Picture of the Inquisition was done by Marcos Huerta
The Mallues Maleficarum was instituted in 1233 by Pope Gregory IX . He Instituted the Roman Catholic Tribunal known as the " Inquisition" in an attempt to surpress heresy.
In 1320 the church at the request of Pope John XXII offically declaired Witchcraft and the old ways of the Pagans a hostile threat to the newly forming church and christianity.
The Inquisition , also know as the Malleus Maleficarum, Papal Bull, Hammer Of The Witches, or Hexenhammer was first printed Dec 5, 1484 but not inacted until 1486. It is a text book on procedures and was a blueprint and guide for the suppression of an underground movement against the christian structure 0f medieval society.
The Malleus Maleficarum was written by two Popes Jacobus Sprenger and Henricus Institoris ( The Latinization of Prior Heinrich Kramer) whom bared witness to the to the brutal killing of Innocent people.
The Mallues Maleficarum was the work of Pope Innocent VIII( 1484-1492) and was complied to provide teeth to the Papal Bull Of Dec 5, 1484 and was also known as " Summis Desiderentes Affectibus". The Pope appointed the Dominician Friar monks the choosen executioners for the church.
The word BULL is derived from the word Bolla and means lead seal.
THOU SHALL NOT SUFFER A WITCH TO LIVE
In the beginning Pagans as well as christians of the church worshiped side by side, each one of course worshipping what each believed in and all was fine.
The church was new then and wasn't getting the followers they had expected as many practiced the old ways which they had been taught, so the church came up with this idea that they would make practicing the old ways a crime or hersey punishable by death.
Pope Gregory IX in the year 1233 instituted the Roman Catholic tribunal known as the inquisition in an attempt to surpress heresy.
In 1320 at the request of the church Pope John XXII offically declaired Witchcraft and the Pagan religion a hostile threat to christianity and the persecution against all Pagans spread very quickly thoughout European countries. It is estimited that as many as 13 million people died at the hands of the inquisitors and the church.
Children were often times called upon to accuse innocent people of practicing Witchcraft or accusing them of being a Witch, children of the church they thought were of pure heart and mind and wouldn't lie.
After a woman was accused of being a Witch she was often times raped, and brutally tortured some times with red hot pins inserted into her skin to bleed her to death, or boiled in hot oils, another way of torture was to put burning hot charcoals onto her skin until it melted the flesh away and entered into her body. There were many torture devices used to produce a confession and this tool is what they used to rip off the breasts of women.
Of course you've all heard about burning at the stake, but this to took about 30 minutes for the accused to actually die. The inquisitors discovered if they used green wood it would make for a longer burn and slow down the time it took to burn the accused thus making it a longer torture process.
Women back then were doctors , lawyers, healers, sages, musicians, poets, they were the politians and the balance.
Many woman were stripped down by other women and examined, then the inquisitor was summoned into the room where again she was re examined, then they layed her on the table and her legs spread, if a clitorus was noticed she was instantly deemed a Witch and they called the clitorus the mark of the devil.
With the woman whom was accused usually went her children... as if she was a Witch , surely her children were as well and they to were brutally and painfully executed.
Many others perished at the ignorant hands of the inquisitors for having what they called the " mark of the devil". If you had a birth mark, scare, a mole, or what they called a third nipple, which one in 3 have, you were also deemed a witch and executed.
This third Nipple was blueish in color and around the nipple , it was thought the devil suckled on it by the ignorant church and it's followers. The old ways went under ground and many of the old potions and herbal treatments along with incantations were lost. Families soon turned on each other to save there own necks from the gallows and fires.
Mothers turned in daughters to save them selves. Even leaders such as Emperor Constintine of Rome had his own wife boiled alive in oil till she died, screaming out, why has thou forsaken my love and had his nephew whipped to death.
St. Augustine argued that women didn't have souls and there for were the slaves and servants of man.
The last reported and knowns trials were held in Scotland: 1722, The law was repealed against Witches in 1736
Dutch: 1610
French: 1745
Swiss: 1782
Polish: 1793
England: 1712, The law was only repealed against Witches in 1951
We all have heard about the infamious Salem Witchcraft trials of 1692, but actually the 1st accused Witch was never killed in Salem but rather in Connecticut in the year 1647 forty five years prior to the Witchcraft executions in Salem Mass.
Margret Jones was the first woman accused and executed under the accusations she was a Witch on the morning of June 15, 1648.
Next came Mary Johnson's execution on December 1648 in Wethersfield Connecticut.
Good wife Bassett of Stratford whom was a devoted woman of the church was then accused and in 1651 was also executed.
The next accused Witches took place in Farmington Connecticut in Jan 1663. Mary Barnes along with Rebecca and Nathaniel Greensmith were all accused and executed under the suspession of Witchcraft.
In January 1693 Sir William Phips wife was accused of hersery and Witchcraft. Sir Phips ended the executions and broke apart the Puritian religion.
The most popular form of excution was the gallows in Salem Mass. with not one person ever being burned at the stake there. Most of the heinous crimes against women took place in the European countries,starting in Southern France in the year 1320 and comming to Salem Mass. in the year 1692.
The last 5 accused Witches in Salem were given an offical pardon Oct 31, 2001
During the buring times the church came up with there own festivities to try to wipe out the Pagan holidays. Here's some of the Pagans holidays and how the christian holidays mimic them :
Yule, a Pagan holiday which falls between December 20-23rd.
Christmas, a christian holiday that falls on December 24th-25th.
Spring Equinox, Pagan holiday
Easter, christian holiday
Summer Solstice, Pagan holiday
Feast of St. John the baptist
Samhain, Oct 30-31st( Some pagans worship from Oct 31 into Nov 1)
All Saints Day: November 1st
Here are some other torture devices the church and the inquisitiors invented.
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Sources of information: Witchcraze,Dictionary of Witchcraft, Malleus Maleficarum, and Witches and Witchcraft Second Edition
