In the mythological representations of medieval Western Europe, the owners of magical knowledge, the sorceress.
They were endowed with the ability to influence nature and man (witchcraft) and perform supernatural deeds - to become a werewolf, penetrate locked doors, fly through the air, steal people's hearts, cause disease, and damage livestock and crops. They were credited with the ability to enter into an alliance with the devil and serve him, enter into sexual intercourse with him and seduce believers, ruining their souls.
Until the era of the developed Middle Ages, ideas about the magical abilities of the Witches remained mainly at the level of folklore and were condemned by the church, which punished persons who persecuted women on suspicion of witchcraft; belief in the Witches was regarded by the church as a superstition inspired by the intrigues of evil spirits (in particular, the church authorities denied the existence of gatherings of Witches-Sabbaths).
In the era of the developed Middle Ages (13-15 centuries), due to the internal crisis of the church and the loss of complete control over the spiritual life of the flock, the attitude of the church to the persecution of Witches changed radically. In the person of theologians, scholastics and inquisitors, the church recognizes the ability of certain women (and men) to create malefitsy - black magic, causing harm to the health, life and property of people.
Archaic popular beliefs received justification from the authorities and were used to prosecute persons accused of witchcraft. During this period, the church recognized the idea of the possibility of sexual intercourse between a person engaged in witchcraft and the devil.
The end of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Reformation (the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries - the middle of the 18th century) were marked by massive persecution of Witches, which acquired the character of collective psychoses, which engulfed broad strata of the population in different European countries. Bull of Pope Schnnocent VIII "With the greatest zeal" (Summis deside-rantes) 1484 proclaimed as heresy the disbelief in the existence of Witches and their devilish ability to harm people. In 1487-89 the inquisitors Schnetitoris and Sprenger published the Hammer Against Witches, which substantiated the need for the most severe persecution of Witches and for two centuries became the main guide for secular and ecclesiastical courts dealing with cases of witchcraft.
The traditional anti-feminism of the church found in The Hammer a complete and ultimate expression; among other atrocities, the Witches have been credited with the ability to deprive men of sexual power. The witch was viewed as a criminal, subject to special jurisdiction and subject to destruction at the stake.
Prosecutions of the Witch usually began with accusations of witchcraft made by neighbors and other people with whom the accused was in conflict. The court, which examined such cases and was guided by treatises on demonology, the number of which was multiplying during this period, was concerned primarily not with establishing the fact of maleficia, but with obtaining from the "Witch" a confession that they were in alliance with the devil, cohabiting with him and his power committed atrocities. Since communication with evil spirits and service to them were considered as the most serious crime provided for by the legal codes of the 16th century, a special procedure was applied to those accused of witchcraft, accompanied by torture.
Promotional video:
The rationale for the need for a cruel and prolonged torture of the hedgehog means of expelling the confession was the belief that the Witch was possessed by the devil, preventing her sincere confession, and that therefore it was necessary to forcefully expel him from her. After obtaining the desired recognition, as a rule, the Witches were subjected to burning or, less often, exile. The few accused who survived the torture and did not confess were presumed innocent.
Thus, the folk beliefs in Witches during this period were combined with the demonological teachings of the Middle Ages. lawyers and theologians, and the persecution of Witches came simultaneously from the masses of the ordinary population, and from the church and secular authorities, who sought to destroy the traditional folk culture and, in particular, such an integral part of it, which was the magic uncontrolled by the church.
The woman, the main object of persecution, was at the same time the main carrier of the folk culture traditions. New in the persecution of Witches in the 16th and 17th centuries. was that the church and the secular authorities saw in them no longer loners, but an "anti-church" headed by Satan. Therefore, the question of the Sabbath as a visible expression of this "anti-church" with its own cult, which seemed to be an inverted church cult, acquired such great importance in the court interrogations of those accused of witchcraft.
Along with the belief in the harmful Witches, the people believed in the good Witches, who are able to neutralize the actions of the first and enter into confrontation with them.
The massive witch hunt in Western Europe reflected a deep crisis in the Middle Ages. world outlook and the collapse of community ties of mutual assistance. The people of that era blamed for the swap of troubles and troubles on strangers, on marginal elements of the collective, etc. with the devil and torture was not in use), and led to mass casualties.
Throughout the last period of the Witch-hunt, there was a fierce controversy regarding witchcraft, and at that time many theologians and thinkers (including some humanists) defended the belief in Witches and the need to exterminate them, a number of other scientists, and among them there are many Jesuits, without questioning the very belief in the Witches, criticized their persecution. However, only in the second floor. 17th century, when the terror caused by the massive persecution of the Witches began to lead to social disorganization and the enormous danger to society of the continuation of these persecutions was realized, the persecution of Witches gradually subsided (in some places they flared up again in the 18th and early 19th centuries).
In the bunk. the culture of modern times preserved ideas about Witches, especially dangerous during periods of calendar holidays; rituals of burning Witches - carnival effigies - were timed to these holidays.
The image of the Witch (from Old Russian Vdb, "knowledge", "witchcraft", "witchcraft"), witch and (compare Serb, Veshtitsa, Slovenian vesca, etc.) in Slavic mythology and folklore is close to Western European views. Were endowed with the ability to send thunderclouds ", whirlwinds, hail, steal dew, rain, celestial bodies (by placing them in a vessel), milk from cows, spoil cattle and people (why they became klikushi), arrange gatherings and orgies on" Bald Mountain”(Especially on Kolyada, when spring meets, on the night of Shvan Kupala).
It was believed that the Witches cohabit with evil spirits, including with the Fiery Serpent; in the epic about Dobryna, the sorceress Marinka enters into a relationship with the Serpent Gorynych: this brings the image of the Witch closer to the female character of fame, the myth of the betrayal of the wife of the Thunderer God with the snake (cf. also Mara, Marena, Mokosh). In addition to harmful functions, they were also endowed with healers, divination abilities, etc. ("godless women-wizards" of the Middle-century sources).
The persecution of the Witches among the Slavs was not of such a massive character as in Western Europe; however, according to popular beliefs, the execution of the Witch (usually burning) was necessary to end the drought, pestilence, etc.
