Roman Catholicism

...

The works of Nider would heavily influence another Dominican academic some fifty years later. Kramer used substantial amounts of Nider’s work in order to frame his new narrative on women’s tendency to commit evil acts. Bailey contests that through Nider we have a snapshot of the moment witchcraft was conceptualized and subsequent academic works taken as verbatim. The works of Nider take the form of a discussion between a Dominican teacher and his student. What follows is an in depth dialogue that explains witchcraft and its practices in great detail. In the following centuries the aforementioned practices would form the main understanding of witchcraft and how to identify a witch. Nider continues to describe the actions of this new ‘heretical’ sect, that were known as Malefici (witches).

Broedel, H.P (2003). The Malefici continued to conspire against the Holy Roman Church, renouncing the teachings of Jesus and continued to cast harmful black magic against the faithful. Bailey contests that Nider was the first religious academic to argue that more women than men were potentially at risks from witchcraft. This sentiment was not lost on Kramer who copied it into his writings and embellished it. The idea of women being deemed witches was based upon a longstanding Christian belief that females were physically, mentally, and spiritually weak and thus susceptible to the devil’s charms. Nider also believed that women had the potential be extremely pious and good, however when they did not live up to this narrative, they became the ‘brides’ of Satan. The academics Nider &Kramer both cited ‘authoritative sources’ to substantiate their erroneous misogynistic claims, these ‘authoritative sources’ are based upon ancient belief and mythology. In 1487 Kramer penned the infamous misogynistic text, the Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of the Witches) and supported in his efforts by Sprenger. These Dominican theologians were heavily influenced by their order, who had a long history of ‘hunting heretics’. The book Malleus Maleficarum is split into three sections. The first pertains to the ‘nature of witches’, the second the harm they do and the third details the best way to prosecute them. The treatise proved to be an enormous success and around thirty-five editions were printed by 1520 alone. The book was reprinted in 1580, widely used by both Catholic and Protestant witch hunters in the 16th – 17th Century. The Malleus became the most famous and well used witch hunting manual in the late medieval period. The idea that the ‘insatiable womb’ of women would lead to ‘consorts with devil’ had stuck and had become ‘fact’. The belief was that God had preserved the male sex from such tortures. Kramer was unequivocal in his assertion that women were drawn to witchcraft due to their uncontrolled feminine sexuality. Kramer’s central argument was that carnal lust was responsible for witchcraft and that women were weak willed and thus the main protagonists when dealing with witches. A major onus is placed on Eve (the first temptress), who was formed from a bent rib and as such was an “imperfect animal”. Whilst the learned misogyny related to the Malleus wasn’t anything new, what was new was was the fact that women had been conspiring with the devil to over throw the church. This idea of lust was deep in the psyche of the church. In his quest for Christian perfection the renowned theologian Origen (c 185 – 254) castrated himself and continued to teach that sex and women were “evil”. Origen deduced that women were worse than animals because they were continually full of lust. Ranke – Heinemann (199, Pg., 51).

The graphic sexual element and the demonization of women was to have far reaching consequences for the female sex. Kramer was the first academic from the church to raise the issues surrounding ‘maleficium’ and the jurisdiction shifted from the secular authorities to the church authorities. The church was now able to pursue the witches with the same gusto as the heretics. The Malleus was clear that the only appropriate punishment for witchcraft was that of death. It’s reasoning being that this heretical sect was a direct threat to the ‘holy’ church. As witchcraft became feminized so did the crime of witchcraft. It has been argued that due the endemic nature of misogyny in Europe at that time, the witch hunts can’t be solely blamed on church teaching. However, this does not explain why in some areas of Europe, between 80 – 90 % of victims that were tried and put to death were women.

Russell, (1972, Pg. 77). Some scholars have made claims that women, had invited misogyny on themselves. Midelfort states that “women seemed to provoke and somehow intensify misogyny”. Quaife argues that gender was of little importance regarding witch hunts and that this had no bearing on historical events. Quaife continues, ‘misogyny was little more than man’s negative attitude towards women’ and that this did often ‘dominate’. The paradigm was shifted yet further by the works of Clarke & Larner, who suggest that women were not persecuted for being women but for being witches. Clarke & Larner are supported in this hypothesis by Briggs who concludes “witch hunts were against witches, not women”. There is an argument that because women accused other women this was not misogyny. These women lived under a patriarchal society and as such they were eager to conform to societal values, norms. Women would act out in support of their male role models in order to strengthen their already precarious position in society. It is clear that the female sex had taken on a new label of ‘deviance’ and were clearly being subjugated. The witch hunts clearly demonstrate a tradition of male hatred against women. The manner in which this was delivered changed and evolved over time. The theme that women are less equal than men is evident in the Holy Bible, even today. According to 1 Timothy 2: 11 – 15 “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man, she must be quiet! For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the women who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing – if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety”. It was with the onset of the ‘enlightenment period’ at the start of the 1680s, that brought the beginning of the end to witch hunts.

The enlightenment period focused on empirical reasoning, skepticism and a new found humanitarianism. This helped to bring to an end the far more superstitious age and that there was no empirical evidence to support the case of witchcraft. It was concluded that the use of torture was inhumane and that people would agree to any charge,