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Women and Explanations for European Witchcraft Beliefs in the 16th and 17th Century
[Excerpt]
Belief in European witchcraft has been described as an elaborate
fantasy that has no foundation in reality. Questions have been raised
over whether witchcraft just produced large numbers of criminals,
innocent victims of a deluded judiciary system and an oppressive legal
system,
[1] or whether witches
actually performed the misdeeds for which they had been prosecuted. For Reginald Scot, witchcraft was false and fabulous,
[2]
yet Richard Bovet concluded that the superstitious are likely to be
drawn towards, and into, the fatal snare of witchcraft, where if the
Devil finds an invitation, he ever after haunts.
[3]
Nevertheless, whether the practice was in fact real or fantasy, the
popular and educated belief in early modern England was that a form of
magical power used for both good and evil did exist, and was practiced
by those on the fringes of urban and village community life. James
Sharpe (1996) has noted that there is substantial evidence that people
accepted the reality of ghosts, fairies, poltergeists, the power of
prophecy and sprits and therefore the presence of witches is hardly
surprising.
[4] Although it remains difficult to judge accurately the extent of
actual
witchcraft practice, it is possible to understand part of the process
that helped develop the notion that supernatural powers were indeed a
reality, and therefore explain why folk in early modern England
assented to witchcraft beliefs.
1542 to 1735 was
a period of English history when witchcraft remained a statutory crime
punishable by death; moreover, these years marked a significant
increase in the number of witch-hunts and prosecutions. However, this
does not necessarily mean that there was a comparative rise in
witchcraft beliefs. The period reflects a populace that were
ingratiated in the art of social intercourse, gossip and social
interaction that meant if witchcraft was suspected, then it was talked
about and opinions were formed. The secular and ecclesiastical courts
merely allowed existing beliefs to be given the forum to express
grievances against supposed witches, and subsequently extract some form
of punitive action. Belief in witchcraft, it seems, had in some form
always existed, manifested by a timeless belief in magical powers
whether for good or bad. Many historians have identified three areas of
witchcraft belief and have categorised them according to their
sociological and theological context. For the purposes of establishing
differing witchcraft beliefs, it appears necessary to distinguish
between actual practices, the educated elites perceptions of the
rejection of the Christian Church, and the popular tradition that
feared witches that could do harm in the community; but despite
contextual differences, there remained a degree of commonality between
the popular and learned tradition.
[5]
European continental belief mainly centred on the nature of the
diabolical pact between the witch and the Devil, and related to the
condition
of the witch. This belief was shared by some of the educated elites in
England; however, the English popular tradition was chiefly concerned
with maleficium and the ability to do harm through black magic, as
opposed to the beneficial aspects of white magic. This conviction in
local malice
[6]
reflected the popular beliefs of the common people, ingrained over
generations by ancient folklore and superstitious sentiment, and was
less about learned theory than explaining the harsh realities of
day-to-day life. Although the writers of the
Malleus Maleficarum suggested all the superstitious arts had their origin in a pestilent association of men with devils,
[7] it was Reginald Scots contemporary view that
witchcraft and inchantment is the cloke of ignorance.
[8]
One
explanation for witchcraft beliefs could indeed be a lack of education
among the simple folk. However, witchcraft belief was prevalent among
the more elite classes. Learned opinion constructed the idea of a
black mass, but it has been argued that there is no foundation in the
claim that witches worshipped the Devil collectively, and that such
notions were formulated in the minds of the persecutors and the accused
themselves.
[9] Nevertheless, genuine fears
were
aroused by the idea of collective Devil worship, and indeed may have
been based on the evidence that secret groups did gather for purposes
of religious worship, thus cultivating witchcraft beliefs.
Nevertheless, the belief in the demon remained and the association with
witchcraft strengthened the belief that a witchs power came directly
from an entity whose quest it was to cause harm. England produced a
wealth of witchcraft literature that covered the religious, legal,
medical and sociological aspects of witchcraft.
[10]
Moreover, it could be concluded that such an array of literature must
have promoted and stimulated beliefs in witchcraft, although mainly
among the literate and elite classes. In Brian Levacks (1987) opinion,
the innovation of printing made it possible for learned beliefs to be
spread more broadly and more rapidly than in the manuscript age.
[11]
The Christian Church recognised the theological threat of witchcraft
and produced manuals and tracts condemning the practice. The Church saw
the act of witchcraft as fundamentally a reversal of Christian
doctrine, and therefore a threat to the stability of maintaining a
godly and well-ordered society. For Christian political ideology,
witches represented the most extreme form of deviance.
[12] The Devil and his associates, according to the
Malleus Maleficarum, were not just agents of deception, but actively deluded those who are not in a state of grace.
[13] Indeed, it has been argued that the
Malleus Maleficarum
transmitted an entire set of learned beliefs to a larger audience,
and by declaring that those who denied the reality of witchcraft were
heretics, the book encouraged a belief in witchcraft activity.
[14]
If it was not Christianity, then it was heretical and part of the black
arts of witchcraft, commanded by the enemy of God, the Devil. In
Reginald Scots view, Catholic law and investigation towards witchcraft
in England resulted in extending the beliefs of a large number of the
populace, noting that
these inquisitors added manie fables to justify the persecution of English witches.
[15]
In addition, it has also been claimed that witchcraft was in fact a
complete fiction conceived by Christian theologians and had no
foundation in popular belief or practice.
[16]
However, theological constructions of faith and what it means to be a
good Christian provoked ideas on what defined the contrary, and on a
popular level, this served to strengthen notions of community and
reinforce ideas of right and wrong. In a sense, witchcraft beliefs
could be explained by a cause and effect pattern instigated by
Christian constructions of demonology and magical practice. It appears
then that one explanation for witchcraft belief could be found in
Christianitys attempts to eradicate magical practice and the
diabolical pact. By doing so, Christian theory heavily reinforced the
belief that a witchs magical power was real and to be feared.
[17]
Early
modern England was a country experiencing the religious upheaval
brought about by Reformation ideas and the inconsistency of toleration
and adherence during the reign of the Tudors. The development of
personal religion among the common people emphasised differing belief
systems in which opposing sides were established, Protestant or
Catholic, and Christianity or witchcraft and black magic.
[18]
The Protestant Reformation provided a reference to witchcraft taken
from Gods book, and therefore subject to literal interpretation;
Exodus 22:18 stated that thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
[19]
Both Luther and Calvin believed in the power of magic, and their views
were widely disseminated among both the popular and elitist culture; to
be a follower of the new gospel was to hold a belief in witchcraft.
Afterall, Martin Luther had asked, who hath bewitched you, that you
should not believe the truth?
[20] Luther had also suggested that all heretical biblical interpretation was witchcraft,
[21]
confirming the belief that all those who were non-conformist were
agents of the Devil. In addition, the gospel identified the Devil as
the source of a witchs abilities and this probably intensified popular
fear and awareness of the Devils powers. By condemning the power of
magic, Reformation dogma perhaps inadvertently (or deliberately)
induced a more frightening level of witchcraft belief among the pious
laity. Christian theology had speculated upon the diabolic pact in an
attempt to make sense of witchcraft, however, such theory was not
founded in contemporary popular tradition.
[22]
Nevertheless, the methods used to extract confessions of diabolism
produced evidence from which it has been suggested actually created
witchcraft, or at least created diabolical witchcraft.
[23] Popular
belief in the diabolical activities of a witch could be deduced from
the information read out at the time of the executions,
[24]
and therefore, it created a belief in the nature of diabolical
witchcraft, a horrific and fearful entity that understandably may have
produced widespread fear in a profoundly spiritual and religious
society. Ann Laurence (1995) has also explained that diabolism depends
on believing in a dualist universe whereby the Devil is
counterbalanced by God.
[25] However, the Devil was not necessarily incorporated into the popular tradition of the maleficent abilities of the witch.
Christina
Larner (1984) has argued that maleficium cannot be committed in social
vacuum, stressing that to be effective, it must be generally believed
to be effective.
[26] This idea is not so much that supernatural powers did exist in reality, but more that these abilities were
believed to
exist by those who needed an intuitive explanation of their universe
and everyday life. Those folk most conspicuous by a belief in
witchcraft were those people concerned with the day-to-day realities of
agriculture, raising children, running households, the very essence of
maintaining life and a livelihood.
Witchcraft belief was
a way to explain everyday fears and anxiety in a life that was
intimately connected to the natural cycles of life. Anne Laurence
(1995) has suggested that a central component of popular culture was
derived from pre-Christian ceremonies and customs, that had more to
do with the annual rhythms of nature than with the Christian
calendar, and argues that English popular witchcraft beliefs in the
sixteenth century were generally related to local circumstances.
[27]
At all social levels, the importance of fertility was an annual
concern. Motherhood, breeding livestock, and a fruitful ground to
produce foodstuffs were all necessary for the continuation of life
itself. If this life was affected by illness, crop failure or sudden
death, the result could be tragic and ruinous. The harrowing emotional
experience of real deaths, real illnesses, and real losses meant
people looked for reason and believed that harm had been done to their
families and livelihoods.
[28]
Witchcraft would often be suspected and blame was put upon those who
were deemed to hold magical powers. James Sharpe (1996) considers
that such popular accusations should not be underestimated and the
fact that theirs was an insecure world in which diseases or accidents
that today would be diagnosed or accounted for in other terms, or
misfortunes that might simply be attributed to bad luck, were explained
by witchcraft.
[29] Reginald Scot argued that the cause of such credulous belief was
in the imagination of the melancholike, but he did recognise that some folk believed that witches
can doo such things as are beyond the abilitie of humane nature.
[30] The
seventeenth-century squire, Richard Bovet was well acquainted with
country beliefs and noted more sympathetically that the power of
imaginationmay have strange effects, especially upon tender and
irrational bodies.
[31]
Nevertheless, in early modern English communities, melancholic
behaviour must have been ever present in the harsh life endured by the
poor, and a belief in witchcraft could help provide answers to
immediate misfortune.
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