Why were Witches women?

For everywhere three centuries, early unexampled atomic effect 63 was largely prevail by witchery persecutions, the scale of which much(prenominal) atrocities had never been witnessed before. These persecutions arose from unlike pro constitute instabilities of the generation. Tens of thousands of executions were carried out, peculiarly inside Central europium and the vast majority of deaths were attributed to women. This is what was about remark subject about this time period the f passage that so many women were recognize as practitioners of witchcraft. I shall be closely following the reasons for such big prosecutions at bottom the early modern period.In contingent, I shall be looking at at the different sub-categories concerning reasons for such a rise in the constitution of witch prosecutions. These categories will be broken up as follows the church buildings absorb on maleficia, whom the witches were, the effect society had on the arrival of witchcraft, liter atures perspective, natural cerebration and freethinking, and the confessions of witches. The Church was integral to the satisfying persuasion system inwardly modern day atomic number 63 and was the main, driving component for kind, economic and religious con diversenessity.However, the Catholic Church as a unit had been threatened through The Reformation and theological perceptions and ideas were changing. Peoples interpretations and prior public opinions were right off being challenged, criticised and there was now total religious uncertainty and unbalance in spite of appearance society. This consequently led to the powerful income tax return Reformation in which the Catholic Church began an attempt to non only tax return the Protestant Reformation, but also to eliminate corruption, educate clergy and inspire assent in the common people- (B. P. Levack, 1995).The combination of these two ecclesiastical revolutions induced the infallible religious disorder, which in tur n would spur the rise and development of more than(prenominal) numerous and more original witch-hunts. In addition, these two reformed religions daub a renewed importance upon individual deterrent examples. This issued many with the desire to place the burden of drop the balls upon someone else, and in effect to acquire a scapegoat- (B. P. Levack, 1995). end-to-end history, such scapegoats have popularly been the rejects of society, the loners, the sick, and the poor.This age was no different and in their search for a victim, someone to hold responsible, they found the witches. This period of owing(p) religious, social and economic transformation combined with the prevalence of epidemics and natural disasters now had a target on whom to lay all the convict upon a physical embodiment of the evil that had been endured. Furthermore, as well as Martin Luther and denim Calvin highlighting and condoning the burning of witches as whores of Satan, the Church as a whole was respo nsible for accepting witchcraft as part of society, essentially forming the moral backing needed for such large-scale atrocities.So then, in 1485 the Catholic inquisition authorities published Malleus Maleficarum. This was essentially a book, confirm women as those responsible for witchcraft, as those capable of evil and come-on. Women are by nature instruments of Satan they are by nature carnal, a morphologic defect rooted in the original creation The bible also condemned witchcraft, or so people thought. Within Exodus 2218 it orders, grounds shalt not suffer a witch to live.It is then this mixture of Church and theological backing that gave the people of Europe the authority to act upon the witches at bottom society, and to destroy anyone suspected of witchcraft. It is interesting to placard then that this period of witch-hunting was most intense indoors Germany, Switzer bring down, Poland, and Scotland, where the countries were religiously heterogeneous- (G. Geis, 1997) , comprising a mix of numerous Protestant and Catholic believers. Moreover, the witch-hunts themselves have long been seen as part of a war against women, conducted overwhelmingly by men and particularly, by those in authority.Infact, Deborah Willis notes that more polemical feminist accounts are likely to portray the witch as a heroic protofeminist resisting patriarchal oppression and a wholly exonerated victim of a male-authored reign of terror designed to keep women in their place. (D. Willis, 1995, in web page). Holistically speaking, the Churchs contribution to witchcraft fears and prosecutions led to the general belief within society that demons supplely interfered upon the Earth and that witches were hugely prevalent concerning the interactions with and/or the dealings with such forces upon the Earth.In general, there was a greatly increase and invigorated belief in the supernatural. For those who did not believe in such ideas, it still remained a plausible and effective tool for shifting the blame onto the women within society. It is now important to fully recognise whom these witches were and to discern the types of women victimise for such crimes against humanity. In general, it was the women from the lower sections of society who were seen as those who had the opportunity to indue harmful acts.Those who were widows and so were therefore able to conceal things and to hide within the cloak of darkness to exert their magic and to meet with their familiars and even with the get to himself, were often susceptible to prosecutions. In addition, these women were seen as vessels of nature and much closer to the environs and conditions of nature than men, and so more able to dominate the elements. The number of exclusive women was also increasing and this was an different(prenominal) ca persona for fear within society. These women were considered a burden on society.The other group vulnerable to witchcraft accusations were midwives. whizz of the os tensible practices of witches was the execution and cannibalism of infants, especially those who had not yet been baptised into the Christian faith. Therefore, it is of no surprise that this particular group was especially focused upon in terms of prosecutions. It was essentially a way for grieving families to be able to lay blame upon the midwife for the death of their child, particularly within times of increasing infant mortality and occasional infanticide.The general batch that was that witches were often cited as those outsiders of society, reliant upon community relief and benefits, draining the land of its wealth. Additionally, women were often cited with sorcery because of their traditional roles as cooks, nurses, midwives and keepers of the home. Witches were often associated as those who were in league with the Devil and as those who would meet at Sabbats to create spells, curses, practice killings and take part in lewd sexual acts with one some other and with Satan him self.Single women were particularly focused upon for prosecutions concerning sexual abominations, as they were seen as more easily seductable and by far more sexual by nature. Indeed, the fact that the Devil was depicted as being the really form of a man highly extenuated the belief that women did take part in such acts. Society also saw women as being pallider in every sense of the word. They did not have the political power or physical capabilities to defend themselves.Therefore, they were thought to use magic to defend themselves and to boot make pacts with the Devil to achieve various things against their enemies. However, the great witch hunts of the knightly period were long depicted as a war against women, conducted generally by men, especially those in central authority (Willis, Malevolent Nurture, p. 12). The reason for this was manifestly that men wanted to keep women in their rightful place within society, largely pacified and subdued. This came with the great fear o f feminist accounts, which started to take place within this period.The subject of women projected as witches was wide held in belief within local communities and often formed the deciding factor in disputes within local communities. So if a particular person has had a problematic harvest, or their child has dies in the night, the climate of Early Modern Europe was conducive to such accusations and provided the ammunition with which to prosecute. The times of the period were one of extreme economic turbulence and poverty. Across Western Europe in particular, the disconnect between the rich and poor was consistently growing and there was a general decline also in the living standards of much of Europe.These conditions may withal have persuaded people to contemplate using magic to fosterer themselves and to achieve monetary or land gains, but on the other hand, it also maintained that accusations would be at a new high. down the stairs is a table showing the relevance of monetar y/land/ nutrition disputes within local communities and the effect being a widow within society would have concerning such disputes and jealousies in Essex, 1564-89 Kinship Relationships Husband and wife * 4 Unspecified Quarrels (2) Sexual Jealousy (1) Broken Marriage bless (1) Stepfather and Stepchild 1 Over Inheritance Grandmother and Grandchild 1 Obligation to bundle woodTotal 6 Neighbourly Relationships * (Object of dispute) * Food/Drink * 12 Animals 4 Money * 8 Implements 4 Unspecified loans 3 Boundaries/ charge * 4 Children 3 Total 48 The difference shown in number between kinship quarrels and disputes within the community is substantial. It demonstrates the heightened debates and tension with local communities and defends the view that widows were particularly attacked within these times as defenceless, unimportant people of the community. other crucial part of women being persecuted as witches, developed through another mind controlling and prevalent technique within th is time period.This was the use of literature, so covering everything from the bible and Church readings to pamphlets and novels written within the time. It is not surprising that the Malleus maleficarum had such an influential effect upon the rise of women as victims of mass witch prosecutions. Shakespeare also wrote within this time period and include a wide range of texts, often shadowing events and topics within Europe at the time. One of the key texts he wrote was that of Macbeth, where Macbeth and his wife gradually mar various people in line to the succession of Kingship for their own gratuitous ends.The central factor towards their warped ideals and evil dealings was that of the witches within the moors. These of bleed were depicted purely as women, with similar characteristics to those generally seen as witches within this same period. The very fact that Lady Macbeth had to effectively become a man and get rid of her female characteristics in order to succeed, parallels the social view of women within this time and further extenuates the likelihood of women as victims.Indeed, it is the prophecies of the witches that protrude the murder, corruption, greed and lies that manifest with Macbeth. The famous line of is that a dagger I see before me spoken by that of Macbeth represents the conjuring of illusionary magic, produced by the witches of the time. Furthermore, the witches and his wife are inextricably linked together, in that they both bring Macbeth, and so the social view of women being manipulative, a natural temptation (as referred to in the Malleus maleficarum), a necessary evil etc is evidently shown within the literature of the time.The Catholic Church concentrated specializedally upon the natural sin and evil within the individual and as mentioned previously, people saw the witches as scapegoats, a group to blame for their sinful nature. The bible in particular was another greatly accepted and taught book within society and the very st ory of creation within Genesis demonstrates the sinful, easily tempted and generally weak nature of women. Also, within Revelation (the concluding chapter of the Bible), the sinful woman of Babylon he Great Prostitute, was also another indication of the weakness of women and showed this to be the berth from the very beginning of creation to the very end. In general, the people of Europe saw the massacre of the witches as a religious war of enacting rightness on those straight off against the will of God. One notion spread end-to-end literature was that of witches contacting and serving Diana, the Goddess of the Moon. Women were hence seen as the most likely persons to slide by with Diana as a league of women joined together.Some confessed to actually move with Diana and taking part in various activities, however they were later recognised to be delusional. Overall, the introduction of the printing press and the generally increasing availability of literature to the masses, al lowed for more rapid transfers of elite beliefs in witchcraft and especially women as active participants. The trials of women within this period serve to reinforce and authorise the beliefs transmitted through popular literature. One of the most confusing and convoluted aspects of the women as witches theme is that many actually confessed to charges against them.This of course did not help the assumption that women were witches and served to just heighten the prosecutions and fuel the killings. Many witches claimed that their experiences had been worthwhile and showed around no remorse whatsoever for their supposed actions. This was the case all over Europe and not just England, even though the killings were much more prevalent and torture much more extreme on the innocent than in England. However, P. Levack described this fact as less surprising when various other considerations were taken into account.Such as the women often being brought up to believe that they were indeed i nstruments of Satan and that they were the only imperfection within Gods creation (P. B. Levack, 1995). This however was simply societys effort to instil such beliefs so as to rectify the worry of female independence and to of course resume the scapegoat it had found within the period in question. It is particularly interesting to note that many women actually testified against others within the community.They made up 43 % of witnesses against other women. Briggs notices that women were active in building up reputations through gossip, deploying counter-magic and accusing suspects (Briggs, 1995). Women were completely contact by each sector of society and it was virtually impossible for them to fountain punishment of some sort if they had first been accused of witchcraft. Ecclesiastically, the whole Church acknowledged the position of women as witches within society and this simply gave the general public the opportunity to lay the blame for all the famine, disease, deaths and re ligious credulity within previous years.The elite simply kept maintaining this strongly held belief in witchcraft and furthermore sustained the prosecutions and provided the literature and ethics with which to support these beliefs. What is key to this topic is that most prosecution cases actually refer directly to traditionally female aspects, such as the home, the kitchen, and the nursery and on culturally defined female tasks or occupations such as feeding (poisoning), child-rearing (infanticide), improve (harming), birth (death) (Christina Hole, date unknown).Furthermore, women within society were very much pacified throughout this time and this meant that they were easy targets for attack. These poor victims of attack simply existed within a delicate age of uncertainty, confusion and anger. Society believed in the existence of witchcraft and in the exponents of maleficia, the women of the times. On a more local scale too, communities widely looked to the accusation of witchcr aft as a means to a specific end, whether it concerned land disputes or money disputes etc.These were very examen times, times of extreme economic struggles and religious disputes. In conclusion, it is interesting to note that as standards of living vastly improved and religious irregularities disappeared, prosecutions decreased dramatically and people suddenly began to notice that most prosecutions were actually highly monstrous and irrational. Society gradually came to accept that it had indeed made many mistakes.