29 the Systematic Demonization of Medieval Witchcraft by Rhiannon Anderson

29 The Systematic Demonization of Medieval Witchcraft by Rhiannon Anderson Throughout the Middle Ages ecclesiastical authorities looked down upon the practice of sorceiy and witchcraft.’ These authorities viewed unorthodox traditions as mere superstition practiced by the “simple minded,” and thus were able to escape severe punishment. The Canon Episcopi, originating in the ninth century, condenmed the belief in witches as heretical in itself and remained the official and accepted doctrine of the Christian Church until the thirteenth century.2 It was not until the late fifteenth centuiy that the traditional images of “cunning men and women” were fully demonized and transfonned into diabolical sorcerers or witches. In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII proclaimed disbelief in witches as heretical—a complete reversal of the previous papal views held on witchcraft.3 Ecclesiastical authorities no longer viewed witches as ignorant practitioners of practical magic, instead believing them to be in league with the Devil by attending the sabbat, participating in orgies, murdering children, and conspiring to overthrow Christianity. The writings of churchmen, inquisitorial handbooks, confessions of the accused, and visual representations of the witch all helped to reinforce this demonization. Witches became arch-heretics and the Christian Church began actively to pursue them during the fourteenth century with the Holy Roman Inquisition. This essay will examine the change in witch rhetoric and wilt elucidate why the demonic stereotype of the witch was developed, as well as explain why the shift occurred when it did. The witch stereotype was created as an attempt to eradicate unorthodox practices and beliefs from Christian society. More specifically, the consolidation of Christian doctrine required the creation of an identity, modeled along the lines of other deviant groups, to justify the persecution of said witches and the elimination of their pre-Christian traditions. The development of this The use of the terms “sorcerer” and “witch” will be used interchangeably throughout this essay and refer specifically to both males and females who partook in the practice of pre Christian traditions of magic.” Before the fourteenth century, these practitioners of magic were often referred to as sorcerers or magicians. However, with the development of the witch stereotype, they became lumped together and termed “witches.” 2 Regino of PrOm, “A Warning to Bishops, the Canon Episcopi (ca. 906),” in Witchcraft in Europe, 400-1700: a Documentary History, edited by Alan Kors and Edward Peters (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2001), 60-63. The Canon Episcopi has been attributed to the Council of Ancyra, an ecclesiastical assembly held in 314. For more on the origins of this canon law, see Brian P. Levack, The Witchcraft Sourcebook (New York: Routledge, 2004), 33. Pope Innocent III, “Summis desiderantes affeclibus, 1484,” in The Malleus Maleficarum of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, translated by Montague Summers (Dover Publications: New York, 1971), xliii-xlv. 30 • Ex Post Facto XVI demonic image and subsequent persecution of witches occurred later than other marginal groups because the Church remained focused on the segments of society deemed immediate threats. However, once Church leaders purged these groups from the Christian community, they focused their energy on the perceived enemy from within. Many scholars have written on the phenomena of witchcraft during the Middle Ages, but none have explicitly linked the birth of the witch myth to the idea that an identity was needed in order to persecute those with marginal belief systems and unorthodox practices. In his seminal book Europe ‘s Inner Demons, Norman Cohn traced the formation of beliefs behind the infamous sixteenth and seventeenth century witch hunts.4 He argued that the witch-craze of the early modem period resulted from the combination of three elements: the actual belief in and practice of magic; an increasing consciousness of the Devil, which made people more alert for his human agents; and the idea of an organized sect exemplified by other heretical groups, such as the Waldensians or Fraticelli. In addition, he demonstrated that most accusations made against witches during the late fifteenth century were similar to those made against other unpopular minority sects since the Roman Empire. Furthermore, Cohn argued that no sect of witches existed and that the charges were false.5 Other scholars who have contributed to understanding the origins of the demonical witch stereotype include Jeffrey Burton Russell, Richard Keickhefer, and Edward Peters. In Witchcraft in the Middle Ages, Russell established the relationship between the ideas of heresy and the emergence of witchcraft.6 He argued that the recognition of human wickedness contributed to the construction of diabolical witchcraft. Kieckhefer’s studies have focused mainly on the theme of two distinct sources of witchcraft—learned and popular.7 He described both learned and folk magic and he covered their persecution during the Middle Ages, providing a useful chronological calendar of witch trials from 1300-1500. Peters investigated changing theological views regarding the practice of magic from late Antiquity to the early sixteenth century in his book, The Magician, the Witch, and the Law.8 He argued that demonical traits attributed to the sorcerer and witch led to the great witch hunts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Norman Cohn, Europe’s Inner Demons: an Enquiry Inspired by the Great Witch Hunt (New York: Basic Books, 1975). 5j adopt Cohn’s approach in my study by exploring the similarities of accusations made against heretics, Jews, and witches. However, unlike Cohn my emphasis is on the purpose and timing of the witch stereotype. 6 Jeffrey Burton Russell, Witchcraft in the Middle Ages (Ithaca, New York: Coniell University Press, 1972). Richard Kieckhefer, European Witch Trials: Their Foundations in Learned and Popular Culture, 1300-1500 (London: Routledge, 1976); and Magic in the Middle Ages (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989). Edward Peters, The Magician, the Witch, and the Law (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1978). Rhiannon Anderson Ex Post facto XVI • 31 The creation of the witch myth slowly developed during a climate of wide persecution of marginal groups within Christendom. Beginning around the eleventh century, a mentality geared toward persecution developed throughout Western Europe and led to discrimination against and the persecution of social groups who did not fit neatly within the confines of Christian society.9 Toward the end of the twelfth century, Church officials viewed the emergence of two dissenting spiritual movements, the Cathars and the Waldedensians, as a threat. In response to this threat, Church reformers began campaigns against heretics through papal bulls and canon law.1° Several canons produced by the Third Lateran Council of 1179 provided that heretics would be excommunicated and denied Christian burial. Pope Lucius III’s Ad abotendum of 1184 along with Pope Innocent ifi’s Cum es officil nostri of 1207 laid the foundation for the Inquisition.11 Both decretals defined the crime of heresy—equating it with treason against the state—in addition to declaring it the responsibility of the Church to purge heretics from society. By 1215, the canons of the Fourth Lateran Council sanctioned the official punishment of heretics, marking the turning point in official Church position toward heretics in Christendom for the next three centuries)2 The Canons of Lateran IV condemned heretics and vowed to “excommunicate and anathematize every heresy that [was raised] against the holy, orthodox and Catholic faith.”13 In addition, it prescribed that all heretics would be turned over to secular authorities for punishment.t4 While the Inquisition pursued Christian Cathars and Waldensians who deviated from the faith, Jews, lepers, and homosexuals also were seen as a source of contamination and were excluded from Christian society. Jews and lepers were segregated from Christian communities at large and were often expelled from entire regions.15 Campaigns of violence against these outsiders, especially during heightened times of crisis such as plague RI. Moore characterized medieval Europe as a “persecuting society” after the year 1100 in his book The Formation of a Persecuting Society: Power and Deviance in Western Europe, 950- 1250 (Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 1987). ‘° For more on the cnminalizalion of heresy, see Edward Peters, Inquisition (New York, 1988), 40-74. Pope Innocent III, “Corn & officu nostri, 1207,” in Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe, ed. Edward Peters (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1980), 41-52. 12 Brenda Bolton argued that Latemn IV marked the end of flexibility toward heretics, and began the rigid installation of persecution. For more regarding this shift in papal attitude and sction against heretics, see her article “Tradition and Temerity: Papal Attitudes to Deviants, 1 159-1216,” in Schism, Heresy, and Religious Protest, edited by Derek Baker (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1972), 79-91. Moore also argued that Lateran IV was instrumental in laying down the machinery ofjudicial persecution of dissident groups, see pages 6-11. ‘ “Twelfth Ecumenical Council: Latemn IV, 1215, Canon Three,” Medieval Sourcebook; available from http://www.fordhsm.edu/halsallThasis/lateran4.html; Internet; accessed January 5, 2008. “Twelfth Ecumenical

Load more