Article History of Persecution of Witches Part 1

	Witches Part 1- from leaders to victims: Early Medieval history
	By Michael S. Hamilton
	Christianity reversed the old pagan rule of law that the accused was innocent until proven guilty. Original sin became a legal license to subdue women. Torture was used against women branded as witches. They were fed false promises of mercy and compassion. The local clerical judges refused to honor these false promises that the torturers made to their victims. The cajoling that "confession was good for the soul" did nothing to rescue the accused from certain death. The torturers promised that the witch would be restored to her social standing if she just "named" names or that she would receive a quick painless death. The torture would not stop unless the witch had filled in the blanks of a prepared script that was a litany of wild folktale fiction. The torturers never questioned their own acts that they were soliciting "lies" from their victims.

	Any possibility of innocence was not considered until the rampant bureaucracy of the inquisition had overstepped its class and social bounds. Only until the theocracy had to face the reality of other class forces that began flexing their political power with force of arms did the burning and hanging of "witches" get challenged. Wealthy nobility could wield sufficient influence to overturn the charges against their peers and hold the inquisitors themselves to the same standards that they had ruthlessly imposed on the lowest social strata - the peasant woman.

	The rule of theocratic terror with the military arm of the inquisition did not emerge suddenly with the aftermath of the crusades. Let's take a brief look back at the early roots of the defeat of paganism and the expansion of Christian missionaries.

	Pagan in Latin "Pagani" was first translated "peasant". The Holy Roman Empire sent out missionaries to establish outposts to convert the world. They used a variety of tactics such as: comprising, conciliation and sometimes launching of mob actions to control pagan influence.. Pagans were systematically hunted down as the main enemy of Christianity. In the far outposts of Christian influence, there were large regions and communities of ancient goddess and maternal based, earth rooted beliefs. They were not overtly crushed until the 14th century.

	Christian Bishops deliberately sought alliances by "blessing" up local petty provincial European tribally leaders with the title "King". In return for influencing the peasants to accept the new leadership. The Roman bishops were given large tracts of land and allowed to be the caretakers of the people's religious needs. Christianity was imposed on the lower classes in order to keep the loyalty to the king as a rule of God.¹

	Only until Charlesmagne in 800 C.E. did the coronation of king lead to a license to assault the rights of women.²Immediately following the murder of the only woman Pope, Pope Joan, in 857 C.E. the Church began to proclaim its infallibility in matters of secular law. Pope Nicholas I proclaimed that coronation of the kings was a power given to the Roman Church directly from God. ³

	When Pope Gregory VII excommunication of Henry IV in 1080 C.E. it became clear that Roman Church felt strong enough to expand its rule over secular rulers and secular rulers felt equally qualified to declare they were divinely authorized to rule without the Church's blessing.

	There were sects and orders within Christianity who did not conduct war against the ancient beliefs of the local peasantry. Some, like Boethius and John Scotus Erigena, incorporated elements of pagan culture within Christian revisions to theology. But at the initiation of codified witch trials, even the holiest of mystics and innocent novices fell into line to avoid the charge of being in league with the devil. The Franciscans refusal to cooperate with the inquisition collapsed when they were given the ultimatum by Dominicans (dogs of the lord) that they collaborate in the inquisitions efforts or be a target themselves. ⁴The Cathars, who allowed women the right to be priests and raise families, were not crushed until the middle 14th century.

	The assault against "witches" was not purely a matter of law. The Roman theocracy had control over the social, cultural, psychological structure of a world that had folded back upon itself. For centuries the masses were led to believe that the second coming was any day now. It's hard for us to imagine that century upon century people's were encultured with mania that "the end is near". This cultural climate proved the seeds for social hysteria. ⁵When the condition of the black death and unchecked disease erupted the solution was to blame the poorest section of the society. This marked the "official" reign of terror against witches and pagan practices.

	Today the majority of children's swearing between each other and railing against adults takes the general form of slander on the legitimacy of birth, i.e. bitch. But in Christianity of the 9th and 10th the most vile words that were hurled in anger were against women for being in league with the devil, being a mistress of the devil. Besides plagues, any unexplained sickness, loss of meager profits, misfortune, accidents, natural disasters there was a victim to blame. Independent, old, displaced women had grievances directed toward them were in fear of the label "witch". Even looking with distain at someone else was called "evil eye". Menopause wrinkles, facial blemishes and birthmarks could be used as evidence of the "devil's claw".

	Women prior to the patriarical consolidation of the Roman Church had already extended their influence beyond the domestic household. They were midwives, herbalists, and makers of potions ranging from poisons to aphrodisiacs. Far away from Rome, women had been warriors, teachers, and political rulers, religious sages and judges. Christianity strove to drive women back to submission and attacked their ability to assert their equality. The edicts against women's behavior were so restrictive from sex to song. Women she could be charged with witchcraft for whistling - she was obviously "calling the devil" to invoke storms against unwitting sailors.

	The clearest biblical justification their reign of terror against "witches" with Moses. Exodus 22:18 "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."

	In the Magna Carta circa 1215 C.E. the term "witch" was honorable term 'judices de wich" meant judges who were witches. ^6. John, the king in England, did not want to recognize the rights of the barons and nobility let alone witches. He desperately tried to reverse the Magna Carta because it wasn't blessed by the Pope.

	The Roman church was not alone in advocating the forceful submissive role of women. One protestant Scottish polemic against the Holy Roman church was "rich witches are declared saints while poor ones are burned." Yet Puritans carried the continuation of witch trials to America. It is true that no rich family suffered torture, and burning at the stake or hanging. The Islamic debate of the 9th century, the zenith of their power in Spain, was whether women had souls. This issue was taken up in the Roman Church and in 900 C.E. one deciding vote was cast from a monk in Ireland that permitted the Roman Church to acknowledge that women could get to heaven if they were submissive to the will of the Christian Church and their husbands.