Gender and Witchcraft



Cassandrah BakerGender and Witchcraft12/06/2012HSTR: 491 Monsters in European HistoryWhen one thinks of a witch there are common images that come to mind such as the old hag who lives in a rundown house on the outskirts of town, or the beautiful young women riding on her broom to the Sabbath. These pictures of the witch represent two different types of witches one who is linked to magic and one who is linked to the devil. Witches have evolved over time from being linked with magic and sorcery to being involved with the devil. This relationship with the devil is what puts a witch into the category of a monster; to have a relationship with the devil is the biggest sin against God that a woman could commit. A monster is a creation of its time and this is certainly the case with witches. Jeffrey Cohen’s thesis I on what makes a monster gives us a perfect definition of this idea “The monster is born only at this metaphoric crossroads, as an embodiment of a certain cultural moment of a time, a feeling, and a place.” The evidence suggests that the witch crazes of 17th century fit perfectly into this statement, the turmoil during this time certainly had an impact on the creation of witches and the witch crazes the occurred.The witch craze of the 17th century has many interesting aspects to it which can give clues to the fears and ideals of the time. One of the most interesting issues is the idea of gender and witches, evidence shows that the idea of women as witches was much more common than men as witches. To understand why women were targeted it is important to have an understanding of what life was like in 17th century England and most importantly to understand what the attitudes towards women were like during this time period. It can be hard with a modern mindset to understand how people thought during this period, much of the information that is available that sheds some light on attitudes towards women is often harsh and even sometimes laughable to a modern way of thinking. However for this subject it is important to think with an open mind because this will allow for a better understanding of how women were viewed and ultimately why they were so often persecuted as witches. There are recorded incidents of witch crazes throughout Europe and England was no exception they experienced their own witch craze in the 17th century. 17th century England went through a great deal of change with the death of Elizabeth I who had reigned for 45 years. People were uncertain of what would happen when James IV took the throne. In particular the idea of religion was up in the air for each faction was hoping that theirs would come into power again. The feelings of uncertainty continued after the death of James IV when Charles I took the throne. This was a century in which things were very uncertain for every level of society living in England.One of the most important books that set up some basic rules on women as witches was the Malleus Maleficarum which was first published in 1486 and was written by Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger. This was a guide that was used during the inquisition to help find heretics, and witches. This document is so important because it can give us a look into the minds of people during this time and even though this was written over 100 years before the witch craze in England it is still important because ideas about women and witchcraft had not changed much during that period. This text offers a look into how men felt about women and why they believed they were so easily persuaded towards witchcraft. One line that tells us a lot about how women were viewed said this “What else is woman but a foe to friendship, an unescapable punishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity, a domestic danger, a delectable detriment, an evil of nature, painted with fair colours!” This statement shows what kind of value women had to men during this time; the phrase “unescapable punishment” says it all. Women were viewed as a necessary evil that could only be tolerated when they were kept in control by their fathers and husbands. A woman was full of bad intentions on the inside, but would use her pretty appearance to snare the unsuspecting man. Other reasons that women were thought to be more likely involved in witchcraft that are noted include “Women are naturally more impressionable” and they have “slippery tongues,” which meant that they were prone to gossip and “They are feebler both in mind and body.” Women were believed to be intellectually like a child, which reinforces the idea of a patriarchal society. “England in this period was ‘patriarchal’ in the loose sense that its political, social, economic, religious, and cultural life was dominated by men.” This was not so much a way of thinking but a natural way of life; this is how people lived, they did not know anything different and because “Male domination was so rooted in the culture contemporaries found it almost impossible to imagine a society based on fundamentally different principles.” There is evidence that suggests that this idea of a patriarchal society can be linked back to the creation story of Adam and Eve. “God had created Eve (woman) as an companion and helpmeet for Adam (man), making the principle of female subordination an integral part of the creation story.” Educated clergy men made an idealized code of what a woman should be “their first principle was that every woman should be under the authority of the appropriate male, normally her father, master, or husband.” This type of evidence makes it easy to understand why women made such easy targets; they were not viewed as anything more than second class citizens. They were looked at with suspicion and believed to be less intelligent then men, therefore unable to contribute anything more to society then to tend to the home and have children. It was thought that women had a “raw nature which posed a constant threat to male civility and culture.” A woman during this period was raised to conform to these ideas and for the most part they did, however when a woman would step out of these bounds she could find herself accused of witchcraft. There was nothing more fearful to a man then a woman who was on her own.Evidence suggests that women were not respected or treated well in society, but they did have a major role to play in the home. It was a woman’s duty to tend to the home and the children, and for many women this included helping with a wide range of work around the home and even in the field. Women had to tend to the garden, animals, do general housekeeping, mend clothing, prepare meals and would sometimes even take on extra work to make more income for the family. In society “Women generally identified primarily with their families and a small circle of close friends and neighbours, or gossips.” Women would group together based on different factors some of these included status, age and values. These circles of friends could be a source of great support for women; however we also see that these same support systems could turn against them and become the accusatory party during a witchcraft trial.A woman living in the 17th century would know what her place was in the world, she would understand that one of the most critical aspects of her life would be the ability to bear healthy children. The idea of fertility is central to women during this time period and can be linked to the idea of women as witches. “The terrors, anxieties and dependence that childbed brought lay at the heart of the witch craze.” A woman had a lot to fear during pregnancy and childbirth, it was an unfortunate fact that during this time period stillbirths, infant deaths and the death of the mother shortly after birth was an all too common occurrence. A woman would rely on a midwife for the delivery of her infant and would after the birth often have a lying-in maid to help while she was confined to the bed for the first six weeks. “If mother or child failed to thrive, she, or another elderly woman connected with the care of the child, was the most likely person to be accused.” The women that were there to offer help to the new mothers, were the most often accused of causing the death of infants. They were easy targets because of their close proximity to the infant and mother and also because these women were usually old women who were no longer able to bear children of their own. “Fertile, fecund married matrons could be envied by their fellows. In turn, they might be watchful for the attacks of jealousy that they believed must surely shadow their good fortune, suspicious of older women who could no longer have children.” The ability for women to give birth was an important part of womanhood and once they moved past this phase in their lives they became much less useful to their community.There is evidence of women being accused of witchcraft for this reason in 17th century court documents in one such case Anne Durent accused another woman Amy Duny of causing harm to her child “That Amy Duny looking after her child one day in her absence, confessed at her return, that she had given suck to the child, though she was an old woman”… “The night after, the child fell into strange and sad fits: wherein in continued for several weeks.” In this case we see that an old woman has been accused of causing harm to a child, because she allowed the child to suck from her breast. The idea of an the old woman causing harm to a child ties in with the idea of fertility, the young fertile women represented life while the unfertile women represented death. Old women were not viewed with respect during this period “There was a powerful cultural current of hatred of elderly women in early modern Europe” the old woman was no longer important in most societies because she could no longer bear children, therefore they were often viewed with suspicion. Another case that involves an infant involves a woman by the name of Jane Wenham it is documented that she “sees a lovely child in her neighbour’s lap; she is tempted to stroke and carass the infant: soon after the babe dies stark distracted; and therefore Jane Wenham had bewitched it”These women would often be accused of not only just causing harm to new mothers and newborns, but they were accused of performing cannibalism on infants. Cannibalism was an act against God along with murder “(especially infanticide – ‘murdering little children, then boiling them to render their humours and flesh drinkable’)” It was believed that women would bring the bodies of infants to their Sabbaths and consume the body parts as a ritualistic practice. There were different reasons for the witches to perform these rituals one of these was the belief that a “Witch can be lifted away in the air by drinking the broth of a sodden infant” A women by the name of Helen Guthrie confessed to “ritual cannibalism and the smearing of a dead child’s flesh on a broom to enable her to fly.” Sabbaths were gatherings where witches would meet often with the devil and “indulged in every imaginable pleasure” When women confessed to witchcraft they often included accounts of attending Sabbaths with other women from their communities. During these events women would eat and drink with no limit, they would dance and partake in the flesh of infants; this is where women would also have contact with the devil. Association with the devil is a theme that commonly occurs in witchcraft accusations and trial records. Since women were viewed as weak minded and prone to persuasion, the idea of accused witches having relationships with the devil is not far- fetched. In their own confessions they told how easy it was for the devil to lure them into his grasp. They would often confess to being tricked into a relationship with the devil one women named Elizabeth Sowtherns said this in her confession “a Spirit or Deuill in the shape of a Boy, the one halfe of his Coate blacke, and the other browne, who bade this Examinate stay, saying to her, that if she would giue him her Soule, she should haue any thing that she would request.” Elizabeth’s case was made even more interesting because she involved other women from her community including her grand- daughter who said this about her encounter with the devil “as they went begging, perswade and aduise this Examinate to let a Deuill or Familiar appeare vnto her; and that shee this Examinate, would let him sucke at some part of her, and shee might haue, and doe what shee would.” From the above confessions we see that for these women in their confessions the devil appeared to them and offered them something in return for their services. The grand-daughter was asked to allow the devil to suck from a part of her body which has a sexual overtone to it, making it all the more damning. Women during this period were often thought to have uncontrollable sexual desires “the most malicious of women were the most lustful; and the most lustful of women are witches, whose sexual appetite was insatiable, and who, “for the sake of quenching their lusts, excite themselves with the devils.” A woman named Margaret Johnson who made this confession in 1634 “the devil appeared to her ‘in similitude or proportion of man apparelled in a suite of blacke tied about with silke points’, whereupon they made a pact and had sexual intercourse.” Women’s sexuality and the devil were linked together and became a major theme in witchcraft accusations. When looking at all of the evidence it is easy to see why women were so often a central target during witchcraft persecutions, what is not so easily seen on the surface is why these women would confess to these horrendous crimes. If the woman’s responses were inconsistent or “conflicted with other testimony or physical evidence indicated the need to proceed to torture.” They confessed because they were tortured and they had no choice, confessions would be gotten using various types of “torture; devices such as thumb-screws, leg vises, whipping stocks, scalding liquid baths, and racks.” These torture devices were used because of how important it was for the authorities to have a confession, “confessions mattered so much in the case of witchcraft because the criminal acts could by definition not be witnessed.” Acts such as going to the Sabbath and consorting with the devil could not be witnessed by anyone other than the participant; therefore it was extremely important to have a confession from the accused women.Evidence suggests that “Throughout most of central and western Europe, where witchcraft persecution was most intense, between 70 and 80 percent of convicted witches were women.” When the evidence is compiled it is easy to see why women were often targeted for witchcraft more than men. Women were viewed as suspicious creatures that did not have a strong enough will to resist temptations. Not only were women targeted for their suspicious nature, but because of superstitions against each other. When a woman was pregnant or had just given birth they often enlisted the help of a midwife or lying-in maid, these women were often older and beyond their own child bearing years. If something happened to the mother or child after delivery she would often be blamed because of her age. It was also not uncommon for a woman in the community to point the finger at her own neighbors; a young woman by the name of Grace Sowerbutts accused four women of killing a young child and then eating its body, and then taking part in a Sabbath where they had sexual intercourse with the devil. Accusations of witchcraft against women were common and widespread, what is most interesting about this is that the confessions of these women would often be very similar. Evidence suggests that women used their own previous knowledge of witch trials to create their own confessions. Along with this the inquisitors or tortures would feed the women information that they would then use to incriminate themselves, “the desperate fantasies and improvisations of the accused who are trying to ease their pains by complying with the demands of the interrogators.” These confessions would continue a vicious cycle of accusations of women with the idea that they were guilty because of the similarity in confessions, but in reality they were all innocent and only confessed to crimes that they had previous knowledge of in witch trials or they confessed to what the accusers wanted them to. To be a woman during this period was dangerous she had to live within strict guidelines in a patriarchal society. If she dared to stray from the norm then she could easily be accused of witchcraft, and even worse yet by the natural process of aging women could also be accused because of the suspicions against a women past her childbearing years. From the evidence we see that these women who were accused of witchcraft did not have any real choice but to wait and see what would happen to them, and they often had no choice but to confess to crimes that they did not commit. The circumstance were prime for women to be accused of witchcraft during this period, women were living in a patriarchal society that was full of superstitions surrounding womanhood. With the evidence we see that women were easy targets for witch accusations and they were truly victims of their time. BibliographyPrimary SourcesBoulton, Richard. "Witchcraft Collections." The Division of Rare And Manuscript Collections. 1715. (accessed November 17, 2012).Krame, Heinrich and Sprenger, James, comp.Wicasta Lovelace and Christie Rice. Malleus Maleficarum. Windhaven Network Inc, 2001.Potts, Thomas, ed. James Crossley. The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster 1613. The Project Gutenberg, 2006.Thomas, Ady. "Witchcraft Collections." The Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. 1656. (accessed November 17, 2012).Unknown. "Witchcraft Collections." The Division of Rare And Manuscript Collections. 1712. (accessed November 17, 2012).Secondary Sources BIBLIOGRAPHY Almond, Phillip C. England's First Demonologist : Reginald Scot and 'The Discoverie of Witchcraft'. London: I.B. Tauris, 2011.Broedel, Hans Peter. Malleus Maleficarum and the Construction of Witchcraft : Theology and Popular Belief. Manchester GRB: Manchester University Press, 2003.Capp, Bernard. When Gossips Meet: Women, Family, and Neighbourhood in Early Modern England. Oxford GRB: Oxford University Press, 2004.Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. Monster Theory. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1996.Pocs, Gabor Klaniczay and Eva. Witchcraft Mythologies and Persecutions, Volume 3 : Demons, Spirits, Witches. New York: Central European University Press, 2008.Poole, Robert. Lancashire Witches : Histories and Stories. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003.Roper, Lyndal. Witch Craze. New Haven And London: Yale University Press, 2004.Stewart, Pamela J. and Strathern, Andrew J. Witchcraft, Sorcery, Rumors and Gossip. West Nyack: Cambridge University Press, 2003. ................
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