DOCSLIB.ORG

Medieval Women, Power, and the Politicization of Witchcraft

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Medieval Women, Power, and the Politicization of Witchcraft University of Rhode Island DigitalCommons@URI Open Access Master's Theses 2015 “BECAUSE SHE WOULD NOT BE GOVERNED”: MEDIEVAL WOMEN, POWER, AND THE POLITICIZATION OF WITCHCRAFT Anna Nelson Bennett University of Rhode Island, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/theses Recommended Citation Bennett, Anna Nelson, "“BECAUSE SHE WOULD NOT BE GOVERNED”: MEDIEVAL WOMEN, POWER, AND THE POLITICIZATION OF WITCHCRAFT" (2015). Open Access Master's Theses. Paper 527. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/theses/527 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@URI. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@URI. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “BECAUSE SHE WOULD NOT BE GOVERNED”: MEDIEVAL WOMEN, POWER, AND THE POLITICIZATION OF WITCHCRAFT BY ANNA NELSON BENNETT A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FUFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN HISTORY UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 2015 MASTER OF ARTS THESIS OF ANNA BENNETT APPROVED: Thesis Committee: Major Professor Joëlle Rollo-Koster Alan Verskin Kathleen Davis Nasser H. Zawia DEAN OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 2015 ABSTRACT Statement of the Problem: Since the mid-twentieth century, scholarship on European witchcraft has proved critical in understanding the relationship between gender, sexuality, and power in pre-modern Western society. For medieval and early modern people, accusations of heresy and witchcraft served to reinstate control over elements of society that were perceived as dangerous or dissident to the established order. While advances in the study of witchcraft have greatly informed the fields of history and anthropology, such scholarship has up until this point largely focused on witch hunts targeting women of the lower classes. Further study concerning the use of witchcraft charges as a political tool aimed at socially prominent women is needed to better inform scholarly understanding of the full breadth of the European witch craze. This thesis will specifically examine a multitude of cases spanning the early Middle Ages through the early modern period, roughly the fifth through eighteenth centuries, involving women in positions of social visibility and power, who were attacked with witchcraft accusations as a means of removing them from a seemingly unnatural gender role. Methodology or Procedures: This thesis utilizes a diverse range of medieval documents, especially witchcraft treatises, as a means of exploring the evolution of European witchcraft throughout the medieval period, culminating in the late medieval feminization of the institution of witchcraft. In order to establish politically motivated witchcraft charges against powerful women as a repeating pattern throughout medieval and early modern history, this study assumes a sweeping perspective, taking note of similar cases occurred both chronologically and geographically separate from one another. Subsequently, the source material upon which this thesis relies is quite diverse. Infamous inquisitors’ guides such as the Formicarius by Johannes Nider and the Malleus Maleficarum by Kramer and Sprenger provide the theoretical foundation upon which such witchcraft charges were built, and similarly allow me to explain the belief system in place that allowed witchcraft accusations against prominent women to succeed. Moving on from this foundational literature, this study explores a variety of primary sources documenting specific instances of witchcraft accusations leveled at socially influential women. These will include, to name a few, the claims of witchcraft aimed at the Anglo-Saxon Queen Ælfthryth in the twelfth-century chronicle Liber Eilensis, the recording of the sorcery trial of Dame Alice Kyteler in fourteenth-century Ireland, and the court proceedings for treason and witchcraft brought against Joan of Arc in fifteenth-century Burgundy and Queen Anne Boleyn in 1530s England. Examining the implications of witchcraft accusations on powerful women will broaden and bolster scholarship on the European witchcraft movement by illustrating both how these cases fit into the larger fabric of medieval society, and how they maintained or impacted the social hierarchy and its prescribed gender roles. Findings: This study illustrates a pattern of politically motivated witchcraft accusations throughout the medieval and early modern period informed by a single, ever- expanding lexicon supporting the idea of feminized witchcraft. Unlike much previous scholarship on European witchcraft, this thesis demonstrates that socially prominent women, for a myriad of reasons ranging from the scrutiny given to their sexual conduct to their contested foothold in both the domestic and public spheres, were just as susceptible to accusations of sorcery and witchcraft as their lower-class counterparts. The case studies presented here also demonstrate a pattern of naming women as witches in an attempt to delegitimize their agency in the male-dominated arenas of governance, religion, warfare, and commerce. Because this method successfully defamed and destroyed numerous powerful women throughout the Middle Ages, the inherent characteristics of the witch became intertwined with unrestrained women, creating an environment that allowed political detractors to slander women for witch-like crimes, without ever invoking that particular label. This finding demands further study on the relationship between powerful women and claims of deviant behavior as an essential aspect of pre-modern women’s social history. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of a project of this magnitude demands the acknowledgement of a myriad of mentors, advisors, friends, and family who have assisted me through this exhausting and rewarding process. Firstly, I would like to thank my advisor, Joëlle Rollo-Koster, for her unflagging support and guidance throughout my career as a graduate student at the University of Rhode Island. Her continual efforts to teach, encourage, and challenge my research interests and skills over the past two years have helped me to grow immensely as a student and as a scholar, and her frequent source suggestions, constructive observations, and timely edits of these chapters have aided immensely in crafting the final version of my thesis. I also want to acknowledge the numerous other faculty and students at URI who have helped me throughout the long and often complex process of bringing a Master’s thesis to fruition. My thanks go out to Alan Verskin, Kathleen Davis, and Travis Williams, the members of my thesis committee who have been gracious with their time and expertise since I initially asked that they be a part of the committee; their willingness to meet with me and discuss random aspects of my thesis work throughout the past two semesters has helped me progress confidently through each step of the project. I am also thankful for the enthusiasm and support of my friends and colleagues in the History graduate program. From Emma Heidtman, with whom I initially discussed topic ideas and who helped me edit my thesis proposal, to Jonathan Morgan and Alicia v Vaandering, my fellow teaching assistants and office buddies who have been constant supporters of my work from beginning to end, I consider myself extremely fortunate to work and study alongside such excellent students and friends. Finally, I am especially grateful for the unwavering support of my family and loved ones, none more so than my mom, who has enthusiastically discussed my thesis content with me since I began the project last summer. Most of all, my gratitude goes out to my wonderful husband Brady, who has believed in me and in my ability to finish my thesis in a quality and timely manner even at points when I myself did not. I am grateful for his multiple edits of each thesis section, his eagerness for discussing the case studies written here, histories for which I have become so passionate, and for his ongoing encouragement as I have worked to achieve this exciting milestone in my career as a scholar. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………………………………ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………………….v TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………………………………….vii CHAPTER 1…………………………………………………………………………………………………1 INTRODUCTION: WITCHCRAFT AND POWERFUL WOMEN THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE AGES……………………………………………………………………………….1 CHAPTER 2……………………………………………………………………………………………….37 A NEST OF HERETICS ON THE ISLE OF SAINTS: THE SORCERY TRIAL OF ALICE KYTELER, 1324………………………………………………………………………..37 CHAPTER 3……………………………………………………………………………………………….60 INSANITY, WITCHCRAFT, AND COURT POLITICS: THE CASE OF VALENTINA VISCONTI, DUCHESS OF ORLÉANS…………………………………..60 CHAPTER 4……………………………………………………………………………………………….80 THE 1431 TRIAL OF JOAN OF ARC: RENAMING MEDIEVAL FEMALE AGENCY AS DEMONIC POSSESSION……………………………………………………80 CHAPTER 5…………………………………………………………………………………………….105 “AN INFAMOUS SLANDER”: MISCARRIAGES, SEXUAL HERESY, AND THE DOWNFALL OF QUEEN ANNE BOLEYN…………………………………………….105 CHAPTER 6…………………………………………………………………………………………….139 CONCLUSIONS: FROM THE FEMINIZATION OF WITCHCRAFT TO THE VILIFICATION OF POWERFUL FEMALES………………………………………….139 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………………………..153 vii Chapter 1 Introduction: Witchcraft and Powerful Women throughout the Middle Ages “All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which in women is insatiable,”1 caution Kramer and Sprenger, fifteenth-century Dominican inquisitors and authors
Load more

Recommended publications
  • “A Mirror of Men”: Sovereignty, Performance, and Textuality in Tudor England, 1501-1559 by Jessica Erin Riddell a Thesis
    “A Mirror of Men”: Sovereignty, Performance, and Textuality in Tudor England, 1501-1559 by Jessica Erin Riddell A thesis submitted to the Department of English In conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada February, 2009 Copyright © Jessica Erin Riddell, 2009 ABSTRACT Sixteenth-century England witnessed both unprecedented generic experimentation in the recording of spectacle and a shift in strategies of sovereign representation and subject formation: it is the central objective of this dissertation to argue for the reciprocal implication of these two phenomena. Henry VII, Henry VIII, and Elizabeth I used performance to legitimate their authority. Aristocratic and civic identities, in turn, were modelled on sovereign identity, which was disseminated through narratives in civic entries, tournaments, public progresses, and courtly pageantry. This dissertation investigates the relationship between ritualized social dramas (a marriage, birth, and coronation) and the mechanisms behind the recording and dissemination of these performances in courtly and civic texts in England from 1501 to 1559. Focussing on The Receyt of the Ladie Kateryne (London 1501), The Great Tournament Roll of Westminster (Westminster 1511), and The Quenes Maiesties Passage (London 1559), this project attempts to understand the role performance texts played in developing conceptions of social identity. Specifically, this dissertation seeks to demonstrate that a number of new hybrid genres emerged in Tudor England to record ritualized social dramas. I argue that each of the texts under scrutiny stands out as a unique record of performance as their authors use unprecedented narrative strategies to invest their accounts with “liveness,” situating the reader as a “spectator” of the sovereign within a performative context.
    [Show full text]
  • XIX.—Reginald, Bishop of Bath (Hjjfugi); His Episcopate, and His Share in the Building of the Church of Wells. by the Rev. C. M
    XIX.—Reginald, bishop of Bath (HJJfUgi); his episcopate, and his share in the building of the church of Wells. By the Rev. C. M. CHURCH, M.A., F.8.A., Sub-dean and Canon Residentiary of Wells. Read June 10, 1886. I VENTURE to think that bishop Eeginald Fitzjocelin deserves a place of higher honour in the history of the diocese, and of the fabric of the church of Wells, than has hitherto been accorded to him. His memory has been obscured by the traditionary fame of bishop Robert as the "author," and of bishop Jocelin as the "finisher," of the church of Wells; and the importance of his episcopate as a connecting link in the work of these two master-builders has been comparatively overlooked. The only authorities followed for the history of his episcopate have been the work of the Canon of Wells, printed by Wharton, in his Anglia Sacra, 1691, and bishop Godwin, in his Catalogue of the Bishops of England, 1601—1616. But Wharton, in his notes to the text of his author, comments on the scanty notice of bishop Reginald ;a and Archer, our local chronicler, complains of the unworthy treatment bishop Reginald had received from Godwin, also a canon of his own cathedral church.b a Reginaldi gesta historicus noster brevius quam pro viri dignitate enarravit. Wharton, Anglia Sacra, i. 871. b Historicus noster et post eum Godwinus nimis breviter gesta Reginaldi perstringunt quae pro egregii viri dignitate narrationem magis applicatam de Canonicis istis Wellensibus merita sunt. Archer, Ghronicon Wellense, sive annales Ecclesiae Cathedralis Wellensis, p.
    [Show full text]
  • Rosemary Ellen Guiley
    vamps_fm[fof]_final pass 2/2/09 10:06 AM Page i The Encyclopedia of VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, and OTHER MONSTERS vamps_fm[fof]_final pass 2/2/09 10:06 AM Page ii The Encyclopedia of VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, and OTHER MONSTERS Rosemary Ellen Guiley FOREWORD BY Jeanne Keyes Youngson, President and Founder of the Vampire Empire The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters Copyright © 2005 by Visionary Living, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Facts On File, Inc. 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Guiley, Rosemary. The encyclopedia of vampires, werewolves, and other monsters / Rosemary Ellen Guiley. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8160-4684-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4381-3001-9 (e-book) 1. Vampires—Encyclopedias. 2. Werewolves—Encyclopedias. 3. Monsters—Encyclopedias. I. Title. BF1556.G86 2004 133.4’23—dc22 2003026592 Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http://www.factsonfile.com Printed in the United States of America VB FOF 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on acid-free paper.
    [Show full text]
  • Literary Responses to Agincourt: the Allegories of 'Le Pastoralet' and the 'Quadrologue Invectif'
    Literary responses to Agincourt: the allegories of 'Le Pastoralet' and the 'Quadrologue Invectif' Article Published Version Ailes, M. (2015) Literary responses to Agincourt: the allegories of 'Le Pastoralet' and the 'Quadrologue Invectif'. Reading Medieval Studies, XLI. pp. 1-26. ISSN 0950-3129 (ISBN 9780704915534) Available at http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/84520/ It is advisable to refer to the publisher’s version if you intend to cite from the work. See Guidance on citing . Publisher: University of Reading All outputs in CentAUR are protected by Intellectual Property Rights law, including copyright law. Copyright and IPR is retained by the creators or other copyright holders. Terms and conditions for use of this material are defined in the End User Agreement . www.reading.ac.uk/centaur CentAUR Central Archive at the University of Reading Reading’s research outputs online Literary responses to Agincourt: the Allegories of Le Pastoralet and the Quadrologue Invectif Marianne Ailes University of Bristol Introduction Allegorical narrative in the late Middle Ages is not only ubiquitous, it is also heterogeneous – it is a mixture of the courtly and the didactic, prose and verse, competent and less competent.1 Not all medieval allegories are a ‘dramatic interaction of personified vices and virtues’, the technique behind many medieval morality plays and what we would recognise today as allegory.2 In medieval rhetoric, personification and allegory were two distinct tropes.3 Quintillian, the classical writer most influential on medieval rhetoric,
    [Show full text]
  • Pope Innocent VIII (1484-1492) and the Summis Desiderantes Affectibus
    Portland State University PDXScholar Malleus Maleficarum and asciculusF Malleus Maleficarum Temporum (1490) 2020 Pope Innocent VIII (1484-1492) and the Summis desiderantes affectibus Maral Deyrmenjian Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/mmft_malleus Part of the European History Commons, History of Christianity Commons, Medieval History Commons, and the Medieval Studies Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Deyrmenjian, Maral, "Pope Innocent VIII (1484-1492) and the Summis desiderantes affectibus" (2020). Malleus Maleficarum. 1. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/mmft_malleus/1 This Book is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Malleus Maleficarum by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. Maral Deyrmenjian Spring, 2020 Pope Innocent VIII (1484-1492) and the Summis desiderantes affectibus At the end of the fifteenth century, Dominican friars were authorized to persecute practitioners of certain local customs which were perceived to be witchcraft in the mountains of Northern Italy.1 A landmark in the chronology of these witch-hunts was the papal bull of 1484, or the Summis desiderantes affectibus, and its inclusion in Heinrich Kramer’s witch-hunting codex, the Malleus Maleficarum. While neither the pope nor the papal bull were significantly influential on their own, the extraordinary popularity of Kramer’s Malleus draws attention to them. Pope Innocent VIII, born Giovanni Battista Cibó, was born in Genoa in 1432 into a Roman senatorial family.2 Cibó did not intend to become a member of the clergy and, in fact, fathered two illegitimate children: Franceschetto and Teodorina.
    [Show full text]
  • Vol. 30, No. 3: Full Issue
    Denver Journal of International Law & Policy Volume 30 Number 3 Summer Article 9 May 2020 Vol. 30, no. 3: Full Issue Denver Journal International Law & Policy Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/djilp Recommended Citation 30 Denv. J. Int'l L. & Pol'y (2002). This Full Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Denver Sturm College of Law at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Denver Journal of International Law & Policy by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],dig- [email protected]. DENVER JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND POLICY VOLUME 30 2001-2002 Denver Journal of International Law and Policy VOLUME 30 NUMBER 3 SUMMER-2002 ARTICLES WORLD WAR I: "THE WAR TO END ALL WARS" AND THE BIRTH OF A HANDICAPPED INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM ............................. M. CherifBassiouni 244 RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN EUROPEAN UNION SECURITIES LAW ................... Samuel Wolff 292 THE HUMAN RIGHTS APPROACH TO PEACE IN SIERRA LEONE: THE ANALYSIS OF THE PEACE PROCESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT IN A CIVIL WAR SITUATION ......................... Laurence Juma 325 THE UNFINISHED "CRIMINAL PROCEDURE REVOLUTION" OF POST-DEMOCRATIZATION SOUTH KOREA .................................. Kuk Cho 377 CORPORATE GROUPS AND STRATEGIC ALLIANCES: NEW REFORM INSTRUMENTS TO THE CHINESE .................................. Yuwa Wei 395 THE 2002 JOHANNESBURG WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW COLLIDES WITH REALITY, TURNING Jo'BURG INTO "JOKE'BURG"........... George (Rock) Pring 410 ....iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii t i ! iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii i ' ..............iiii !iii!!iiiii!iii!i i! iiiiI j iiii i...................... iiiiiiiiiii iii! i! ii i iii ! M.
    [Show full text]
  • Jean Froissart, Chroniques 1992-2013
    UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI TORINO DIPARTIMENTO DI LINGUE E LETTERATURE STRANIERE E CULTURE MODERNE CORSO DI LAUREA IN SCIENZE DEL TURISMO A.A. 2013/2014 TESI DI LAUREA TRIENNALE _____________________________________________ CHRONIQUES DI JEAN FROISSART --- BIBLIOGRAFIA RECENTE _____________________________________________ Relatore Prof. Giovanni Matteo Roccati Candidato Loris Bergagna Matricola: 703780 2 SOMMARIO Premessa ……………………………………………………………………………….. p. 3 Classificazione della bibliografia ……………………………………………………... p. 6 Chroniques di Jean Froissart - Bibliografia recente (1992-2013) ………………… p. 9 Edizioni ………………………………………………………………………………….. p. 10 Studi sui testimoni (manoscritti, produzione libraria) ………………………………..p. 13 Traduzioni ………………………………………………………………………………. p. 15 Studi generali sulle Chroniques ………………………………………………………. p. 17 Diffusione e ricezione dell’opera ………………………………………………………p. 18 Scrittura …………………………………………………………………………………. p. 21 Tematiche generali …………………………………………………………………….. p. 23 Eventi ……………………………………………………………………………………. p. 32 Personaggi ……………………………………………………………………………… p. 36 Riferimenti geografici e all’ambiente naturale ………………………………………. p. 41 Rapporto con altri autori ………………………………………………………………. p. 45 Rapporto testo-immagine ………………………………………………………………p. 46 Conclusioni ………………………………………………………………………………p. 52 Indice bibliografico ………………………………………………………………………p. 53 3 PREMESSA Lo scopo della presente tesi di laurea è di fornire la bibliografia, analizzata metodicamente, concernente le Chroniques di Jean Froissart, uscita nel periodo compreso
    [Show full text]
  • Witchcraft Historiography in the Twentieth Century Jon Burkhardt
    15 16 Witchcraft Historiography in the Twentieth Century rural areas into the early modern period. Her ideas were completely rejected by other historians at the time, who viewed witchcraft rather as an example of early modern society’s superstitious nature and the intolerance of the Church. However, Carlo Ginzburg’s fascinating account of an isolated Italian peasant culture in Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Jon Burkhardt Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, and his recent re- construction of the witches’ Sabbath, conclusively demonstrate the Our evidence for witchcraft in Europe comes almost survival of ancient agrarian cults in some parts of Western exclusively from hostile sources—from trials and confessions of Europe.1 witches documented by educated “witnesses.” In addressing the In Night Battles, Ginzburg studied the peasants in early question of witchcraft in the Western tradition, historians have modern Friuli, a mountainous region in northeast Italy, and often disagreed as to its origins and essence. At least two major uncovered a bizarre set of ancient beliefs. The peasants believed interpretations—along with several minor interpretations—of that those individuals born with a caul possessed strange powers.2 European witchcraft are present in witchcraft historiography. The These people were called benandanti, or “good walkers.” “On first interpretation is known as the Murray-Ginzburg, or folklorist certain nights of the year” the benandanti “fell into a trance or interpretation. This view sees European witchcraft as the survival deep sleep…while their souls (sometimes in the form of small of an ancient fertility religion. The second interpretation, animals) left their bodies so that they could do battle, armed with currently the most influential, emphasizes the social and cultural stalks of fennel, against analogous companies of male witches,” history of witchcraft, especially the pattern of accusations.
    [Show full text]
  • Religion and the Return of Magic: Wicca As Esoteric Spirituality
    RELIGION AND THE RETURN OF MAGIC: WICCA AS ESOTERIC SPIRITUALITY A thesis submitted for the degree of PhD March 2000 Joanne Elizabeth Pearson, B.A. (Hons.) ProQuest Number: 11003543 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11003543 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 AUTHOR’S DECLARATION The thesis presented is entirely my own work, and has not been previously presented for the award of a higher degree elsewhere. The views expressed here are those of the author and not of Lancaster University. Joanne Elizabeth Pearson. RELIGION AND THE RETURN OF MAGIC: WICCA AS ESOTERIC SPIRITUALITY CONTENTS DIAGRAMS AND ILLUSTRATIONS viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix ABSTRACT xi INTRODUCTION: RELIGION AND THE RETURN OF MAGIC 1 CATEGORISING WICCA 1 The Sociology of the Occult 3 The New Age Movement 5 New Religious Movements and ‘Revived’ Religion 6 Nature Religion 8 MAGIC AND RELIGION 9 A Brief Outline of the Debate 9 Religion and the Decline o f Magic? 12 ESOTERICISM 16 Academic Understandings of
    [Show full text]
  • (Paper) -- Hunting Power Through Witch Hunts in Early Modern Scotland
    Portland State University PDXScholar Young Historians Conference Young Historians Conference 2021 May 19th, 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM Session 2: Panel 1: Presenter 3 (Paper) -- Hunting Power through Witch Hunts in Early Modern Scotland Devika D. Narendra Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/younghistorians Part of the History Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Narendra, Devika D., "Session 2: Panel 1: Presenter 3 (Paper) -- Hunting Power through Witch Hunts in Early Modern Scotland" (2021). Young Historians Conference. 16. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/younghistorians/2021/papers/16 This Event is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Young Historians Conference by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. Narendra 2 “Be ane great storme: it wes feared that the Queine wes in danger upone the seas,”1 read King James VI of Scotland in a letter from Lord Dingwal. 2 The festivities celebrating his recent marriage would have to wait, King James VI needed to ensure his new wife, Queen Anne, would arrive safely in Scotland. King James VI stayed at the Seton House, watching the sea every day for approximately seventeen days, but the Queen did not come. 3 The king would have to retrieve her himself. The sea threw the king’s boat back and forth and rendered him fully powerless against the waves. The King and Queen were lucky to have survived their journey, one of Queen Anne’s gentlewomen, Jean Kennedy, having drowned in the same storm.4 Upon returning to Scotland, King James VI immediately ordered all of the accused witches of the North Berwick witch hunt to be brought to him, believing that the witches caused the dangerous sailing conditions, intending to kill him.5 To protect himself, he tortured and executed witches, prosecuting them for both witchcraft and conspiring against the King.
    [Show full text]
  • Witches, Saints, and Heretics: Heinrich Kramer's Ties with Italian
    Witches, Saints, and Heretics: Heinrich Kramer’s Ties with Italian Women Mystics Tamar Herzig Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft, Volume 1, Number 1, Summer 2006, pp. 24-55 (Article) Published by University of Pennsylvania Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/mrw.0.0038 For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/236417 [ This content has been declared free to read by the pubisher during the COVID-19 pandemic. ] Witches, Saints, and Heretics Heinrich Kramer’s Ties with Italian Women Mystics TAMAR HERZIG Hebrew University of Jerusalem In the late Middle Ages, mystical sainthood was often defined as antithetical to diabolic witchcraft. Whereas the saintly female mystic was revered as an emblem of piety, her mirror-image, the witch, was believed to be the em- bodiment of evil, who deliberately inverted orthodox religion by engaging in diabolic rites. Historians exploring the relationship between the category of ‘‘saint’’ and that of ‘‘witch’’ have pointed to the very fine line that usually separated the two in the premodern era.1 Several studies have also lately un- Earlier versions were presented at the 2005 Sixteenth Century Studies Conference and at the Institute for Research in the Humanities, University of Wisconsin– Madison. I thank Jodi Bilinkoff, Lawrence Buck, Caroline Bynum, Miri Eliav- Feldon, Yaacov Herzig, Michael Heyd, Maiju Lehmijoki-Gardner, Erik Midelfort, Saskia Polackova, Diane Purkiss, Anne Schutte, Martha Skeeters, Moshe Sluhovsky, Gary Waite, and Charles Zika for their comments and suggestions. I am particularly grateful to E. Ann Matter and the Yad Hanadiv Foundation for enabling me to com- plete the research for this essay as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania.
    [Show full text]
  • The Wild Hunt and the Witches' Sabbath
    Hutton, R. E. (2014). The Wild Hunt and the Witches' Sabbath. Folklore, 125(2), 161-178. https://doi.org/10.1080/0015587X.2014.896968 Peer reviewed version Link to published version (if available): 10.1080/0015587X.2014.896968 Link to publication record in Explore Bristol Research PDF-document This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Folklore on 07/07/2015, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/0015587X.2014.896968 University of Bristol - Explore Bristol Research General rights This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/red/research-policy/pure/user-guides/ebr-terms/ 1 The Wild Hunt and the Witches’ Sabbath Ronald Hutton Abstract Recent writing on the medieval origins of the concept of the witches’ sabbath have emphasized the importance to them of beliefs in nocturnal processions or cavalcades of spirits, known in modern times by the umbrella term of the ‘Wild Hunt’. This article suggests that the modern notion of the ‘Hunt’ was created by Jacob Grimm, who conflated different medieval traditions with modern folklore. It further argues that a different approach to the study of medieval spirit processions, which confines itself to medieval and early modern sources and distinguishes between the types of procession described in them, results in different conclusions, with regard both to the character of the ‘Hunt’ and to its relationship with the sabbath. Introduction ‘In German and Celtic legend, the Wild Hunt consisted of a band of ghosts or spirits who would ride through the night.
    [Show full text]