I reveal the secret right away: the witches that the Inquisition hunted for were not people, but fake coins. The witches' accomplices meant completely ordinary people involved in counterfeiting and they were just interrogated, tortured and tried. But the coins were "tested" whether they were corrupted by the "witches".
Inquisitors are, in direct translation from Latin, and in essence, investigators of the central apparatus of the church who went on a business trip, investigated cases of counterfeiting, collected evidence against those guilty of counterfeiting (the so-called "witches' accomplices") and handed them over to the local court for sentencing … They themselves did not pass sentences and did not engage in executions.
Unlike modern investigators, who themselves do not have the right to conduct expert examinations (this is done by an appropriate specialist), inquisitors simultaneously performed the role of investigators and were highly qualified experts for their time.
The books for inquisitors "on witches" contained sufficiently sane recommendations on investigative techniques and tactics in the spirit of the legislation of that time, and many recommendations have not lost their significance even now.
But on the sections of the investigative technique and expertise, for the sake of secrecy, a mist was put on, hence the mystical perception. The description of testing, testing, examination of coins was slightly veiled, which worked perfectly and now the mystical "test of the witch" is taken "at face value" (I apologize for the unintentional pun).
Therefore, from the entire array of information about the "witch hunt", we will first of all consider a small but significant moment "the test of a witch", that is, the examination of a suspected coin for authenticity.
For the examination of coins made of precious metals, in addition to external signs of authenticity, it is extremely important to establish the fineness and weight of the precious metal. We will, where appropriate, compare the mystical interpretation of the "test of a witch" with the methods of establishing a sample of precious metals according to any "Assayer's Handbook", for example, in this article, the author. E. Makarenkov, Gosfinizdat, 1953
Promotional video:
1. Test of a witch with a red-hot iron
“The iron test is characteristic only of the early Middle Ages. It was necessary not to get burned, stepping barefoot on hot plowshares or, without prejudice to the palm, hold a red-hot bar of iron for several minutes. The most amazing thing is that in the Middle Ages they believed that God would protect the innocent in such a situation (and even gave legendary examples). The era of mass witch hunts went without a hot iron test. Doubts about its accuracy were expressed by the authors of The Hammer of the Witches, after which it gradually faded away."
Testing a witch with red-hot plowshares, relief from Bamberg Cathedral (Germany).
The reference to "red-hot iron" means compliance with the temperature regime, the color of heat, ie. the color of the glow of the metal depending on the heating temperature. For iron, a color change from dark cherry to light red means a temperature range of 700 to 900 C.
It’s what kind of brains you need to have to seriously believe that at such a temperature you can "hold a red-hot bar of iron for several minutes without harming your palm" and only in the absence of burns get an acquittal!
In fact, this means that a coin made of pure silver will not melt “last a few minutes without damage”, since the iron heated to a light red color has a temperature of 830-900 ° C, and pure silver melts at a temperature of 960 ° C. At the same time, silver with impurities will melt, all alloys with a silver content below 91% begin to melt at the same temperature - 779 ° C (source).
Red-hot iron is good because its color allows you to standardize the heating temperature of the investigated coins and thereby ensure the stability of the research results. In addition to melting, the change in the color of the metal was also important. From Brockhaus: “… Polybius, who lived in the II century. BC, mentions the testing of silver by fire, that is, by changing its color due to incandescence. The same method is given by Pliny. In Russia, already in the pre-Petrine era, the sampling of both gold and silver was known. The trade book says that the Russian merchants tried gold "from the fire …".
The conclusion was as follows: if the coin did not change color when heated for several minutes with red-hot iron, "did not get burned", did not melt, then it is real, made of pure silver without impurities.
2. Test of the witch with needles
“Another challenge was finding the 'witch's mark'. It was believed that the Devil marks every witch who got confused with him with his sign. It was this sign that the judges were looking for. In order not to see it, the accused was shaved off her head and body. One had only to find any suspicious areas of the skin, for example, age spots, as the executioner pierced them with a needle. If the suspect did not feel pain or bleed, it was considered proven that the stain was indeed a "witch's mark."
“In England and Germany, in the Netherlands and in France, a special way of searching for witches is firmly established - the" test with a needle. " It is known that the peasants put the brand on their cattle. Why doesn't the devil brand his victims as a sign of vassalage? It seemed quite logical to the people. Of course, this brand may be invisible, but that is why there are specialists to find the "sign of the devil" even under the flawlessly smooth skin. Everybody knew the signs of a “damn mark”. The place where the devil held his claw becomes insensitive to pain, and does not bleed when pricked. It was on these grounds that the needle masters conducted the witch hunt."
In the "Assayer's Handbook" this mystical interpretation corresponds to the very widespread to this day ancient method of determining the sample of items made of precious metals with assay needles.
Assay needles are made of gold and copper (or silver and copper) of a certain composition, i.e. they are reference samples of a precious metal sample.
A set of modern gold assay needles from the Tula factory.
Scratching method. The simplest use of assay needles is to scratch the surface of the test object. The higher grade alloy needle is softer and will not leave marks. A similar technique is used in mineralogy (of course, with reference minerals).
Thus, the mystical expressions “did not feel pain” and “did not come out blood” mean that the assay needle of the sample, which should be in the coin alloy, does not leave a scratch, ie. the alloy of the investigated coin is harder due to the greater amount of ligature (copper or other metals).
Assay needles in Western Europe appeared around the XIV century. Silver was divided into 16 lot samples, and gold was first divided by 12, and then by 24, i.e. the number of required assay needles in a complete set depends on the gradations of the installed samples.
In the shown old engraving depicting the scene of the "testing of the witch with needles" there are 15 needles on the table, the 16th in the hand of the expert, from which it can be concluded that the silver coin was examined (16-lot scale):
Die Nadelprobe ist eine der wichtigsten Hexenproben.
The signature under the engraving translates from German roughly as "Testing with needles is one of the most important ways to test a witch." We pay special attention to the last word Hexenproben, where Hexe is now translated as "witch". Is it so coincidental;-) that hex in German means "hexadecimal"? Looks like witches they had mostly silver …
3. Test of the witch by crying / tears
“The crying / crying test was also considered an unmistakable way to recognize a witch. In The Hammer of the Witches, this test was recommended to the judges as particularly reliable. It was believed that witches cannot shed tears, "a sure sign, the legend of which has come down to us from trusted husbands." A woman who doesn't cry even under torture is most likely a witch."
In the modern "Assayer's Handbook" it is called "drop test", "drop method", "wet test" and others, that is, in general terms, we are talking about establishing a sample of a precious metal using special reagents:
»The least accurate" drip "method. A drop of reagent is applied to the product, and a conclusion is made about the amount of gold content by the color of the spot. The assayer compares the color of the reaction products only "… with his own feeling", as it is said in one manual on jewelry, so the error can reach 30 or more sample units."
“Another method that is widely used today in the work of assay inspections is the use of a“test stone”, which is an indicator method, the results of which largely depend on the experience and qualifications of the assayer. This method is based on color comparison. Stripes are applied to the “test stone” (special siliceous slate) with the test piece and test needles made of reference alloys. They are exposed to assay reagents. In this case, in some microsections of the strips, the metal dissolves, and in others, precipitation from the assay reagent. So, if such a reagent is a solution of chlorine-hydrogen acid (chloric gold), then finely dispersed brown gold precipitates. Depending on the ratio of the areas of microsections of gold, silver and copper in the alloy, the corrosion currents change, which means thatthe amount of deposited metal and the color intensity of the strip of this alloy. When comparing the color in the places of reaction between the bands and reagents, it is concluded that the alloy of the product is similar to such and such an assay needle.
“Wet test is a test of the silver content in the alloy, which consists in separating silver from a nitric acid solution with a titrated solution of sodium chloride. Presumably, this method was adopted from the Arabs and spread from Paris around 1400 throughout Europe."
Most likely, the "test of a witch with crying, tears" meant the first of the listed, "drip method". The judges knew what they were talking about, and it’s even useless for the rest to tell, they wouldn’t understand it anyway, but even now it’s not much better …
4. Test of the witch on the scales
“The weighing test was much more humane. In the Dutch city of Oudewater, everyone who was heavier than a certain limit was acquitted, and even issued a certificate confirming innocence of witchcraft. The percentage of those exposed was negligible. Naturally, the subjects were forced to strip to their shirts and searched for hidden weights."
“In addition to the traditional water test, the suspects were weighed. Weighed so often that even King Charles V granted the city of Oudewater as a privilege the right to turn the city's scales into special scales for sorcerers. Until 1693, they operated incessantly."
19th century engraving test of a witch on the scales in Oudewater (which, by the way, houses the Witch Museum).
"Charles V donated a scale for testing witches to the city of Oudewater and defined a 50 kg barrier as the boundary between the servants of Satan and honest Christians."
Now in the Dutch city of Oudewater / Oudewater (Oudewater = Old Water) there is a museum "Scales of the Witches" (Heksenwaag - and in the Dutch witch Heksen - hexadecimal!) With the service of weighing women and issuing a "certificate", and the lower limit is 49.5 kg, those. this is the "centner" still preserved in Germany. There is even the possibility of "virtual weighing" on the Internet.
Well, would the tourists have gone as willingly if it had been honestly called the same as the “Audevater Weighting Chamber” and told about the history of metrology, the difficult path of standardization and unification, certification of measures and weights?
In the case of the Weighing Chamber of Oudevatera, the term "witch" also refers to the weights that were checked, stamped and issued a certificate of conformity. There was no fundamental difference between coins and weights, since the weight of the coins clearly followed the gradations of weight: the drachma-ounce and their derivatives, and the coins were "counted" by weighing in the same way as copper coins in the USSR (coin 1 kopeck = 1 g … coin 5 kopecks = 5 d), and not only in the USSR …
By the way, in the handbooks of inquisitors "witch" was designated by the term malefice, which literally translates as "bad income" (compare benefice - good income; also fiscal, fiscal, etc.). Too light weight, as well as too light coin is definitely malefice (English mouth. Atrocity, witchcraft).
We hope it is unnecessary to explain in detail why weighing is still an obligatory element of checking coins from precious metals for authenticity?
So, if the weight of the coin corresponded to the reference, the most reliable than all of the above was the "test with water".
5. Trial of the witch by water
“In many witch trials one of the tasks of the investigation was to find certain signs by which it was easy to recognize witches. One of the favorite tests was the "water test" (also called "bathing witches"). To do this, the executioner tied the arms and legs of the naked woman tightly, tied her body with a rope and pushed her into the water. If she floated to the surface - and this happened with the majority - she was recognized as a witch, because water, the element of purity, did not accept her. Or witch bathing was carried out, i.e. the young lady was drowned … and if she floated up after drowning, then the water did not accept her and she is a witch. And if it didn’t come up, it means that they drowned in vain."
Even if we do not go into physics, the common opinion suffers from logic: if a woman thrown into the water floats up, then this is a witch and she must be destroyed, and if she drowns, then it’s normal. This version does not explain why drowned people are needed, even normal, "not spoiled" ones.
The reality is much more interesting: the "water test" refers to the method of hydrostatic weighing, a stunningly elegant way to compare the specific gravity of substances, which became a continuation of the already described "test on the balance". Weighing on an equal-arm balance can only establish the equality of the weight of the tested coin with the reference one. But if these coins suspended on the balance beam are lowered into water, then in the case of a lower density of the test coin (due to the admixture of lighter metals), the balance will be disturbed and the “damaged” “witch” coin will float up, and the reference one will sink.
For greater sensitivity, it is required that the coins are not on the scales, but simply tied to the rocker arms with the thinnest possible thread. That is why all sources on witches specifically stipulate that they must be tied crosswise "with the right hand to the left leg and vice versa." The special mention of undressing a witch before the test means cleaning from dirt, i.e. extraneous layers, as well as from any foreign objects, including precious stones.
Step 1
We take the simplest equal-arm scales (cups are not needed, we remove them) and, of course, a reference, obviously high-quality coin.
Step 2
We suspend the reference and the coins to be checked (tied with a thread) to the balance arms with a thin thread and the equality of their weight is checked.
Step 3
We lower both suspended coins into a container with water and observe whether the position of the balance beam has been violated. If nothing has changed, then the specific gravity of the metal of the coins is the same and the tested coin is normal. Otherwise, the reference coin will go lower, i.e. “Drown”, and the subject rises higher, ie. “Float up”, which will mean a metal of a lower sample (lower specific gravity).
The sensitivity of this method is extremely high and due to the fact that such a test of a precious metal sample is non-destructive (unlike test stones, needles, drip samples), it has been adopted by museums, including the Hermitage, only naturally with more sophisticated equipment (Mora's hydrostatic balance + computer for recording the results is the equipment of the reputable company Sartorius).
Now, knowing the true state of affairs, one can consider with understanding the old illustrations. All the “women” are depicted in pairs: only the hands and feet of the drowned “good” and the entirely emerged “bad” are visible (only by comparison with the reference “woman” - in all languages the coin is feminine). The "women" are naked and the rope is tied directly to them, which means the need for preliminary cleaning of the coin from dirt (jewelry from stones) and the non-use of scales for accurate comparison with the standard (hehe, it's good that the people didn't think of throwing women in pairs)):
Hearing the ringing, but not knowing where he is, people in the early 19th century actually threw natural women into the water to test for witchcraft, for which they were justly punished by the authorities. Popular beliefs were that if a tied naked aunt was thrown into the water, then the honest one would drown, and the witch would float to the surface, which gave rise to the creation of such pictures, drawn like a carbon copy:
Why this happened, we will figure it out later, but for the umpteenth time we have to wonder: truly, the very desire of the people for a miracle is wonderful!
Unfortunately, the video in 7 parts based on the materials of the article is too stretched, it would be better to keep within 40-50 minutes, it would be necessary to make a shortened version, but for now, as it is:
