First Part of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe

            I thought that this reading, although informative, was very dry and extremely difficult to get through.  However, it did give a very detailed analysis of the reasons for the decline and eventual end of organized witch hunting in Europe.  The first of these reasons, and what I believe to be the most important, is that officials began to prosecute the crime of witchcraft less and less.  This was caused in part by a growing awareness that many of the witches that were being tried and executed had not actually committed the crimes they were convicted of.  This does not mean that officials stopped believing in witchcraft, it just means that they became aware of how hard it was to truly prove the crime.  I really liked that the authors did not argue that the witch-hunts came to an end because people stopped believing in witches and instead show that the belief in witches declined because prosecution declined.  It never made sense to me that a mass amount of people could go from believing in something one day and then the next day thinking that it was simply a made up story.  This reading really helped to track the progress of this type of thinking and what factors lead to such a drastic change. 

            The reading had a lot of examples, which helped to illustrate the authors’ points, but after awhile I had a very hard time concentrating on the specific people and places.  I like this specific examples in micro-histories, but in an overview like this I think that it was quite overwhelming and that the examples eventually lost their effect because there were so many of them.  One of the examples I did think was useful however was when the authors talked about the mass witch-hunts that happened in Sweden after 1668-1676.  I thought it was a good decision to use this event because it truly illustrated what the authors had been talking about, from mass witch-hunts fizzling out, to a lack of belief in child witnesses, unwillingness to persecute, and eventually the persecution of those who falsely accused others.  I enjoyed this reading because I learned a lot, but I really hope that the next chunk we read is a little bit more captivating.

The Devil in the Convent

The Devil in the Convent

Sorry it took so long to post this I have been extremely sick this week and I did not check the facebook page in time to realize that we were have supposed to have read this for last week.   This has been my favorite reading so far that we have done for the class.  I really enjoyed the writing style, the topic, and the writer’s arguments.  Until I read about this and saw The Devils on Monday I had no idea that there had even been mass possessions in convents, which really surprised me. 

What I really found the most interesting was why these mass possessions happened in the places they did and why they only happened to female religious orders.  It makes a lot of sense that these possessions often happened in convents that were experiencing change and reform that made the strict lives of the nuns even more severe.  It must have been hard to adjust and adapt to the new rules that were enforced, so being possessed was a way to except or rebel against these reforms depending on where they happened.  Another main factor that played a role in the possession of these groups of women was that they were, to put it simply, women.  These types of possessions never happened to large groups of religious males, although a single man could be possessed.  This was because, supposedly, “immune to such lack of control over their bodies (and souls) and to the risk of a penetrability of their bodies.”  So, like in most other aspects of life, especially religious life, women were presumed to be more easily tempted and easy to control.  Women were thought to have “excessive” spirituality, which made them so susceptible to demonic possession simply because they worshipped in a way that was different then that of most men.

While demonic possessions were not good, apparently God condoned them.  This is the part of the article and the history that really confused me.  If the Devil and God were enemies then why would the Devil need God’s permission to possess people? And why would God let him?  I just think that is extremely convoluted reasoning but since I am not a contemporary of the time I cannot judge.  The part of this that I do understand is that by having these mass possessions convents actually gained glory and validation for their order.  If the Devil and demons supposedly attacked those that were a threat to them, then having the forces of evil attempt to harm you showed that you were doing something right.  It must have almost been a relief for the cloistered nuns, who could not physically help people outside their walls, to believe that their prayers were having such an impact that the Devil considered them advisories. 

Finally, the last thing that I thought was fascinating from this reading was that there were actual contemporaries who believed that it was not the actual Devil who was causing these possessions but that they were caused by a “devil of the flesh.”  I really never thought anyone would have admitted such a thing during that time period, but I am glad they did because I think that it is probably true.  Young women who were cloistered before they had a chance for any type of physical interaction and had no hope of ever having one must have often wondered about such things.  And, the fact that they stared for hours at Jesus’ almost naked body and had to contemplate themselves and their sins almost endless would not have helped very much either.  

The Last of Roper

I really liked this weeks reading.  It was short, to the point, and I thought it was a good conclusion to Roper’s ideas that she reiterated throughout the book.  Catharina Schmid’s story was really heartbreaking because she was such a strong woman until the very end.  She had to go through so much and it is just sad that they did not let her off after everything she went through, and also because according to many people she was extremely devout.  I thought it was really interesting how even a century after the largest of the witch hunts how people could still be accused, even during a time of supposed Enlightenment.  I do not understand how people could consider themselves rational and yet still consider witchcraft a threat to them and to society.  Although, even today we still have similar types of situations, maybe not with witches but with other groups.  It is much easier to have someone that you can blame and punish for the things that are hurting you and that you cannot understand, then to have no one to use as a scapegoat.  I also thought, that having her daughter confess to witchcraft as well made the story even sadder.  The Story of Hansel and Gretel in the Epilogue, and how Roper related it back to stories about witchcraft, was very interesting.  I thought that was a good portrayal of what people were afraid of, and the awful things that happened during that time - stepmothers, food shortages, and the terror of witchcraft.  And the old woman who was trying the eat the children, was truely the typical witch that many people picture witches as being.

The Trail of Tempel Anneke

The Trail of Tempel Anneke was, I thought at least, a really dull read but I also do not want to be a lawyer and I’m not very interested in the exhaustive proceedings of trails.  However, once I got past how dry of a read it was, there was a lot of information with in the sources.  The thing that I found the most interesting about this reading was that Tempel Anneke supposedly committed almost all the deeds witches were supposed to.  At the very end, when she has to reaffirm everything she confessed, the list of her admissions is almost like a witch checklist; she harmed animals and people that supposedly crossed her, she tried to give a child food that would harm him, she said threatening things to people, she desecrated the Host, made a pact with the Devil through blood and sex, and attended the Devil’s dances.  However, many of these things she admitted to only when she was being tortured. 

Tempel Anneke actually held up quite well, she did not even change most of her stories when faced with the executioner and all of his instruments. For most of her early questionings, the pre-written questions that were asked of her, which did not take into account her previous answer, did not even trick her.  Also, throughout her interrogations, Tempel Anneke kept saying that God would save her, even towards the end although she did not repeat the phrase as often.  She only altered what she was saying when torture was applied or when she was faced with her accuser.  The lists of questions that were written out to ask Tempel, I think were very interesting because they were set up so that each question seems to be harder then the last and they never take into account that the accused might have answered no to the previous question.  These are very leading questions that would have helped women to come up with their elaborate stories because the interrogators, through these questions, were telling the supposed witches what they were supposed to have done. 

Another thing that struck me, which was not really related to Tempel Anneke specifically, was how the magistrates addressed one another in correspondence.  They use an overload of flattering terms and I am not quite sure why.  It would make sense if only one group was using this to the other group if they were higher in social status, but I cannot think of why they would both do this to each other.  I am assuming it was just custom but I would really like to know why is was necessary.    

Class Notes from Jan. 31

I forgot to post this earlier this week so I'm doing it now.  This week we talked a lot about how in the last reading people really were shocked that so many people believed the tales of children.  But Professor Stuart pointed out that authorities still believe children today (such as in court cases) so the only thing that has really changed is what we are predisposed to believe.  I think it is really interesting that lawyers and other people who are interviewing hcildren for cout cases have to learn exactly how to ask children questions in order to not lead them in a certain path. The reason what we believe has changed so much is in part due to Freud, even though he has been largely discredited, because he changed the rpims through which we see human behavior.  

The arts have always played a large role in expressing the ideas and themes of the time in which it is created.  The picture on the syllabus is very difficult to understand.  I cannot understand if the three women are doing something threatening or if they are doing something to protect poeple form the harm.  The storm in the background could be cause by God or maybe from the devil, which could show how events could be taken either way during these times.  Like visions, events had to be looked at carefully in order to figure out if its divine of diabolical.  They also can help to show if the period it was created in was one of tightening or loosening of control by the church or the state.  

During 1550-1650 there was a drive toward purity, which can be seen not only in art, but also in rules and restrictions that were placed on people.  During this time, after the reformation, sex outside of marriage was a crime and sodomy was a capital offense.  But eventually control loosened and while sodomy was still considered a crime people were no longer executed for it.