More important than anything else I say, I want to apologize for leading you to think I was putting blame on anyone or any religion. I was just questioning the impression I had from Mr. Cohn's book, that it came from the Inquisition and, therefore from the Catholic Church. I don't fault any religion for this, I was merely saying that Mr. Cohn shouldn't either, but if he felt he had to, he picked the wrong target.
You're quite right that there were witch-hunts, executions, and Crusades even before the 14th century.
But Malleus Maleificarum was not indicative of the Church's position. In a fit of laziness, I took a look at Wiki and found:
In 1487, Kramer and Sprenger published the notorious Malleus Maleficarum (the 'Hammer against the Witches') which, because of the newly invented printing presses, enjoyed a wide readership. The book was soon banned by the Church in 1490, and Kramer and Sprenger censured, but it was nevertheless reprinted in 14 editions by 1520 and became unduly influential in the secular courts. In 1538 the Spanish Inquisition cautioned its members not to believe what the Malleus said, even when it presented apparently firm evidence.
This sounds like one of the times when book banning was a great idea. Too bad it didn't work.
And perhaps I'm making too much out of a distinction in definitions, but "Heresy" and "Witchchraft" were considered different things, and an inquisition based on nothing but a witchcraft charge were rarely even considered.
I can't thank you enough for your willingness to instruct and your patience.\
I will be amazed if you don't go into the Reality Remix archives, find tonight's show when it's finished, and listen to it with a careful ear. Perhaps my presentation (which I should be working on) will clear up some of the confusion I seem to be creating.
"In the course of the fifteenth century inquisitors and lay magistrates began to combine these various fantasies [about night-flying women] with the stereotype of a Devil-worshipping, orgiastic, infanticidal sect".
His argument is that the stereotype had been built up in the interrogation of heretics, but was in the fifteenth century being extended to people being accused of witchcraft.
He cites a number of cases, including the spectacular trials at Arras in 1459.
In other words, it was the Catholic investigators of the fifteenth century who created the image of a Devil-worshipping, orgiastic sect, and began charging people accused of witchcraft in terms of that image. Of course this is the image that drove the great witch-hunt at its height, and remains the popular image today.
Thanks a lot for that. It's an avenue I hadn't considered. Please forgive the discourtesy, but I'll have to put the Catholic v. Protestant controversy on hold for a little while, for two reasons.
One, my approach isn't denominational, but human. I've discovered that Saudi Arabia, neither Catholic nor Protestant, is still beheading for Sorcery. The belief in witches and in witch hunts has been a human universal. I happen to agree with adjensen that the role of the Inquisition in witchcraft trials was minor. But if the Inquisition was responsible for planting the seed, what fertile, non-Catholic ground it fell into.
But again, an exploration of history is not my main intent tonight. I want to look at the philosophy and the reasoning behind the subject and see what that teaches us.
My second reason for not following you down the intriguing path of historical exploration you point out (at least not right now), is that I've got to get ready for tonight. One of my many difficulties is a frantic concern prior to any event, and 4 1/2 hours more hours to get ready for tonight sounds pretty comfortable.
Please bring this up again after today. I truly am interested in your thoughts and in your ability to teach me new things.
Just for general history and in reference to Stephen's point on the end of the last page, there were different forms of Inquisition and the overall process of persecuting heretics, including witches, ran for over 600 years. I know popular history generally focuses on the Spanish Inquisition, and fair enough for its more recent happening and very large impact on culture at the time. That was just one period tho....
The Inquisition was one of the great blights in the history of Christianity. No other institution in the history of the Christian Church was so horrible, so unjust, so... un-Christian. When it was finally brought to a halt in 1834, thousands of lives had been lost, and tens of thousands of lives ruined through imprisonment and confiscation of property. Whole populations were driven from their homelands, and the Roman Church had earned a blight against its name that still resonates to this day.
That source has both a quick view timeline which generally matches what I know from my college stuff in the Spanish Inquisition, although they do carry it a bit further for what is on the timeline than most, and explanations in some depth to the chronology of it all.
They also have a timeline of the Papal Inquisition and while I'm not sure about the first couple entries for how I'd call it directly related or belonging there, 1022 is what they mark as the first burning of unrepentant heretics. I suppose it depends on level of Inquisition as well, since the killing was absolutely more common during some periods than others. Galileo came in at the end, lucky guy he turned out to be, and just got to do house arrest. I'm not sure he'd have fared so well in an earlier phase of it.
I also figured I'd add this, which comes from one of the better sites I've found for easily and simply describing Wicca and it's specifics. I've never been all that good at it myself, or very comfortable on this public topic, personally. Just one of those things.. Anyway...
What Witchcraft is:
Witchcraft is a spiritual system that fosters the free thought and will of the individual, encourages learning and an understanding of the earth and nature thereby affirming the divinity in all living things. Most importantly however, it teaches responsibility. We accept responsibility for our actions and deeds as clearly a result of the choices we make. We do not blame an exterior entity or being for our shortcomings, weaknesses or mistakes. If we mess up or do something that brings harm to another, we have no one but ourselves to blame and we must face the consequences resulting from those actions. No ifs, ands or buts and no whining...
We acknowledge the cycles of nature, the lunar phases and the seasons to celebrate our spirituality and to worship the divine. It is a belief system that allows the Witch to work with, not in supplication to deities with the intent of living in harmony and achieving balance with all things.
The page I linked to there gives some good bits about the history too, including how the Church nearly succeeded in wiping out history of the belief system during medieval times. They gave it the good Holy try anyway.
The level of ritual or adherence to them vary widely, but the core system of belief is as best summed up there as I've seen it anywhere. Of real value, or interest may be the section they have on what it is not. Same page as the link.