The Sorcerer's Companion: A Guide to the Magical World of Harry Potter (80 page)

Title page from the
Malleus Maleficarum (
photo credit 91.1
)

The authors of the
Malleus
, Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, provided terrifying details of how witches made pacts with the Devil, transformed themselves into wild beasts, and sacrificed infants. With an endorsement by Pope Innocent VIII, their claims were widely regarded as irrefutable truth. Hundreds of witchcraft trials were modeled on the procedures they set forth, which denied accused witches the right to have lawyers or call witnesses and recommended torture. Referring to the Biblical pronouncement “Thou shall not suffer a witch to live” (Exodus 22:18), the authors assured the public that the only way to react to the threat of Satan was to root out and destroy his servants on earth.

Much of the responsibility for this weighty task initially fell to the Inquisition—the office of the Catholic Church dedicated to identifying and exterminating heresy (beliefs and practices contrary to those of the Church). Professional inquisitors were given broad powers to seek out and punish evildoers, and individuals known to practice magic were an obvious target of their campaign. Although the Church had never approved of the village wise women and wizards who made love
potions
and healing charms, these people were an integral part of their communities, and authorities had never seriously tried to shut them down. Now, however, the Church insisted that anyone reputed to have supernatural abilities must have received their powers from the Devil, and was therefore guilty of heresy—a crime punishable by death. This rule applied to village healers and diviners as well as those suspected of clearly malevolent forms of magic such as casting spells to harm people or destroy crops.

Accusations of witchcraft weren’t limited to those with reputations for magical practices. As the hysteria spread and the witch-hunting cause was taken up by secular as well as Catholic and Protestant authorities, all God-fearing citizens were urged to come forward and identify as many suspects as possible. An old woman might be accused simply on the basis of her appearance, or because she went about the village muttering to herself or kept a broomstick in her house. A petty dispute might end with a charge of witchcraft if the injured party suggested to authorities that his neighbor had put a curse on him. In areas where the property of convicted witches was seized, the wealthiest people in town were the most likely targets. But men and women of all ages, both rich and poor, were accused, tried, tortured, and burned at the stake. Anonymous accusations could be made against anyone, and the accuser never had to worry about facing the person they’d charged with witchcraft.

Once arrested, accused witches were put on trial and were considered guilty until proven otherwise. After all, the
Malleus Maleficarum
said that judges need not exercise undue caution in reaching their verdicts, as God would never permit an innocent person to be convicted of witchcraft. In Germany, France, and Switzerland, suspects were routinely tortured to elicit detailed confessions. Under these excruciating circumstances, the accused almost always confessed to whatever the inquisitors demanded of them—worshipping Satan, summoning and consorting with
demons
, flying on
broomsticks
to midnight gatherings, casting spells to harm their neighbors, and a variety of other crimes. Each new confession confirmed the accusers’ belief that the diabolical conspiracy was of monumental proportions and fueled their passion to search more diligently and punish ever more harshly. In England and Scandinavia, where torture was illegal, judges relied on the unsupported testimony of witnesses, as well as the presence of a so-called “witch’s mark” (any mole or birthmark would do) or assertions that the accused had a demonic animal companion, or familiar (see
Witch
). Each “witch” was also forced to supply the names of accomplices so that new trials could be set in motion. This procedure sometimes set off a chain reaction resulting in the destruction of an entire village. In 1589, 133 residents of the town of Quedlinburg, Germany, were executed as witches in a single day.

The guilt or innocence of accused witches was often determined by throwing them into the water. Floating was a sign of guilt, while sinking—and occasionally drowning—was a sign of innocence. Witch hunters could control the outcome of the ordeal by manipulating the ropes that bound the suspect
. (
photo credit 91.2
)

Certainly, not everyone believed in witchcraft. Not everyone suspected their neighbors of making pacts with the Devil. So why didn’t sensible people speak out against witch persecution and put an end to it? Well, some tried, but the witch trials were supported by powerful authorities, and anyone who openly doubted the reality of witchcraft, or even the guilt of a harmless old lady, risked ending up on trial themselves. Only those with protection in high places could take such a risk, but for the most part their protests had little effect.

Ultimately, however, the witchcraft panic died out on its own, as the scientific revolution brought a new skepticism to Europe and magical beliefs became unfashionable among the upper classes. One of the last major outbreaks of witchcraft hysteria occurred in the American colony of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. The last English witch trial was held in 1712, the last French trial in 1745, and the last German trial in 1775. The laws prohibiting witchcraft were repealed in England and Scotland in 1736. Those who still believed in the Devil’s interference in earthly affairs tended to keep it to themselves. No longer a heresy, witchcraft once again entered the realm of simple folk magic. Nonetheless, the popular association of witches with evil never completely disappeared. Outbreaks of violence against suspected witches were recorded in Europe and the United States into the early twentieth century.

During the era of intense witch persecution, three women were accused of witchcraft for every man charged. This may strike us as a sign of prejudice, but to the witch-hunters it made perfect sense. From their perspective, the biblical story of Adam and Eve demonstrated that women were responsible for all sin in the world. It was obvious that women were physically, morally, and intellectually weaker than men, and therefore much more susceptible to temptation by the Devil. Moreover, witch hunters noted, women were clearly more vindictive than men, more spiteful, and more likely to tell lies.

Modern scholars suggest that, in addition to these clear signs of misogyny (hatred of women) in the culture that supported witch hunts, certain social conditions made women more vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft. For example, women were the midwives who helped deliver babies, and when newborns died (as they often did), parents might blame the midwife. It was a short step in the public’s mind from midwife to witch, since sudden deaths were considered evidence of witchcraft. But probably the largest group of accused witches were older women—either spinsters or widows—who lived alone. In a male-dominated society in which women generally had neither rights nor property, a woman who was not under the immediate control of a father or husband was often shunned as a threat to society, or, at best, regarded with mistrust. The witch trials may have served as a convenient way to get rid of such distasteful members of a community.

It’s also quite possible that more women than men actually practiced some form of sorcery. Since they had little power to redress grievances, resolve disagreements, or indeed exert any control over their own destinies by legal means, women might instead turn to illegal magical practices—spells, potions, or curses—in an effort to exert some influence on their lives and the world around them. Although such activities were usually harmless, they could have grave consequences if they led to a charge of witchcraft.