The Burning Times

The burning  times
The death toll























Definition
Historically the term designated, especially for witches, the period within Western history in which there occurred intense burning together with various types of murdering of witches. This period is known for its bloody witch-hunts and crazes which extended from the mid-15th century to the early 18th century.

The specific crime of "witchcraft" has led to the installment of a huge legislation, courts and jurisdiction and consequently the execution of about half a million witches in Europe in the period of 1400 - 1792, the majority of whom were female, some male or even children, and the majority of whom were burned at the stake or hanged after being extensively tortured, an event unparalleled in human history. Most of these victims probably would have viewed themselves as good Christians, and were not member of any secret cult: most of the confessions about secret meetings or convents can be shown to be the result of the torture on one hand, and the superstitions of the inquisitors on the other. The Burning Times was one of the foulest periods in the history of Western Civilization, a time when reason and compassion gave way to prejudice and frenzy, when mere accusation or simply being "different" could result in the most sadistic and brutal tortures and eventually death.

The idea of burning witches, one of the cruelest forms of execution, is said to have originated with Saint Augustine (354-430), who said "that pagans, Jews, and heretics would burn forever in eternal fire with the Devil unless saved by the Catholic Church."

Witches, also were classed as heretics, during the time of the Inquisition. Heretics were not only disbelieves of the church doctrine, but, many also were accused of beings servants of the Devil by forming compacts with him to get his help. The accused were sentenced to execution by burning when found guilty of heresy, and few escaped this conviction of the church, which practically controlled every aspect of human life, because "Fire itself is the element of purification, and nothing less than fire could negate the evil that was said to be witches."

The 16th century demonologist, Jean Bodin, stated in “De la Demonomanie des Sorciers”:

Even if the witch has never killed or done evil to man, beast, or fruits,
and even if he has always cured bewitched people, or driven away
tempests, it is that he has renounced God and treated with Satan that
he deserves to be burned alive...Even if there is no more than the
obligation to the Devil, having denied God, this deserves the most cruel
death that can be imagined.

The idea of burning could also come from the “Wicker man" of the pagan Celts. As reported in accounts by Julius Caesar and other Romans, the Celts would build a huge, cage-like structure in the shape of a large man made from wood or wicker. Inside it were stuffed living human beings. In bonfire-like fashion the "wicker man" was set ablaze, sacrificing the people inside.

However, all witches were not burned at the stake. It seems various countries had their preferred forms of execution. Hanging was preferred in England and the American colonies. In France, Scotland and Germany it was the custom to first strangle the condemned witches, as an act of mercy, before sending them to the hanging stand or garroting, and then cremating them to ashes.

Many witches were burned alive, needless to say. It is alleged by church authorities that many who were burned had either recanted their confessions at the last moment or did not repent for their crimes. The burnings were executed by civil authorities because the Church would have no part in the murdering of people. An elaborate accounting system connected with the burnings was established which included expenses for the trail and the prisoner's incarceration in jail. Some trial in Scotland show that the burning of a witch consumed 16 loads of peat plus wood and coal. This debt was attached to the condemned person's estate or relatives.

Witch lynchings and burnings continued infrequently into the late 19th century in England, Europe and Latin America. There are no reliable accounts as to the exact number of witches executed. Only estimates can be made. During the 150 year period of the Inquisition, in Germany where the most fierce witch hunts occurred, the minimum estimates range from 30,000 to 100,000.

A witch burning was a great public spectacle. Most of the village's population turned out to witness it. It has been pointed out that more burnings occurred in small villages than larger towns or cities because in the villages people were more superstitious. Usually the burning occurred shortly after sentencing. The interval between was just long enough to hire the executioner, construct the execution site and gather the wood or fuel. However, in Scotland, the burning was preceded by days of fasting and preaching. The witch was strangled first, sometimes not completely. Then she was drugged unconscious or semiconscious to where she was tied to a stake or dumped into a barrel of tar and set afire. If the witch was not dead and managed to escape the flames then onlookers would shove her back into the fire.







Antiquity


The Babylonians and Assyrians believed that myriads of evil spirits or devils hovered about the face of the earth and caused all the evils of humanity; and that there was a special class of these malignant beings who moved about at night, inspired bad dreams, and even sucked the blood of sleepers. This belief in legions of devils passed through the Jews, into Christianity, and the particular belief in night-prowlers and blood-suckers or entrail-suckers (vampires, harpies, etc.) obtained currency amongst the Greeks and Romans. The Greek and Latin word strix, which properly means the screech-owl was applied to these dreaded night-birds.

 The Romans, as the Babylonians, believed very emphatically in magic and its evil powers. The magician was exposed to a sentence of death in Roman law and was often executed. The ground of the law was, of course, purely secular. The practicer of black magic was dangerous to the community.

Greek mythology and most of the pagan religions put emphasis on witchcraft. Circe, found in the legends of Greek mythology, was a witch or sorceress who beguiled sailors lost at sea to approach her island where she could shape shift them into animals. She is recalled in The Odyssey where she was outwitted by Odysseus. Another ancient Greek witch was Medea, noted for her use of magic to aid the bold adventurer Jason in the quest for the Golden Fleece. Furthermore, Hecate was a Greek titan/witch whose name also appears in Macbeth. Morgan Le Fay tormented King Arthur and his knights.The volva told Odin how the Aesir gods would fall. Some Native American tribes feared witches, such as the Iroquois, Pueblo and Navajo (Dina). Certain African tribes believe in female witches who ride trained hyenas to meetings and cast evil spells.

 Early Christians were also persecuted under the pagan rule of the Roman Empire. The raids and land grabs of the Vikings were another example of pagan atrocities committed against Christians, especially in Ireland and Britain where the Norsemen sacked monasteries, killed monks, and seized slaves and booty.


Emperor Constantine had made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, then centered in Constantinople. After his death subsequent imperial decrees were aimed at stamping out Paganism. An edict in 340 AD outlawed pagan practices in the Eastern Empire and was imposed universally in 342. In 346 the practice of pagan worship became punishable by death. Following this, there were periods when paganism was decriminalized and openly practiced again, especially under the Roman ruler Julian, who himself became a pagan being inspired by the mysteries of ancient Greece. But eventually paganism lost favor to Christianity.

  At the end of the tenth century Abbot Regino made a large collection of Church laws and canons, and one of these is concerned with witches. It says:

 “And we must not overlook this, that certain wicked women, who have turned aside to Satan, seduced by the illusions and phantasms of the demons, believe and profess that during the night they ride with Diana the goddess of the pagans [another version says, or with Herodias] and an innumerable crowd of women on certain beasts, and pass over great spaces of the earth during the night, obeying her commands as their mistress, and on certain nights are summoned to her service. Would that these had perished in their perfidy and had not dragged many with them to destruction! For an innumerable multitude, deceived by this false opinion, believe that these things are true and so depart from the faith and fall into the error of the pagans, believing that there is some divinity apart from the one God,…”









Witch Hunt today
  There has been some executions of witches in the XXth century.

When the dictatorship of Duvallier falls in Haïti after more than twenty years of brutal treatments, many “tonton macoutes” were accused of witchcraft and executed by the population.

There has been also some executions in Pietersburg (South Africa) in 1985, and in 1984 among the Tepehuanes tribes in Mexico.

In the Telangana region of India, villagers have lately burnt or stoned to death several people suspected of practising ‘Banamati’, a local form of witchcraft, and  held responsible for the death and ill-health of several villagers. Traditionally, local people would remove the teeth of suspected witches in the belief that it would take away their powers. A recent survey by sociologists in Ranga Reddy district and other areas revealed that several factors including illiteracy and lack of medical awareness had contributed to the problem.







The death toll
 
                                                 Accused          Executed

Holy Roman Empire      ~100,000+                  ~50,000+
 Poland                                                     ?        ~15,000+
 France                                         10,000+             5,000+
 British Isles
England                                           2,000             ~1,000
 Scotland                                          3,069               1,337+
 Ireland                                                   0                  0
 New England                                    334                      35
 Scandinavia                                ~5,000           1,500-1,800
 Hungary                                      ~1,600                472
 Spain                                               3,687                  100+
 Italy                                             ~2,200+                 0?


 Witchcraze: A New History of the European Witch Hunts, Anne Llewellyn Barstow, Pandora 1995. Adapted from Appendix B.

 The period considered is roughly 1500-1650. There were few (~500) executions for witchcraft before 1500. It was a phenomenon of the Renaissance rather than of the Middle Ages.

 The Holy Roman Empire figure includes the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and parts of modern France, as well as Germany and Austria. Poland was a huge country back then as well. Both Catholic and Protestant states persecuted witches. The low number of executions in Italy and Spain is due to the fact the Spanish Inquisition was more interested in heretics and in relapsed converts from Judaism, Islam, etc. than in accusations of witchcraft.

 In most areas most of the victims (roughly 3/4) were female. Notable exceptions include Finland, Estonia and Russia, but the total numbers from these countries are not large.