzburg alone, he organized 42 bonfires, on which 209 people were burned, including 25 children aged four to fourteen. Among those executed were the most beautiful girl, the fattest woman and the fattest man, a blind girl and a student who spoke many languages. Any difference between a person and others seemed to the bishop to be direct evidence of connections with the devil.

And even more brutal was his cousin, Prince-Bishop Gottfried Johann Georg II Fuchs von Dornheim, who executed more than 600 people in Bamberg in the period 1623-1633. The last mass burning in Germany was arranged by the Archbishop of Salzburg in 1678, when 97 people immediately went to the fire.

Alas, Russia did not remain aloof from the witch hunt. So, when a plague epidemic broke out in Pskov in 1411, 12 women were burned at once on charges of spreading the disease. However, in comparison with Western Europe, it can be said that in Russia witches were tolerated. And they were usually severely punished only if they plotted against the sovereign. In general, they rarely burned, more and more flogged.

In Europe, they not only burned, but also tried to execute with particular sophistication. The judges sometimes insisted that her young children be present during the execution of the witch. And sometimes, together with the witch, they sent her relatives to the fire. In 1688 whole family, including children and servants, was burned for witchcraft.

In 1746, not only the accused was burned, but also her sister, mother and grandmother. And finally, the execution itself at the stake was as if specially made in order to further disgrace the woman. First of all, her clothes were burned, and for some time she remained naked in full view of the large crowd that had gathered to watch her being killed. In Russia, they were usually burned in log cabins, perhaps to avoid this very shame.

Not only the Inquisition

It is generally accepted that the Inquisition arranged a witch hunt. It's hard to deny, but it should be noted that not only she. For example, in the Bishoprics of Würzburg and Bamberg, it was not the Inquisition that raged, but the Episcopal courts. In the town of Lindheim in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, ordinary people tried witches. The tribunal was headed by soldier Geiss, a veteran of the Thirty Years' War. The jury consisted of three peasants and a weaver. The inhabitants of Lindheim nicknamed these people from the people "juries-bloodsuckers" because they sent people to the stake for the slightest provocation.

But perhaps the most evil were the Protestant leaders of the Reformation, Calvin and Luther, whom we used to represent as heroes of light who challenged dark Catholics. Calvin introduced a new method of burning heretics and witches. To make the execution longer and more painful, the condemned were burned on damp wood. Martin Luther hated witches with all his heart and volunteered to execute them himself.

In 1522, he wrote: “Sorcerers and witches are the essence of evil devilish offspring, they steal milk, bring on bad weather, send damage to people, take away strength in their legs, torture children in the cradle, force people to love and copulate, and there are no number of intrigues of the devil ". And under the influence of his sermons, Protestants in Germany sent women to the stake on the slightest suspicion.

It must be said that the Inquisition, although it conducted the bulk of the witch trials, strictly followed the procedural rules in its work * For example, it was required that the witch confessed. True, for this, the inquisitors came up with a bunch of different devices for torture. For example, a “witch chair” equipped with sharp wooden spikes, on which the suspect was forced to sit for days.

Some sorceresses wore large leather boots on their feet and poured boiling water into them. Feet in such shoes literally welded. And Brigitte von Ebikon in 1652 was tortured with boiled eggs, which were taken out of boiling water and put under her armpits.

In addition to confession, another proof of the connection of women with the devil could be a test with water. It is curious that the Christians adopted it from the pagans. Even the laws of Hammurabi at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC recommended that the accused of witchcraft go to the Deity of the River and plunge into the River; if the River seizes him, his accuser can take his house. If the River cleanses this person, then he can take the house from the accuser.

Even more significant proof of the witch's guilt than her confession was the presence on her body of the "mark of the devil." There were two varieties of them - the "witch's sign" and the "brand of the devil." The "witch's sign" was supposed to resemble the third nipple on a woman's body, it was believed that through it she fed the demons with her own blood.

And the "brand of the devil" was called an unusual growth on the skin of a person, insensitive to pain. Now there is a theory that the "witch's mark" and the "brand of the devil" are characteristic of only one disease. It's leprosy, or leprosy.

As leprosy develops, the skin begins to thicken and form ulcers and nodules that may indeed resemble a nipple and are insensitive to pain. And given that the apogee of the spread of leprosy in Europe fell on the Middle Ages, it turns out that the inquisitors, under the guise of a witch hunt, fought against an epidemic of leprosy.

Bonfires against feminism

There is another interesting theory. As if the Inquisition is a tool for men monastic orders- witch hunt tried to put women in their place. Crusades and civil strife thoroughly decimated the ranks of men in Europe, and therefore, especially in rural communities, the female majority dictated its will to the male minority.

And when men tried to restrain women by force, they threatened to send all sorts of misfortunes on them. The dominance of women was a danger to church foundations, since it was believed that the daughters of Eve, the perpetrators of the fall, could do great harm, give them free will and power.

It is no coincidence that with the help of accusations of witchcraft, women who have achieved great influence and high position were often dealt with. In this regard, we can recall the execution of Henry VIII's wife, Anne Boleyn. One of the charges brought against her in 1536 was witchcraft. A proof of connection with evil spirit became the sixth finger on one hand of Anna.

And the most famous execution of a witch in centuries was the burning of Joan of Arc on May 30, 1431 in the city of Rouen. The Inquisition initiated a process to accuse the Virgin of Orleans of witchcraft, disobedience to the church and wearing men's clothing. During her execution in the middle of the scaffold there was a pillar with a board , where it was written: "Joan, who calls herself the Virgin, an apostate, a witch, a cursed blasphemer, a bloodsucker, a servant of Satan, a schismatic and a heretic."

The Guinness Book of Records says that the last time, according to a court verdict for witchcraft, was the servant Anna Geldi executed in the Swiss city of Glarus in June 1782. The investigation against her lasted 17 weeks and 4 days. And most of this time she spent in chains and shackles. True, Geldi was saved from being burned alive. She had her head cut off.

And the last witch in the history of mankind was burned in the Mexican city of Camargo in 1860. Experts estimate that at least 200,000 women were executed during the witch hunts of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Oleg LOGINOV

Women have been suspected of being able to conjure since ancient times. For example, the death penalty for witchcraft existed in Babylon in 2000 BC. Suspiciously treated supposedly sorceresses in ancient times. But never was the fight against witches so massive and cruel as in medieval Europe.

Almost throughout Western Europe in the 15th-17th centuries, the fires of the Inquisition blazed, on which tens of thousands of women, men and children were burned, accused of witchcraft. So what caused this mass hysteria?

Historians attribute this to the fact that it was in this historical period that the economic model of most countries Western Europe ceased to be effective, the population rapidly became poorer, social tension grew. A wave of epidemics and crop failures only exacerbated the situation. It is no secret that people are often inclined to explain their plight by the intervention of otherworldly forces, the evil eye and damage. This is exactly what happened during those difficult times. The clergy declared witches to be accomplices of the devil, and equated witchcraft with a mortal sin. Witches were now blamed for all cataclysms and personal misfortunes. It was believed that the more witches were destroyed, the happier humanity would live.

And if in XII-XIII centuries the execution of witches was still a rather rare event, but since the XIV century, massacres have become massive. There are cases when more than 400 witches were burned in the squares at the same time. The situation worsened after the publication in 1484 of the bull on witches by Pope Innocent VIII. Witches were burned everywhere - in France, Belgium, Italy, but Germany was especially distinguished.

Some judges even competed in the number of victims. Anyone who was at least slightly different from the rest of the inhabitants could climb the fire. The most beautiful, the fattest, the blind and crippled from birth were on fire. All differences were considered evidence of collusion with the devil. To fall into the clutches of the Inquisition, it was enough for a small denunciation from a neighbor who thought that his pig had died from the unkind look of a woman living nearby.

But not only the Inquisition raged. Sent witches to execution and ordinary residents. So in the Duchy of Hesse, one of the tribunals was headed by an ordinary soldier. And together with his jurors (simple peasants), he doomed people to be burned for the slightest reason. Often, with the help of accusations of witchcraft and denunciations, people found a way to get rid of their competitors: doctors eliminated their rivals - more successful village healers, girls denounced their more beautiful cohabitants, etc. Both Catholics and Protestants took part in the witch hunt. The ideological leaders of the latter - Calvin and Martin Luther - often personally took part in the executions and even came up with new ways to prolong the agony of burning witches. For example, Calvin suggested making fires from raw wood, which made the execution longer.

Even more terrible were the instruments of torture that the inquisitors invented to force the witches to confess to evil intentions. “Witch chair” with sharp spikes, a rack, boiling water in boots - everything was used to achieve recognition. Another most obvious proof of guilt was the discovery on the body of the witch of the "mark of the devil." This gave rise to the current saying that under the pretext of a witch hunt, the Inquisition fought against leprosy.

However, some medievalists tend to believe that the Inquisition thus tried to destroy the emerging feminism. And in this regard, how not to recall the most famous execution on May 30, 1431 in Rouen, when Joan of Arc accused of witchcraft was burned.

It was not until the middle of the 18th century that trials against witches ceased. Why did this happen? Gradually the level of education increased, the conditions of human life improved. In certain social circles, belief in witchcraft has come to be considered bad manners. Knowledge in the field of medicine increased, which means that now many oddities of the human body were explained scientifically, and not thrown into the fire for them. Gradually witch trials were banned by law. But individual lynchings and lynchings continued for more than a hundred years. The last known witch was burned in Mexico in 1860. Historians have estimated that since the Middle Ages, about 80 thousand people were executed for witchcraft.

Illustration: depositphotos | FrolovaElena

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