Representation of objects, potions, and materials associated with witchcrafting in medieval Europe.
In the transition from the Medieval or Middle Ages to the Renaissance, stress and unrest led to the false and superstitious belief of witches, witchcraft and dark magic. Death, severe injury, social disruption, and torture came as a result of the increased belief of witches, witchcraft and dark magic during the transition as a result of scientific ignorance and futile attempts to tie in logic to solve increasingly dire problems. It is very clear that in this transition superstition resulted in torture, unrest, and misguided policies instead of the desired spiritual awareness and social improvement. The belief of the existence of witches and witchcraft had no clear or exact origin, but became a much more popular theory after the Black Death struck Europe in about 1350. The Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemics in the human history and struck the world from 1346-1353. The Black Death claimed an estimated 150 million lives and around half of Europe’s population perished. (Numbers are disputed as there is no way to track exactly how many died.) People had no explanation for the sudden outburst of the death of so many people, and how so many people in society that they were close to would suddenly fall sick and die with no obvious reason. “Science” or logical thought instead of superstition had not yet existed and would not exist until the Renaissance. People, who were desperate to explain and understand this critical phenomenon blamed the Black Death on “witches.” Witches and witchcraft became the scapegoat and the believed cause of all of the death and misfortune that fell on Europe, particularly England, at that time. Though the belief in witches prevailed before the Black Death, the belief became much more widespread and popular after the Black Death. The term “witch” varies a lot by usage. In this case, witches are inhumane female beings that have the ability to perform dark magic, bring upon misfortune and negative actions in general and people who have sided with the devil. Witches became the major scapegoat of Europe whenever unfortunate events fell on everyday people. Anyone could accuse anyone else of being a witch. Once accused, the accused witch would forfeit all rights of privacy and will be subject to harsh imprisonment and torture. Nothing was considered to be too harsh if they forced a confession out of a witch. Though evidence was required to convict someone as a witch, evidence considered to be sufficient back then often had no basis in logical reasoning or factual occurrences. The methods used to force the confession of witches were one-sided and devoid of logic if the matter occurred in today’s context. Common methods included starvation, denying the accused’s sleep, isolation from society, and tying the suspect in a cross-legged position for extended periods of time. Harsher methods use such as various forms of torture and the “swim test” ( see picture on side) was used commonly by witch hunters, though later on in the belief of witches these methods became illegal. However, though they were illegal witch-hunters still secretly used these methods to prove the existence of the witch to the public, and these methods were considered to be infallible by the general public and previous monarchs before the monarchs that banned these methods, which fed to the belief in these crude methods were infallible. However, in reality, these methods were the opposite of accurate and were complete and utter nonsense. Torture from a logical perspective wasn’t a fair or accurate way to get a confession out of the accused. In fact, the only reason why torture was such an effective strategy is because torture weakened the physical and mental capabilities of the body. Once those are weakened, the accused would say just about anything just to be released from the harsh torture that came with not confessing to witchcraft. The swim test was an even worse “test” to identify who was a witch and who wasn’t. In essence, in the swim test the accused would be thrown into a deep body of water and they would see whether or not they could float and swim or drown in the water. If the subject didn't drown and was able to float up to the surface, they were considered to be possessed by the devil as nobody should be able to swim, and would be proved guilty. Either option would end up in the subject’s death. Occasionally, the subject would be attached to a landline or a rope so if the subject were to drown and they were thought to be innocent they may potentially be saved if they haven’t already died. Another variation witch-hunters used were that if the accused witch were to be able to float or swim the first time around, they would be given a second chance to make sure that they were indeed a witch. However, if the subject were to have the ability to swim up to the surface the first time, chances are the results would be the same the second time through. Overall, the methods used to accuse and prove someone of being a witch were rigged, fixed, and just full of sheer stupidity that ended up in the mental and physical destruction of the accused that is unacceptable in today’s society and moral standards. The belief and superstition in witches did not take away from social unrest by creating a scapegoat which was its original intention, but instead added to social unrest. As almost any female could be accused as a witch with very little factual evidence or basis, people would end up accusing one another because of personal disputes or differences. This created a constant cycle of fear and accusations that followed in society. People lived in constant fear of being accused, and there was not much one could do if they were accused as the chances of a confession coming out of the accused would be extremely high. People or groups of people would end up firing accusations at each other with accusations of being a witch due to land disputes, money disputes, verbal arguments, political disagreements, etc. Even people with personal grudges with the accused would have their word more trusted than the accused once the accused was accused. In addition to the constant cycle of fear and accused, nobles or people in higher government official ranks close to the monarch had it even worse. Just a rumor of them being a witch was grounds for them to be imprisoned and arrested, locked away from society. As government officials had higher publicity than the commoners, they would gather more attention including negative attention, and it was very common for rumors to float around them, both negative and positive. This caused a lot of political unrest and disruption, as once one was arrested and later executed many more of them may also be suspected. There was also the issue of replacing the witch’s place and dealing with their family’s protest on the issue. Many Kings and monarchs gave into the idea of witchcraft and dark magic to use as a scapegoat, which misguided the opinions of many the public. Many laws surrounding witchcraft were passed, all useless if the existence of witchcraft was in reality false. Sophisticated laws and actions were approved all surrounding the presence, definition and premises for accusation for witches. For example, James 1 specifically said that witchcraft is growing very common among humankind, and they are “abominable acts from Satan”. King James passed an act through parliament that would punish all second time offenders with death. Queen Elizabeth 1 declared that from the time witches were accused, they were to be massively degraded, humiliated, and subject to various cruelties. She also stated that nothing is considered to be too harsh or wrong if it worked towards proving the existence of a witch. Reports of witchcraft and dark magic rose during the beginning reign of Henry the 8th, and in response the King created a law in 1542 which stated that anybody who invoked evil spirits to find money, treasure, gain love etc. was a felon and subject to the death penalty and confiscation of all private property. As evident by these policies, the belief and superstition in witchcraft led to many misguided policies that mislead the public and led popular belief towards false superstition rather than true logical reasoning and science which later would receive the focus in the Renaissance. In conclusion, the superstition and belief in witchcraft and dark magic had an extremely negative effect on humanity and society in the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. This belief resulted from desperation to explain tragic happenings, particularly the Black Death. This desperation led them to blaming everything on a scapegoat, which became witchcraft. This superstition ultimately led to the execution and torture of many innocent people, social and political unrest, flawed political policies, and led the people away from the logical scientific truth to false superstitions. |
Introductory to what witches were and what they were suspected of.
Works Cited
"Anne Boleyn." the guardian. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/may/11/hilary-mantel-on-anne-boleyn>.
"Black Death." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 31 Aug. 2014. <http://www.history.com/topics/black-death>.
"Online Etymology Dictionary." Online Etymology Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. <http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=renaissance&searchmode=none>.
"Swim test." Witchcraft Images. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2014. <http://www.witchcraftandwitches.com/images/ducking.jpg>.
"The Pendle Witches | Lancashire Witch Trials | English Witchcraft." The Pendle Witches. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Sept. 2014. <http://www.pendlewitches.co.uk/witchcraft/>.
"Witchcraft." UK Parliament. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Sept. 2014. <http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/religion/overview/witchcraft/>.
"Witchcraft in England." library.usyd. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Aug. 2014. <http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/rare/witchcraft/w-england16&17/w-england16.html>.
"scapegoat." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scapegoat>.
MLA formatting by BibMe.org.
Works Cited
"Anne Boleyn." the guardian. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/may/11/hilary-mantel-on-anne-boleyn>.
"Black Death." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 31 Aug. 2014. <http://www.history.com/topics/black-death>.
"Online Etymology Dictionary." Online Etymology Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. <http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=renaissance&searchmode=none>.
"Swim test." Witchcraft Images. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2014. <http://www.witchcraftandwitches.com/images/ducking.jpg>.
"The Pendle Witches | Lancashire Witch Trials | English Witchcraft." The Pendle Witches. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Sept. 2014. <http://www.pendlewitches.co.uk/witchcraft/>.
"Witchcraft." UK Parliament. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Sept. 2014. <http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/religion/overview/witchcraft/>.
"Witchcraft in England." library.usyd. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Aug. 2014. <http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/rare/witchcraft/w-england16&17/w-england16.html>.
"scapegoat." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scapegoat>.
MLA formatting by BibMe.org.