Why were Witches women?

For over three centuries, early modern font atomic number 63 was largely dominated by witchcraft persecutions, the cuticle of which such atrocities had never been witnessed before. These persecutions arose from various significant instabilities of the times. Tens of thousands of executions were carried out, particularly within Central Europe and the vast majority of deaths were attributed to women. This is what was most remarkable about this halt the position that so many women were recognised as practitioners of witchcraft. I shall be closely following the reasons for such large-scale prosecutions within the early modern period.In particular, I shall be looking at the different sub-categories concerning reasons for such a rise in the nature of witch prosecutions. These categories will be broken up as follows the Churchs view on maleficia, whom the witches were, the effect company had on the arrival of witchcraft, literatures perspective, natural thought and freethinking, and th e confessions of witches. The Church was integral to the whole belief system within modern day Europe and was the main, driving component for social, economic and religious conformity.However, the Catholic Church as a unit had been threatened through The Reformation and theological perceptions and ideas were changing. Peoples interpretations and prior beliefs were now being challenged, criticised and there was now total religious uncertainty and unbalance within society. This consequently led to the powerful Counter Reformation in which the Catholic Church began an attempt to not only counter the Protestant Reformation, but in any case to eliminate corruption, educate clergy and inspire faith in the common battalion- (B. P. Levack, 1995).The crew of these two ecclesiastical revolutions induced the inevitable religious disorder, which in turn would spur the rise and development of to a greater extent numerous and more extreme witch-hunts. In addition, these two reformed religions placed a renewed importance upon individual morals. This issued many with the desire to place the burden of sins upon someone else, and in effect to modernise a scapegoat- (B. P. Levack, 1995). Throughout history, such scapegoats have generally been the rejects of society, the loners, the sick, and the poor.This age was no different and in their search for a dupe, someone to hold obligated, they found the witches. This period of great religious, social and economic transformation combined with the prevalence of epidemics and natural disasters now had a target on whom to lay all the charge upon a physical embodiment of the corruptive 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 part of society, essentially forming the moral backing needed for such large-scale atrocities.So then, in 1485 the Catholic inquisition administration published Malleus Maleficarum. This was essentially a book, confirming women as those responsible for witchcraft, as those capable of evil and come-on. Women are 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 people thought. Within hegira 2218 it orders, Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.It is then this meltture of Church and theological backing that gave the people of Europe the authority to act upon the witches within society, and to destroy anyone suspected of witchcraft. It is interesting to note then that this period of witch-hunting was most intense within Germany, Switzerland, 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 war against women, conducted overwhelmingly by men a nd particularly, by those in authority.Infact, Deborah Willis notes that more polemical feminist accounts are likely to portray the witch as a heroic protofeminist resisting patriarchal oppression and a wholly innocent victim of a male-authored reign of terror designed to keep women in their place. (D. Willis, 1995, in web page). Holistically speaking, the Churchs contribution to witchcraft headaches and prosecutions led to the general belief within society that demons sprightlyly interfered upon the Earth and that witches were hugely prevalent 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 supernatural. For those who did not believe in such ideas, it still remained a plausible and effective tool for shifting the blame onto the women within society. It is now important to fully recognise whom these witches were and to discern the types of women victimised for such cri mes against humanity. In general, it was the women from the lower sections of society who were seen as those who had the probability to commit harmful acts.Those who were widows and so were therefore able to turn back things and to hide within the cloak of darkness to practice their magic and to tack with their familiars and even with the Devil himself, were often susceptible to prosecutions. In addition, these women were seen as vessels of nature and much walking(prenominal) to the environment and conditions of nature than men, and so more able to dominate the elements. The number of unmarried women was also increasing and this was another ca physical exercise for fear within society. These women were considered a burden on society.The other group vulnerable to witchcraft accusations were midwives. star of the ostensible practices of witches was the execution and cannibalism of infants, especially those who had not yet been baptised into the Christian faith. Therefore, it is o f no surprise that this particular group was especially focused 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, draining 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 create spells, curses, practice killings and take part in lewd internal acts with one another and with Satan himself.Single 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 being the real form of a man highly extenuated the belief that women did take part in such acts. Society also saw women as being weaker in e rattling sense of the word. They did not have the political power or physical capabilities to defend themselves.Therefore, they were thought to use magic to defend themselves and additionally benefit 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 topical anesthetic co mmunities and often formed the decision making 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 proterozoic Modern 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 much 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 monetary/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 Husband and Wife * 4 Unspecified Quarrels (2) sexual Jealousy (1) Broken Marriage Contract (1) Stepfather and Stepchild 1 Over Inheritance Grandmother and Grandchild 1 Obligation to collect woodTotal 6 neighborly Relationships * (Object of dispute) * Food/Drink * 12 Animals 4 Money * 8 Implements 4 Unspecified loans 3 Boundaries/Land * 4 Children 3 Total 48 The deviation shown 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 technique within this time period.This was the use of literature, so covering e trulything from the bible and Church readings to pamphlets and novels written within the time. It is not surpris ing that the Malleus maleficarum had such an influential effect upon the rise of women as victims of potty 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 in stages murder various people in line to the succession of Kingship for their own gratuitous ends.The central factor towards their distort 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 generally seen as witches within this same period. The very fact that dame Macbeth had to effectively become 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 m urder, corruption, greed and lies that manifest with Macbeth. The famous line of is that a dagger I see before me spoken by that of Macbeth represents the conjuring of illusional magic, produced by the witches of the time. Furthermore, the witches and his wife are inextricably linked together, in that they both influence Macbeth, and so the social view of women being manipulative, a natural temptation (as referred to in the Malleus maleficarum), a necessary evil etc is evidently shown within the literature of the time.The Catholic Church concentrated circumstantialally 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 book 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 woman 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 rightice on those directly against the will of God. One whim spread 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 really riding with Diana and taking part in various activities, however they were later recognised to be delusional. Overall, the introduction of the printing press and the generally increasing availability 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 reinforce and validate the beliefs communicate through popular literature. One of the most confusing 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 respectable heighten the prosecutions and fuel the killings. Many witches claimed that their experiences had been worthwhile 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 much 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 crack within Gods creation (P. B. Levack, 1995). This however was simply societys effort to instil such belief s 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 completely surrounded by each sector of society and it was virtually impossible for them to escape penalization 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 moreover sustained the prosecutions and prov ided the literature and ethics 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 feeding (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 population of witchcraft and in the exponents of maleficia, the women of the times. On a more local scale too, 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 rel igious disputes. In conclusion, it is interesting to note that as standards of living vastly improved and religious irregularities disappeared, prosecutions decreased 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.