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Witchcraft: The Malleus Maleficarum

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Recommended: Witchcraft in medieval times

Nyan Lyih
HIS102
2-6-16
Short Response Paper #1
Witchcraft
The Malleus Maleficarum talks about the wickedness that exist within a woman. Women were believed to be involved with witchcraft. As stated in Ecclesiasticus xxv: "I had rather dwell with a lion and a dragon than to keep a house with a wicked woman" implying that women were more evil than such creatures. He came to the conclusion that a woman is most evil compare to everything else. There are examples throughout the article that illustrates women as being wicked including an example in the article referencing Adam and Eve: "for when the serpent asked why they did not eat of every tree in Paradise, she answered: Of every tree, etc - lest perchance we die. Thereby she showed that she …show more content…

They believed that women were deceitful and untrustworthy but there were no factual evidence. Basically, if you were a female you would be accused of witchcraft. The people who wrote the text were very unreasonable about the connection with women and witchcraft. The authors made many assumptions about women throughout the article including: "that since they are feebler both in mind and body, it is not surprising that they should come more under the spell of witchcraft" implying that women were involved with witchcraft because they were weak. Even S. John Chrysostom stated: "What else is a woman but a foe to a friendship, an unescapable punishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity, a domestic danger, a delectable detriment, an evil of nature, painted with fair colours!" concluding that women were wicked by nature. The magistrate and confession were supposed to be credible witnesses and proof that women were involved in witchcraft. Women who associated themselves with monetary assets and obsession with greed were accused of witchcraft. The ones that were accused of witchcraft were put through trials until proven innocent but the trials were

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