HIST 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Toleration, Middle Ages

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: History
• Course: HIST 1010
• Professor: Alan Gordon

Document Summary

Most pre-modern societies have witches: witches were responsible for medicine, protection, weather, agriculture, etc, supernatural powers - magic, witches cast curses to ensure good behavior (social conflict) Scapegoat blame troubles of society on which. In the late middle ages, monks and judges invented the idea of diabolical conspiracy: 1480s malleus maleficarum (hammer of the witches) Women were more easily tempted by devil. The idea of diabolical compact had become as familiar to common people as to theologians by 16th century: undermine christian communities killed and central authority was weak. Organized witch hunting begins ascertaining guilt of suspects by establishing a relationship with the devil: 1500-(cid:883)(cid:888)(cid:887)(cid:882): some 8(cid:887),(cid:882)(cid:882) to (cid:883)(cid:882)(cid:882),(cid:882)(cid:882)(cid:882) (cid:498)witches(cid:499) were tried and executed. Church doesn"t do its own killing, people passed to secular institutions to be. The profession of a (cid:498)witch hunter(cid:499) involved discovering suspects and also (cid:498)witch-hunting(cid:499) episodes occurred where community tensions were great. Germany during 30 years war (1618-1648) political fragmentation; conflict.