The "witch trials" of medieval Europe, the tragedy behind millions of women
The witch trial, also known as the witch hunt and witch trial, was a campaign carried out by the ** gangsters in medieval Europe against the so-called infidels. From 1480 to 1780, this ** wave swept through Europe for 300 years, once a noble woman was falsely accused"Witches", they will be immediately beheaded and burned. Many women were unjustly killed, making Chen Wei one of the historical relics of a dark period in the history of human civilization in Europe.
The European Witch Trials"The rise of the movement.
Europe about"Witchcraft"records date back to the 12th century, and witchcraft has been associated with heresy. In traditional Germanic cultures before the Middle Ages, women, especially those who made medicines, practiced medicine, and could read and write, were revered.
In the early Middle Ages, ** religion developed in the Germanic region, the church believed that according to the ** doctrine that women should be strictly subordinate to men, in order to reduce the status of women, the church began to despise women, depicted witches, ** women, and even burned alive so-called"Witches"。At the beginning of the 15th century, there was a record of the suppression of witches in Europe, and at the end of the 15th century, the ** against witches reached its peak.
In 1848, Pope Innocent VIII issued a royal decree stating:"(Witches) can never be forgiven because they are ** and shameless"。Subsequently, all the clergy were mobilized to work together to suppress the witches. Two years later, in 1486, the missionaries Heinrich and Jacobs wrote the famous Gospel of the Witches, a book that was almost ubiquitous at the time, in which many identifications were enumerated"Witches"The method thus opened up a huge momentum"European Witch Trials European Witch Trials"Prologue.
The book, titled The Witch's Devotion, was the first to generalize and impose on women the knowledge of the devil and witchcraft that was popular in the 15th century, and because people at the time knew nothing about this new knowledge, blindly enshrined the descriptions in the book as truth, thousands of women were innocently burned at the stake.
For example, it is believed that witches make them out of dolls every night"Devil's oil"Smear yourself and fly through cracks, locks, chimneys, flues, broomsticks, spindles, or earth dragons to the gathering place of the witches' Sabbath, where the devil gathers. It is also believed that bad thoughts lead to demonic **, so women abort and indulge themselves because they are bewitched by witches, and disasters such as hailstorms, poor harvests, and diseases are also believed to be caused by witches.
Due to"Witches"Enchanted and no longer sensitive to pain, according to the Witch's Hammer theory, they can do so"Witches"Inflict any torture. However, despite the methods for identifying, interrogating, and removing witches described in the book, there are no charges or defenses in these processes. In addition to torture and extortion of confessions, the so-called"Witchcraft"The tests were even more absurd, such as putting their hands in boiling water, removing the Holy Ring, then wrapping and sealing their hands in bandages and torturing them until they felt no pain after three days. If no trace of the ring is found after three days, he is innocent; If the defendant is tied hand and foot and thrown into the lake, if he sinks to the bottom of the lake, he is innocent, and so on.
Thousands of women were killed in vain.
Due to the darkness and absurdity of the witch trials, the vast majority were executed"Witches"All are innocent, and according to the absurd theories of the judges, regardless of the actions or reactions of the person being judged, they will be judged to be killed as witches. For example, if the defendant has endured torture, then she is undoubtedly a witch; If she can't stand the torture and dies, then she is abandoned by the devil.
At that time, Europeans began to kill cats because they believed that cats were witches' **, which led to the near extinction of cats in the Middle Ages. As a result, a large number of cats were killed, causing rats to multiply in large numbers, triggering the terrible plague that killed more than 25 million people in Europe.
In this ** wave that swept across Europe, the dark side of humanity was unleashed. Many put on judgment"Witches"See it as an opportunity to admire, toy with and insult women, and to do whatever they want to these poor women in order to satisfy their bestial desires. At the same time, judges and women judges have taken advantage of the campaign to enrich themselves. is attached"Witches"or"Witch"All the property of the tagged woman goes to the torturer, and for every witch that is burned, the torturer asks the deceased's family for firewood and money for a celebratory feast. They used the blood of their victims to kill them, but they used it in vain. The blood of these victims was eventually turned into gold and silver coins, while the convicted women were burned alive or boiled to death.
By the end of the 18th century, it had almost ceased to exist.
Since the beginning of the 17th century, there has been a growing cry against wizards in Western Europe. In 1614, the Spanish Inquisition, based on a detailed report by the Northern District Judge, concluded that the accusations of witchcraft were completely unfounded and unfounded, and called for the strengthening of the church and the judiciary, the reform of the administration, and the discontinuation of accusations of witchcraft.
With the rise of the Renaissance and later the Enlightenment, these materialist ideas were greatly expanded and promoted, enabling people to perceive things more rationally. At the same time, thanks to the efforts of scientists and philosophers, the status of nature and the state was freed from the shackles of theocracy, and the superstitious arguments of magic and witchcraft were dispelled, so that the countries of Western Europe, under the strong pressure of the Enlightenment, issued a ban on the girl who had been put under the gus (in northern Germany in 1649, in France in 1672, and in Prussia in 1714).
Since then, the massive witch trial campaign has largely been curbed, but the problem remains pervasive. The last German witch died in 1775, and the last European witch, Anna Goldie, was beheaded in Switzerland in 1782. Thus came to an end to the European witch trials that had ravaged Europe for three centuries.