The Burning Times
by Graelan Wintertide
Summer Solstice 1997
"...The belief that there are such things as witches is so essential a part of the Catholic faith that obstinately to maintain the opposite manifestly savours of heresy."
And so begins the Malleus Maleficarum, the text which is so often at the center of the Burning Times, a period of history during which countless people were executed for the crime of witchcraft. Accounts of this period vary widely. Some say nine million people were put to death; others place the number closer to 20,000.
Was it a war against Pagans? Against women? Or was it simply an example of human nature at it's worst? As Witches, we have a particular interest in this period of history, especially if it was a war against our spiritual ancestors. Before we leap to any conclusions or continue to build on the myths of what this portion of history was not, we need to look at what it was.
Although the Burning Times took place from roughly 1484 CE until the early sixteenth century, (and is occasionally extended as far as 1300 CE to 1700 CE) the massive efforts to Christianize Europe and the British Isles began much earlier. St. Boniface converted much of Germany in the early part of the eighth century, St. Illtud founded the llanilltud Fawr monastery in Wales around 500 CE, and St. Patrick began his missionary work in Ireland in 432 CE. Even in the areas we consider traditionally Pagan and in which the persecution was the greatest (such as the British Isles and Germany), Christianity had been a growing force for over 1,000 years by the time the Burning Times began.
As Witchcraft has been so secretive throughout its modern life, there is a very limited oral tradition as to what our spiritual ancestors believed. We know that the Christian Church was an immediate part of their lives, that at best, only a very small minority would have dared to openly oppose the Church's power. Christianity filled every aspect of their lives.
"... the entire medieval millenium took on the aspect of triumphant Christendom. As aristocracies arose from the barbaric mires, kings and princes owed their legitimacy to divine authority, and squires became knights by praying all night at Christian altars. ...the life of every European, from baptism through matrimony to burial, was governed by popes, cardinals, prelates, monsignors, archbishops, bishops, and village priests. The clergy, it was believed, would also cast decisive votes in determining where each soul would spend the afterlife."
Does this mean that the general populous had completely converted to Christianity and turned their back on the old ways? Not by any means. Iceland remained a Pagan country until 1000 CE, when the king converted to Christianity for economic reasons; Sweden was ruled by a Pagan king until 1085 CE.
"The crafty but benevolent pagan gods... survived all this... (Paganism) addressed needs the Church could not meet. Its rituals, myths, legends, marvels, and miracles were peculiarly suited to people who, living in the trackless fen and impenetrable forests, were always vulnerable to random disaster."
The people of the time were a mixture of faiths. They embraced Christian beliefs, but many of them held onto their ancestral paths. The common people still followed the old traditions, demonstrated in German Fachwerk (half-timbered) buildings and corn dollies on English West Country thatched cottages as well as many other forms of folk-art and lore.
A superstitious people, they believed in ghosts and goblins, and knew that,
"At any moment, under any circumstances, a person could be removed from the world of the senses to a realm of magic creatures and occult powers."
At the same time, the Church ruled learning with an iron first.
"Until late in the fifteenth century most books and nearly all education had been controlled by the Church... Scarcely any libraries possessed more than 300 books... So valuable were they that each volume was chained to a desk or lectern."
Over 85% of all Laborers were illiterate -- the illiteracy rates for Peasants and Craftsmen were somewhat lower, 79% and 44% respectively. This created a complete reliance on oral tradition and instruction for most learning. Without Bibles of their own, the masses learned the Christian faith from the clergy; news was passed by word of mouth.
As Pagan beliefs in the supernatural, the spirit realm, and magic were coupled with the pervasive Christian faith, it created an atmosphere conducive to the Christian concepts of a spiritual battle between Good and Evil and gave a great amount of credibility to accusations and charges that were based solely on hearsay and anecdotes. We may have a difficult time understanding this mindset, that people could be condemned solely on oral testimony (no matter how outlandish), but it is not too far from the mentality of our fellow countrymen.
Beginning in the early 1980's, a hysteria gripped portions of America. Allegations have been leveled time and again (thirty nine cases by one account), with no physical evidence, of Satanic cults who are sexually abusing children and committing human sacrifice on a massive scale. In an on-going case in Wenatchee, WA, 43 adults have been hit with 29,726 charges of child rape and molestation involving 60 children. On May 26, 1998, The Washington Times reported:
"Called into question is why the nation's criminal justice system may have failed in Wenatchee, where people confessed to crimes they now say they never committed; where children who once made the most heinous accusations of abuse now say it never occurred."
Sixteen of the accused in this case (all of whom are still in prison), are said to have committed the crimes while wearing black robes. One of the defendants, who has since been acquitted, is the pastor of the local church. The Wenatchee case is not an isolated incident; there are many cases involving outlandish claims that are supported only with oral testimony. Testimony has been accepted as evidence in cases around the United States, claiming that animals were sacrificed, that babies were cut up and eaten, that the children in question were locked in cages, that the accused transported their victims via trap doors, magic tunnels, hot air balloons, and the sewer system. Although there is no collaborating physical evidence, the accused are still arrested, charged, and civil rights are routinely violated in these cases.
"A mere suspicion of witchcraft justifies the immediate arrest and torture of the suspected person." -- Jean Bodin, 1580
In a recent case where a man was accused of raping his daughters in over 800 Satanic rituals and personally performing their abortions, the defendant was placed alone in a cell for eight months, with the light continually on and nothing more than a Bible to read and a note pad to write his recovered "memories" on. Although there was no collaborating evidence (a medical examiner could find no scars on the two girls, no sign that they had ever been sexually active or had abortions) the defendant was pressured by his pastor and a court appointed therapist into "recovering" memories and entering a guilty plea.
Often, the children are coerced into making statements and the initial accusations are made by modern day witch hunters. In one case, the day-care teacher responsible for leveling the accusations at the parents had previously reported 20 other cases of child abuse, had a history of mental instability, and claimed to have been personally sexually assaulted daily by 300 to 400 different men.
"The trial of this offense must not be conducted like other crimes. Whoever adheres to the ordinary course of justice perverts the spirits of the law, both divine and human." -- Jean Bodin "
In all cases of the child ought to be taken against the parent." -- Henri Boquet, 1550-1690
In none of the mentioned cases was there any collaborating physical evidence, and in many, there is actually physical evidence that points directly toward the defendants' innocence. Yet these people are still convicted of these crimes. And in almost all the cases that I've studied, the defendants are also accused of committing these crimes as part of Satanic rituals.
Supervisory Special Agent Kenneth Lanning of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit stated,
"All of this is complicated by the fact that almost any discussion of satanism and the occult is interpreted in the light of the religious beliefs of those in the audience. Faith, not logic and reason, governs the religious beliefs of most people. As a result, some normally skeptical law enforcement officers accept the information... without critically evaluating it or questioning the sources. Officers who do not normally depend on church groups for law enforcement criminal intelligence, who know that media accounts of their own cases are notoriously inaccurate, and who scoff at and joke about tabloid television accounts of bizarre behavior suddenly embrace such material when presented in the context of satanic activity. Individuals not in law enforcement seem even more likely to do so."
If we are capable of such behavior now, of believing such outlandish claims here, late in the twentieth century, an uneducated populace five hundred years ago must certainly have been capable of it as well. But why do we cast aside logic when such scenarios present themselves? Special Agent Lanning suggest that such accusations present,
"...the clear-cut, black-and-white struggle between good and evil as the explanation for child abduction, explotation, and abuse... The devil makes you do it. This makes it even easier to deal with the child molester who is the pillar of the community."
During medieval times the Black Plague was blamed on the Jewish population and witches were popular scapegoats for endless problems. Perhaps it was easier to blame disasters and unpleasant experiences on supernatural sources, rather than taking responsibility for them yourself.
If you could blame your evil deeds on a witch's curse, perhaps the Lord would have pity on your soul. With this mindset, (an uneducated populous capable of tossing logic aside and ready to set the blame elsewhere, further exacerbated by professional witch hunters), the scene was primed for disaster. And disaster struck.
There is no debating that tens of thousands of people were imprisoned, tortured, and executed during the Burning Times. But nine million executions is an extraordinarily high number. In 1500 CE, the total population of Europe was only 73 million. France was Europe's most populous country with 15 million inhabitants and Paris was Europe's most populated city with a population of 150,000. London was England's largest city with 50,000 citizens; Bristol was the second largest English city with 10,000.
Nine million people represents twice the population of England and Wales combined during this period of time, a million more than the population of Spain, and nine times the number of Jews living in Europe. Given the difficulty of finding accurate court and historical documents of the trials, estimates of 14,000 to 23,000 executions are probably low, although more accurate.
The answer lies somewhere in between. During the period of history that the Burning Times covers, Europe was sparsely populated, religious and superstitious, and as vulnerable to hysteria as we are in the modern age. But when we look at the Burning Times from a Pagan perspective, we have to remember two things.
First of all, it wasn't until Pope Innocent VII issued his infamous Bull in 1484 that witchcraft was consider heresy. Until that time, if a witch was brought to court, it was because they were accused of specific crimes (attempted murder, etc.), acts that modern Witches would want nothing to do with, whether the charges were accurate or not.
Secondly, the witches that were being persecuted were mythical. Yes, mythical. There were definitely Pagans at the time. Even with just the examples of the Fachwerk and corn dollies, we see that the old traditions still held. Countless churches were built on Pagan holy sites. The dates of Christian holy days were shifted to coincide with the dates the Pagan populous still celebrated. In a thousand little ways, our ancestors celebrated their Pagan roots on a daily basis.
But these were not the witches that most witch hunters were after. Those Witches who were executed, with very few exceptions, were probably captured by pure coincidence, at least until the hysteria grew. The common people had no reason to fear those people we would today consider Witches.
They were wise women and healers, shamans and elders. In very few instances were these citizens actually targeted. Most of the confessions and letters of the trials that have survived to modern times were from God-fearing Christians, and it seems that the tide of rumor, fear, and superstition had more to do with the accusations than any other factors. If you begin digging through documents on the Burning Times, the accusations are almost never that the person was being condemned for being a healer or midwife, or that they celebrated the turning of the Wheel of the Year. And considering that Christianity had been a growing force in Europe for over one thousand years, the Witches of the time may have practiced in secret, just as we do today.
What was being hunted were the same mythical creatures that were being hunted since the birth of Christianity. The Roman majority once condemned the new Christian faith of committing child sacrifice, drinking blood, and performing all sorts of unholy rites. Many of the same accusations were being leveled at the "witches" of the time. It was the same "crime," just different people being accused.
In many of the court transcripts and documents, the accused call out to the Christian God under torture, they insist, upon threat of execution, that they have never turned from God (even when they are told that repentance will save them).
Johannes Junius recounted such a case (the accused was said to have practiced witchcraft, participated in "witch-sabbaths," and desecrated holy water, among other things), the incident taking place on June 30, 1628.
"Thumb screws were applied. Says he has never denied God his Saviour nor suffered himself to be baptized otherwise... [witches were believed to be baptized by the devil] Leg screws. Will confess absolutely nothing... He has never renounced God; will never do such a thing... Strappado [a torture which often dislocated the shoulders]. He has never renounced God; God will not forsake him; if he were such a wretch he would not let himself be so tortured; God must show some token of his innocence. He knows nothing about witchcraft..."
What makes the issue of the Burning Times so complex and extremely difficult to understand is that the individual witch hunters and the people who brought the accusations had extremely diverse reasons for doing so.
For some, it was a war against women, and on at least four occasions, every women in the community was executed. For others who leveled the accusations, their motivation was politics, greed, or revenge. And, in at least one case I'm aware of, it actually was a healer women that was imprisoned, although the charges may have resulted from the jealousy of the doctors and priests that were unable to heal the patient in question.
If the Burning Times was a direct confrontation against specific Pagan members of the community, the documentation has been well hidden. But if it was a broader attack against humanity, it is perhaps even more important to us as Witches.
Many of us wear the Burning Times as a badge of honor, a way to say,
"My faith has been persecuted and that makes it important."
As an attack against humanity, the Burning Times aren't something that happened to just our Pagan ancestors; it happened to all of us as human beings, whether we were Pagan, Jew, Christian, or something else altogether. It happened to ordinary people, those without the power to protect themselves, people like you and I, like the person living next door.
The Burning Times wasn't about religion; it was about living. If you were a woman, you were more likely than a man to be executed, but there were men who died at your side. If you were brave enough to speak out with new ideas, to follow your heart, you were more likely to be targeted than those who were content to quietly follow.
When you think of the Burning Times, understand that they weren't just Pagans in the flames, that they were people from all walks of life who suffered and died. The next time you gaze into a candle flame or stare into the heart of a bonfire, think about those that have gone before. They were dreamers and doers, the people that reached out to others and those rare folks who changed the world, even if it was just the world immediately around them. By honoring their memories, we honor that spark of life in us.
And as we honor and remember those who went to the flames, we carry on the tradition of not simply following the dark desires of the masses, but we set aside our lives to do something better, even if we have to do it on our own.