JI einuniine chc]r&fr in the Analysis of the foententiates in Medieval Europe, 800-1200 C. E. Giov&nni& palombo itchcraft was a reality throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, and the Church maintained a hostile position towards witches, whose practices were utterly condemned especially in the so-called Poenüenliales, or handbooks of penance.’ Although witchcraft traces its roots back to pre-Christian times, to both the Graeco-Roman2 and Germanic3 worlds, it became an even greater phenomenon during the Middle Ages. Instead of abandoning witchcraft practices due to the strong opposition of the Church, medieval Europeans must have engaged in an increasing number and variety of magic rituals, compelling the Church to censure such practices repeatedly and severely in its official documents. This study will focus on the witchcraft practices listed in the medieval peni tentials compiled in Anglo-Saxon and Frankish Europe (England, France and Germany) from about 800 to 1200 C.E. In analyzing books of pen ance, I will identify those magic rituals that were pertinent only to women, for example, the sphere of love magic, weaving and binding, and the night rides with the goddess Diana. Specitic magic practices were strictly the domain of the feminine witch, or singa. This essay will look into the reasons why the Church felt a strong need to persecute witches and how magic rituals were connected to the roles that women were assigned in the contemporary social context. On one hand, some witchcraft practices are indicative of the bias against women in medieval society: women were per ceived as sexual temptresses (they occupied themselves with love magic), as demonic creatures (when casting the evil eye or weaving a curse into a garment), or as caregivers (practitioners of healing magic). On the other hand, the same practices can also be interpreted as an attempt by women to claim their powers and their skills within a strongly male-dominated society (for instance, the alleged nocturnal riding on beasts and flying with Diana). The medieval witch was perceived as a manipulative, dangerous, and unconventional creature, and the condemnation of witchcraft practic es throughout the penitentials indicates the Church’s fear of non-Christian supernatural forces and the breaking of social boundaries. 4 ePf The Poenitent?ales, or penitentials, were handbooks or guides For priests to use during confession to identify sinful behavior and provide the sinner with the “correct” penance.4 Usually compiled by prominent churchmen or theologians, the penitentials were written between the sixth and the thirteenth centuries and were diffused throughout Western Eu rope: Ireland, Wales, England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. For the scope of this study, I will examine only those penitentials compiled in Eng land and in the Frankish territory (Germany and France), and will limit my analysis to the period between 800 and 1200 C.E. The penitentials are an extremely valuable testimony of the non-Christian behaviors and prac tices which early medieval Europeans stilt practiced while Christianity was spreading and becoming the official religion in Europe. Priests used these manuals extensively, as they needed some guidance in their ministrations: as such the penitentials were convenient books of reference.5 They con tained very descriptive catalogues of possible offences for which suitable penances- usually fasting with bread and water were provided. Most of these practices were related to some form of magic, and some had to do specifically with women’s magical rituals. The penitentials were necessary aids for the confessors; Europe was still filled with pagan reminiscences and the Church wanted to assure that the most “dangerous” of those practices were severely rejected and condemned. The earliest surviving penitential dates from around 525-550 C.E., the so-called Penitential of Finnzan, compiled in Ireland. The Irish and Angto-Saxon penitentiats became the models to which all other manu als conformed, and within a short time these books of penance became widely dispersed and very popular. By the middle of the eleventh century the scattered literature dealing with superstitions, magic, and witchcraft had been ordered and systematized in the context of canon law, first by Regino, Abbott of Prtim, during the tenth century, and then by Burchard, Archbishop of Worms in the eleventh. The latter, in particular, compiled a wide collection of canon la the Decretum, which included the Corrector (Book XIX), a systematic penitential that represented an important sum mary of earlier literature.6 Since the Corrector constitutes a uniquely exten sive source of forbidden beliefs and practices pertaining to witchcraft, it has been used as a main reference throughout this essay. Penitentials may present some problems to the historian. Thomas P. Oakley indicates some possible misuses of penitentials as sources for reconstructing attitudes, beliefs and the mentality of medieval people.7 For instance, not only is the degree of penance for the same sin not uni form among penitentials, but some of the earlier books are less detailed in describing the sins, whereas the later ones provide minute descriptions of sinful behaviors and practices and their penalties which, in most cases are graduated according to the rank of the sinner (i.e., clergyman vs. lay man).8 Nonetheless, it would not bejustifled to conclude that there was an increase in sins or in crimes between the time of the earlier penitentials GIOVANNA PALOMBO ePF 5 and tile tenth or eleventh centuries simply because a greater number were penalized in certain codes than in others. More likely, a detailed diLIèr entiation of otfences and penalties could be the result of progress in the discipline of moral theology, which - much like what occurs in the science of jurisprudence in time becomes more detailed in diiTerentiating the offences and penalties.9 In addition, the books of penance present the same limitations as legal codes. The inclusion of certain items in penitentials could reflect their actual practice at that given time, but without corroboration from other sources it is difficult to determine whether certain practices were listed because they were actually performed, or if they were left in as a result of inertia on tile part of the compilers. Certain behaviors could have been included simply because the author of the penitentials believed they were sinful and deserved a penance. In this case, the penitentials may tlot be very helpful in establishing whether particular activities and atti tudes were still widespread at that specific time, or had become very rare. Although this study relies mostly on penitentials, other sources have also been consulted in order to corroborate tile witchcraft practices described in the books of penance. Faced with the survival of many pagan traditions, the Church adopt ed two different and contradictory solutions: one of utter condemnation and the other of adaptation)0 Not all traditional pagan practices were condemned: only those rituals that were too alien and which contrasted too greatly with the principles of Christianity were rejected. What the churchmen could fit into the Christian schema was salvaged after a pro cess of accommodation. Even magical practices, pagan in origin, could be assimilated into a Christian context and not just tolerated, but even accepted and encouraged. This mechanism of adaptation had two forms: one was the replacement of some pagan elements with Christian formu las for example, pagan spells replaced by Christian prayers and the other was shifting tile accreditation of magical successes to the miracles performed by the saints.” As a result, the accommodation of pagan rituals and beliefs created the oxymoronic category “Christian magic.” Tue Church felt that a certain degree of tolerance and acceptance of some pagan practices although “coated” with Christian formulas and prayers - was necessary to ensure the christianization of the Germanic populations, whose belief system was embedded with magic rituals and was very different from the traditional values and practices supported by the Church. Penitentials described a series of various pre-Christian practices, some of which had to do with magic.’2 The witchcraft rituals listed in the penitentials represented those practices that the Church felt would have been too dangerous to accept and adapt, and therefore labeled as sins. In most penitentials, there was a clear effort on the Church’s part to con feminine I47itchcrafl in Medieval Europe 6 demn certain pre-Christian magic rituals, because the churchmen associ ated magic with demons and the Devil. They thought that such traditions were necessarily diabolical, because the witches and warlocks appealed to Satan, thus, such practices had to be evil and therefore anti-Christian.13 In fact, the Church claimed that if an individual engaged in magic rituals, the result was the destruction of the soul. Asking a sorcerer for help in case of illness or for any practical problem could also be considered dangerous. Spiritual comfort as well as physical healing could only come with God’s help through prayer. Magical practices related to a variety of issues, both practical and spiritual in nature. These included physical healing, weather-making, divination, astrology, and love magic. In particular, some rituals were specifically identified with women practitioners who were labeled as witches. In many societies, women were associated with witchcraft more often than men because of their traditional social roles as cooks, nurses, midwives, and keepers of the home. In addition, some preternatural force was often attached to women’s childbearing power and menstruation.’4 In the Middle Ages, however, women did not perform just any witchcraft practices. In fact, there were distinct magical traditions that were exclu sively reserved for them. The magical rituals that women practiced and for which the penitentials reproached them can be divided into six major areas: love magic, contraception and abortion, weaving and cursing, night riding (connected to the cult of Diana), healing, and intentionally evil magic.