During the late fifteenth century the medieval Catholic Church was in war with a supernatural element, witchcraft. Witchcraft was seen as the devil’s way to corrupt faith in God. Citizens were fearful that friends and family in their community were practicing witchcraft leading to creation of the Malleus Maleficarum. The Malleus Maleficarum was guide used to help identify suspected witches, especially women. The guide was a sense of protection to the community against witchcraft. During this time if you were suspected of witchcraft your ultimate punishment was death. Suzanne Gaudry was suspected of killing a man’s horse and acting in supernatural spirits, witchcraft. Suzanne was example of how the process of the handbook, the Malleus Maleficarum, was a wrongful conviction system. The court found Suzanne guilty of witchcraft acts, even though Suzanne pled not guilty of these charges of practicing witchcraft. Following the handbook process, Suzanne was tied down to a table and stretched until she confessed. Suzanne cried for her life while her body was pulled apart as she deny of any practice of witchcraft, eventually giving into the torture she clams that she is a witch. Torture is not the best approach when trying to get a true confession …show more content…
Women were seen to be from a different nature compared to men. Women were perceived to have a dark side and have motivation for being naturally evil. The main interest in the handbook was focus on women because they were seen to be the reason why evil existed in the world. Wickedness was little compared to the wickedness of a woman, leaving this element that women are the source of evil. Women were seen to be more superstitious and impressionable than men. Devil uses these characteristics of women to control them into corrupting Gods faith within men. Women were seen to sin and given into temptation even if that meant to consort with
The witch panic started in Salem, Massachusetts hanged 19 people and inspired a wide-swept fear of the Devil and witchcraft that lasted for over a year. Historians have discussed why this panic occurred for years, producing a slew of opinions on what caused one small community to erupt into such fear. Two such historians, Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, attempted to understand the 1692 Salem witch trials by analyzing Salem Village’s social and economic tensions dividing the community in the book Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft. Yet the two historians ignore the largest group of participants in the witch trials: women. When looking at the documents recording the events of 1692, however, a historian cannot escape the importance of the young girls who were first afflicted and started the accusations.
Major continuities and changes regarding various views of women in the years between 1450 and 1700 include both the continuation of disdain towards women and the emergence of the idea that women are equal to men. Women were often thought to be of less value than men, an idea that originated early in history and progressed throughout this time period. Some men and women began to speak out against inequality and, whether directly or indirectly, influenced new ideas causing others to believe in the power of women. Many views of women in the years between 1450 and 1700 continued to show the age old idea of women being seen as the inferior gender. James Sprenger and Henry Kramer wrote that women are more likely to be attacked by the devil because they are more naive than men (1).
John Proctor denied to forget his sincerity in acknowledging his denial to deliver his life. Although he is sentenced to death and dies, he still sticks up for a trial of character, and succeeds. This piece of writing also works in an theocracy. Sworn in the name of God, both men and women, were charged and condemned of rehearsing witchcraft.
There is a certain polarity that comes with the territory in witchcraft. In most witch trials, there was a sense of “he said, she said”, one side claiming one thing and the other disagreeing. This seemed to flow into the realm of historical thought on the matter. There is a dividing line of external and internal interpretations on the subject of the witch trials, especially including the trials in Salem. However, I argue that the line between the external and internal interpretations of the witch trials is blurred, the sides often bleeding into each
The results of the trial in Stamford was that Mercy Disborough was temporarily convicted of witchcraft while Goody Clawson was acquitted. The consequences for Mercy Disborough were that despite months and jail and continued peer accusation, she was acquitted. The consequences for the townspeople are blurrier, but it is evident that persistent hysteria was not one of them. The results of the trial in Stamford were largely reigned in from the massive hysteria and mass convictions associated with contemporary witch trials by the law.
In his book, “A Modest Inquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft (1702),” clergyman John Hale comes forth to confront the recent events going on at the time. Initially, Hale alludes to the questionable actions and activities of the townspeople being accused of witchcrafts, and being imprisoned as punishment. In addition, he discloses how everyone suspicious will be accused, not even young children are safe from the hands of this fate. Hale’s purpose of publishing this book was to describe the incident of the Witch Trials, and to reveal his experience of the trials, since his own wife was accused. By employing a didactic tone, Hale relays the actions of the past that targeted the Puritans and those wrongly accused of witchcrafts, so this occurrence
Salem, Massachusetts, USA and occurred between February 1692 and May 1693. Over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned and even more accused; but not pursued by the authorities. 29 were convicted of witchcraft but only 19 were hanged. The best known trials were in the Court of Oyer and Terminer.
During the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation challenged the beliefs and trusts of the Catholic Church. Between the years of 1517 to 1648, the Protestant Reformation began a time of testing the ideologies of the Church; this resulted in extreme political, religious and social shifts in the Church of England. Protestant reformers began to object the language that the Bible was written in and therefore translated it into various other languages, most notably in English. These religious shifts in Europe initiated changes to the ideology and beliefs of Popes, Bishops, and Priests. This was further fuelled by the influence of the Kings, and the power they held over his people especially King Henry.
In the court case of Tempel Anneke, many social and economic factor determined the outcome of her trial. Was it the misfortune of the people in her community that she was unable to help, or the fact that she was known to be a very powerful healer? Could it also have been that she was not part of the norm of society based on her characteristics of the general woman figure she portrayed in the 1600’s? Through the analysis of, The Trial of Tempel Anneke: Records of a Witchcraft Trial in Brunswick, Germany, 1663’s court transcriptions the details will show how these social and economic factors played such an important part in the trial that convicted her to death.
False Confessions: Will they ever be stopped? Confessions are a large part of the justice system, they can make or break a reputation. In the court system, many confessions can change a person’s future. James Ochoa a 20-year-old was convicted of car theft when he was put in jail for his false confession.
Throughout Old English Literature, women were seen as evil. Like in Beowulf where the woman with the most power was a monstrous sea creature who destroyed things. Or in Lanval and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight where women were dishonest and corrupted men, or like in The Wife of Bath where women manipulated men to get what they wanted; owned them in a way. In old English texts women are seen as an evil force; a force of destruction, corruption and cunning.
There were bizarre things that happened throughout history, but the most bizarre thing was the women in the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials happened in 1692. The Salem Witch Trials was the oddest thing that happened in Massachusetts. During the Salem Witch Trials young girls displayed odd behaviors, physicians were called to examine the girls and could not find any natural causes of their odd behavior, and the young girls were pressured into revealing who was controlling them ( “The Salem Witch Trials, 1692”).
In 1692, people were accused of casting spells, which meant they were siding with the devil in Salem, New England. Many people who lived in the countryside of Salem believed that the Holy Bible were God’s direct words and should be followed precisely. Women were more likely to be accused of casting spells because they were expected to be at home, listen to their husband, and weren’t aloud to be ministers so there were more likely to preach the devil. People believe that women aren’t good enough and men are superior to women, even now in this century. There is still a pay in inequality between the average men and women.
However, records from the Salem trials show that her original convicted crime was not witchcraft, but having an “independence of mind”, and being an “unsubmissive character”. She was “…indicted for the bewitching of certain persons” and blamed for a smallpox outbreak that she had ‘caused’ by
Women of the Medieval Times Women have always had a significant role in history even though they were treated horrible in most cases. During the Medieval Times was really the first time women were allowed to become more than just a house wife. The fight for equality has always been a struggle and even in today’s society is still an ongoing battle. Although women of lower and middle class were treated poorly in the Medieval Times, some powerful women held great responsibility and were looked up too by both men and children; despite being admired, “men were thought to be not only physically stronger but more emotionally stable, more intelligent, and morally less feeble” (Hopkins 5). “The position of women in the Medieval Society was greatly influenced by the views of the Roman Catholic Church” (Heeve).