Sorcery Trial Of Lady Alice Kyteler Summary

From the Middle Ages onward, there was a witch craze that ran rampant across Europe. Witches were isolated and persecuted, with torture. They were viewed negatively because of their perceived connection with the Devil, and many punishments and sanctions were imposed on the accused. Two sources that were created in the Middle Ages, “The Sorcery Trial of Lady Alice Kyteler” and “Bernardino of Siena on Witchcraft and Superstition,” both are about the reasons for witch persecutions and describe the acts they carried out. “The Sorcery Trial of Lady Alice Kyteler” is an account of the observations of witchery as well as the confession of the deeds committed by Alice and her accomplices. “Bernardino of Siena on Witchcraft and Superstition” is an account

Evidence of this can be found in “Bernardino of Siena on Witchcraft and Superstition.” For instance Bernardino of Siena, who was part of the Franciscan order, says “… she had killed thirty children by sucking their blood; she also said that she had let sixty go free. She said that every time she let one of them go free, she had to sacrifice a limb to the Devil…” (269). Bernardino was accepted as a religious authority about witches and his beliefs about witches shaped the beliefs of the lay-people. In the testimony of Petronilla of Meath, one of Lady Alice’s accomplices, she admits that “she had completely rejected the faith in Christ and the Church, and had sacrificed three times to demons on her lady’s behalf” (265-266) which provided proof that witchcraft was real. Her testimony was not reliable because she was tortured and it should not have been used to convict her. Religious leaders were biased towards their cause, and therefore were not reliable in their observations. The acts contained in the documents were indicative of persecutions of witches, which led to people advocating for persecution of witches and allowed themselves to become prejudiced through the beliefs from their religious authorities. In these two sources they list their observations which portrayed witches as malicious and awful. This is similar to when the church said

Evidence of this can be found in “The Sorcery Trial of Lady Alice Kyteler.” For example, “…she remarried three more times.. and evidently the two had gained a reputation in Kilkenny as money grubbers” (263), also, “…her stepchildren from her three later marriages felt cheated from the due share of their inheritances, which seems to have passed largely to Alice…” (263). This highlights the importance of money during this era, because there were monetary incentives to accusing someone of being a witch. We can see this in the case of Alice’s stepchildren who sought to get their inheritance back by trying Alice as a witch. Another reason there have may been a target on Alice was because of her social status: “Alice, who came from a wellborn Kilkenny family, married a wealthy banker, William Outlaw, Sr.” (263). Because of her money, her stepchildren tried her as a witch which led to her fleeing the country. During the Middle Ages there was a large economic disparity, so the people targeted those with high standing. People feared being accused of heresy, for their own self interest which is why they did not question the Church:“I had preached about these charms and about witches and sorceries to them, but they seemed to think that I had dreamed it all up.” (269) If the church had not used its appeal to authority, as well as an aggressive approach than society could have possibly not believed the church so