Women: Equal or Evil?

I found the explanations on why women are more often witches than men to be very ironic to what it would mean to actually be a witch and be capable of wielding that kind of power. In the Malleus Maleficarum, one their reasons is "women are naturally more impressionable, and more ready to receive the influence of a disembodied spirit; and when they use this quality well they are good, but when they use it ill they are very evil." (page 183) Women are also called weak, feebler in both mind and body, intellectually like children, and an "imperfect animal" who always deceives.
All of this really sounds like the men who wrote this were rejected by a woman at some point in their lives and they're still salty about it.
It is ironic because they are insulting women and saying that they're weak and therefore more susceptible to being influenced by the devil, but they are also admitting that women can have a kind of power that they cannot even really comprehend. Deep down, it seems like they are just afraid that women are more powerful than them and they feel threatened by that. Especially since they consider a "normal" and "good" woman to be as innocent and obedient as a child.

Eve, The Witch?

At the end of Why Superstition is chiefly found in Women, it stated that basically Eve was kinda like a witch. "His name was Death. For though the devil tempted Eve to sin; yet Eve seduced Adam. And as the sin of Eve would not have brought death to our soul and body unless the sin had afterwards passed on to Adam, to which he was tempted by Eve, not the devil, therefore she is more bitter than death" (pg 187-88). As I read, I linked back almost every characteristic that a wicked woman, aka a witch, would have back to Eve. For example, "women are naturally more impressionable, and more ready to receive the influence of a disemboided spirit" (pg 183). So Eve was tempted by the devil and ate the forbidden fruit. Eve broke the one rule that God had...and it ended up making her more bitter than death?  It also states that women are basically as smart as children and have weak memories. Another thought I had was wasn't the Garden of Eden thing kinda necessary? Like when we talked about Hades in class, he was a nescessary evil. When the devil tempted Eve, she then began the whole domino effect of the human race being created. What this section states is that wicked women are "a foe to friendship, an unescapleble punishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity...painted with fair colors" (pg 183). I feel like Eve was necessary, wicked woman or not, to a bigger picture. Yes, she intermingled with a demon, like most witches do...but does that make her a witch or just an enticeable person?

Is being married to a women really THAT bad?

There were many aspects of this reading that shocked me. I was mostly shocked by how there was a common theme to how women were terrible and men are in a lose-lose situation.  One section that completely shocked me was in The Malleus Maleficarum when they quoted Socrates: "When the philosopher Socrates was asked if one should marry a wife, he answered: If you do not, you are lonely, your family dies out, and a stranger inherits; if you do, you suffer perpetual anxiety, querulous complaints, reproaches concerning the marriage portion, the heavy displeasure of your relations..." (Kors and Peter, 185). This really shifted my view on how they viewed women back then. I mean obviously most people know women haven't been treated great throughout history but from my past knowledge I still got the vibe that there was love and families being made out of love. This reading gives off the major theme that most women are evil. I just feel like this may not have been the accurate view of all women during this time, but hey I could be wrong and all women maybe loved to be one with the devil.

Hi I'm The Wicked Weiner!

This Chapter offered a look at a strange side of magic. Often times the traditional witch is a lonely old hag that is disliked by most. However in this chapter it seems to show what happens when a witch gets tied up emotionally with someone. It also shows just what jealousy can push someone to do. This story talks of a man who wanted to leave a woman (the witch). As punishment the woman stole the mans member (his wicked wiener).

Pg. 199 - 200 (How, as it were, they Deprive Man of his Virile Member.)

https://youtu.be/ygoP10ig8xU

A New Perspective

As I have read the chapters in this book my perspective and understanding of what a witch was considered to be and the acts they were accused of has significantly changed. Coming into this course, I didn't have much background concerning this subject matter, but what I thought reflected what I would consider the stereotype of witches: casting spells, dancing around fires and being burned alive. Now, especially after reading the excerpts from The Malleus Maleficarum, I realize that the crimes that witches were accused of went beyond just casting spells. An example of my new understanding is the horrible things they were accused of doing to infants. While it is always disturbing to harm infants in any way, I have noticed a significant shift from chapter 2 to chapter 6 of this text. For instance, in chapter two they were said to transfix the corpse of an unbaptized infant onto a tree with a stake in order to prevent the child from emerging and injuring others. That has since progressed to:

“[After killing the infant in its cradles or next to the parents’ side and making it look natural] we secretly take them from their graves and cook them in a cauldron, until the whole flesh comes away from the bones to make a soup which may easily be drunk… whoever drinks [this] immediately acquires much knowledge and becomes a leader in our sect” (Kramer and Sprenger 193).

Prior to reading this book, and having discussions in class, my knowledge concerning the history of witchcraft did not include knowing that witches were said to eat and/or drink babies or create illusions that made men think their “virile members” disappeared.

https://images.app.goo.gl/rdyHAuqg1ayXHQ7n6  

Exodus 20:3-5

The whole purpose of the 22nd document very much just feels like an emphasis on the first of the Ten Commandments "Thou shalt honor no other God but me", which at the time, I suppose was customary, but still very thought provoking. Examples like:


"They invoke, in as much as they sacrifice to them, adore them, offer up horrible prayers to them, vow themselves to the service of the demons, promise them their obedience, and otherwise commit themselves to the demons, swearing by the name of the superior demon whom they invoke" (p. 123). Nicolau Eymeric also goes on to state that "These acts are true sacrifices only when exhibited to God, and not to the demons".





I thought it was really interesting that, despite worshiping demons, the concept of honoring another (for lack of a better word) deity was illegitimate. Yes, it was not legal, but even in the 1300s, at least one, other religion existed. Based on evidence presented by Eymeric, these people had legitimized rituals and worshiping ceremonies for the demons, so was it as bad as it actually was made out to be, or did Catholicism just try to stop the influence of other religious beliefs?

Frogs, ducks, and black cats, oh my!

"...when any novice is to be received among them and enters the sect of the damned for the first time, the shape of a certain frog appears to him, which some are accustomed to call a toad. Some kiss this creature on the hind-quarters and some on the mouth; they receive the tongue and saliva of the beast inside their mouths. Sometimes it appears unduly large, and sometimes equivalent to a goose or a duck, and sometimes it even assumes the size of an oven" (pg 115).

What interesting things await us once we have decided to go to the depths of Dante's Inferno! Not fiery gates or evil laughter, oh no! But frogs! Toads! A black cat will coil its tail in the corner! 

Depravity will happen with men amongst men, women amongst women! The assumptions presented in Chapter 4 and the exert "Pope Gregory IX: Vox in Rama" proved to be hilarious--what was assumed of what happens when you choose to leave your faith seems to be more realistically some crazy fantasy than real life.

Heretics and Heresy

A fascinating shift between this week and last week's reading is the perspective on witchcraft/sorcery. The concept of and disdain towards heretics and heresy underscores each document within chapters 4 and 5. While both chapter 2 and chapters 4 and 5 include texts that directly address a religious leader or priest, the texts from this week are far more emphatic and angry about the current existence of heretic worship and sorcery. There is little push for redemption; instead, women witches are burnt to ash on the pyre. This more extreme approach and reaction to those practicing the demonic aspect of 'magic' can be found in passages like

"'Exterior deeds are signs of interior deeds, just as spoken words are the signs of things'" (Eymeric and Augustine, 124).

and

"Do what I tell you in order that you will not be called upon to answer for it on the day of Judgement, having been able to prevent so great an evil which might have been prevented if you had accused her" (Bernardino of Siena, 137).

The first passage is reminiscent of number 65 (and others) in the Burchard of Worms text; outward expressions of sorcery hint at an internal shunning of God. Therefore, the second passage's call to arms appears to be an evolution from Worms' sin-list. Religious and societal practices that once allowed atonement for ignorance and seduction is now an offense committed by a complete heretic. The modern perception of witch trials and paranoia appears to have its beginnings in the texts presented within these chapters.

https://blog.adw.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Bernard-of-Clairvaux-Lippi2.jpg

Now you see me, now you don't

"'You have served me well and will serve more and better. I commit what you have given into your custody,' and having said that at once disappears"(18, pg 116)

There seems to be a common theme of witchcraft having the ability to disappear and appear whenever it seems convenient. Therefore needing the concept of belief, very similar to the idea of religion just in a more negative context. 

Is Our Boy Bernardino Hitler Sr.?

Hitler went on his own "witch hunt" and while doing so instilled fear of Jews into Germany. Is Bernardino doing the same with the catholic church? Bernardino preaches to his catholic crowd with some gruesome details about putting witches to death. Like Hitler, Bernardino is creating fear in his audience. He is telling them that if any witchcraft is done bring the accused and burn them to death. Now I don't know about you but I would be terrified that someone that didn't like me would falsely accuse me of witchcraft. Bernardino is publicly admitting to murder and no one sees a problem with this. I think it is because everyone is too scared to speak out against it. Bernardino says "there was also another woman taken who confessed that she had done like deeds… but she died in another manner: for she was not strangled before she was put upon the pyre, and the fire was kindled there while she was alive” (136). Is there any other reason for this much detail but fear? I think he is trying to scare his audience into burning witches in his name, he even said “I wish I could make it happen here too” (135). Just as Hitler was a major player in instilling the fear of Jews to Germans, Bernardino was a major player (I think) in getting the catholic people to fear witches.