Burning at the stake. Burnt alive
Why were witches burned rather than executed in some other way? The answer to this question is given by history itself. In this article we will try to figure out who was considered a witch, and why burning was the most radical way to get rid of witchcraft.
Who is this witch?
Witches have been burned and persecuted since Roman times. The fight against witchcraft reached its apogee in the 15th-17th centuries.
What had to be done for a person to be accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake? It turns out that during the Middle Ages, in order to be accused of practicing witchcraft, it was enough just to be a beautiful girl. Any woman could be accused and on completely legal grounds.
Those who had a special mark on their body in the form of a wart, a huge mole, or just a bruise were considered witches. If a cat, owl or mouse lived with a woman, she was also considered a witch.
A sign of involvement in the witchcraft world was both the beauty of the girl and the presence of any bodily deformity.
The most important reason to end up in the dungeons of the Holy Inquisition could be a simple denunciation with accusations of blasphemy, bad words about the authorities, or behavior that arouses suspicion.
The representatives conducted interrogations so skillfully that people confessed to everything that was demanded of them.
Witch burning: geography of executions
When and where did the executions take place? In what century were witches burned? An avalanche of atrocities fell in the Middle Ages, and mainly countries in which the Catholic faith was involved were involved. For about 300 years, witches were actively destroyed and persecuted. Historians claim that about 50 thousand people were convicted of witchcraft.
Inquisitorial fires burned throughout Europe. Spain, Germany, France and England are countries where witches were burned en masse, in the thousands.
Even little girls under the age of 10 were classified as witches. Children died with curses on their lips: they cursed their own mothers, who allegedly taught them the skill of witchcraft.
The legal proceedings themselves were carried out very quickly. Those accused of witchcraft were interrogated quickly, but with the use of sophisticated torture. Sometimes people were condemned in whole parties and witches were burned at the stake en masse.
Torture prior to execution
The torture used on women accused of witchcraft was very cruel. History has recorded cases where suspects were forced to sit for days on a chair studded with sharp spikes. Sometimes the witch was put on large shoes - boiling water was poured into them.
The test of a witch by water is also known in history. The suspect was simply drowned; it was believed that it was impossible to drown a witch. If a woman turned out to be dead after being tortured with water, she was acquitted, but who would have benefited from this?
Why was burning preferred?
Execution by burning was considered a “Christian form of execution,” because it occurred without the shedding of blood. Witches were considered criminals worthy of death, but since they repented, the judges asked them to be “merciful” to them, that is, to kill them without bloodshed.
In the Middle Ages, witches were also burned because the Holy Inquisition was afraid of the resurrection of a convicted woman. And if the body is burned, then what is resurrection without the body?
The very first case of burning a witch was recorded in 1128. The event took place in Flanders. The woman, who was considered an ally of the devil, was accused of pouring water on one of the rich men, who soon fell ill and died.
At first, cases of executions were rare, but gradually became widespread.
Execution procedure
It should be noted that the acquittal of victims was also inherent. There are statistics indicating that the number of acquittals of the accused corresponded to half of the trials. A tortured woman could even receive compensation for her suffering.
The convicted woman was awaiting execution. It should be noted that execution has always been a public spectacle, the purpose of which is to frighten and intimidate the public. The townspeople hurried to the execution in festive clothes. This event attracted even those who lived far away.
The presence of priests and government officials was mandatory during the procedure.
When everyone was assembled, a cart appeared with the executioner and future victims. The public had no sympathy for the witch; they laughed and made fun of her.
The unfortunates were chained to a pole and covered with dry branches. After the preparatory procedures, a sermon was mandatory, where the priest warned the public against connections with the devil and practicing witchcraft. The role of the executioner was to light the fire. The servants watched the fire until there was no trace left of the victim.
Sometimes bishops even competed among themselves to see which of them could produce more of those accused of witchcraft. This type of execution, due to the torment experienced by the victim, is equated to crucifixion. The last burned witch was recorded in history in 1860. The execution took place in Mexico.
Why were witches burned at the stake and not executed in another way?
They burned witches for a very simple reason: During interrogations, the witches repented (this was the specificity of interrogations - EVERYONE repented and agreed with the accusations, otherwise they simply did not live to see the trial), although they were tried by a secular court, but the representative of the church asked the court to take into account sincere repentance and, in modern terms, - “assist the investigation” and order a “Christian execution” without shedding blood - i.e. burning (another reason for burning can be considered the fear of the resurrection of a witch).Such bonfires began to burn from the beginning of the 15th century, especially many in Germany; in any seedy town, on average, once a week there was a witch trial, and so on for many years - in Germany for 200 years, France - 150, Spain - almost 400 years ( although in later times less and less often). Usually the reason for suspicion was the envy of neighbors, subjects or relatives. Often rumors alone were enough; however, sometimes the courts received corresponding statements (almost always anonymous). In both cases, judges were required by current law to check whether these suspicions were sufficient to bring charges.
It could be brought on the basis of the “Criminal Judicial Code of Emperor Charles V” (the so-called “Carolina”), issued in 1532. It clearly described what suspicions were sufficient for an accusation of witchcraft or witchcraft. And they burned the witches alive, as required by Article 109 of the “Carolina”: “Anyone who has caused harm and loss to people through his witchcraft must be punished by death, and this punishment must be inflicted by fire.”
The burning of witches was a public spectacle, the main purpose of which was to warn and frighten the assembled spectators. People flocked from afar to the place of execution. Representatives of local authorities gathered, festively dressed: the bishop, canons and priests, the burgomaster and members of the town hall, judges and assessors. Finally, accompanied by the executioner, bound witches and sorcerers were brought in on carts. The trip to the execution was a difficult ordeal, because onlookers did not miss the opportunity to laugh and mock the convicted witches as they made their final journey. When the unfortunate ones finally reached the place of execution, the servants chained them to posts and covered them with dry brushwood, logs and straw. After this, a solemn ritual began, during which the preacher once again warned the people against the deceit of the devil and his minions. Then the executioner brought a torch to the fire. After the officials went home, the servants continued to keep the fire going until only ashes remained from the “witch’s fire.” The executioner carefully scooped it up and then scattered it under the scaffold or in some other place, so that in the future nothing would remind anyone of the blasphemous deeds of the executed accomplices of the devil..
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The mood now is Not bad
It was actively used in many countries. For example, the Persian king Darius II burned his mother alive. There are other evidence from the pre-Christian era about this type of execution. But its real heyday came in the Middle Ages. This is due to the fact that the Inquisition chose burning as the priority form of execution for heretics. The death penalty was imposed on people for particularly severe cases of heresy. Moreover, if the convict repented, he was first strangled, after which the dead body was burned. If the heretic persisted, he was supposed to be burned alive.
The English Queen Mary Tudor, who received the nickname Bloody, and the High Inquisitor of Spain, Torquemada, showed particular zeal in the “fiery” fight against heretics. According to the historian H.-A. Llorente, over the 18 years of Torquemada’s activity, 8,800 people climbed the fire. The first auto-da-fé on charges of witchcraft in Spain took place in 1507, the last in 1826. In 1481, 2 thousand people were burned alive in Seville alone.
The bonfires of the Inquisition burned throughout Europe in such numbers that it was as if the holy tribunals had decided to continuously sound fire signals for certain aircraft for several centuries. German historian I. Scherr writes:
“Executions carried out simultaneously on entire masses began in Germany around 1580 and continued for almost a century. While all of Lorraine was smoking from the fires... in Paderborn, in Breidenburg, in Leipzig and its environs, many executions were also carried out. In in the county of Werdenfeld in Bavaria in 1582, one trial brought 48 witches to the stake... In Braunschweig, between 1590-1600, so many witches were burned (10-12 people daily) that their pillories stood in a “dense forest” in front of the gates. in the county of Henneberg, in 1612 alone, 22 witches were burned, in 1597-1876 - 197... In Lindheim, which had 540 inhabitants, 30 people were burned from 1661 to 1664.
The Fulda judge Balthasar Voss boasted that he alone had burned 700 sorcerers of both sexes and hoped to bring the number of his victims to a thousand. In the county of Neisse (belonging to the bishopric of Breslau), about a thousand witches were burned from 1640 to 1651; we have descriptions of more than 242 executions; Among the victims there are children from 1 to 6 years old. At the same time, several hundred witches were killed in the Bishopric of Olmütz. In Osnabrück in 1640, 80 witches were burned. A certain Mr. Rantsov burned 18 witches in Holstein on one day in 1686.
According to surviving documents, in the Bishopric of Bamberg, with a population of 100 thousand people, 285 people were burned in the years 1627-1630, and in the Bishopric of Würzburg, more than 200 were burned in three years (1727-1729); among them there are people of all ages, ranks and genders... The last burning on a huge scale was carried out by the Archbishop of Salzburg in 1678; At the same time, 97 people fell victim to holy rage. To all these executions known to us from documents, we must add at least the same number of executions, the acts of which are lost to history. Then it will turn out that every city, every town, every prelacy, every noble estate in Germany lit bonfires on which thousands of people accused of witchcraft died."
In England, the Inquisition exterminated “only” about a thousand people (such a “small” number is due to the fact that torture was not used against suspects there during the investigation). I have already mentioned that under Henry VIII it was primarily the Lutherans who were burned; Catholics were “lucky” - they were hanged. However, sometimes, for a change, a Lutheran and a Catholic were tied with their backs to each other and in this form were taken to the stake.
In France, the first known burning took place in Toulouse in 1285, when a woman was accused of cohabiting with the devil and allegedly gave birth to a cross between a wolf, a snake and a human. In the years 1320-1350, 200 women went to the bonfires in Carcassonne, and more than 400 in Toulouse. In the same Toulouse, on February 9, 1619, the famous Italian pantheist philosopher Giulio Vanini was burned.
The execution procedure was regulated in the sentence as follows: “The executioner will have to drag him in just his shirt on a mat, with a slingshot around his neck and a board on his shoulders, on which the following words should be written: “Atheist and blasphemer.” The executioner must take him to the main gate city cathedral of Saint-Etienne and there put on his knees, barefoot, with his head bare. In his hands he must hold a lit wax candle and will have to beg for the forgiveness of God, the king and the court. Then the executioner will take him to the Place de Salens, tie him to a pillar erected there ", will tear out his tongue and strangle him. After this, his body will be burned on a fire prepared for this and the ashes will be scattered to the wind."
The historian of the Inquisition testifies to the madness that gripped the Christian world in the 15th-17th centuries: “Witches were no longer burned singly or in pairs, but in dozens and hundreds. They say that one Bishop of Geneva burned 500 witches in three months; the Bishop of Bamberg - 600, the Bishop of Würzburg - 900; 800 were condemned, in all likelihood, at one time by the Senate of Savoy...
In 1586, summer was late in the Rhineland provinces and the cold lasted until June; this could only be the work of witchcraft, and the bishop of Trier burned 118 women and 2 men, from whom the consciousness was removed that this continuation [of the cold] was the work of their spells."
Special mention should be made of Philipp-Adolph Ehrenberg, who was Bishop of Würzburg in 1623-1631. In Würzburg alone, he organized 42 bonfires, on which 209 people were burned, including 25 children aged from four to fourteen years. Among those executed were the most beautiful girl, the plumpest woman and the fattest man - deviation from the norm seemed to the bishop to be direct evidence of connections with the devil.
Distant, mysterious Russia also tried to keep up with Europe. In 1227, as the chronicle says, in Novgorod “four magicians were burned.” When the plague epidemic began in Pskov in 1411, 12 women were immediately burned on charges of causing the disease. The next year, mass burning of people occurred in Novgorod.
For the famous tyrant of medieval Rus', Ivan the Terrible, burning was one of his favorite types of execution. Under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (17th century) “they burn alive for blasphemy, for sorcery, for witchcraft.” Under him, “the old woman Olena was burned in a log house, like a heretic, with sorcerer’s papers and roots... In Totma in 1674, the woman Theodosya was burned in a log house and in front of numerous witnesses, according to a slander of corruption.” The most famous thing in Russia is the burning of Archpriest Avvakum, an ascetic of schismatics.
Execution at the stake in Russia was more painful than in Europe, since it was rather not burning, but smoking alive over low heat. “In 1701, this method of burning was applied to a certain Grishka Talitsky and his accomplice Savin for distributing outrageous “notebooks” (leaflets) about Peter I. Both convicts were fumigated for eight hours with a caustic compound, from which all the hair on their heads came out and beard and the whole body slowly smoldered like wax. In the end, their disfigured bodies were burned along with the scaffold." There were cases of burning alive during the reign of Anna Ioannovna.
As we see, almost all of Europe competed in the number of people burned at the stake. The pan-European scale of this type of execution is easiest to imagine if we remember that a certain Trois-Echelles told the Inquisition in 1576 that he could tell it the names of 300 thousand (!) sorcerers and witches.
And finally, another amazing fact: the last witch in human history was burned in Camargo (Mexico) in 1860!
Among the European celebrities who died at the stake are Joan of Arc, Giordano Bruno, Savanarola, Jan Hus, Ierenim of Prague, Miguel Servet. It is worth noting that even in the face of such a terrible execution, none of them renounced their beliefs.
In the 20th century, burning as a form of execution was used in Russia during the civil war. A. Denikin writes about the massacres of the Bolsheviks in Crimea in January 1918: “The most terrible death of all was Rotm [istr] Novatsky, whom the sailors considered the soul of the uprising in Yevpatoria. He, already severely wounded, was brought to his senses, bandaged and then thrown into the firebox transport of the ship. Opponents of the Bolsheviks sometimes used the same methods. Thus, in 1920, the leaders of the military revolutionary organizations of the Far East S. Lazo, A. Lutsky and V. Sibirtsev were burned in a locomotive firebox.
(From the site dead-pagan.fatal.ru)
It was actively used in many countries. For example, the Persian king Darius II burned his mother alive. There is other evidence from the pre-Christian era about this type of execution. But its real heyday came in the Middle Ages. This is due to the fact that the Inquisition chose burning as the priority form of execution for heretics. The death penalty was imposed on people for particularly severe cases of heresy. Moreover, if the convict repented, he was first strangled, after which the dead body was burned. If the heretic persisted, he was supposed to be burned alive. The English Queen Mary Tudor, who received the nickname Bloody, and the High Inquisitor of Spain, Torquemada, showed particular zeal in the fight against heretics by burning them. According to the historian J. A. Llorente, over the 18 years of Torquemada’s activity, 8,800 people ascended the fire. In 1481, 2 thousand people were burned alive in Seville alone.
The first auto-da-fé in Spain took place in 1507... the last - in 1826. The fires of the Inquisition burned throughout Europe in such numbers, as if the holy tribunals had decided to continuously provide signal lights for certain aircraft for several centuries. The German historian I. Scherr writes: “Executions carried out on entire masses at once began in Germany around 1580 and continued for almost a century. While the whole of Lorraine was smoking from the fires... in Paderborn, in Brandenburg, in Leipzig and its environs, many executions were also carried out. In the county of Werdenfeld in Bavaria in 1582, one trial brought 48 witches to the stake... In Brunswick between 1590–1600. They burned so many witches (10–12 people every day) that their pillory stood in a “dense forest” in front of the gates. In the small county of Henneberg, 22 witches were burned in 1612 alone; in 1597–1876. - only 197... In Lindheim, which had 540 inhabitants, from 1661 to 1664. 30 people were burned. The Fulda judge of sorcerers Balthasar Voss boasted that he alone burned 700 people of both sexes and hoped to bring the number of his victims to 1000. In the county of Neisse (belonging to the Bishopric of Breslau) from 1640 to 1651. about 1000 witches were burned; we have descriptions of more than 242 executions; Among the victims there are children from 1 to 6 years old. At the same time, several hundred witches were killed in the Bishopric of Olmütz. In Osnabrück, 80 witches were burned in 1640. A certain Mr. Rantsov burned 18 witches in Holstein on one day in 1686. According to surviving documents, in the Bishopric of Bamberg, with a population of 100,000 people, it was burned in 1627–1630. 285 people, and in the bishopric of Würzburg for three years (1727–1729) - more than 200; among them there are people of all ages, ranks and genders... The last burning on a huge scale was carried out by the Archbishop of Salzburg in 1678; At the same time, 97 people fell victim to holy rage. To all these executions known to us from documents, we must add at least the same number of executions, the acts of which are lost to history. Then it will turn out that every city, every town, every prelacy, every noble estate in Germany lit bonfires on which thousands of people accused of witchcraft died. We are not exaggerating if we put the number of victims at 100,000.”
In England, the Inquisition killed “only” about a thousand people (such a small number is due to the fact that torture was not used against suspects during the investigation). I have already mentioned that under Henry VIII it was primarily the Lutherans who were burned; Catholics were “lucky” - they were hanged. However, sometimes, for a change, a Lutheran and a Catholic were tied to each other with their backs and in this form they were taken to the stake. In Italy, after the publication of the witch bull of Pope Adrian VI (1522–1523), addressed to the inquisitor of the Como region, more than 100 witches began to be burned annually in that area. In France, the first known burning took place in Toulouse in 1285, when a woman was accused of cohabiting with the devil, which is why she allegedly gave birth to a cross between a wolf, a snake and a man. In 1320–1350 200 women went to the bonfires in Carcassonne, and more than 400 in Toulouse. In Toulouse, on February 9, 1619, the famous Italian pantheist philosopher Giulio Vanini was burned. The execution procedure was regulated in the sentence as follows: “The executioner will have to drag him in just his shirt on a mat, with a slingshot around his neck and a board on his shoulders, on which the following words should be written: “Atheist and blasphemer.” The executioner must take him to the main gates of the city cathedral of Saint-Etienne and there put him on his knees, barefoot, with his head bare. He must hold a lit wax candle in his hands and will have to beg for the forgiveness of God, the king and the court. Then the executioner will take him to the Place des Salins, tie him to a pillar erected there, tear out his tongue and strangle him. After this, his body will be burned on a fire prepared for this purpose and the ashes will be scattered to the wind.”
The historian of the Inquisition testifies to the madness that gripped the Christian world in the 15th–17th centuries: “Witches were no longer burned singly or in pairs, but in dozens and hundreds. They say that one Genevan bishop burned five hundred witches in three months; Bishop of Bamberg - six hundred, Bishop of Würzburg - nine hundred; eight hundred were condemned, in all likelihood, at one time by the Senate of Savoy... In 1586, summer was late in the Rhineland provinces and the cold lasted until June; this could only be the work of witchcraft, and the Bishop of Trier burned one hundred and eighteen women and two men, from whom the consciousness was removed that this continuation of the cold was the work of their spells.” Special mention should be made of the Würzburg bishop Philipp-Adolph Ehrenberg (1623–1631). In Würzburg alone, he organized 42 bonfires, on which 209 people were burned, including 25 children aged 4 to 14 years.
Among those executed were the most beautiful girl, the plumpest woman and the fattest man - deviation from the norm seemed to the bishop to be direct evidence of connections with the devil.
Distant, mysterious Russia also tried to keep up with Europe. In 1227, as the chronicle says, in Novgorod “four magicians were burned.” When the plague epidemic began in Pskov in 1411, 12 women were immediately burned on charges of causing the disease. The next year, mass burning of people occurred in Novgorod. For the famous tyrant of medieval Rus', Ivan the Terrible, burning was one of his favorite types of execution. In the second half of the 18th century, burning was especially often used for religious reasons - as a measure of punishment for schismatics for their adherence to the “old faith.” Under Tsar Alexei (17th century) “they burn alive for blasphemy, for sorcery, for witchcraft.” Under him, “the old woman Olena was burned in a log house, like a heretic, with sorcerer’s papers and roots... In Totma in 1674, the woman Theodosya was burned in a log house and in front of numerous witnesses, according to a slander of corruption.” The most famous burning in Russia is the burning of Archpriest Avvakum, an ascetic of schismatics.
As we see, almost all of Europe competed in the number of people burned at the stake. The pan-European scale of this type of execution is easiest to imagine if we remember that a certain Trois-Echelles told the Inquisition in 1576 that he could tell it the names of 300 thousand (!) sorcerers and witches. And finally, another amazing fact: the last witch in human history was burned in Camargo (Mexico) in 1860! Among the European celebrities burned at the stake are Joan of Arc, Giordano Bruno, Savanarola, Jan Hus, Hieronymus of Prague, Miguel Servet. It is worth noting that even in the face of such a terrible execution, none of them renounced their views. In the 20th century, burning as a form of execution was used in Russia during the civil war. A. Denikin, speaking about the massacres of the Bolsheviks in Crimea in January 1918, writes: “The most terrible death of all was. Captain Novatsky, whom the sailors considered the soul of the uprising in Yevpatoria. He, already severely wounded, was brought to his senses, bandaged and thrown into the firebox of the transport (ship - A.D.).” In fairness, it must be said that opponents of the Bolsheviks sometimes used their methods. Thus, in 1920, the leaders of the military revolutionary organizations of the Far East S. Lazo, A. Lutsky and V. Sibirtsev were burned in a locomotive furnace.
The call to “Burn the Witch” used to be often heard in relation to young and beautiful women. Why did people prefer this method of execution for sorcerers? Let's consider how cruel and strong the persecution of witches was in different eras and in different countries of the world.
In the article:
Medieval witch hunt
Inquisitors or witch hunters preferred to burn the witch because they were sure that people who practiced magic had concluded. Witches were sometimes hanged, beheaded, or drowned, but acquittals in witch trials were not uncommon.
The persecution of witches and sorcerers reached particular proportions in Western Europe in the 15th-17th centuries. The hunt for witches took place in Catholic countries. People with unusual abilities were persecuted before the 15th century, for example, during the Roman Empire and in the era of Ancient Mesopotamia.
Despite the abolition of the law on executions for witchcraft, in the history of Europe there were periodic incidents with the execution of witches and fortune-tellers (until the 19th century). The period of active persecution “for witchcraft” dates back about 300 years. According to historians, the total number of executed people is 40–50 thousand people, and the number of trials of those accused of conspiring with the Devil and witchcraft is about 100 thousand.
Witch burning at the stake in Western Europe
In 1494, the Pope issued a bull (a medieval document) aimed at combating witches. Convinced him to make a decree Heinrich Kramer, better known as Heinrich Institoris- an inquisitor who claimed to have sent several hundred witches to the stake. Henry became the author of "The Witches' Hammer" - a book that told and fought with the witch. The Witches' Hammer was not used by the Inquisitors and was banned by the Catholic Church in 1490.
The Pope's bull became the main reason for the centuries-long hunt for people with magical gifts in Christian countries of Europe. According to statistics from historians, the most people were executed for witchcraft and heresy in Germany, France, Scotland and Switzerland. The least hysteria associated with the danger of witches to society affected England, Italy and, despite the abundance of legends about Spanish inquisitors and instruments of torture, Spain.
Trials of magicians and other “accomplices of the Devil” became a widespread phenomenon in countries affected by the Reformation. In some Protestant countries, new laws appeared - more severe than Catholic ones. For example, a ban on reviewing cases of witchcraft. Thus, in Quedlinburg in the 16th century, 133 witches were burned in one day. In Silesia (now the territories of Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic), a special oven for burning witches was erected in the 17th century. Over the course of a year, the device was used to execute 41 people, including children under five years of age.
Catholics were not too far behind Protestants. Letters from a priest from a German town addressed to Count von Salm have been preserved. The sheets date back to the 17th century. Description of the situation in his hometown at the height of the witch hunt:
It seems that half the city is involved: professors, students, pastors, canons, vicars and monks have already been arrested and burned... The chancellor and his wife and the wife of his personal secretary have been captured and executed. On the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, a pupil of the prince-bishop, a nineteen-year-old girl known for piety and piety, was executed... Three-four-year-old children were declared lovers of the Devil. Students and boys of noble birth aged 9–14 were burned. In conclusion, I will say that things are in such a terrible state that no one knows who to talk to and cooperate with.
The Thirty Years' War became a good example of the mass persecution of witches and accomplices of evil spirits. The warring parties accused each other of using witchcraft and powers given by the Devil. This is the largest war on religious grounds in Europe, and, judging by statistics, up to our time.
Witch Searches and Burnings - Background
Witch hunts continue to be studied by modern historians. It is known why the Pope's witch bull and the ideas of Henry Institoris were approved by the people. There were prerequisites for the hunt for sorcerers and the burning of witches.
At the end of the 16th century, the number of trials and people sentenced to death by burning at the stake increased sharply. Scientists note other events: economic crisis, famine, social tension. Life was difficult - plague epidemics, wars, long-term climate deterioration and crop failure. There was a price revolution that temporarily lowered the standard of living of most people.
The true causes of the events: an increase in the population in populated areas, climate deterioration, epidemics. The latter is easy to explain from a scientific point of view, but medieval medicine could neither cope with the disease nor find the cause of the disease. The medicine was invented only in the 20th century, and the only measure protecting against the plague was quarantine.
If today a person has sufficient knowledge to understand the causes of an epidemic, a bad harvest, climate change, a medieval resident did not have the knowledge. The panic that the events of those years generated prompted people to look for other causes of daily misfortune, hunger, and disease. It is impossible to explain the problems scientifically with that amount of knowledge, so mystical ideas were used, such as witches and sorcerers who spoil the harvest and send plague to please the Devil.
There are theories that try to explain the cases of witch burnings. For example, some believe that witches actually existed, as depicted in modern horror films. Some people prefer the version that says that most trials are a way to enrich themselves, because the property of those executed was given to the person who passed the sentence.
The last version can be proven. Trials of sorcerers have become a mass phenomenon where the government is weak, in provinces remote from the capitals. The verdict in some regions could depend on the mood of the local ruler, and personal gain cannot be ruled out. In states with a developed management system, fewer “accomplices of Satan” suffered, for example, in France.
Loyalty to witches in Eastern Europe and Russia
In eastern Europe, the persecution of witches did not take root. Residents of Orthodox countries practically did not experience the horror that people living in Western European countries experienced.
The number of witch trials in what is now Russia was about 250 for all 300 years of hunting on accomplices of evil spirits. The figure is impossible to compare with 100 thousand court cases in Western Europe.
There are many reasons. The Orthodox clergy were less concerned about the sinfulness of the flesh when compared with Catholics and Protestants. A woman as a being with a bodily shell frightened Orthodox Christians less. Most of those executed for witchcraft are female.
Orthodox sermons in Russia in the 15th–18th centuries carefully touched on topics; the clergy sought to avoid lynching, which was often practiced in the provinces of Europe. Another reason is the absence of crises and epidemics to the extent that residents of Germany, France, England and other Western European countries had to experience. The population did not search for the mystical causes of hunger and crop failure.
Burning of witches was practically not practiced in Russia, and was even prohibited by law.
The code of law of 1589 read: “And whores and women of dishonor will receive money against their trades,” that is, a fine was imposed for their insult.
There was lynching when peasants set fire to the hut of a local “witch”, who died due to the fire. A witch on a bonfire built in the central square of the city, where the population of the city had gathered - such spectacles were not observed in an Orthodox country. Executions by burning alive were extremely rare; wooden frames were used: the public did not see the suffering of those convicted of witchcraft.
In Eastern Europe, those accused of witchcraft were tested with water. The suspect was drowned in a river or other local body of water. If the body floated up, the woman was accused of witchcraft: baptism is accepted with holy water, and if the water “does not accept” the person being drowned, it means that this is a sorcerer who has renounced the Christian faith. If the suspect drowned, she was declared innocent.
America was virtually untouched by witch hunts. However, several trials of sorcerers and witches have been recorded in the States. The events in Salem in the 17th century are well known throughout the world, as a result of which 19 people were hanged, one resident was crushed by stone slabs, and about 200 people were sentenced to prison. Events in Salem They have repeatedly tried to justify it from a scientific point of view: various versions have been put forward, each of which may turn out to be true - hysteria, poisoning or encephalitis in “possessed” children, and much more.
How they were punished for witchcraft in the ancient world
In Ancient Mesopotamia, laws on punishment for witchcraft were regulated by the Code of Hammurabi, named after the reigning king. The code dates from 1755 BC. This is the first source to mention the water test. True, in Mesopotamia they tested for witchcraft using a slightly different method.
If the accusation of witchcraft could not be proven, the accused was forced to plunge into the river. If the river took him away, they believed that the person was a sorcerer. The property of the deceased went to the accuser. If a person remained alive after immersion in water, he was declared innocent. The accuser was sentenced to death, and the accused received his property.
In the Roman Empire, punishments for witchcraft were treated like other crimes. The degree of harm was assessed, and if the victim was not compensated by the person accused of witchcraft, the witch was subject to similar harm.
Regulations for burning alive witches and heretics
Torture of the Inquisition.
Before sentencing an accomplice of the Devil to be burned alive, it was necessary to interrogate the accused so that the sorcerer would betray his accomplices. In the Middle Ages they believed in witches' sabbaths and believed that it was rarely possible to solve a problem with just one witch in a city or village.
Interrogations always involved torture. Now in every city with a rich history you can find museums of torture, exhibitions in castles and even the dungeons of monasteries. If the accused did not die during interrogation, the documents were handed over to the court.
The torture continued until the executioner managed to obtain a confession of committing the crime and until the suspect indicated the names of his accomplices. Recently, historians have studied the documents of the Inquisition. In fact, torture during interrogations of witches was strictly regulated.
For example, only one type of torture could be applied to one suspect in one court case. There were many techniques for obtaining testimony that were not considered torture. For example, psychological pressure. The executioner could begin his work by demonstrating torture devices and talking about their features. Judging by the documents of the Inquisition, this was often enough for a confession of witchcraft.
Deprivation of water or food was not considered torture. For example, those accused of witchcraft could be fed only salty food and not given water. Cold, water torture and some other methods were used to obtain confessions from the inquisitors. Sometimes prisoners were shown how other people were being tortured.
The time that can be spent interrogating one suspect in one case was regulated. Some torture instruments were not officially used. For example, Iron Maiden. There is no reliable information that the attribute was used for execution or torture.
Acquittals are not uncommon - their number was about half. If acquitted, the church could pay reparations to the person who was tortured.
If the executioner received a confession of witchcraft, and the court found the person guilty, most often the witch faced a death sentence. Despite a considerable number of acquittals, about half of the cases resulted in executions. Sometimes milder punishments were used, for example, expulsion, but closer to the 18th–19th centuries. As a special favor, the heretic could be strangled and his body burned at the stake in the square.
There were two methods of making a fire for burning alive, which were used during the witch hunts. The first method was especially loved by Spanish inquisitors and executioners, since the suffering of the person condemned to death was clearly visible through the flames and smoke. This was believed to put moral pressure on witches who had not yet been caught. They built a fire, tied the convict to a post, covered him with brushwood and firewood up to his waist or knees.
In a similar way, collective executions of groups of witches or heretics were carried out. A strong wind could blow out the fire, and the topic is still debated to this day. There were both pardons: “God sent the wind to save an innocent man,” and continuation of executions: “The wind is the machinations of Satan.”
The second method of burning witches at the stake is more humane. Those accused of witchcraft were dressed in a shirt soaked in sulfur. The woman was completely covered with firewood - the accused was not visible. A person burned at the stake managed to suffocate from the smoke before the fire began to burn the body. Sometimes a woman could burn alive - it depended on the wind, the amount of firewood, the degree of dampness and much more.
Burning at the stake gained popularity due to its entertainment value.. The execution in the city square attracted many spectators. After the residents went home, the servants continued to maintain the fire until the heretic's body turned to ash. The latter usually scattered outside the city so that nothing would remind of the machinations of the person executed at the witch’s fire. Only in the 18th century did the method of executing criminals begin to be considered inhumane.
The Last Witch Burning
Anna Geldi.
The first country to officially abolish prosecution for witchcraft was Great Britain. The corresponding law was issued in 1735. The maximum penalty for a sorcerer or heretic was one year in prison.
The rulers of other countries around this time established personal control over matters that concerned the persecution of witches. The measure severely limited prosecutors, and the number of trials decreased.
It is not known exactly when the last burning of a witch took place, since methods of execution gradually became more and more humane in all countries. It is known that the last person officially executed for witchcraft was a resident of Germany. The maid Anna Maria Schwegel was beheaded in 1775.
Anna Geldi from Switzerland is considered the last witch of Europe. The woman was executed in 1792, when the persecution of witches was banned. Officially, Anna Geldi was accused of poisoning. She was beheaded for mixing needles in her master's food - Anna Geldi is a servant. As a result of torture, the woman admitted to conspiring with the Devil. There were no official references to witchcraft in the case of Anna Geldi, but the accusation caused outrage and was perceived as a continuation of the witch hunt.
A fortune teller was hanged for poisoning in 1809. Her clients claimed that the woman had bewitched them. In 1836, a lynching was recorded in Poland, as a result of which a fisherman’s widow drowned after being tested by water. The most recent punishment for witchcraft was imposed in Spain in 1820 - 200 lashes and banishment for 6 years.
Inquisitors - arsonists or saviors of people
Thomas Torquemada.
The Holy Inquisition- the general name of a number of organizations of the Catholic Church. The main goal of the inquisitors is the fight against heresy. The Inquisition dealt with crimes related to religion that required a ecclesiastical court (only in the 16th–17th centuries did they begin to refer cases to a secular court), including witchcraft.
The organization was officially created by the Pope in the 13th century, and the concept of heresy appeared around the 2nd century. In the 15th century, the Inquisition began to detect witches and investigate cases related to witchcraft.
One of the most famous among those who burned witches was Thomas Torquemada from Spain. The man was distinguished by cruelty and supported the persecution of Jews in Spain. Torquemada sentenced more than two thousand people to death, and about half of those burned were straw effigies, which were used to replace people who died during interrogation or who disappeared from the sight of the inquisitor. Thomas believed he was purifying humanity, but towards the end of his life he began to suffer from insomnia and paranoia.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Inquisition was renamed the “Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.” The work of the organization has been reorganized in accordance with the laws that apply in each specific country. The congregation exists only in Catholic countries. Since the founding of the church body to this day, only Dominican friars have been elected to significant positions.
The inquisitors protected potentially innocent people from lynching - about half of the acquittals were made, and a crowd of fellow villagers with pitchforks would not listen to the agreed upon “accomplice of Satan” and would not demand to show evidence, as the witch hunters did.
Not all sentences were death sentences - the result depended on the severity of the crime. The punishment could be the obligation to go to a monastery to atone for sins, forced labor for the benefit of the church, reading a prayer several hundred times in a row, etc. Non-Christians were forced to accept baptism; if they refused, they would face more severe punishments.
The reason for denunciation to the Inquisition was often simple envy, and witch hunters tried to avoid the death of an innocent person at the stake. True, this did not mean that they would not find reasons to impose a “mild” punishment and would not use torture.
Why were witches burned at the stake?
Why were sorcerers burned at the stake and not executed in other ways? Those accused of witchcraft were executed by hanging or beheading, but such methods were used towards the end of the Witch War period. There are several reasons why burning was chosen as a method of execution.
The first reason is entertainment. Residents of medieval European cities gathered in squares to watch the execution. At the same time, the measure also served as a way of putting moral pressure on other sorcerers, intimidating citizens and strengthening the authority of the church and the Inquisition.
Burning at the stake was considered a bloodless method of killing, that is, “Christian”. This can be said about hanging, but the gallows did not look as spectacular as a witch at the stake in the city center. People believed that the fire would cleanse the soul of a woman who had entered into an agreement with the Evil One, and the spirit would be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Witches were credited with special abilities and were sometimes identified with vampires (in Serbia). In the past, it was believed that a witch killed in another way could rise from the grave and continue to harm with black witchcraft, drink the blood of the living and steal children.
Most of the accusations of witchcraft were not very different from the behavior of people even now - denunciation as a method of reprisal is still practiced today in some countries. The scale of the atrocities of the Inquisition is exaggerated to attract attention to new releases in the world of books, video games and films.