In this episode we are going to take a step back in time, a time where the Malleus Malificarum (The Hammer of the Witches) reigned supreme; where the Witch-Bull of 1484 approved the inquisitions to follow. And "Thou shalt not suffer the witch to live" was the motto of the day.

But before we begin a bit of background or history to properly set the scene. There were several complex factors that led to the witch trials, but for the sake of time (and to not bore y'all to tears), I will only highlight a few.[1,2]

Factor #1:
First and foremost the Biblical condemnation of witches that began ca. 560 BCE; Along with Ex 22:18 mentioned above - Leviticus 20:27 was a frequently cited passage used in condemning witches:

"A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them." (KJV)

Factor #2:
St. Augustine of Hipppo argues witchcraft is an impossibility ca. 420 CE. In his writings, he puts forth the notion that only God alone could suspend the normal laws of the universe. In his view, neither Satan nor witches had supernatural powers or were capable of effectively invoking magic of any sort.

Factor #3:
1208 CE Satan becomes sinister following Pope Innocent III's attack on Cathar heretics who believed in a world in which God and Satan, both having supernatural powers, were at war. The Church attempted to discredit the Cathar belief by spreading stories that the heretics actually worshiped their evil deity in person.

Factor #4:
St. Thomas Aquinas argues in Summa Theolgicca (written in 1273) that the world was full of evil and dangerous demons. In Aquinas's mind, sex and witchcraft begin what will become a long association. Demons thus are seen as not merely seeking their own pleasure, but intent also on leading men into temptation.


http://www.sawneybean.com/horrors/matthew.htm

Factor #5:
Witchcraft trials erupt in Europe mid-1400s CE. During this time period, many defendants admitted to flying on poles and animals to attend assemblies presided over by Satan appearing in the form of a goat or other animal. Some defendants told investigators that they repeatedly kissed Satan's anus as a display of their loyalty. Others admitted to casting spells on neighbors, having sex with animals, or causing storms. The distinctive crime of witchcraft began to take shape.


http://top-10-list.org/2010/11/10/top-10-negative-impact-books

Factor #6:
Pope Innocent VIII and Malleus Maleficarum 1484 CE, put to rest the old orthodoxy that witches were powerless in the face of God to a new orthodoxy that held Christians had an obligation to hunt down and kill them. Over the next forty years, the Malleus would be reprinted thirteen times and come to help define the crime of witchcraft.

Factor #7:
The Reformation (mid-1500s CE) divided Europe between Protestant regions and those loyal to the Pope, but Protestants took the crime of witchcraft no less seriously--and arguably even more so--than Catholics.


http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/demon-mania.jpg

To make matters worse, a 1580 CE book by Jean Bodin On the Demon-Mania of Sorcerers, opened the door to use of testimony by children against parents, entrapment, and instruments of torture.

Factor #8:
King James and the North Berwick witch trials of 1591 CE in Scotland. This was the first major witchcraft persecution in Scotland, and began with a sensational case involving the royal houses of Denmark and Scotland. King James VI sailed to Copenhagen to marry Princess Anne, sister of Christian IV, King of Denmark. During their return to Scotland they experienced terrible storms and had to shelter in Norway for several weeks before continuing. The admiral of the escorting Danish fleet blamed the storm on the wife of a high official in Copenhagen whom he had insulted. Several nobles of the Scottish court were implicated, and witchcraft trials were held in both countries.[3]

Factor #9:
1606 CE performance of Shakespeare's Macbeth. During Shakespeare's day, witches were seen as worse than rebels, the most notorious traitor and rebel that can be. They were not only political traitors, but also spiritual traitors as well.[4]


http://blog.world-mysteries.com/science/shakespeare-and-witchcraft

ACT IV - SCENE I.
A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron.
Thunder. Enter the three Witches.

First Witch - Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.

Second Witch - Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined.

Third Witch - Harpier cries 'Tis time, 'tis time.

First Witch -
Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
 Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.

ALL -
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.[5]

Factor #10
Witch-hunting begins to decrease in the 1640s but no thanks to Matthew Hopkins and his associates who are believed to have been responsible for the deaths of 300 women between the years 1644 and 1646.[6]

Factor #11:
The last execution for witchcraft in England took place in either 1682 (Temperance Lloyd) or 1716, when Mary Hicks and her daughter Elizabeth were hanged. But either way, the Witchcraft Act of 1735 saw the end of the traditional form of witchcraft as attitudes changed. Penalties for the practice of witchcraft as traditionally constituted, which by that time was considered by many influential figures to be an impossible crime, were replaced by penalties for the pretense of witchcraft.[7]

Regretfully tho this did not prevent witch-hunting from shifting from one side of the Atlantic to the other, with the outbreak of hysteria in Salem in 1692.

So ends our history lesson,,,on to the story,,,



Extraordinary retrial begins of woman burned at the stake as a witch in 1627. By Allan Hall February 13, 2012.

A woman who was burned at the stake for sorcery more than 300 years is the subject of an extraordinary retrial which is seeking to clear her name.

Katharina Henot was tried, convicted and burned at the stake in the German city of Cologne in 1627 for being a witch - one of an estimated 25,000 alleged sorcerers incinerated for practicing the dark arts in Germany in days gone by.

However, her supporters are hoping to see her name cleared of any wrongdoing in a trial which could pave the way for other similar hearings to take place.

Mrs Henot ran the local post office and attended parties in the city. Her modern-day defenders say she was tortured and burned because a political rival wanted to get his hands on her money.

Her story is well-known in Germany - there is a statue of her in the town hall in Cologne and a book was written about her.

Now Cologne council - the same body which found her guilty - is reopening her case.

Hartmut Hegeler, an evangelical priest and religious education teacher who made the request for the trial to be reheard, said: 'Katharina held her own reputation in high esteem, she would want to have it cleared.

'As Christians, we find it challenging when innocent people are executed, even If it was centuries ago.'

Hegeler tracked down some of her living relatives, some of whom will attend the hearings.

Evidence from the time will be re-examined and a panel of local politicians, clergy and lay people will decide on her guilt or innocence.

One of her relatives, Martina Hirtz, said: 'I do think she should have her name cleared. But I think of the endless amount of people still living who are being mistreated and find that much worse.'

If the case is successful it could lead to similar hearings across Germany, the European country which burned more witches than any other.

Following the Würzburg Witch Trials, which lasted from 1626 to 1631, 157 men, women and children in the city were burned alive at the stake and more than 900 burnt altogether over the entire area.

They were judged for sorcery and witchcraft and for having made a pact with the Devil, and were a part of the witch hysteria that precipitated a series of witch trials in South Germany at that time, such as at Bamberg where over 300 executions took place, Eichstätt, Mainz and Ellwangen.

The Catholic Church was the driving force behind the persecution which was enthusiastically stoked up by nobles across the land.Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn, Prince Bishop of Würzburg, and his nephew Philipp Adolf von Ehrenberg, were responsible for burning 900 people, including 19 Catholic priests and children of seven who were said to have had intercourse with demons.

People from all walks of life were arrested and charged, regardless of age, profession or sex, for reasons ranging from murder and Satanism to 'humming a song with the Devil,' or simply for being vagrants and unable to give a satisfactory explanation of why they were passing through town.

Update:

The Irish Times - Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - Cologne council adopts resolution acquitting woman of being a witch in 1627.[8]

Researchers say there is no evidence Henot dabbled in the occult, and that jealousy was the most likely motive for the witchcraft claim, filed by a local nun.

Yesterday’s rehabilitation is part of a campaign to reverse witchcraft rulings which cost over 25,000 Germans their lives.

He (referring to Hegeler) lodged the rehabilitation request with Cologne city council,the same body that condemned her to death, when research by his students revealed that Henot had never been acquitted and was thus, technically, still guilty of witchcraft.

After yesterday’s council session, Mr Hegeler said it was belated justice for a woman wronged. “I’m thrilled because they tried to silence her forever but that didn’t succeed,” he said. “To this day they talk about her fate in this city.”


One final thought before I close:

"Whoever Fights Monsters Should Look To It That He Himself Does Not Become A Monster.And When You Gaze Long Into An Abyss, The Abyss Also Gazes Into You." - Beyond Good And Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche (Aphorism 146)

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

See Also:

Malleus Maleficarum

Against Witchcraft

North Berwick Witch Trials

Shakespeare's Sources for Macbeth

“Something Wicked This Way Comes”:Witchcraft in Shakespeare’s Macbeth & the Connection to Elizabethan England
The witchery exhibited in Macbeth, (written around 1600-1606), is arguably a reflection of the societal climate of Europe at the time it was composed-An era where witches evoked feelings of major suspicion and panic, yet were also intriguing. The overall tone of the play and the correlation between the witchcraft of Macbeth and the society of Elizabethan England is best explained by William Shakespeare himself through the Three Witches, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Hover through the fog and filthy air,” (Shakespeare, I, i, 12-13).
Untie the winds: Exploring the Witches' Control Over Nature in Macbeth

Matthew Hopkins Witchfinder General
In the late 60's an English film about Hopkins was made called Witchfinder General, starring Vincent Price as Hopkins. Though a low budget affair, it is a reasonably sober tale dealing with the events surrounding this evil man. In American it was re-titled The Conqueror Worm after a short poem by Edgar Allan Poe. I guess they figured Americans wouldn't know what a "Witchfinder General" was - but what made them think we would know what on earth a "conqueror worm" was supposed to be?
European Witch Trials Vs. Salem Witch Trials

Sources:

[1] A Brief History of Witchcraft Persecutions before Salem

[2] Witch trials in the Early Modern period

[3] North Berwick witch trials

[4] Three Witches

[5] The Tragedy of Macbeth

[6] Matthew Hokins

[7] Witchcraft Act 1735

[8] Cologne council adopts resolution acquitting woman of being a witch in 1627