Magic and witchcraft are inextricably linked with human civilization. Back in the days when people lived in caves, they already had magical rituals and belief in otherworldly beings.
Later, when some peoples united into states, magic and witchcraft became the state religion and many magical rituals were an integral part of the life of ancient society. Such advanced civilizations as Egyptian, Greek and Roman were built with the participation of magicians and witchcraft. But in the Middle Ages, the church declared its monopoly on the religious faith and mercilessly fought against any manifestation of magic and paganism. Let's find out some facts that will show us magic and witchcraft from a rather unusual side.
Many believe that the fight against magic and, accordingly, faith in it among the priests was throughout the Middle Ages. But in reality, everything was a little different. During the early Middle Ages, magic was considered a manifestation of pagan superstition and did not carry any impact. The priests believed that magic was the empty superstition of the pagan era and tried to explain this to the masses.
The essence of the ideas promoted by the church was reduced to one rule. Magic as such does not exist, and all events that take place are controlled either by divine guidance or by the wiles of the devil. It is the devil who leads people who do not really believe in God into the delusion that they may have supernatural abilities or knowledge.
Curiously, in some countries of medieval Europe it was generally not allowed to execute those accused of witchcraft. After all, such an execution in itself is a pagan crime, and as we already know, witchcraft did not exist in the opinion of the priests.
Much later, in the 15th century, Pope Innocent VIII recognized that witches and sorcerers exist, but at the same time there was a proviso that all practicing witchcraft do not do it themselves, but only after making a deal with the devil. And it is the devil who does the things that magicians and sorcerers supposedly can do. It was at this time that massive persecution of witches and sorcerers began.
Around this period, the priests themselves put into circulation such concepts as the sabbath, etc. Any manifestation of extraordinary abilities, the ability to heal with herbs or a congenital physical defect, could become a reason for accusation of witchcraft. Since the church created an essentially repressive machine, it was often used for political or materialistic interests. Upon a hastily concocted denunciation, a person or a whole family was accused of witchcraft and property was taken away. And the people themselves were either executed, or thrown into prison for a long time.
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The priests themselves practiced magic and witchcraft
When it comes to such a concept as a witch hunt, it immediately seems to us that this is a terrible trial, where a priest in power conducts interrogations and pronounces a sentence on an unfortunate woman who had the imprudence to conduct some kind of pagan rite.
But in fact, the priests themselves often practiced magic and witchcraft. In almost every monastery, forbidden books were kept, which told how to summon spirits or sell souls to the devil. And naturally, many priests thirsty for profit and power did not deny themselves attempts to attract otherworldly beings to their side.
Sometimes magic and the Christian religion went side by side. For example, in England, priests from rural parishes often went out into the fields and, while reading prayers, sprinkled honey, milk and holy water on the ground. It was a kind of ritual in order to ensure a good harvest. It was essentially a mixture of ancient pagan rituals and Christianity.
There was a similar practice in Russia. Almost until the beginning of the twentieth century, rural priests walked in procession through the fields, thereby mixing pre-Christian paganism with Christianity.
Medieval Science and Magic
It's amazing, but even today, in the age of the Internet and space travel, many fanatically believe in astrology. The day of such people begins not with coffee, but with reading the horoscope. According to the horoscope, such people make their plans and pay huge money to magicians for amulets with stones, which supposedly will help them find love or climb the career ladder.
In the Middle Ages, science was inextricably linked with magic. Many scientists of that time, in addition to studying quite applied sciences, practiced astrology, were looking for a philosopher's stone - which was supposed to turn lead into gold or an elixir of eternal youth - which could give a person immortality. Interestingly, many discoveries and understanding of the properties of various chemical elements are due precisely to the search for the possibility of converting common metals into gold. Also, many medicines appeared due to the search for an elixir of eternal youth.
But even among the rather famous and respected characters of the Middle Ages who were considered serious scientists, there were outright charlatans and deceivers. Who managed to lead by the nose not only the common people, but also the reigning persons.
It is curious that in the Middle Ages, many talented scientists who were able to get ahead of their time and make a lot of discoveries in astronomy, chemistry and other sciences were often considered sorcerers and followed quite seriously.
The ruling elite and witchcraft
Despite the persecution of the church, many kings had their own magicians, sorcerers or astrologers at the court. Kings are not alien to human emotions and fears, so they fanatically yearned to know which of the pre-war was preparing a conspiracy or when to start a military campaign so that it was victorious.
Moreover, the monarchs spared no expense, giving the alchemists the opportunity to explore and work on the search for the philosopher's stone or the elixir of eternal youth. In the first case, the royal treasury will always be full of gold and you will not have to fall under the power of bank loans, and in the second, the prospect of living and reigning forever haunted more than one monarch.
Despite the opposition of the church, many famous alchemists and astrologers of that time moved freely throughout Europe and earned good money, drawing up horoscopes for various European monarchs.
But often the astrologers themselves, and the sorcerers themselves, came across fraud, which for many turned out to be not only imprisonment, but also the loss of life. For example, Emperor Rudolph II was very fond of receiving various specialists in the field of magic at the court, and once he caught the famous English medium and alchemist Edward Kelly of charlatanism. He put him in a dungeon, and he decided to escape and, going down from the window of his cell, fell and crashed.
Female and male magic
In past centuries, the social life of society strictly divided female and male responsibilities and rights. The woman had to manage the household, give birth to children and take care of them, and the man, in turn, was the breadwinner and protector of the home and family. Therefore, this division also affected witchcraft and magic. Magic was clearly divided into male and female.
Typically, women practiced gathering and herbal medicine. Also, women predicted the future, prepared love potions and prepared amulets to protect the home and family. The men had a different magic. They needed to have a conspiracy weapon in order to more effectively crush the enemy. Men designed magic to ensure a good harvest or a successful hunt.
For example, among the Scandinavians it was considered shameful when a man was engaged in magic and witchcraft. The Vikings shamed such men and believed that magic makes a man like a woman. Even in one of the Scandinavian sagas, the notorious Loki reproaches the god Odin himself for practicing magic.
A guide to fighting witches and sorcerers
Many have probably heard of such a medieval book as The Hammer of the Witches. Interestingly, it was this book in the 15th and 16th centuries that was the most published after, of course, the Bible. The first book, The Hammer of the Witches, was published in 1487. And literally in half a century it was reprinted fourteen times.
The author of this work on how to properly persecute witches and sorcerers was the Dominican monk-inquisitor Heinrich Kramer. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, this character was a rare misogynist. He was sure that only women were involved in magic. In addition, he suffered from paranoia and was a fanatical follower of church canons. This man's belief in the existence and harm of witches bordered on madness.
Heinrich Kramer did not stop writing his book even after his own church leadership was horrified by overzealousness in seeking and accusing women of witchcraft. The church council overturned all his sentences and asked him to leave the city. In his book, Heinrich Kramer tried to justify the persecution of women and, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, more than once boasted that he had set two hundred witches on fire.
Witches and hair color
In the Middle Ages, any woman could fall victim to accusations of witchcraft or ties to the devil himself. A terrible old woman or a very beautiful woman could be accused of magic and witchcraft. Also, a witch could recognize a woman who has more moles on her body than usual, this was considered a mark of the devil. And a woman with bright red hair and even more so a witch, since red hair is the color of hellfire. Sometimes a woman with a grumpy character was accused of witchcraft. Sometimes, having quarreled, one of the neighbors wrote a denunciation to the inquisitor, where she indicated that her neighbor was absent from home on Walpurgis night. And if so, then she was definitely at the Sabbath.
No particularly accurate testimony was required. The main thing is to get into the dungeons of the Inquisition, and there, with the help of fire and water, they knocked out everything that was needed for the sentence from the unfortunate woman. For example, a woman under torture could confess that she turns into a cat, flies on a broomstick, or contributed to the fact that half of the cattle died from diseases. Curiously, it was believed that an innocent person was not able to incriminate himself under torture, since God himself protects an innocent soul, but if he began to confess, it immediately made the woman guilty.
BUKHRANSKY SERGEY
