1555 lines
84 KiB
Plaintext
1555 lines
84 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
|||
|
|
This is the text of a talk entitled PERSECUTION: ANCIENT AND MODERN.
|
|||
|
|
Written by Julia Phillips, it was presented by Julia and Matthew Sandow
|
|||
|
|
at the Wiccan Conference, Canberra, September 1992, and was illustrated
|
|||
|
|
with slides of medieval woodcuts, paintings and documents.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
To begin, an example of religious persecution:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I am told that, moved by some foolish urge, they consecrate and worship
|
|||
|
|
the head of a donkey, that most abject of all animals. This is a cult
|
|||
|
|
worthy of the customs from which it sprang! Others say that they
|
|||
|
|
reverence the genitals of the presiding priest himself, and adore them
|
|||
|
|
as though they were their father's... As for the initiation of new
|
|||
|
|
members, the details are as disgusting as they are well-known. A child,
|
|||
|
|
covered in dough to deceive the unwary, is set before the would-be
|
|||
|
|
novice. The novice stabs the child to death with invisible blows;
|
|||
|
|
indeed, he himself, deceived by the coating of dough, thinks his stabs
|
|||
|
|
harmless. Then - it's horrible! - they hungrily drink the child's blood,
|
|||
|
|
and compete with one another as they divide his limbs. Through this
|
|||
|
|
victim they are bound together; and the fact that they all share the
|
|||
|
|
knowledge of the crime pledges them all to silence. Such holy rites are
|
|||
|
|
more disgraceful than sacrilege. It is well-known too what happens at
|
|||
|
|
their feasts.... On the feast day they forgather with all their
|
|||
|
|
children, sisters, mothers, people of either sex and all ages. When the
|
|||
|
|
company is all aglow from feasting, and impure lust has been set afire
|
|||
|
|
by drunkenness, pieces of meat are thrown to a dog fastened to a lamp.
|
|||
|
|
The lamp, which would have been a betraying witness, is overturned and
|
|||
|
|
goes out. Now, in the dark so favourable to shameless behaviour, they
|
|||
|
|
twine the bonds of unnameable passion, as chance decides. And so all
|
|||
|
|
alike are incestuous, if not always in deed, at least by complicity; for
|
|||
|
|
everything that is performed by one of them corresponds to the wishes of
|
|||
|
|
them all... Precisely the secrecy of this evil religion proves that all
|
|||
|
|
these things, or practically all, are true. (Minucius Felix: Octavius)
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Although the language is not modern, the description of the practices
|
|||
|
|
could have come straight from last week's "Picture" magazine! And this
|
|||
|
|
is the point that I wish to make; the facts of persecution have not
|
|||
|
|
changed in almost 2,000 years, for that piece was written in the 2nd
|
|||
|
|
century AD. Moreover, the religion it condemns is Christianity, not
|
|||
|
|
Paganism, for Paganism at that time was the dominant state religion. In
|
|||
|
|
fact the author is a Christian apologist, and is attempting to rebuke
|
|||
|
|
what he sees as unfair criticism, by parodying the offences which Pagans
|
|||
|
|
accuse Christians of perpetrating.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Persecution of religious minorities is quite simply that; it is
|
|||
|
|
persecution by a large body of people - generally those who represent
|
|||
|
|
"society" - against a smaller one; generally comprised of those who have
|
|||
|
|
either rejected, or for one reason or another, fall outside of the
|
|||
|
|
social "norm".
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Let us look at the medieval picture of the witch; society's scapegoat
|
|||
|
|
par excellence: here we see her - for it is most often "her" - an old,
|
|||
|
|
ugly woman, most likely poor, and most likely on the fringe of the
|
|||
|
|
society in which she lives. This is the stereotype of the witch. We know
|
|||
|
|
it is false; we know it has no basis in fact; however, it became an
|
|||
|
|
integral part of the mindset of medieval Europe, and through fairy
|
|||
|
|
tales, drama and literature, and more latterly, cinema, the media and
|
|||
|
|
television, it has remained an integral image in modern society. One has
|
|||
|
|
only to look to Roald Dahl's "Witches", or Frank Baum's "Wizard of Oz",
|
|||
|
|
for proof of this. It came as a surprise to me to learn that "The
|
|||
|
|
Wizard of Oz" was in fact a deliberate propaganda exercise, released
|
|||
|
|
just at the beginning of World War II. If you remember, the magic words
|
|||
|
|
are: "There's no place like home"; and where was "home"? Kansas! that
|
|||
|
|
epitome of the WASP culture.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
When looking at medieval persecution of heresy, the waters are muddied
|
|||
|
|
by the many different causes and effects which permeate the whole
|
|||
|
|
matter. There was no single cause, and no single victim. It is a fact
|
|||
|
|
that far more women than men were persecuted; there are a number of
|
|||
|
|
reasons for this, not least that throughout this period, Europe was
|
|||
|
|
engaged in one war after another - most notably The Crusades - and men
|
|||
|
|
were in rather short supply. There were also several epidemics of the
|
|||
|
|
plague, not to mention other diseases such as dysentery and cholera,
|
|||
|
|
which in the Middle Ages were sure killers. Another reason is the
|
|||
|
|
rampant misogyny which, begun with the earliest Christians, has
|
|||
|
|
permeated their theology ever since:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"What else is woman but a foe to friendship, an inescapable punishment,
|
|||
|
|
a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity, a domestic
|
|||
|
|
danger, a delectable detriment, an evil of nature, painted in fair
|
|||
|
|
colours... The word woman is used to mean the lust of the flesh, as it
|
|||
|
|
is said: I have found a woman more bitter than death, and a good woman
|
|||
|
|
more subject to carnal lust... [Women] are more credulous; and since the
|
|||
|
|
chief aim of the devil is to corrupt faith, therefore he rather attacks
|
|||
|
|
them [than men]... Women are naturally more impressionable... They have
|
|||
|
|
slippery tongues, and are unable to conceal from their fellow-women
|
|||
|
|
those things which by evil arts they know.... Women are intellectually
|
|||
|
|
like children... She is more carnal than a man, as is clear from her
|
|||
|
|
many carnal abominations... She is an imperfect animal, she always
|
|||
|
|
deceives.... Therefore a wicked woman is by her nature quicker to waver
|
|||
|
|
in her faith, and consequently quicker to abjure the faith, which is the
|
|||
|
|
root of witchcraft.... Just as through the first defect in their
|
|||
|
|
intelligence they are more prone to abjure the faith; so through their
|
|||
|
|
second defect of inordinate affections and passions they search for,
|
|||
|
|
brood over, and inflict various vengeances, either by witchcraft or by
|
|||
|
|
some other means.... Women also have weak memories; and it is a natural
|
|||
|
|
vice in them not to be disciplined, but to follow their own impulses
|
|||
|
|
without any sense of what is due... She is a liar by nature... (Malleus
|
|||
|
|
Maleficarum, edited by Jeffrey Russell).
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It is easy to comprehend the persecution of women when one is confronted
|
|||
|
|
with such obvious hatred and fear of the sex. But perhaps the most
|
|||
|
|
powerful impetus of the witch trials era is one which is subtly - and
|
|||
|
|
sometimes not so subtly! - present in all the trials; that of a pursuit
|
|||
|
|
of power or wealth. For an example we can look to Gilles de Rais, who as
|
|||
|
|
the wealthiest man in Europe (as well as Joan of Arc's military
|
|||
|
|
Captain), was a prime victim for a charge of heresy. Found guilty, his
|
|||
|
|
lands, properties and wealth were confiscated by his accusers. Curiously
|
|||
|
|
though he was buried on consecrated ground in the Churchyard; normally
|
|||
|
|
forbidden to heretics. In "The Encyclopaedia of Witchcraft and
|
|||
|
|
Demonology", Rossell Hope Robbins says:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"At first, Gilles dismissed their accusations as "frivolous and lacking
|
|||
|
|
credit", but so certain were the principals of finding him guilty that
|
|||
|
|
on September 3, fifteen days before the trial began, the Duke disposed
|
|||
|
|
of his anticipated share of the Rais lands. Under these circumstances,
|
|||
|
|
it is difficult to place any credence in the evidence against him, among
|
|||
|
|
the most fantastic and obscene presented in this Encyclopaedia."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Charges included the now obligatory conjurations of devils and demons -
|
|||
|
|
Satan, Beelzebub, Orion and Belial are mentioned by name - and the
|
|||
|
|
practice of that dreadful art: geomancy! And of course the charges
|
|||
|
|
included human sacrifice and paedophilia; no self-respecting Christian
|
|||
|
|
could exclude these crimes from charges against a confirmed heretic!
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
There were not many who had the wealth of Gilles de Rais, but in a small
|
|||
|
|
parish, even the meanest property was eagerly seized, and the witch
|
|||
|
|
hunts became a profitable business. The victims were even required to
|
|||
|
|
pay for the fuel upon which they were burnt. But the laws were not
|
|||
|
|
consistent throughout Europe, and in some areas, if the victim
|
|||
|
|
confessed, then his or her property could not be confiscated, but was
|
|||
|
|
inherited by the next of kin. However, many of these victims were in
|
|||
|
|
fact devout Christians, who would be loath to confess to heresy just so
|
|||
|
|
that their family could inherit their land! Of course many were tortured
|
|||
|
|
to the point were they would admit to being anything demanded of them,
|
|||
|
|
although technically, they were only allowed to be tortured once. This
|
|||
|
|
is why you will read in trials records that the torture was "continued",
|
|||
|
|
which, of course, gets round the problem of the poor torturer missing
|
|||
|
|
out on his lunch and dinner.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Although most heretics were women, a great many men were also taken,
|
|||
|
|
tortured, and put to death. This is a letter from one such victim at the
|
|||
|
|
notorious Bamberg in Germany; a poignant epitaph to one of Europe's most
|
|||
|
|
hideous crimes:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Many hundred thousand good-nights, dearly beloved daughter Veronica.
|
|||
|
|
Innocent have I come into prison, innocent have I been tortured,
|
|||
|
|
innocent must I die. For whoever comes into the witch prison must become
|
|||
|
|
a witch or be tortured until he invents something out of his head - and
|
|||
|
|
God pity him - bethinks him of something.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I said: "I have never renounced God, and will never do it - God
|
|||
|
|
graciously keep me from it. I'll rather bear whatever I must."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
And then came also - God in highest heaven have mercy - the executioner,
|
|||
|
|
and put the thumbscrews on me, both hands bound together, so that the
|
|||
|
|
blood spurted from the nails and everywhere, so that for four weeks I
|
|||
|
|
could not use my hands, as you can see from my writing. Thereafter they
|
|||
|
|
stripped me, bound my hands behind me, and drew me up on the ladder.
|
|||
|
|
Then I thought heaven and earth were at an end. Eight times did they
|
|||
|
|
draw me up and let me fall again, so that I suffered terrible agony.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
All this happened on Friday June 30th and with God's help I had to bear
|
|||
|
|
the torture. When at last the executioner led me back into the cell, he
|
|||
|
|
said to me: "Sir, I beg you, for God's sake, confess something, whether
|
|||
|
|
it be true or not. Invent something, for you cannot bear the torture
|
|||
|
|
which you will be put to; and, even if you bear it all, yet you will not
|
|||
|
|
escape, not even if you were an earl, but one torture will follow
|
|||
|
|
another until you say you are a witch."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The author of this letter, Johannes Junius, did indeed confess to being
|
|||
|
|
a witch, and in August of 1628, was burned at the stake. He managed to
|
|||
|
|
send his final letter to his daughter, which ended by saying:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Dear child, keep this letter secret, so that people do not find it, else
|
|||
|
|
I shall be tortured most piteously and the jailers will be beheaded. So
|
|||
|
|
strictly is it forbidden... Dear child, pay this man a thaler... I have
|
|||
|
|
taken several days to write this - my hands are both crippled. I am in a
|
|||
|
|
sad plight. Good night, for your father Johannes Junius will never see
|
|||
|
|
you more.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
This letter describes more accurately than any historical treatise just
|
|||
|
|
how uncompromising the ecclesiastical courts were in their hunt for
|
|||
|
|
heretics. Witches, of course, were only one kind of heretic.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I mentioned earlier that there are many causes, and many effects, to the
|
|||
|
|
period which is commonly referred to as "The Burning Times", or the
|
|||
|
|
Great Witch Hunt. It is often assumed by many people today that
|
|||
|
|
Christianity has been the dominant western religion for 2,000 years.
|
|||
|
|
This is not so. The death of Christ, which probably occurred in the year
|
|||
|
|
AD 30, may have heralded the new religion, but there was certainly not
|
|||
|
|
an immediate conversion of the world to Christianity. Parts of
|
|||
|
|
Scandinavia remained wholly Pagan until as late as the 12th century. The
|
|||
|
|
British Isles and mainland Europe were converted to Christianity over a
|
|||
|
|
lengthy period covering mainly the 4th to 9th centuries. Some parts have
|
|||
|
|
never truly been converted, and with the opening up of the Eastern bloc
|
|||
|
|
countries, we are now re-discovering a wealth of Pagan tradition and
|
|||
|
|
folklore that has been hidden for hundreds of years: initially from the
|
|||
|
|
invading Christian missionaries, and then later from the various
|
|||
|
|
communist regimes.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
As the new religion of Christianity began to spread, many different
|
|||
|
|
sects and cults appeared within its ranks. The Pope in Rome was the
|
|||
|
|
nominal head, but rarely was the Pope a person of spiritual purity and
|
|||
|
|
ascetic tastes; the political scene in Rome has always been cut-throat
|
|||
|
|
and devious. A truly spiritual person would have lasted approximately
|
|||
|
|
two seconds amongst the clever and calculating politicians who infested
|
|||
|
|
the Papal See! The enormous wealth and power controlled by the Pope was
|
|||
|
|
an incentive to the most grasping and corrupt of men at that time to
|
|||
|
|
aspire to the Papacy. Pope Alexander VI (1492) is a superb example of
|
|||
|
|
the type who made it to Europe's foremost political seat of power:
|
|||
|
|
otherwise known as Rodrigo Borgia; father (yes, we all know Catholics
|
|||
|
|
practise celibacy!) of Cesare, Juan, Lucrezia and Jofre, and supreme
|
|||
|
|
commander of a private army of which any modern dictator would be proud.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Because of their sumptuous lifestyle, their obvious disregard and
|
|||
|
|
contempt for vows of poverty and chastity, and their abuse of the
|
|||
|
|
spiritual authority invested in them, many spiritually inclined
|
|||
|
|
Christians rejected the Catholic Church, and instead followed leaders
|
|||
|
|
who lived simple, ascetic lives in accordance with the teachings of
|
|||
|
|
Christ. Some of these sects became very popular, and were soon perceived
|
|||
|
|
by the Pope as a threat to his status and power. It has been suggested
|
|||
|
|
that the witch trials were a direct result from the persecution of these
|
|||
|
|
sects. Rather than incorporate a discussion of the different sects
|
|||
|
|
within this talk, handouts are available which very briefly describe the
|
|||
|
|
main ones.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The main thrust was against the Cathars or Albigensians, and the
|
|||
|
|
Waldensians (Vaudois), and it was their persecution which gave rise to
|
|||
|
|
the legal machinery which developed into the Inquisition, and the
|
|||
|
|
so-called witch hunts. It began with Pope Lucius III and the emperor,
|
|||
|
|
Frederick I Barbarossa; they met at Verona in 1184, and issued the
|
|||
|
|
decree "Ad abolendam", which excommunicated sects like the Cathars and
|
|||
|
|
Waldensians, and laid down the procedures for ecclesiastical trial,
|
|||
|
|
after which the accused would be handed over to the secular authorities
|
|||
|
|
for punishment. The punishment decreed was confiscation of property,
|
|||
|
|
exile, or death. By the 12th century, burning had already become the
|
|||
|
|
established means of execution for heretics, and so this became
|
|||
|
|
enshrined in law.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
At the beginning of the 13th century, the Dominican Order of Friars was
|
|||
|
|
established, and its members were instructed by the Pope to investigate
|
|||
|
|
and prosecute heresy. From this simple beginning grew the awesome
|
|||
|
|
machinery of the Inquisition, which although never aimed particularly at
|
|||
|
|
witches, became a byword for terror in parts of Europe.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
As you can see, the motives for the heresy persecutions were not to
|
|||
|
|
stamp out Paganism - although that was certainly a by-product - but to
|
|||
|
|
remove the threat of any competition to the power of the Church (and
|
|||
|
|
thus to the Pope), in Rome. And the greatest threat came from other
|
|||
|
|
"Christian" sects, not the Pagans. The change from an accusatory to an
|
|||
|
|
inquisitorial process became established, and the legal machinery which
|
|||
|
|
allowed - indeed encouraged - individual psychopaths and religious
|
|||
|
|
maniacs to persecute at will, was in place.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Have you got a neighbour who annoys you? plays loud music, or who keeps
|
|||
|
|
their smelly refuse next to your garden fence? Now your recourse is to
|
|||
|
|
the local council or the police; in the Middle Ages, you simply
|
|||
|
|
denounced the offender as a witch or heretic, and let the Church deal
|
|||
|
|
with them for you. Not only did it cost you nothing, if you were lucky,
|
|||
|
|
you might also inherit their property!
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
For once you were taken as a witch or a heretic, there was little chance
|
|||
|
|
of escape. Certainly some victims were pardoned and released, but the
|
|||
|
|
vast majority were not so lucky. When you consider the style of
|
|||
|
|
questioning, this is not surprising: 1 How long have you been a
|
|||
|
|
witch?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
2 Why did you become a witch?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
3 How did you become a witch and what happened on that occasion?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
4 Who is the one you chose to be your incubus? What was his name?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
5 What was the name of your master among the evil demons?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
6 What was the oath you were forced to render to him?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
21 What animals have you bewitched to sickness and death, and why did
|
|||
|
|
you commit such acts?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
22 Who are your accomplices in evil...?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
24 What is the ointment with which you rub your broomstick made
|
|||
|
|
of...?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
This set of questions came from Lorraine, and was used consistently
|
|||
|
|
throughout the three centuries of the main persecutions. Bearing in mind
|
|||
|
|
that the accused HAD to answer - no answer at all, or a denial, was
|
|||
|
|
tantamount to guilt - you can see how easily the composite picture of
|
|||
|
|
the witch evolved. As Rossell Hope Robbins says: "The confessions of
|
|||
|
|
witches authenticated the experts, and the denunciations ensured a
|
|||
|
|
continuing supply of victims. Throughout France and Germany this
|
|||
|
|
procedure became standardised; repeated year after year, in time it
|
|||
|
|
built up a huge mass of "evidence", all duly authorised, from the mouths
|
|||
|
|
of the accused. On these confessions, later demonologists based their
|
|||
|
|
compendiums and so formulated the classic conceptions of witchcraft,
|
|||
|
|
which never existed save in their own minds."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It is also rather disturbing to discover just how important individual
|
|||
|
|
religious maniacs appear to have been in the persecutions. Rather like
|
|||
|
|
today, where a crusading tele-journalist, or evangelical vicar, can
|
|||
|
|
cause untold harm to innocent people. Without exception, these
|
|||
|
|
accusations are by those with an unhealthy mania against anyone whose
|
|||
|
|
theology or practices differ from their own. In the words of one modern
|
|||
|
|
evangelist: "if you're not fighting and winning, you're losing.".
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Conrad of Marburg, described by Norman Cohn as, "a blind fanatic", was a
|
|||
|
|
severe and formidable persecutor. As confessor to the young 21 year-old
|
|||
|
|
Countess of Thuringia, he would trick her into "some trivial and
|
|||
|
|
unwitting disobedience, and then have her and her maids flogged so
|
|||
|
|
severely that the scars were visible weeks later". (Cohn). Conrad became
|
|||
|
|
Germany's first official Inquisitor, and his zeal in denouncing heretics
|
|||
|
|
was unsurpassed. Another Conrad, a lay-Dominican Friar, and his sidekick
|
|||
|
|
Johannes, were also vigorous in denouncing heretics. As they moved from
|
|||
|
|
village to village, they claimed to be able to identify a heretic by his
|
|||
|
|
or her appearance, based on nothing but their own intuition. They were
|
|||
|
|
responsible for the burnings of many people, and said, "we would gladly
|
|||
|
|
burn a hundred if just one among them were guilty". (Annales
|
|||
|
|
Wormantiensis).
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Their comment about appearance is an important one; as we saw earlier,
|
|||
|
|
the stereotype of the witch hasn't changed much in hundreds of years. We
|
|||
|
|
know it is false; we know that it exists only in the imagination of the
|
|||
|
|
persecutors, and yet how powerful and enduring this stereotype has
|
|||
|
|
proven to be.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
If we think about this stereotype, what images do we conjure up? An old
|
|||
|
|
woman - occasionally an old man; or perhaps a young and alluring
|
|||
|
|
temptress? Flying through the air on a broomstick; worshipping a devil,
|
|||
|
|
often in the form of a goat; trampling upon the sacred symbols of
|
|||
|
|
Christianity; and of course our old friend the Sabbat, with its
|
|||
|
|
practices of sexual license, debauchery, drunkenness and ritual murder;
|
|||
|
|
the latter often of children.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
But persecution does not restrict itself to witches; the similarities
|
|||
|
|
between this stereotype and that of the Jew are obvious: Jews have been
|
|||
|
|
persecuted throughout their history, but it is interesting to compare
|
|||
|
|
some aspects of their persecution with that of witches.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In the 12th century, the word "Synagogue" was used for the first time to
|
|||
|
|
describe the meeting place of heretics. Professor Russell says that:
|
|||
|
|
"This usage, obviously designed to spite the Jews, was common throughout
|
|||
|
|
the Middle Ages, being replaced only towards the end of the 15th century
|
|||
|
|
by the equally anti-Jewish term 'sabbat'.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The Encyclopaedia Britannica says on the subject of Jewish persecution
|
|||
|
|
that: "To reinforce racial and religious prejudice, the preposterous
|
|||
|
|
ritual murder accusation became common from the 12th century." The third
|
|||
|
|
and fourth Lateran Councils had already prohibited gentiles from
|
|||
|
|
entering Jewish service, or being employed by Jews, and further ordered
|
|||
|
|
that Jews should wear a distinctive badge, and live only in Jewish
|
|||
|
|
settlement areas. This of course was the beginning of the ghetto.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
As we have seen though, the ritual murder accusation was already over a
|
|||
|
|
thousand years old, before it was used against either the Jews or the
|
|||
|
|
heretics and witches. Most people know of the expulsion of Jews from
|
|||
|
|
Spain in the 15th century, but perhaps not so commonly known is that for
|
|||
|
|
about 200 years prior to the expulsion, the Jews had been massacred and
|
|||
|
|
persecuted. Indeed, it was against the Jews that the infamous Spanish
|
|||
|
|
Inquisition of the 15th century was directed. The persecution of Jews in
|
|||
|
|
20th century Europe is too well-known to require further comment here,
|
|||
|
|
but perhaps a few comments about its encouragement would be useful.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
We are discussing persecution in this talk, and how persecution is
|
|||
|
|
manifested. Throughout history, the written word has been invaluable as
|
|||
|
|
a means of spreading propaganda. Even in the Middle Ages the "crimes" of
|
|||
|
|
the heretic were publicised by records of trials, where the
|
|||
|
|
"confessions" were made known to the general public. The infamous
|
|||
|
|
"Malleus Maleficarum" became highly influential in Europe mainly because
|
|||
|
|
its publication coincided with the introduction of mass printing. It had
|
|||
|
|
little effect in England because no English translation was available
|
|||
|
|
until 1928. This fact alone demonstrates the power of the written word.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In medieval Europe, a pamphlet describing the crimes of a convicted
|
|||
|
|
heretic would be pinned to a post in the town square, and those who
|
|||
|
|
could not read had it read to them. In 20th century Europe, pamphlets
|
|||
|
|
were still used by one group to spread lies about another. As we
|
|||
|
|
approach the 21st century, this technique is still used with very great
|
|||
|
|
success; for the persecutor needs to make only a glancing nod to the
|
|||
|
|
truth, and the lies which are published (or more frequently broadcast)
|
|||
|
|
are far more scandalous than the reality!
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
An example: soon after the launch of the Pagan Alliance, Sydney radio
|
|||
|
|
2MMM broadcasted a news story about the sexual abuse of children by
|
|||
|
|
occultists and witches. Matthew responded immediately, and provided the
|
|||
|
|
station with copy documents and news clippings from Britain, proving the
|
|||
|
|
story to be without foundation, and a scheme by the Christian
|
|||
|
|
fundamentalists to discredit Pagans. The news editor and chief
|
|||
|
|
journalist were impressed by the material, and agreed that they had been
|
|||
|
|
used by the fundies. However, they refused to broadcast a retraction
|
|||
|
|
because it would be "old news". So, the damage had been done, and the
|
|||
|
|
fundamentalists achieved their objective.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
This technique was used with very great effect in the early part of the
|
|||
|
|
20th century, with the circulation of a pamphlet called, "The Protocols
|
|||
|
|
of the Elders of Zion". This purported to be, "an account of the World
|
|||
|
|
Congress of Jewry held in Basel, Switzerland in 1897, during which a
|
|||
|
|
conspiracy was planned by the international Jewish movement and the
|
|||
|
|
Freemasons to achieve world domination." (M Howard).
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
German nationalists made very great use of the Protocols, which it was
|
|||
|
|
claimed were "smuggled out of Switzerland by a Russian journalist who
|
|||
|
|
had placed the documents in the safe keeping of the Rising Sun Masonic
|
|||
|
|
Lodge in Frankfurt." (ibid) They were widely disseminated, and writing
|
|||
|
|
in "Mein Kampf", Hitler "denounced the Jews as agents of an
|
|||
|
|
international conspiracy devoted to world domination...". (ibid) We all
|
|||
|
|
know what happened next.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The point is that although the Protocols were confirmed as a fraud in
|
|||
|
|
1921, they continued to have an effect, and once published, could not
|
|||
|
|
effectively be retracted. This is the aim of today's fundamentalist
|
|||
|
|
Christian, who believes that if he or she throws enough dirt at their
|
|||
|
|
opponents (basically anyone who does not agree with their uncompromising
|
|||
|
|
version of Christianity), then some will stick, and the battle will be
|
|||
|
|
won. This is the strategy which has been used for thousands of years to
|
|||
|
|
persecute minorities, and has always been successful. The formula is
|
|||
|
|
simple: discover what most people fear most, and then accuse your
|
|||
|
|
enemies of practising it. It is an interesting comment on humanity that
|
|||
|
|
those things which occur time and time again are consistent: conspiracy,
|
|||
|
|
buggery, paedophilia, sacrifice (human and animal) sexual license,
|
|||
|
|
drunkenness and feasting. More specific charges relating to a pact with
|
|||
|
|
a devil or desecrating sacred objects are additions to these core
|
|||
|
|
accusations.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A further interesting aspect is that many of the accusations were made
|
|||
|
|
by children; interesting parallels can be drawn to modern accusations by
|
|||
|
|
children "encouraged" to reveal information about occultism and witches.
|
|||
|
|
It has been widely recorded that Hitler's "Youth Army" required children
|
|||
|
|
to spy upon their parents, and report any indiscretions; modern social
|
|||
|
|
workers use an identical process for identifying Pagan parents -
|
|||
|
|
children are asked about what their parents do, and leading questions
|
|||
|
|
are commonly used. And of course there have always been children who,
|
|||
|
|
for one reason or another, tell the most fantastic tales. It is unlikely
|
|||
|
|
today that the victims of these child fantasies will be burned at the
|
|||
|
|
stake, but there have been families torn apart, children placed in
|
|||
|
|
detention centres, and untold misery for parents and children alike,
|
|||
|
|
based upon no more than the verbal report of a child.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Commentators on this aspect of persecution have suggested that the
|
|||
|
|
children wish to be the centre of attention; or to direct punishment for
|
|||
|
|
their own misdeeds elsewhere; or are simply reacting in a hyperactive
|
|||
|
|
manner to the onset of puberty. Whatever the cause, the effects are
|
|||
|
|
dramatic, and have caused severe suffering, and in the middle ages, loss
|
|||
|
|
of life, on many occasions.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In medieval England, there were many occasions where children's
|
|||
|
|
"evidence" (sic) was used to convict witches. "The Leicester Boy", "The
|
|||
|
|
Burton Boy" and "The Bilson Boy" were a few of many who claimed to be
|
|||
|
|
bewitched by witches. Eventually proven to be a fraud, at least ten
|
|||
|
|
women died as a result of the accusations of The Leicester Boy, and the
|
|||
|
|
Burton Boy caused the death of at least one of the women whom he
|
|||
|
|
accused. In the 17th century a number of women were executed on the
|
|||
|
|
allegations of hysterical children, even though fraud was often
|
|||
|
|
discovered during the course of the trial. It is a fact that the
|
|||
|
|
delusions of delinquent or disturbed children were often used by judges
|
|||
|
|
to confirm their own prejudices; how little things have changed!
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Salem (1692) is probably the best known of all the cases where children
|
|||
|
|
were the chief accusers. Although in fact, the "children" were more like
|
|||
|
|
young adults, with only one under the age of ten, and most in their late
|
|||
|
|
teens or early twenties. However, as the panic grew, a great many more
|
|||
|
|
were sucked into the web of lies, and Martha Carrier was hanged on the
|
|||
|
|
"evidence" (sic) of her 7 year-old daughter. At the height of the
|
|||
|
|
hysteria almost 150 people were arrested; thirty-one were convicted, and
|
|||
|
|
nineteen hung. Some died in jail, and others were reprieved. As was
|
|||
|
|
common in Europe, the accused were required to pay their expenses whilst
|
|||
|
|
in jail, even if they were subsequently found innocent. Sarah Osborne
|
|||
|
|
and Ann Foster both died in jail, and costs of <20>1 3s 5d and <20>2 16s 0d
|
|||
|
|
respectively were demanded before the bodies would be released for
|
|||
|
|
burial.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The chief of the accusers, Ann Putnam, confessed fourteen years later
|
|||
|
|
that the whole thing was a fraud. In 1697 the jurors publicly confessed
|
|||
|
|
they had made an error of judgement, and ten years after the executions,
|
|||
|
|
Judge Samuel Sewall "confessed the guilt of the court, desiring to take
|
|||
|
|
the blame and shame of it...". By then of course it was too late for
|
|||
|
|
those who were dead, or whose lives had been destroyed by the
|
|||
|
|
accusations.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
But we are getting ahead of ourselves here, for Salem is the last of the
|
|||
|
|
great witch trials, coming as it does towards the end of the 17th
|
|||
|
|
century.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
We mentioned earlier that in Continental Europe, the heresy trials
|
|||
|
|
appeared to arise from the persecution of the Christian sects of the
|
|||
|
|
Bogomils, Cathars, Albigensians, and others such as the Jews,
|
|||
|
|
Waldensians, and even the Knights Templars. The stereotype of the witch
|
|||
|
|
was compounded from many different sources, and gradually became the
|
|||
|
|
composite figure of the shape-shifting hag, who flew through the air on
|
|||
|
|
a broom, and flung her curses at all and sundry.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The concept of the pact with the devil existed as early as the 8th
|
|||
|
|
century, and as we have seen, sexual license, buggery and ritual
|
|||
|
|
sacrifice have long been seen as activities supposed to be practised by
|
|||
|
|
those outside of society's norm, whether they be Christian or Pagan.
|
|||
|
|
During the 9th century, shape-shifting, maleficia and the
|
|||
|
|
incubus/succubus became more commonly reported, and by the 10th century,
|
|||
|
|
the idea of nocturnal flight was established. Published in 906, the
|
|||
|
|
Canon Episcopi described how some women were deluded in the belief that
|
|||
|
|
at night they could fly behind their Goddess, Diana (Holda or Herodias):
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Some wicked women are perverted by the Devil and led astray by
|
|||
|
|
illusions and fantasies induced by demons, so that they believe they
|
|||
|
|
ride out at night on beasts with Diana, the pagan goddess, and a horde
|
|||
|
|
of women. They believe that in the night they cross huge distances. They
|
|||
|
|
say that they obey Diana's commands and on certain nights are called out
|
|||
|
|
in her service..."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Echoes here to Maddalena's story recounted by Leland in Aradia: Gospel
|
|||
|
|
of the Witches: "Once in the month, and when the moon is full, ye shall
|
|||
|
|
assemble in some desert place, or in a forest all together join to adore
|
|||
|
|
the potent spirit of your Queen, my mother, great Diana". Carlo Ginzburg
|
|||
|
|
has also published a remarkable book about the Witches' Sabbath, and the
|
|||
|
|
night flight, where he suggests that these are in fact based on
|
|||
|
|
genuinely ancient shamanic practices; nothing new in this concept to
|
|||
|
|
modern Witches, but a novel observation in the academic circles in which
|
|||
|
|
Ginzburg moves.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In 1012, Burchard's Collectarium was published: the first attempt to
|
|||
|
|
assemble a book of Canonical Law. Book number 19 of this vast collection
|
|||
|
|
was called the Corrector, and chapter five deals with various sins, and
|
|||
|
|
their respective penances. As we might suppose, Maleficia is prominent
|
|||
|
|
in this chapter! It enshrines in law the notion of night flight,
|
|||
|
|
together with murder, and the cooking and eating of human flesh.
|
|||
|
|
Although both the Canon Episcopi and Burchard's Corrector are specific
|
|||
|
|
in attributing the powers of flight to Witches, it is not until 1280
|
|||
|
|
that the first picture of a witch riding upon a broom appears. This is
|
|||
|
|
found in Schleswig Cathedral.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In 1022, the first burning occurred: at Orleans, the victims were
|
|||
|
|
accused of, "holding sex orgies at night in a secret place, either
|
|||
|
|
underground or in an abandoned building. The members of the group
|
|||
|
|
appeared bearing torches. Holding the torches, they chanted the names of
|
|||
|
|
demons until an evil spirit appeared. Now the lights were extinguished,
|
|||
|
|
and everyone seized the person closest to him in a sexual embrace,
|
|||
|
|
whether mother, sister or nun. The children conceived at the orgies were
|
|||
|
|
burned eight days after birth, and their ashes were confected in a
|
|||
|
|
substance that was then used in a blasphemous parody of holy communion."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Strange how these charges appear to have changed so little in so many
|
|||
|
|
years! Compared with our first example, and indeed with the accusations
|
|||
|
|
of modern day fundamentalists, one would be forgiven for believing that
|
|||
|
|
time is a figment of our imagination, and that nothing ever really
|
|||
|
|
changes; certainly not human nature.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The 14th century saw a steady growth in the number of accusations and
|
|||
|
|
trials, and by the 15th century, the idea of the Devil's (or Witch's)
|
|||
|
|
mark had become established. So too was the idea of a flying ointment,
|
|||
|
|
and a consistent image of The Devil became common in trials literature.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The Papal Bull of 1484, Summis Desiderantes Affectibus, and then two
|
|||
|
|
years later, publication of the Malleus Maleficarum, further established
|
|||
|
|
the "crime" of witchcraft as a heresy, and confirmed Papal support for
|
|||
|
|
its eradication. This infamous work - The Hammer of the Witches - was
|
|||
|
|
incredibly influential in establishing a code of practice by which
|
|||
|
|
witches were to be denounced, tried, convicted and executed. There was
|
|||
|
|
no escape from this dreadful fate. The third part of the book describes
|
|||
|
|
how to deal with one who will not confess to the charges:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"But if the accused, after a year or other longer period which has been
|
|||
|
|
deemed sufficient, continues to maintain his denials, and the legitimate
|
|||
|
|
witnesses abide by their evidence, the Bishop and Judges shall prepare
|
|||
|
|
to abandon him to the secular Court; sending to him certain honest men
|
|||
|
|
zealous for the faith, especially religious, to tell him that he cannot
|
|||
|
|
escape temporal death while he thus persists in his denial, but will be
|
|||
|
|
delivered up as an impenitent heretic to the power of the secular Court.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It is also in this section that our friendly Dominican monks refer to,
|
|||
|
|
"witch midwives, who surpass all other witches in their crimes... And
|
|||
|
|
the number of them is so great that, as has been found from their
|
|||
|
|
confessions, it is thought that there is scarcely any tiny hamlet in
|
|||
|
|
which at least one is not to be found."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Despite its incredible influence in Europe, the Malleus had little
|
|||
|
|
effect in England, Wales or Ireland, where witchcraft accusations and
|
|||
|
|
trials were very different to those of the continent and Scotland. In
|
|||
|
|
fact Wales and Ireland seemed to escape from the witch persecutions
|
|||
|
|
almost entirely, with very few trials, and even fewer executions.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Although many laws have been enacted in England against witchcraft,
|
|||
|
|
there has never been anything like the hysteria about witches common in
|
|||
|
|
mainland Europe. The earliest known person accused of sorcery in England
|
|||
|
|
was Agnes, wife of Odo, who in 1209 was freed after choosing trial by
|
|||
|
|
ordeal of grasping a red-hot iron.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Until 1563, commoners accused of witchcraft in England met light (if
|
|||
|
|
any) punishment. Those of noble birth were treated rather more severely,
|
|||
|
|
as the crime could easily be one of treason, and any action which
|
|||
|
|
implied a threat to the monarch was treated very seriously indeed. This
|
|||
|
|
resulted in the charge of witchcraft being used to remove political
|
|||
|
|
opponents with great expediency. There were certainly laws against the
|
|||
|
|
practice of witchcraft or sorcery: Alfred the Great (849-899 AD), King
|
|||
|
|
of Wessex and overlord of England, decreed the death penalty for Wiccans
|
|||
|
|
(that was the word he actually used), and Aethelstan - perhaps one of
|
|||
|
|
the most compassionate of Saxon Kings, ordered those who practised
|
|||
|
|
Wiccecraeft to be executed, but only if their activities resulted in
|
|||
|
|
murder.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Under Henry VIII's Act of 1546, the penalty for conjuration of evil
|
|||
|
|
spirits was death, and the property of the accused was confiscated by
|
|||
|
|
the King. However, this was in effect for only one year, being repealed
|
|||
|
|
by Edward VI in 1547, and only one conviction under this Act is
|
|||
|
|
recorded. In 1563, the statute of Queen Elizabeth I was established,
|
|||
|
|
which also made death the penalty for invoking or conjuring an evil
|
|||
|
|
spirit, but those who practised divination, or who caused harm (other
|
|||
|
|
than death) by their sorceries, were sentenced to a year's imprisonment
|
|||
|
|
for a first offence. Subsequent offences could be punishable by death,
|
|||
|
|
and in some cases, the confiscation of property as well.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
However, even though laws against the practice of witchcraft had been
|
|||
|
|
established for hundreds of years, the first major trial was not until
|
|||
|
|
1566, at Chelmsford, and was typical of the English style of witchcraft:
|
|||
|
|
no pact with the devil, no gathering at Sabbats, but simple and direct
|
|||
|
|
acts of maleficia, and the introduction of witches' familiars. It was an
|
|||
|
|
important trial, for it set the precedent in English law for accepting
|
|||
|
|
unsupported, and highly imaginative, stories from children as evidence.
|
|||
|
|
It also accepted spectral evidence (sic), witch's marks, and the
|
|||
|
|
confession of the accused.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
There are some very distinctive aspects to English witchcraft, which set
|
|||
|
|
it apart from its Continental and Scottish counterparts, and which are
|
|||
|
|
worth noting. There was a relative lack of torture, and, this may come
|
|||
|
|
as a surprise to some people, but witches were never burned in England.
|
|||
|
|
Traitors and murderers were burned; witches were hung. Of course, a
|
|||
|
|
traitor or a murderer could also be a witch, but this was actually quite
|
|||
|
|
rare. The torture used in England - when it was used at all - was
|
|||
|
|
typically swimming, pricking, enforced waking, and a diet of bread and
|
|||
|
|
water. Unpleasant, but when compared to squassation, being skinned
|
|||
|
|
alive, the strappado, the rack, and such delights as the thumbscrews and
|
|||
|
|
the iron maiden, hardly in the same class. The focus of English
|
|||
|
|
witchcraft was more towards simple, personal, acts of maleficia than a
|
|||
|
|
perceived conspiracy against the power of the Christian Church. As one
|
|||
|
|
of Britain's foremost folklorists says: "Traditions of an organised,
|
|||
|
|
pagan witch-cult were never very plentiful in England, although they did
|
|||
|
|
exist occasionally, especially in the later years of the witch belief.
|
|||
|
|
They were never really strong, and after the end of the persecution in
|
|||
|
|
the early 18th century, they disappeared altogether." (Christina Hole)
|
|||
|
|
This is interesting, because it has been suggested that the witch trials
|
|||
|
|
phenomena was largely inspired by the heretical Christian sects; this
|
|||
|
|
would seem to be born out by the type of accusations made in England,
|
|||
|
|
which were largely neighbour against neighbour rather than Church and
|
|||
|
|
State against an organised conspiracy of heretics.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
What is also interesting is that it was commonly believed in England
|
|||
|
|
that if the bewitched victim could draw blood from the witch, then they
|
|||
|
|
would be cured, and the witch's power made ineffective. This belief has
|
|||
|
|
persisted in folk traditions to modern times. In 1875, at Long Compton,
|
|||
|
|
the body of an old woman, one Ann Turner, was discovered. She had been
|
|||
|
|
pinned to the ground by a pitchfork through her throat, and across her
|
|||
|
|
face and chest had been carved the sign of a crucifix. James Heywood, a
|
|||
|
|
local farmer, had once claimed: "It's she who brings the floods and
|
|||
|
|
drought. Her spells withered the crops in the field. Her curse drove my
|
|||
|
|
father to an early grave!". Heywood maintained that the only way to
|
|||
|
|
destroy her power was to spill her blood, and so after her murder, he
|
|||
|
|
was taken and tried for the crime. He was convicted, and sentenced to
|
|||
|
|
life imprisonment. Long Compton has always been associated with the
|
|||
|
|
practice of witchcraft, and is located only a short distance from the
|
|||
|
|
magical Rollright Stones, and near to the aptly named Wychwood Forest.
|
|||
|
|
The derivation of this name is from the curiously named tribe of THE
|
|||
|
|
HWICCE, who lived in the area at the time of King Penda of Mercia, and
|
|||
|
|
who seemed always to be ruled by two brothers. But back to Long Compton:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In 1945, Charles Walton, a local labourer, set out one morning to do
|
|||
|
|
some hedging on nearby Meon Hill. That evening, his mutilated body was
|
|||
|
|
found in a field - pinned to the ground by his pitchfork, which had been
|
|||
|
|
stuck through his throat. There were cuts to his arms and legs, and
|
|||
|
|
local police were baffled as to the motive for the crime, and who the
|
|||
|
|
likely culprit might have been. But gradually locals began to talk about
|
|||
|
|
Mr Walton; they said he was a solitary and vindictive old man, who was
|
|||
|
|
concerned more with searching out the secrets of nature than in taking
|
|||
|
|
company with his neighbours. They said that he harnessed toads, using
|
|||
|
|
reeds and pieces of ram's horn, and then sent them across fields to
|
|||
|
|
blight the crops. They also remembered that he kept a witch's mirror - a
|
|||
|
|
piece of black stone polished in a mountain stream - concealed in his
|
|||
|
|
pocket-watch, which he used for weaving spells and seeing into the
|
|||
|
|
future. The police never discovered the culprit, but it was accepted
|
|||
|
|
locally that Mr Walton was murdered because he was a witch. His wounds
|
|||
|
|
were a result of the belief that a victim could be freed from
|
|||
|
|
enchantment if he or she were able to draw the blood of the witch.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
We could not leave English witchcraft without mention of that infamous
|
|||
|
|
gentleman, Matthew Hopkins; self-styled Witchfinder General. For all his
|
|||
|
|
fame, his activities were restricted to a relatively small area, and a
|
|||
|
|
relatively short period of time. However, his boundless energy, and
|
|||
|
|
boundless enthusiasm for the collection of large amounts of money,
|
|||
|
|
ensured that his name has not been forgotten.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Matthew Hopkins used the unrest of the Civil War to prey upon the fears
|
|||
|
|
of the common people. Little is known of his early life, except that he
|
|||
|
|
became a lawyer "of little note", and failing to make a living at
|
|||
|
|
Ipswich in Suffolk, moved to Manningtree in Essex - an area of Civil War
|
|||
|
|
tension.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
With virtually no knowledge of witchcraft, but armed with a couple of
|
|||
|
|
contemporary documents (including James I's "Demonology"), Hopkins set
|
|||
|
|
himself up in business as a witchfinder. And a very profitable business
|
|||
|
|
it was too. At a time when the average daily wage was 6d, Hopkins
|
|||
|
|
received <20>23 for a single visit to Stowmarket, and <20>6 for a visit to
|
|||
|
|
Aldeburgh.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
His approach was consistent: James I mentioned that witches had
|
|||
|
|
familiars, and suckled imps; therefore, anyone who kept a familiar
|
|||
|
|
spirit or imp must be a witch! Bearing in mind the English partiality to
|
|||
|
|
keeping pets, and you begin to see just how very successful this
|
|||
|
|
technique could be. For example, Bridget Mayers was condemned for
|
|||
|
|
entertaining an evil spirit in the likeness of a mouse, which she called
|
|||
|
|
"Prickears"; another (unnamed) woman was rescued by her neighbours from
|
|||
|
|
a ducking, where she confessed to having an imp called "Nan". When she
|
|||
|
|
recovered she said: "she knew not what she had confessed, and she had
|
|||
|
|
nothing she called Nan but a pullet that she sometimes called by that
|
|||
|
|
name...".
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Hopkins moved from Essex to Norfolk and Suffolk, and by the following
|
|||
|
|
year, had operations in Cambridge, Northampton, Huntingdon and Bedford,
|
|||
|
|
with a team of six witch finders under his control. "In Suffolk alone it
|
|||
|
|
is estimated that he was responsible for arresting at least 124 persons
|
|||
|
|
for witchcraft, of whom at least 68 were hanged." (RHR) However, Hopkins
|
|||
|
|
moved too far too quickly, and public opinion began to go against him.
|
|||
|
|
In 1646, a clergyman in Huntingdon preached against him, and judges
|
|||
|
|
began to question both his methods of locating witches, and the fees
|
|||
|
|
that he charged for the service. In 1647 Hopkins published a pamphlet
|
|||
|
|
called "Discovery of Witches", in which he supported his methods in
|
|||
|
|
sanctimonious and pseudo legal language. However, it was to no avail,
|
|||
|
|
for later that year he died, "in some disgrace" according to most
|
|||
|
|
authorities. Witchcraft legend has it that he was drowned by irate
|
|||
|
|
villagers in one of his own ducking ponds, but this has no recorded
|
|||
|
|
evidence to support it. However, it would be a fitting end to such an
|
|||
|
|
evil man, and I hope it was true.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Moving away from England; Scottish and Continental witchcraft shared a
|
|||
|
|
great many similarities; Mary Queen of Scots, and her son, James VI,
|
|||
|
|
were both educated in France, and this ensured that continental
|
|||
|
|
attitudes towards witches were enshrined in Scottish law at the highest
|
|||
|
|
level. In fact the concepts of witchcraft were introduced into Scotland
|
|||
|
|
by Mary in about 1563. Before then, trials for witchcraft had been few,
|
|||
|
|
and there were no recorded burnings of witches. In "The Encyclopaedia of
|
|||
|
|
Witchcraft and Demonology" Rossell Hope Robbins says:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Scotland is second only to Germany in the barbarity of its witch
|
|||
|
|
trials. The Presbyterian clergy acted like inquisitors, and the Church
|
|||
|
|
sessions often shared the prosecution with the secular law courts. The
|
|||
|
|
Scottish laws were, if anything, more heavily loaded against the
|
|||
|
|
accused. Finally, the devilishness of the torture was limited only by
|
|||
|
|
Scotland's backward technology in the construction of mechanical
|
|||
|
|
devices."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It is well known that James VI was an ardent prosecutor of witches, and
|
|||
|
|
it was under his authority that the Bible was translated to include the
|
|||
|
|
word "witch" (Exodus 22:18) to provide Biblical sanction for the death
|
|||
|
|
penalty for witches. The original Hebrew word - kashaph - meant either a
|
|||
|
|
magician, diviner or sorcerer, but was definitely not a witch. In the
|
|||
|
|
Latin Vulgate (4th century version of the Bible) the word had been
|
|||
|
|
translated as "maleficos", which could mean any kind of criminal,
|
|||
|
|
although in practice often referred to malevolent sorcerers. Similarly,
|
|||
|
|
the so-called Witch of Endor, consulted by King Solomon: the original
|
|||
|
|
Hebrew was "ba'alath ob": "mistress of a talisman". In the Latin Vulgate
|
|||
|
|
she became a "mulierem habentem pythonem": a women possessing an
|
|||
|
|
oracular spirit. It was only in the version of the Bible authorised by
|
|||
|
|
King James that she became a witch.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
By the time that James acceded to the English throne in 1603, his
|
|||
|
|
attitude towards witches had undergone a subtle transformation. In fact,
|
|||
|
|
he was directly responsible for the release and pardon of several
|
|||
|
|
accused "witches", and personally interfered in trials where he believed
|
|||
|
|
that fraud or deception was being practised. However, Lynn Linton
|
|||
|
|
writing in 1861 says of him:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
"Whatever of blood-stained folly belonged specially to the Scottish
|
|||
|
|
trials of this time - and hereafter - owed its original impulse to him;
|
|||
|
|
every groan of the tortured wretches driven to their fearful doom, and
|
|||
|
|
every tear of the survivors left blighted and desolate to drag out their
|
|||
|
|
weary days in mingled grief and terror, lie on his memory with shame and
|
|||
|
|
condemnation ineffaceable for all time."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
But it was under Charles II that perhaps the most famous - and enduring
|
|||
|
|
- of Scottish witches was tried, and most probably executed (although
|
|||
|
|
records of her punishment have not survived). Isobel Gowdie of
|
|||
|
|
Auldearne, on four separate occasions during 1662 testified that she was
|
|||
|
|
a witch, and gave what Rossell Hope Robbins describes as: "a resum<75> of
|
|||
|
|
popular beliefs about witchcraft in Scotland.". He says that Gowdie
|
|||
|
|
"appeared clearly demented", but that "it is plain she believed what she
|
|||
|
|
confessed, no matter how impossible...".
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
From Gowdie are derived some of the concepts of today's Wicca, including
|
|||
|
|
the idea of a coven, comprised of 13 people. Gowdie said that a coven
|
|||
|
|
was ruled by a "Man in Black", often called "Black John". He would often
|
|||
|
|
beat the witches severely, and it seemed their main tasks were to raise
|
|||
|
|
storms, change themselves into animals, and shoot elf arrows to injure
|
|||
|
|
or kill people. Coming as she does right at the end of the witchcraft
|
|||
|
|
persecutions, it is difficult to establish how much of Gowdie's
|
|||
|
|
confession is based upon real, traditional folk practices of Auldearne,
|
|||
|
|
and how much she is simply repeating the standard accusations against
|
|||
|
|
witches. The Coven of 13 is probably the single aspect of her
|
|||
|
|
confessions which does not appear elsewhere in records of witchcraft
|
|||
|
|
trials, and my own feelings are that she was probably as genuine a witch
|
|||
|
|
as was ever taken and tried.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
We have already commented how terrifying it is to consider the impact
|
|||
|
|
that a single person can have upon the lives of so many people. We have
|
|||
|
|
looked at a number of these - King James, Kramer and Sprenger, Matthew
|
|||
|
|
Hopkins, Conrad of Marburg - and their latter day successors are no less
|
|||
|
|
dangerous. Let us consider some of the 20th century persecutors. We have
|
|||
|
|
already mentioned Adolf Hitler; what about Stalin? his great purge in
|
|||
|
|
the period following 1936 saw charges of treason, espionage and
|
|||
|
|
terrorism brought against anyone who showed the least inclination to
|
|||
|
|
oppose him. Using techniques which would not have been out of place
|
|||
|
|
during the great witch hunts, Stalin's henchmen enforced "confessions",
|
|||
|
|
and effectively exterminated any threat to his political power.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
We could look too at McCarthy, whose fame for persecution was such that
|
|||
|
|
his name is now used to describe "the use of unsupported accusations for
|
|||
|
|
any purpose". It is no accident that his activities were referred to as
|
|||
|
|
a "witch hunt", nor that Arthur Miller's play about the Salem witch
|
|||
|
|
trials, "The Crucible", was more a comment about McCarthyism than a
|
|||
|
|
comment about 17th century American life.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In 20th century Australia we are heirs to a European history, which
|
|||
|
|
maintains that witches are servants of the devil, and should be
|
|||
|
|
prosecuted for their crimes against humanity. In some States these laws
|
|||
|
|
actually remain upon the Statute Books; in others, the legal machinery
|
|||
|
|
has been removed, but often public opinion hovers around the middle
|
|||
|
|
ages, believing that the only good witch is a dead witch.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Our latter-day inquisitors play upon these fears, in much the same way
|
|||
|
|
as Matthew Hopkins played upon the fears of the people during the Civil
|
|||
|
|
War. Christian Fundamentalists have no hesitation in using every dirty
|
|||
|
|
trick in the book to ensure that public opinion remains opposed to
|
|||
|
|
witchcraft. If this means that some of them have to stand up and say:
|
|||
|
|
"Yes, I was a witch: I sacrificed my babies to the devil, and copulated
|
|||
|
|
with a goat; I took part in drunken orgies, and drank the blood of the
|
|||
|
|
sacrifice"; but then I found Jesus, and was born again, and now I'm a
|
|||
|
|
really nice person; well so be it. Some of them are so psychiatrically
|
|||
|
|
unbalanced they may even believe it themselves.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Listen to a sample of the claims made by Audrey Harper, who achieved
|
|||
|
|
notoriety in Britain as an ex-HPS of a Witches' Coven. This extract is
|
|||
|
|
from an article by Aries, which appeared in Web of Wyrd #5:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Sent to a Dr Barnado's home by her mother, she grew up with deprivation
|
|||
|
|
and social stigma. In time she becomes a WRAF, falls in love, gets
|
|||
|
|
pregnant, boyfriend dies, she turns to booze, gives up her baby and
|
|||
|
|
becomes homeless. Wandering to Piccadilly Circus she meets some Flower
|
|||
|
|
Children with the killer weed, and her descent into Hell is assured. By
|
|||
|
|
day she gets stoned and eats junk food; by night she sleeps in squats
|
|||
|
|
and doorways. Along comes Molly; the whore with a heart of gold who
|
|||
|
|
teaches Audrey the art of streetwalking. She flirts with shoplifting,
|
|||
|
|
gets into pills, and then gets talent spotted and invited to a Chelsea
|
|||
|
|
party, where wealth, power and tasteful decor are dangled as bait. At
|
|||
|
|
the next party she is hooked by the "group", which meets "every month in
|
|||
|
|
Virginia Water". She agrees to go to the next meeting which is to be
|
|||
|
|
held at Hallowe'en.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Inside the dark Temple lit by black candles and full of "A heady, sickly
|
|||
|
|
sweet smell from burning incense", she is "initiated" by the "warlock",
|
|||
|
|
whose "face was deathly pale and skeletal... his eyes ... were dark and
|
|||
|
|
sunken" and whose "breath and body seemed to exude a strange smell, a
|
|||
|
|
little like stale alcohol." She signs herself over to Satan with her own
|
|||
|
|
blood on a parchment scroll, whereupon a baby is produced, its throat
|
|||
|
|
cut, and the blood drank. Following this she gets dumped on the "altar"
|
|||
|
|
and screwed as the "sacrifice of the White Virgin". The meeting finishes
|
|||
|
|
with a little ritual cursing and she's left to wander "home" in the
|
|||
|
|
dark.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Her life falls into a steady routine of meetings in Virginia Water,
|
|||
|
|
getting screwed by the "warlock", drug abuse, petty crime, and
|
|||
|
|
recruiting runaways for parties, where the drinks are spiked - "probably
|
|||
|
|
with LSD" - and candles injected with heroin release "stupefying fumes
|
|||
|
|
into the air"; the object being sex kicks and pornography. She falls
|
|||
|
|
pregnant again, gets committed to a psychiatric hospital, has the baby,
|
|||
|
|
and gives it away convinced that the "warlock" would sacrifice it.
|
|||
|
|
Things then become a confusion of Church desecration, drug addiction,
|
|||
|
|
ritual abuse, psychiatric hospital, and falling in with Christian folk
|
|||
|
|
who try vainly to save her soul. For rather vague reasons the "coven"
|
|||
|
|
decide to drop her from the team, and she dedicates herself to a true
|
|||
|
|
junkie's lifestyle with a steady round of overdosing, jaundice, and
|
|||
|
|
detoxification units. The "warlock" drops by to threaten her, and she
|
|||
|
|
makes her way north via some psychiatric hospitals to a Christian
|
|||
|
|
Rehabilitation farm. She gets married, has a child which she keeps, and
|
|||
|
|
becomes a regular churchgoer. But beneath the surface are recurring
|
|||
|
|
nightmares, insane anger and murderous feelings towards her brethren. At
|
|||
|
|
the Emmanual Pentecostal Church in Stourport she asks the Minister, Roy
|
|||
|
|
Davies, for help. He prays, and God tells him that she was involved with
|
|||
|
|
witchcraft. An exorcism has her born again, cleansed of her sin. She
|
|||
|
|
gets baptised and has no more nightmares, becoming a generally nicer
|
|||
|
|
person. She becomes the "occult expert" of the Reachout Trust and
|
|||
|
|
Evangelical Alliance, and makes a career out of telling an edited
|
|||
|
|
version of her tale.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Geoffrey Dickens MP persuades her to tell all on live TV; "Audrey, to
|
|||
|
|
your knowledge is child sacrifice still going on?" To this she replies,
|
|||
|
|
"To my knowledge, yes." After this the whole thing rambles into an
|
|||
|
|
untidy conclusion of self-congratulation, self- promotion, and
|
|||
|
|
self-justification; and for a grand finale pulls out a list of
|
|||
|
|
horrendous child abuse, which is shamelessly exploited in typically
|
|||
|
|
journalistic fashion, and by the usual fallacious arguments which links
|
|||
|
|
it to anything "occult"; help-lines, astro predictions in newspapers,
|
|||
|
|
and even New Age festivals.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
And so we are left with a horrifying vision of hordes of Satanists
|
|||
|
|
swarming the country, buggering kids, sacrificing babies, and feeding
|
|||
|
|
their own faeces to the flock."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Whilst all this seems incredible to any rational person, unfortunately,
|
|||
|
|
in the age old tradition, it confirms the worst fears of the man and
|
|||
|
|
woman in the street, and so they swallow it whole. After all, it was on
|
|||
|
|
telly, so it MUST be true!
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
As a direct result of people like Audrey Harper publicising their lies
|
|||
|
|
and fantasy, children in England and Scotland were forcibly removed from
|
|||
|
|
their homes, and subjected to the type of questioning that we had
|
|||
|
|
previously believed had died out at the end of the Middle Ages.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A consultant clinical psychologist scrutinised the interview transcripts
|
|||
|
|
and audio records of the recent Orkney child abuse case, and in her
|
|||
|
|
summing up said: "[the Social Workers] told the children they knew
|
|||
|
|
things had happened to them and were generally leading all the way. When
|
|||
|
|
the children denied things, the questions were continually put until the
|
|||
|
|
children got hungry and gave them the answers they wanted."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Who says that torture is no longer legal in the British Isles?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The father of four of the children who were taken into care said: "At
|
|||
|
|
first I thought the allegations were laughable, but I found out how
|
|||
|
|
serious the police were...". Just to remind you of the words of Gilles
|
|||
|
|
de Rais some 500 years ago: [the accusations] are frivolous and lack
|
|||
|
|
credit...".
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
One 11 year-old described being asked to draw a circle of ritualistic
|
|||
|
|
dancers. He said: "They got me to draw by saying, 'I am not a drawer.
|
|||
|
|
Can you draw that?' It was meant to be a ring with children around and a
|
|||
|
|
minister in the middle wearing a black robe and a crook to pull children
|
|||
|
|
in."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The boy said he had been promised treats such as a lesson on how a
|
|||
|
|
helicopter worked if he co-operated, and was told that he could go if he
|
|||
|
|
gave one name. How remarkably similar to medieval witch trials, where
|
|||
|
|
the victims were always pressed to name their accomplices - for is it
|
|||
|
|
not said, "thou canst not be a witch alone?"!
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In 1990, journalist Rosie Waterhouse commenting upon the Manchester
|
|||
|
|
child abuse case said: "After three months of questioning by the NSPCC,
|
|||
|
|
strange stories began to come out and other children were named. The way
|
|||
|
|
the children began telling "Satanic" tales in this case is remarkably
|
|||
|
|
similar to the way such stories first surfaced in Nottingham. As "The
|
|||
|
|
Independent on Sunday" revealed last week (23/9/90), the Nottingham
|
|||
|
|
children began talking about witches, monsters, babies and blood only
|
|||
|
|
after they had been encouraged, by an NSPCC social worker, to play with
|
|||
|
|
toys which included witches' costumes, monsters, toy babies, and a
|
|||
|
|
syringe for extracting blood."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Believe it or not, the parents of these children had no access to them
|
|||
|
|
whatsoever. Why? Because our modern, scientifically trained, 20th
|
|||
|
|
century social workers believed that, "[the parents] would try to
|
|||
|
|
silence the children, using secret Satanic symbols or trigger words".
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
By March 1991, senior Police spokesmen were publicly claiming that
|
|||
|
|
"police have no evidence of ritual or satanic abuse inflicted on
|
|||
|
|
children anywhere in England or Wales". Scotland has a different legal
|
|||
|
|
system, which is why it was not included in the statement - not because
|
|||
|
|
the police have evidence there, for they do not.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
When the Rochdale case finally came to court, after the children had
|
|||
|
|
been in care (sic!) for about 16 months, the judge delivered a damning
|
|||
|
|
indictment upon those who were responsible for it, and said: "the way
|
|||
|
|
the children had been removed from their parents was particularly
|
|||
|
|
upsetting." He saw a video of the removal of one girl from her home
|
|||
|
|
during a dawn raid, and commented that, "It is obvious from the video
|
|||
|
|
tape that the girl is not merely frightened but greatly distressed at
|
|||
|
|
being removed from home. The sobbing and distraught girl can be seen. It
|
|||
|
|
is one of my most abiding memories of this case."
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Let us return briefly to Salem, where, in 1710, William Good petitioned
|
|||
|
|
for damages in respect of the trial and execution of his wife Sarah, and
|
|||
|
|
the imprisonment of his daughter, Dorothy, "a child of four or five
|
|||
|
|
years old, [who] being chained in the dungeon was so hardly used and
|
|||
|
|
terrified that she hath ever since been very chargeable, having little
|
|||
|
|
or no reason to govern herself.".
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Today's Christian Fundamentalist, like his vicious and self- righteous
|
|||
|
|
predecessors, will use anything in his or her power - including innocent
|
|||
|
|
children - to destroy the evils of Paganism and the occult. Sometimes I
|
|||
|
|
wonder if we are becoming paranoid, or the subjects of a persecution
|
|||
|
|
complex, but in writing this lecture it was brought home to me more
|
|||
|
|
strongly than ever before: the witch trials of the Middle Ages are not a
|
|||
|
|
bloody stain on the history of Christianity; they are the source from
|
|||
|
|
where today's fundamentalists draw their power, and are just as
|
|||
|
|
terrifying today as they were hundreds of years ago. Bigotry and
|
|||
|
|
persecution have changed in only one respect: 20th century mankind has
|
|||
|
|
far more efficient and effective means of spreading lies and propaganda
|
|||
|
|
than was available to our ancestors.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Appendix A
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The subject of the European Witch Trials has been written about ad
|
|||
|
|
infinitum (and nauseam!), and there are a great many useful books which
|
|||
|
|
the student will find of interest. There follows a short bibliography of
|
|||
|
|
those to which I referred when writing this lecture.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Select Bibliography
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bradford, Sarah Cesare Borgia (1981)
|
|||
|
|
Cohn, Norman Europe's Inner Demons (1975)
|
|||
|
|
Ginzburg, Carlo Ecstasies: Deciphering The
|
|||
|
|
Witches' Sabbath (1990)
|
|||
|
|
Hole, Christina Witchcraft in England (1977)
|
|||
|
|
Howard, Michael The Occult Conspiracy (1989)
|
|||
|
|
Kieckheffer, Richard European Witch Trials (1976)
|
|||
|
|
Larner, Christina Enemies of God: The Witch Hunt
|
|||
|
|
in Scotland (1981)
|
|||
|
|
Larner, Christina Witchcraft and Religion (1985)
|
|||
|
|
Maple, Eric The Complete Book of
|
|||
|
|
Witchcraft and Demonology
|
|||
|
|
(1966)
|
|||
|
|
Radford, Kenneth Fire Burn (1989)
|
|||
|
|
Ravensdale & Morgan The Psychology of Witchcraft
|
|||
|
|
(1974)
|
|||
|
|
Robbins, Rossell Hope The Encyclopaedia of
|
|||
|
|
Witchcraft and Demonology
|
|||
|
|
(1984)
|
|||
|
|
Russell, Jeffrey A History of Witchcraft (1980)
|
|||
|
|
Scarre, Geoffrey Witchcraft and Magic in 16th
|
|||
|
|
and 17th century
|
|||
|
|
Europe (1987)
|
|||
|
|
Stenton, Sir Frank Anglo-Saxon England (1971)
|
|||
|
|
Summers, Montague (Trans) Malleus Maleficarum (1986)
|
|||
|
|
Thomas, Keith Religion and the Decline of
|
|||
|
|
Magic (1971)
|
|||
|
|
Trevor-Roper, H R The European Witch-Craze of
|
|||
|
|
the 16th and 17th
|
|||
|
|
Centuries (1988)
|
|||
|
|
Walsh, Michael Roots of Christianity (1986)
|
|||
|
|
Worden, Blair (Ed) Stuart England (1986)
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Encyclopaedia Britannica (1969 edition)
|
|||
|
|
Collins Dictionary of the English Language (1980)
|
|||
|
|
Newspapers: The Times, The Guardian, The Independent (Britain)
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Appendix B - Historical Periods
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Anglo-Saxon: broadly 550 AD to 1066 AD (the Norman
|
|||
|
|
invasion).
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Middle Ages: broadly the period from the end of
|
|||
|
|
classical antiquity (476 AD) to the Italian
|
|||
|
|
Renaissance (or fall of Constantinople in 1453).
|
|||
|
|
More specifically the period from 1000 AD to the 15th
|
|||
|
|
century.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Medieval: of, or relating to, the Middle Ages.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Tudor: the Royal House, descended from Welsh Squire Owen
|
|||
|
|
Tudor (d. 1461), which ruled in England between 1485
|
|||
|
|
AD - 1603 AD
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Stuart: the Royal House which ruled in Scotland between 1371
|
|||
|
|
AD and 1714, and in England between 1603 AD - 1714
|
|||
|
|
AD.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Jacobean: relating to the period of James I's rule of England
|
|||
|
|
(1603-1625).
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Reformation: a 16th century religious and political movement which
|
|||
|
|
began as an attempt to reform the Catholic Church,
|
|||
|
|
but actually resulted in the establishment of the
|
|||
|
|
Protestant Church.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Renaissance: usually considered as beginning in Italy in the 14th
|
|||
|
|
century, this is the period which marked the
|
|||
|
|
transition from the Middle Ages to the modern world.
|
|||
|
|
It is characterised by classical scholarship,
|
|||
|
|
scientific and geographical discovery, and the
|
|||
|
|
exploration of individual human potential.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Civil War: 1640-1649, between the Royalists under Charles I, and
|
|||
|
|
the Parliamentarians led by Oliver Cromwell. Charles
|
|||
|
|
I was executed in 1649.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Crusades: a series of wars undertaken by the Christians of
|
|||
|
|
western Europe with the authorisation of the Papacy
|
|||
|
|
from 1095 until the mid-15th century for the purpose
|
|||
|
|
of recovering the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem from
|
|||
|
|
the Muslims and defending possession of it. (Enc.
|
|||
|
|
Britannica)
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Thirty Years' War: a major conflict involving Austria, Denmark, France,
|
|||
|
|
Holland, Germany, Spain and Sweden that devastated
|
|||
|
|
central Europe, but especially Germany. It began as a
|
|||
|
|
war between Protestants and Catholics but developed
|
|||
|
|
into a general power struggle (1618-1648).
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Lateran Councils: Five ecumenical councils held at the Lateran Palace
|
|||
|
|
(the official residence of the Pope) between 1123 AD
|
|||
|
|
and 1512 AD.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Appendix C - Gnostic and Christian sects
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Manichaeism: a dualistic Gnostic religion first preached by Mani
|
|||
|
|
(q.v.) in the 3rd century AD. Its early centre was
|
|||
|
|
Babylonia, then part of the Persian empire and a
|
|||
|
|
meeting place of faiths. (EB)
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The basic theology of Manichaeism is that good and
|
|||
|
|
evil are separate and opposed principles, which have
|
|||
|
|
become mixed in the world through the action of the
|
|||
|
|
evil principle. There is a complicated mythology
|
|||
|
|
which describes the creation of the world and the
|
|||
|
|
elements, and a set of complex correspondences by
|
|||
|
|
which the seeker can return to a state of salvation.
|
|||
|
|
Manichaeism spread across a huge area, including the
|
|||
|
|
Roman Empire. However, by the 6th century it had
|
|||
|
|
virtually been eradicated from Spain, France and
|
|||
|
|
Italy, although was strong in the eastern
|
|||
|
|
Mediterranean until the 9th century, when it was
|
|||
|
|
absorbed into the neo-Manichean sects of the
|
|||
|
|
Bogomils, Cathars, etc.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Bogomils: a religious sect which flourished in the
|
|||
|
|
Balkans between the 10th and 15th centuries. Their
|
|||
|
|
central teaching was strictly dualistic; that the
|
|||
|
|
visible, material world was created by the Devil, and
|
|||
|
|
that everything within it was therefore evil. They
|
|||
|
|
rejected many of the trappings of Christianity, and
|
|||
|
|
their condemnation of anything to do with the flesh -
|
|||
|
|
including eating and drinking! - has rightly earned
|
|||
|
|
them the nickname, "the greatest puritans of the
|
|||
|
|
middle ages".
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Cathars: a heretical Christian sect that flourished
|
|||
|
|
in western Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries.
|
|||
|
|
They believed that goodness existed only in the
|
|||
|
|
spiritual world created by God, and that the material
|
|||
|
|
world, created by Satan, was evil. Their theology
|
|||
|
|
bore a great resemblance to that of Manichaeism and
|
|||
|
|
the Bogomils, and they were closely connected with
|
|||
|
|
the latter.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Waldensians: also known as Valdenses or Vaudois. The
|
|||
|
|
sect was founded in southern France in the 12th
|
|||
|
|
century, and emphasised poverty, abstinence from
|
|||
|
|
physical labour, and a life devoted to prayer. They
|
|||
|
|
were influenced by other "heretical" sects, and
|
|||
|
|
rejected a number of the basic tenets of the Catholic
|
|||
|
|
faith. They were stern opponents to the acquisition
|
|||
|
|
of wealth and power within the Church, and thus came
|
|||
|
|
into direct opposition to the Papacy, which thrived
|
|||
|
|
on both. They were fiercely persecuted, and by the
|
|||
|
|
end of the 15th century, confined mainly to the
|
|||
|
|
French and Italian valleys of the Cottian Alps.
|
|||
|
|
During the 16th century, the Waldensians were
|
|||
|
|
transformed into a Protestant church, but suffered
|
|||
|
|
heavy persecution throughout the 17th century from
|
|||
|
|
the Dukes of Savoy. This ceased only after Oliver
|
|||
|
|
Cromwell intervened personally on their behalf with
|
|||
|
|
the duke, Charles Emmanuel II. In the latter part of
|
|||
|
|
the 17th century the Waldensians returned to their
|
|||
|
|
original homeland, and in 1848 the Waldensians were
|
|||
|
|
given civil rights, and are today members of the
|
|||
|
|
World Presbyterian Alliance.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Appendix D - A calendar of events connected with the
|
|||
|
|
persecution of heretics
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
640 AD Eorcenberht succeeds Eadbald as King of
|
|||
|
|
Kent, and becomes the
|
|||
|
|
first English king to order the destruction
|
|||
|
|
of pagan idols throughout
|
|||
|
|
his kingdom;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
663 AD Council of Whitby determines the date of
|
|||
|
|
Easter to be in accordance
|
|||
|
|
with Roman practice, and so ends Celtic
|
|||
|
|
Christianity in
|
|||
|
|
Northumberland;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
668-690 AD Liber Poenitentialis by Theodore,
|
|||
|
|
Archbishop of Canterbury.
|
|||
|
|
Probably the first legislation against
|
|||
|
|
witches. It advised penances
|
|||
|
|
(eg, fasting) for those who "sacrificed to
|
|||
|
|
devils, foretold the future
|
|||
|
|
with their aid, ate food that had been
|
|||
|
|
offered in sacrifice, or burned
|
|||
|
|
grain after a man was dead for the
|
|||
|
|
well-being of the living and of
|
|||
|
|
the house.";
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
735-766 AD the Confessional of Ecgberht, Archbishop of
|
|||
|
|
York, which prescribed a 7-year fast for a woman
|
|||
|
|
convicted of "slaying by incantation";
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
871-899 AD reign of King Aelfred (brother of
|
|||
|
|
Aethelred), who declared the death penalty for those
|
|||
|
|
who practise Wicca;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
925-939 AD reign of King Aethelstan, where murder -
|
|||
|
|
including murder by
|
|||
|
|
witchcraft - was punishable with the death
|
|||
|
|
penalty;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
936 AD Otto elected King of the Germans, whereupon
|
|||
|
|
he declared it his intention to drive the pagans out
|
|||
|
|
of his land;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
951 Otto crowned King of Lombardy;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
955 Otto defeated the Magyars and proclaimed
|
|||
|
|
himself "Protector of Europe";
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
962 Otto crowned Holy Roman Emperor;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1022 the first burning (at Orleans) for heresy;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1066-1087 AD reign of William the Conqueror in England;
|
|||
|
|
he reduced Aethelstan's sentence of death for
|
|||
|
|
convicted murderers to banishment;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1118 King Baldwin II of Jerusalem suggested to
|
|||
|
|
Sir Hugh de Payens that he organise a chivalric order
|
|||
|
|
of knights to defend travellers to the Holy Land, and
|
|||
|
|
granted part of his palace, which stood on the site
|
|||
|
|
of Solomon's original temple, for their headquarters.
|
|||
|
|
As a result of this gesture, Hugh de Payens called
|
|||
|
|
his Order the Templi Militia, and then later changed
|
|||
|
|
this to Knights of the Temple of Solomon in
|
|||
|
|
Jerusalem;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1162 Pope Alexander III issued a special papal
|
|||
|
|
bull releasing Templars from spiritual obedience to
|
|||
|
|
any but the Pope himself, gave them exemption from
|
|||
|
|
paying tithes, and allowed them their own chaplains
|
|||
|
|
and burial grounds;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
12/13th cent the Cathar heresies: introduction of the
|
|||
|
|
obscene kiss and ritual adoration of the devil;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1243-44 Siege of Montsegur;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1244 225 Cathars burned at the stake at Montsegur;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1259 relationships between the Knights Templars
|
|||
|
|
and the Hospitallers of Knights of St John
|
|||
|
|
deteriorated into open warfare;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1291 the Saracens took Jerusalem, and the
|
|||
|
|
Knights Templars were expelled, and lost their
|
|||
|
|
headquarters on the site of Solomon's Temple;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1301 Walter Langton, bishop of Coventry, tried
|
|||
|
|
by ecclesiastical court for diabolism and acquitted;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1302 trial in Exeter for defamation of a man who
|
|||
|
|
called a woman a "wicked witch and thief";
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1307 King Philip of France ordered the arrest of
|
|||
|
|
every member of the Knights Templar in France: this
|
|||
|
|
was followed by a papal bull to all rulers in
|
|||
|
|
Christian Europe that all Templars were to be
|
|||
|
|
arrested;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1311 investigation in London by episcopal
|
|||
|
|
authority into sorcery, enchantment, magic,
|
|||
|
|
divination and invocation;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1312 the Pope officially disbanded the Knights
|
|||
|
|
Templars;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1314 Jaques de Molay (last Grand Master of the
|
|||
|
|
Knights Templars) burned as a relapsed heretic;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1321 last Cathar burned at the stake;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1324 Alice Kyteler tried in Kilkenny by secular
|
|||
|
|
and ecclesiastical authorities for diabolism,
|
|||
|
|
invocation and sorcery;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1347 the Plague spreads over the whole of Italy,
|
|||
|
|
and arrives in France by the end of the year;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1348 the Plague reaches Paris, then the Low
|
|||
|
|
Countries, and then via the Channel to southern
|
|||
|
|
England;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1349 Britain ravaged by the Plague, which passes
|
|||
|
|
into Germany, Austria and Scandinavia;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1360 the Plague, complicated by influenza
|
|||
|
|
reappears in Europe, continuing in waves until 1441,
|
|||
|
|
and finally ending around 1510;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1390 woman tried in Milan for attending an
|
|||
|
|
assembly led by "Diana", "Erodiade" or "Oriente";
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1408 the Plague, still rampant in Europe is
|
|||
|
|
complicated by an epidemic of Typhus and Whooping
|
|||
|
|
Cough;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1409 trial of Pope Benedict XIII at Pisa for
|
|||
|
|
divination, invocation, sorcery and other offences;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1428-47 Dauphine: 110 women and 57 men executed by
|
|||
|
|
secular court for witchcraft, especially diabolism;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1431 Joan of Arc tried for heresy and burnt at
|
|||
|
|
the stake: the trial decision was annulled in 1456,
|
|||
|
|
and in 1920 she was canonised by Pope Benedict XV
|
|||
|
|
with the date of her execution (May 30) becoming a
|
|||
|
|
national holiday in France;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1440 Gilles de Rais tried on 47 charges
|
|||
|
|
including conjuration of demons and sexual
|
|||
|
|
perversions against children: nearly all evidence was
|
|||
|
|
hearsay, none of his servants was called to testify,
|
|||
|
|
and the proceedings were highly irregular: he was
|
|||
|
|
strangled and then sent to the pyre, but his family
|
|||
|
|
were given permission to remove his body before the
|
|||
|
|
flames reached it for burial at a nearby Carmelite
|
|||
|
|
Church;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1441 Margery Jourdain ("the Witch of Eye")
|
|||
|
|
convicted of plotting to kill King Henry VI, and
|
|||
|
|
burned as a traitor;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1458 first recorded use of the word "sabbat"
|
|||
|
|
(Nicholas Jacquier). "Synagogue" was the word
|
|||
|
|
commonly used to describe the meeting places of
|
|||
|
|
heretics and witches;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1470 trial before Royal Court in England for
|
|||
|
|
defamation - man had accused the Duchess of Bedford
|
|||
|
|
of image magic;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1479 Earl of Mar executed for employing witches
|
|||
|
|
to kill James III of Scotland;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1484 Papal Bull of Pope Innocent VIII officially
|
|||
|
|
declaring witchcraft a heresy;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1486 first publication of the Malleus
|
|||
|
|
Maleficarum;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1488 Metz: 31 women and 4 men tried by secular
|
|||
|
|
court for weather magic: 29 burned;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1492 expulsion of Jews from Spain;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1521 Martin Luther excommunicated by Pope Leo X,
|
|||
|
|
and so begins the Reformation;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1532 the Constitutio Criminalis Carolina: the
|
|||
|
|
criminal code for the Holy Roman Empire which
|
|||
|
|
specified how witches, fortune tellers, etc were to
|
|||
|
|
be tried, and punished;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1542 first statute against witchcraft in England
|
|||
|
|
passed by Parliament (revoked 1547);
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1557 first list of prohibited books issued by
|
|||
|
|
the Roman church;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1562 statute enacted in Scotland under Mary
|
|||
|
|
Queen of Scots declaring the death penalty for
|
|||
|
|
witchcraft, sorcery and necromancy: the Act was
|
|||
|
|
confirmed in 1649 and repealed in 1736;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1563 statute against witchcraft by Elizabeth I
|
|||
|
|
in England ordering the death penalty for witches,
|
|||
|
|
enchanters and sorcerers (under civil, not
|
|||
|
|
ecclesiastical law);
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1566 first major trial under statute of 1563:
|
|||
|
|
Elizabeth Francis, Agnes Waterhouse and Joan
|
|||
|
|
Waterhouse at Chelmsford: Agnes hanged, Elizabeth
|
|||
|
|
received a light sentence and Joan was found not
|
|||
|
|
guilty;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1584 "Discoverie of Witchcraft" by Reginald Scot
|
|||
|
|
published - a Protestant argument against belief in
|
|||
|
|
witchcraft;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1590-92 North Berwick trials by James VI;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1595 Nicholas Remy publishes "Demonolatreiae"
|
|||
|
|
where he boasted on the title page that he had
|
|||
|
|
condemned 900 witches in 15 years;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1596 John Dee as Warden of a Manchester College
|
|||
|
|
acts as an advisor for cases of witchcraft and
|
|||
|
|
demonology;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1597 "Daemonologie" by King James VI published;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1600 Giordano Bruno burnt at the stake in Rome
|
|||
|
|
as an "impenitent heretic";
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1603 ascension of James VI to the English throne
|
|||
|
|
as James I;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1604 new statute against witchcraft by James I
|
|||
|
|
which established pact, devil-worship and other
|
|||
|
|
continental ideas in English law;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1611 King James authorises a new translation of
|
|||
|
|
the Bible to include the word "witch";
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1612 twenty witches tried together at Lancashire
|
|||
|
|
(the Pendle witches);
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1628 in Massachusetts, an English lawyer, Thomas
|
|||
|
|
Morton ordered a maypole to be erected in the colony
|
|||
|
|
which he founded (Merrymount), and celebrated May
|
|||
|
|
with local Indians and refugees from the Puritans,
|
|||
|
|
with stag antlers, bells and brightly coloured
|
|||
|
|
clothes, under an elected "Lord and Lady" to rule
|
|||
|
|
over the celebrations; He was arrested under charges
|
|||
|
|
of practising witchcraft, but was released;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1633 the public exorcisms of the nuns of Loudun
|
|||
|
|
as part of a plot by Cardinal Richelieu to revenge
|
|||
|
|
himself upon Urban Grandier: Grandier arrested and
|
|||
|
|
tried by investigating committee;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1634 Grandier tortured then burned alive;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1644 maypoles made illegal in England;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1644-5 Matthew Hopkins active in Chelmsford;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1646 Matthew Hopkins retired - he died the
|
|||
|
|
following year;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1647 first witch hung in the USA, in
|
|||
|
|
Connecticut;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1649 first newspaper astrology column by Lilly;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1662 at Bury St Edmunds women were accused and
|
|||
|
|
convicted of witchcraft on the testimony of
|
|||
|
|
hysterical children;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1662 the trial of Isobel Gowdie in Auldearne,
|
|||
|
|
Scotland: Gowdie introduces the idea of a coven of
|
|||
|
|
thirteen;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1663 the Licensing Act determined that books
|
|||
|
|
could not be published without prior consultation
|
|||
|
|
with the Church or State;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1679-82 the Chambre Ardente affair: a star chamber
|
|||
|
|
court admitting of no appeal arraigned to try Madame
|
|||
|
|
Bosse, her daughter and sons; Madame Montvoisin (La
|
|||
|
|
Voisin) and La Dame Vigoreux. During the course of
|
|||
|
|
the trial, several hundreds of the highest courtiers
|
|||
|
|
of King Louis XIV were implicated in the poisoning
|
|||
|
|
scandal. The affair degenerated into a search for
|
|||
|
|
heresy and witchcraft, and eventually Catholic
|
|||
|
|
Priests Davot, Gerard, Deshayes, Cotton, Tournet,
|
|||
|
|
Guibourg and Mariette were also drawn in, accused of
|
|||
|
|
performing the Black Mass. Evidence was collected to
|
|||
|
|
show that Madame de Montespan (Louis' former
|
|||
|
|
mistress) attempted to poison Louis and his new
|
|||
|
|
mistress, and was the leader of the Satanic cult. In
|
|||
|
|
all, 319 people were arrested and 104 sentenced: 36
|
|||
|
|
to death, 4 to slavery in the galleys, 34 to
|
|||
|
|
banishment and 30 acquitted. In 1709 Louis attempted
|
|||
|
|
to destroy the records of the affair, but failed;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1684 Alice Molland was the last person executed
|
|||
|
|
as a witch in England (at Exeter);
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1689 Cotton Mather (New England) publishes
|
|||
|
|
"Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft and
|
|||
|
|
Possessions" supporting belief in witchcraft;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1692 Salem witch trials: 19 hung and more than
|
|||
|
|
100 jailed; the last person executed in the USA for
|
|||
|
|
witchcraft;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1727 last execution in Scotland for witchcraft;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1731 last trial for witchcraft in England: Jane Wenham,
|
|||
|
|
who was convicted, then pardoned and released;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1736 the repeal of the statutes against
|
|||
|
|
witchcraft of Mary Queen of Scots (1562), Elizabeth I
|
|||
|
|
(1563) and James I & VI (1604): replaced with a
|
|||
|
|
statute which stated that, "no prosecution, suit or
|
|||
|
|
proceeding shall be commenced or carried out against
|
|||
|
|
any person or persons for witchcraft, sorcery,
|
|||
|
|
inchantment (sic), or conjuration." It provided for
|
|||
|
|
the prosecution of those pretending to possess
|
|||
|
|
magical powers, but it denied reality to those
|
|||
|
|
powers;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1745 last execution in France for witchcraft;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1775 last execution in Germany for witchcraft;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1829 Lamothe-Langan fabricated and published
|
|||
|
|
documents represented to be records of trials of
|
|||
|
|
witches in Toulouse and Carcassonne, probably in an
|
|||
|
|
attempt to prove the continuing existence of the
|
|||
|
|
worship of the old religion;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1830 in "Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft"
|
|||
|
|
Sir Walter Scott argues that alleged witches had been
|
|||
|
|
misunderstood and mistreated;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1862 Jules Michelet argues in his book "La
|
|||
|
|
Sorcerie" that witchcraft was a protest by medieval
|
|||
|
|
serfs against a crushing social order;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1865 Pope Pius X again attacked secret
|
|||
|
|
societies, claiming that Freemasonry was
|
|||
|
|
anti-Christian, satanic, and derived from paganism;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1899 publication of Aradia: Gospel of the Witches by
|
|||
|
|
Leland;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1928 first English translation of the Malleus
|
|||
|
|
Maleficarum (tr Summers);
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1951 repeal of the 1736 Witchcraft Act with the
|
|||
|
|
Fraudulent Mediums Act;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1963 demand made for reinstatement of the
|
|||
|
|
Witchcraft Laws in England following desecration of
|
|||
|
|
churches and graveyards;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1966 the Index (of prohibited books) abolished;
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
1991 Anti-occult amendment to the Criminal
|
|||
|
|
Justice Bill had its third reading in Parliament.
|
|||
|
|
Presented by Geoffrey Dickens, this prescribed
|
|||
|
|
imprisonment for not more than five years against one
|
|||
|
|
who, "permits, entices or encourages a minor to
|
|||
|
|
participate in, or be present at a ceremony or other
|
|||
|
|
activity of any kind specified in sub-section 3...".
|
|||
|
|
Subsection 3 says: "The ceremonies or activities to
|
|||
|
|
which this section applies are those of, or
|
|||
|
|
associated with, Satanism and other devil
|
|||
|
|
worshipping, black magic, witchcraft, or any activity
|
|||
|
|
to which Section 1 of the Fraudulent Mediums Act
|
|||
|
|
(1951) applies.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The Bill was rejected for a number of reasons, not
|
|||
|
|
least because it made newspaper/magazine editors
|
|||
|
|
culpable if minors should read the astrology column!
|
|||
|
|
|