FREE ESSAY ON WITCHCRAFT IN THE MIDDLE AGES

WITCHCRAFT IN THE MIDDLE AGES

During the Midieval era witchcraft became a popular form of rebellion against Church and
state which was interpreted as heresy. However, witchcraft was not the only kind of
rejection of institutional structure. Russell descibes this happening as "the rise of
mystisim, of the flagellents, of the dance cult, and the expansion of popular heresy
[occurring] at the same time as the rapid growth of the witch phenomenon (Russell 272)."
Because witchcraft appeared to be devil worship, directly contradicting the teachings of
the Catholic Church, it was taboo. Christina Hole, author of Witchcraft in England,
maintains Russell's perspective by saying that "throughout the Middle Ages heretical
sects were constantly springing up and running like bush-fires through different parts of
Europe (Hole 23)." Like Russell, Hole demonstrates the reality that witchcraft was not
the only group of dissidents during this time in Europe. It is logical to conclude that
all of these groups that sprung up were rejections of an institutional structure because
they all had their origins in those areas in Europe where social and economic change was
most pronounced (Russell 272). The idea that witchcraft was indeed heresy and devil
worship is on account of "the devout [believing] all deviations [from Catholisism] were
abominable and the clear work of the devil; heresy for them was pride, of fallible human
judgment for the truths of religion (Hole 26)." Overzealous Catholics were blinded by
their faith, failing to recognize that the reason witchcraft sprung up was because of
motives other than rejecting God, bu rejection of society. Unfortunatly, this led to the
persecution of many without valid rationale.
In the Middle Ages, theoriticians introduced the idea of Malleus Maleficarum in order to
explain the occurrence of the popularity of witchcraft. In the very title of the Malleus
Maleficarum, the gender of witches is feminine. It assigns women as the source of
witchcraft because of a number of reasons stating that women were in every ay morally and
mentally inferior to men (Russell 277). Witchcraft in Europe: a Documentary History,
edited by Alan Kors and Edward Peters, informs the audience on the nature of women as
described by the Malleus Maleficarum by stating, "much of lore concerning female witches
derived from woman's allegedly inferior spiritual strength and her predisposition to the
sins of pride, lust, and negligence of spiritual affairs (Kors and Peters 55)." These
attacks on women as the source of evil are inacurrate, yet dictated the persecution of
many people believed to be witches. The Malleus Maleficarum goes on to express that "men
are caught [by women] through their carnal desires...all witchcraft comes from carnal
lust, which is insatiable in women (Kors and Peters 124)." It is not a surprise that the
authors are male, Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. In truth, "Midieval witchcraft was
a manifestation of the innate and perennial darkness of the human soul (Russell 279)."
The notion that women are inferior to men and the source of sin continued to prevail
throughout history, aiding in the discrimination of the female race. 
Despite persecution, a following of witchcraft remained. Russell's explanation of this
event is, "one might chose to embrace witchcraft in the hope of avoiding death either by
obtaining a share of eternal life in the Devil's kingdom or by displacing fear if
implacable death with fear of a Devil whom one can at least mollify (Russell 275)." The
segment of society that did not believe in the Church still needed to feel the security
and guidence of a faith. Neither the Church or state could provide them with this. These
people were forced to compensate fot this themselves, and "as paganism receded into the
mists of history, those who questoned Christianity began to produce new doctrines which
varied from mild modifications of Christian practice to a flat denial of the fundamental
tenents of Christian belief (Hole 24)." The people that rejected the Church did so in
dergrees of small alterations to complete worship of the devil. In some cases, the
community of witches was not a heretical sect, but a survival of paganism. Either way,
all forms were considered to be witchcraft and these people were sought after for
persecution.
Bibliography
Hole, Christina. Witchcraft in England. London: B.T. Bashford Ltd., 1947.
Jeffery Burton Russell. Witchcraft in the Middle Ages
Witchcraft in Europe: 1000-1700 A Documentary History. Ed. Alan C. Kors and Edward
Peters. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1972