Why were Witches women?

For over three centuries, early modern Europe was largely dominated by enrapturecraft persecutions, the musical scale of which such atrocities had never been witnessed before. These persecutions arose from confused significant instabilities of the epochs. Tens of thousands of executions were carried out, especi whollyy at heart Central Europe and the vast absolute majority of deaths were attributed to women. This is what was most remarkable about this end the fact that so numerous women were recognised as practiti matchlessrs of witchery. I shall be closely following the curtilages for such large-scale prosecutions in spite of appearance the early modern flow rate.In fibericular, I shall be looking at the antithetical sub-categories concerning reasons for such a cram in the nature of witch prosecutions. These categories will be broken up as follows the Churchs forecast on maleficia, whom the witches were, the effect ordination had on the arrival of witchcraft, lit eratures perspective, cancel thought and freethinking, and the confessions of witches. The Church was integral to the entirely printing system at bottom modern day Europe and was the main, driving comp one(a)nt for social, economic and spectral conformity.However, the Catholic Church as a unit had been threatened through and through The Reformation and theological perceptions and ideas were changing. Peoples interpretations and prior beliefs were now organism challenged, criticised and in that respect was now append religious uncertainty and unbalance indoors society. This consequently led to the efficacious Counter Reformation in which the Catholic Church began an attempt to non scarcely counter the Protestant Reformation, but overly to eliminate corruption, educate clergy and overturn faith in the common raft- (B. P. Levack, 1995).The combination of these two ecclesiastical revolutions generate the inevitable religious dis instal, which in turn would spur the rise and festering of more numerous and more extreme witch-hunts. In addition, these two improve religions emerged a re hoted importance upon individual morals. This issued many with the intrust to aim the burden of sins upon someone else, and in effect to acquire a scapegoat- (B. P. Levack, 1995). Throughout history, such scapegoats have publicly been the rejects of society, the loners, the sick, and the poor.This age was no different and in their search for a victim, someone to hold responsible, they found the witches. This period of great religious, social and economic transformation combined with the prevalence of epidemics and raw(a) disasters now had a target on whom to lay all the buck upon a physical embodiment of the evil that had been endured. Furthermore, as well as Martin Luther and Jean Calvin highlighting and condoning the burning of witches as whores of Satan, the Church as a whole was responsible for accepting witchcraft as bust of society, essentially forming the moral backing needed for such large-scale atrocities.So thus, in 1485 the Catholic inquisition authorities published Malleus Maleficarum. This was essentially a book, confirming women as those responsible for witchcraft, as those capable of evil and temptation. Women ar by nature instruments of Satan they are by nature carnal, a structural defect rooted in the original creation The bible also condemned witchcraft, or so spate thought. Within Exodus 2218 it orders, Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.It is and then this flowture of Church and theological backing that gave the people of Europe the permit to act upon the witches at bottom society, and to destroy anyone suspected of witchcraft. It is raise to honor then that this period of witch-hunting was most intense at heart Germany, Switzer vote out, Poland, and Scotland, where the countries were religiously heterogeneous- (G. Geis, 1997), comprising a mix of numerous Protestant and Catholic believers. Moreover, the witch-hunts themselves have long been seen as part of a state of struggle against women, conducted overwhelmingly by men and particularly, by those in authority.Infact, Deborah Willis notes that more polemical feminist accounts are in all likelihood to portray the witch as a heroic protofeminist resisting patriarchal oppression and a only innocent victim of a male-authored reign of terror designed to storage area women in their place. (D. Willis, 1995, in web page). Holistically speaking, the Churchs contribution to witchcraft fears and prosecutions led to the general belief inside society that demons actively interfered upon the Earth and that witches were hugely popular concerning the interactions with and/or the dealings with such forces upon the Earth.In general, there was a greatly intensified and invigorated belief in the super intrinsic. For those who did not believe in such ideas, it still remained a plausible and effective tool for shift key the blame onto the wom en within society. It is now important to fully recognise whom these witches were and to bed the types of women victimised for such crimes against humanity. In general, it was the women from the lower sections of society who were seen as those who had the opportunity to commit harmful acts.Those who were widows and so were therefore able to conceal things and to cutis within the cloak of darkness to practice their legerdemain and to meet with their familiars and even up with the Devil himself, were often susceptible to prosecutions. In addition, these women were seen as vessels of nature and practically surrounding(prenominal) to the environment and conditions of nature than men, and so more able to dominate the elements. The issuance of unmarried women was also change magnitude and this was an early(a) cause for fear within society. These women were considered a burden on society.The other group vulnerable to witchcraft accusations were midwives. One of the ostensible pra ctices of witches was the execution and cannibalism of infants, especially those who had not yet been christen into the Christian faith. Therefore, it is of no surprise that this particular group was especially focussed upon in terms of prosecutions. It was essentially a way for grieving families to be able to lay blame upon the midwife for the death of their child, particularly within times of increasing infant mortality and occasional infanticide.The general view however was that witches were often cited as those outsiders of society, reliant upon community relief and benefits, course the land of its wealth. Additionally, women were often cited with sorcery because of their traditional roles as cooks, nurses, midwives and keepers of the home. Witches were often associated as those who were in league with the Devil and as those who would meet at Sabbats to bring about spells, curses, practice killings and take part in lewd internal acts with one another and with Satan himself.S ingle women were particularly focused upon for prosecutions concerning sexual abominations, as they were seen as more easily seductable and by far more sexual by nature. Indeed, the fact that the Devil was depicted as beingness the truly form of a man extremely extenuated the belief that women did take part in such acts. Society also proverb women as being weaker in e actually sense of the word. They did not have the political power or physical capabilities to plump for themselves.Therefore, they were thought to use magic to defend themselves and additionally make pacts with the Devil to achieve various things against their enemies. However, the great witch hunts of the medieval period were long depicted as a war against women, conducted mainly by men, especially those in central authority (Willis, Malevolent Nurture, p. 12). The reason for this was ostensibly that men wanted to keep women in their rightful place within society, largely pacified and subdued. This came with the great fear of feminist accounts, which started to take place within this period.The subject of women projected as witches was widely held in belief within local anesthetic communities and often formed the deciding factor in disputes within local communities. So if a particular person has had a bad harvest, or their child has dies in the night, the climate of Early unexampled Europe was conducive to such accusations and provided the ammunition with which to prosecute. The times of the period were one of extreme economic turbulence and poverty. Across Western Europe in particular, the gulf between the rich and poor was consistently growing and there was a general decline also in the living standards of more than of Europe.These conditions may however have persuaded people to contemplate using magic to help themselves and to achieve monetary or land gains, but on the other hand, it also maintained that accusations would be at a new high. Below is a table showing the relevance of mon etary/land/food disputes within local communities and the effect being a widow within society would have concerning such disputes and jealousies in Essex, 1564-89 Kinship Relationships maintain and Wife * 4 Unspecified Quarrels (2) Sexual Jealousy (1) Broken conjugation Contract (1) Stepfather and Stepchild 1 Over Inheritance Grandmother and Grandchild 1 responsibility to collect woodTotal 6 Neighbourly Relationships * (Object of dispute) * Food/ potable * 12 Animals 4 Money * 8 Implements 4 Unspecified loans 3 Boundaries/Land * 4 Children 3 Total 48 The difference sh suffer in number between kinship quarrels and disputes within the community is substantial. It demonstrates the heightened debates and tension with local communities and supports the view that widows were particularly attacked within these times as defenceless, unimportant people of the community. Another crucial part of women being persecuted as witches, developed through another mind controlling and prevalent techn ique within this time period.This was the use of literature, so covering everything from the bible and Church readings to pamphlets and novels written within the time. It is not affect that the Malleus maleficarum had such an influential effect upon the rise of women as victims of mass witch prosecutions. Shakespeare also wrote within this time period and included a wide range of texts, often shadowing events and topics within Europe at the time. One of the key texts he wrote was that of Macbeth, where Macbeth and his wife little by little murder various people in line to the succession of Kingship for their own gratuitous ends.The central factor towards their warped ideals and evil dealings was that of the witches within the moors. These of course were depicted purely as women, with similar characteristics to those broadly seen as witches within this same period. The very fact that Lady Macbeth had to effectively move a man and get rid of her female characteristics in order to succeed, parallels the social view of women within this time and further extenuates the likelihood of women as victims.Indeed, it is the prophecies of the witches that initiate the murder, corruption, greed and lies that manifest with Macbeth. The famous line of is that a obelisk I see before me spoken by that of Macbeth represents the conjuring of unreal magic, produced by the witches of the time. Furthermore, the witches and his wife are inextricably linked together, in that they some(prenominal) influence Macbeth, and so the social view of women being manipulative, a rude(a) temptation (as tingered to in the Malleus maleficarum), a necessary evil etc is seemingly shown within the literature of the time.The Catholic Church concentrated specifically upon the natural sin and evil within the individual and as mentioned previously, people saw the witches as scapegoats, a group to blame for their sinful nature. The bible in particular was another greatly recognised and taught boo k within society and the very story of creation within Genesis demonstrates the sinful, easily tempted and generally weak nature of women. Also, within Revelation (the concluding chapter of the Bible), the sinful charwoman of Babylon he Great Prostitute, was also another indication of the weakness of women and showed this to be the case from the very beginning of creation to the very end. In general, the people of Europe saw the massacre of the witches as a religious war of enacting justice on those directly against the will of God. One notion hand out throughout literature was that of witches contacting and serving Diana, the Goddess of the Moon. Women were hence seen as the most likely persons to communicate with Diana as a league of women joined together.Some confessed to genuinely riding with Diana and taking part in various activities, however they were subsequent recognised to be delusional. Overall, the introduction of the printing press and the generally increasing avail ability of literature to the masses, allowed for more rapid transfers of elite beliefs in witchcraft and especially women as active participants. The trials of women within this period serve to honor and validate the beliefs transmitted through popular literature. One of the most enigmatical and baffling aspects of the women as witches theme is that many actually confessed to charges against them.This of course did not help the assumption that women were witches and served to just heighten the prosecutions and fuel the killings. Many witches claimed that their experiences had been worthy and showed virtually no remorse whatsoever for their supposed actions. This was the case all over Europe and not just England, even though the killings were overmuch more prevalent and torture much more extreme on the continent than in England. However, P. Levack described this fact as less surprising when various other considerations were taken into account.Such as the women often being brought up to believe that they were indeed instruments of Satan and that they were the only imperfection within Gods creation (P. B. Levack, 1995). This however was exclusively societys effort to instil such beliefs so as to relieve the worry of female independence and to of course resume the scapegoat it had found within the period in question. It is particularly interesting to note that many women actually testified against others within the community.They made up 43 % of witnesses against other women. Briggs notices that women were active in building up reputations through gossip, deploying counter-magic and accusing suspects (Briggs, 1995). Women were tout ensemble surrounded by each sector of society and it was virtually out of the question for them to escape punishment of some sort if they had first been accused of witchcraft. Ecclesiastically, the whole Church acknowledged the position of women as witches within society and this simply gave the general public the opportunity to lay the blame for all the famine, disease, deaths and religious intolerance within previous years.The elite simply kept maintaining this strongly held belief in witchcraft and furthermore sustained the prosecutions and provided the literature and morality with which to support these beliefs. What is key to this topic is that most prosecution cases actually refer directly to traditionally female aspects, such as the home, the kitchen, and the nursery and on culturally defined female tasks or occupations such as ply (poisoning), child-rearing (infanticide), healing (harming), birth (death) (Christina Hole, date unknown).Furthermore, women within society were very much pacified throughout this time and this meant that they were easy targets for attack. These poor victims of attack simply existed within a delicate age of uncertainty, confusion and anger. Society believed in the universe of witchcraft and in the exponents of maleficia, the women of the times. On a more local scale to o, communities widely looked to the accusation of witchcraft as a means to a specific end, whether it concerned land disputes or money disputes etc.These were very testing times, times of extreme economic struggles and religious disputes. In conclusion, it is interesting to note that as standards of living vastly improved and religious irregularities disappeared, prosecutions change magnitude dramatically and people suddenly began to notice that most prosecutions were actually highly nonsensical and irrational. Society gradually came to accept that it had indeed made many mistakes.