Belief in magic and sorcery is about the same as humanity itself. For example, scientists believe that the prehistoric drawings that are regularly found on the walls of caves throughout Europe and Asia (remember the very ones where the schematically depicted little men with spears chasing antelopes, goats and other animals?) Could well be part of some primitive magical rituals designed to provide rich prey on the hunt.
They believed in magic both in Ancient Egypt and in Ancient Rome. And in the Middle Ages, they not only “knew for sure” that witches and sorcerers really exist, but also fought them with the most radical methods.
Yes, and still many peoples of our planet have shamans and sorcerers, supposedly able to change the weather, improve the quality of the crop, treat any disease with one touch, predict future events, etc.
Want to know more about this? Then here are 10 interesting (and quite historical) facts about magic and witchcraft.
10. Belief in magic was considered a pagan superstition
We are used to believing that in the Middle Ages everyone believed in magic, including, of course, priests. But in fact, in the early Middle Ages, the clergy tried (though unsuccessfully) to inspire the flock that magic actually does not exist and that all this is just echoes of pagan times.
Everything that happens on Earth is either a divine plan or the machinations of the devil. Here the devil is just deceiving some insufficiently believing people, forcing them to believe that they have some kind of supernatural powers.
Moreover, in some European countries it was directly forbidden to execute witches and sorcerers, because this is a “pagan crime” (after all, there is no witchcraft!).
And only in the XV century. Pope Innocent VIII officially recognized the existence of witches, but with the proviso that they do not do magic, but conclude a contract with the devil and, in fact, it is he (with the hands of witches) who creates his own obscenities. It was from this time that the same mass hysteria around witches began, the concept of "coven" arose, etc.
9. The priests themselves practiced magic
When we talk about the witch hunt practiced in the Middle Ages, then, of course, we immediately represent at the head of the trial a high-ranking priest who accuses another unfortunate woman of some heretical or pagan rites.
But in reality, clergy and monks often practiced magic themselves, at least they kept “magic” works. For example, in the library of the monastery of St. Augustine in Canterbury there were 30 books "on magic", which talked about how to properly summon spirits.
And in the XII century. parish priests in England quite often performed such a ritual: they walked across the field, spraying milk, honey, butter and holy water in all directions and at the same time reciting prayers to make the land more fertile.
By the way, in Russia until the beginning of the 20th century, priests often also practiced similar rites, where Orthodoxy was closely mixed with pre-Christian paganism.
8. In the Middle Ages, science was associated with magic.
Nowadays, only, hmm ... very narrow-minded and poorly educated people seriously believe in astrology, check daily with horoscopes, believe that if you hang a pendant with a certain gemstone around your neck, life will improve, and your career will go uphill.
Well, in the Middle Ages, when science, in our understanding, did not exist even in sight, it was in the order of things. And therefore, even the most famous and recognized scientists of that time very stubbornly searched not only (and not so much) for the mysterious causes of various natural phenomena, but, for example, the formula of a philosopher's stone (capable of turning any metals into gold), or an elixir of immortality, or else anything just as fantastic.
Many medieval characters who had the reputation of outstanding “researchers” were actually either outright charlatans or simply alchemists.
At the same time, real scientists who were much ahead of their time (such as Roger Bacon, who lived in the 13th century, an astronomer, mathematician, chemist, etc., who believed that the Earth was round, knew how to make gunpowder and watched the stars personally assembled prototype of a modern telescope) were most often considered sorcerers.
7. Some kings willingly used the services of sorcerers
By the way, despite the censure of the church, even crowned persons quite often resorted to the services of scholars, “sorcerers” and alchemists. After all, kings are people too, and sometimes they really wanted to know if the courtiers or heirs were plotting an attempt on their own overlord, or whether it was worth starting a war with a neighboring state, etc.
But what if the alchemist “warmed up” by the royal person still finds a philosopher's stone? Indeed, in this case, the treasury will never be empty!
Therefore, famous astrologers, alchemists and other "sorcerers" toured all over Europe from one royal court to another, sometimes making good money by compiling horoscopes for nobles and "predictions of the future."
True, sometimes they, caught in fraud, risked being executed if they did not manage to escape in time. For example, the English "magician, medium and alchemist" of the XVI century. Edward Kelly, according to some reports, died from injuries when he tried to hide from Emperor Rudolph II by going down from the window of the Gnevin prison castle. By the way, Rudolph II especially eagerly noted such personalities at his court.
6. Magic was divided into “masculine” and “feminine”
In traditional societies, as you know, the social roles of men and women have been “clearly defined” very clearly and unambiguously: a woman is a keeper of the hearth, giving birth and raising children and supporting peace and harmony in the family. Well, a man is always a warrior, protector and earner. Therefore, magic was initially divided into male and female.
A woman should know and apply various healing (magical) herbs, divine the future, make love spells and lapels, create amulets for the home, etc. A man needs a completely different magic - for protection and good luck in battle (“enchanted” weapons), to ensure a good harvest (for example, a weather spell) or rich prey on the hunt, etc.
For example, among the peoples of Scandinavia it was believed that a man engaged in predictions humiliates himself and becomes "effeminate" (in "Elder Edda" Loki blamed Odin himself for this).
5. There was a “practical guide” to fight witches
Few have ever heard of such a medieval work as the “Hammer of the Witches”. And by the way, in the XV-XVI centuries. it was the most published book after the Bible (after its release in 1487, over the next half century it was reprinted 14 times!).
The main author of this treatise on demonology and the most effective methods of prosecuting and punishing witches - the Dominican monk inquisitor Heinrich Kramer (Institor), judging by the recollections of him, was a rare paranoid and woman-hater, and besides, an ardent religious fanatic who was deeply confident in that witches exist, and that it is women who are engaged in the most evil witchcraft.
He wrote his work after even his own church authorities were horrified by Kramer’s zeal and “hard work” in eradicating the “godless witches” in Innsbruck, annulled his sentences and asked the inquisitor to leave the city.
In Witch's Hammer, Kramer tried to justify his methods. They say he very sincerely boasted that he had burned more than 200 witches.
4. A woman could be recognized as a witch even for hair color
In the Middle Ages, no woman could be sure that one day she would not be accused of black magic and connections with the devil.
In the XV-XVII centuries. suddenly a ugly old woman, too young a beautiful girl (well, a witch!), and a middle-aged woman with many moles or warts on her body (these are marks of the devil!), and just a bright redhead ( it is the color of hellfire!).
They could accuse of witchcraft and malevolence even for a quarrelsome character! It was enough that the two neighbors quarreled, and one of them informed the local inquisitor that the other was not at home in Walpurgis Night (which means she flew on the Sabbath).
Nobody demanded special evidence from the “witnesses”, and torture from the unfortunate “witch” was forced to confess not only that she hid with the devil, but that she had killed half of the cattle in the neighboring village, flew on a broomstick, turned into black cat etc.
3. The inquisitors did not judge the sorcerers and witches
It is generally believed that witch trials took place exclusively under the direction (and, of course, on the initiative) of priests and inquisitors.
In fact, in the vast majority of cases, these courts did not suit the spiritual, but the local secular authorities (after complaints and denunciations of the local inhabitants).
As for the Inquisition, it was connected to such processes only when an obvious “heretical component” was revealed in them. (By the way, such an order was officially determined in 1258 by Pope Alexander VI).
So sorcerers and witches, mainly, were judged, tortured and executed by notorious inquisitors in black cassocks and with cruel faces (which we used to see in films and TV shows), but city officials, representatives of the local duke, etc.
2. The last law on the prohibition of witchcraft was repealed only in 1951
Naturally, during the mass hysteria associated with the “witch hunt” (XV-XVII centuries) in Europe, there were abundant laws prohibiting magic and witchcraft and eradicating both these “godly” phenomena themselves and men and women using magic rituals.
So, in England the “criminal” prosecution of witches was canceled only in 1735. In fact, this did not mean that “witches” (for example, gypsy fortune-tellers, owners of spiritualistic salons, etc.) stopped catching and punishing this year , - it’s just that now they were no longer accused of witchcraft, but of fraud.
Finally, the last English law on witchcraft and the fight against it was repealed in 1951 (!).
By the way, the last execution of a witch in Europe (this was Anna Göldi) took place in Switzerland in 1782.
You just think: Isaac Newton discovered the Law of universal gravitation a long time ago, Leibniz laid the foundations of mathematical logic and binary number system, Descartes created analytical geometry and discovered the laws of light propagation, etc., etc., and throughout Europe still burning witches frantically!
1. In some countries, the “witch hunt” happens today
This is wild and scary, but in our time in many countries (especially in Africa and the Middle East) the "witch hunt" continues.
For example, in Saudi Arabia and New Guinea, you can absolutely officially (according to the criminal law) go to jail for witchcraft for a rather considerable period of time.
In 2008, in Kenya, 12 “sorcerers” and “witches” were burned at the stake. In Tanzania, annually lynch up to a thousand innocent women, "caught" in the classes of "evil magic." Roughly the same situation in the Central African Republic. And in India from 1995 to 2014. after the “people's courts” it was stoned, burned, etc. from 3 to 5 thousand "witches".
Ignorant and superstitious people are very easy to convince that all their troubles happen through the fault of a particular "sorcerer".
It got to the point that in 2009 at a UN meeting on extrajudicial executions, it was officially proposed to take the “witches” under protection by issuing special international acts on the inadmissibility of the above-mentioned incidents. And this happens in the 21st century!