Essay Series 2.5: Many men enjoyed the Renaissance of arts and sciences, while others persecuted and killed tens of thousands of women.

When young, I learned that the Renaissance was a time of scientific discovery and advances in art and culture, as well as a renewed interest in classical Greek and Roman civilizations. The Renaissance started in mid-1300s Italy and spread across Europe by the end of the 1600s. I didn’t realize that this was a time of suppressing women through philosophy, lack of education, and witch trials.

Men during the Renaissance followed the lead of most of the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers by dominating and disparaging women as well as believing women were susceptible to practicing magic or engaging in evil practices.¹¹⁶

The belief that women were aligned with evil and magic has deep roots. Ancient Greeks believed women were likely to be magicians, but didn’t always cause harm. Roman society showed evidence of blaming women for witchcraft. For example, in 331 BCE, the Roman response to a deadly epidemic was to kill over 170 women, two of whom were noblewomen. During witch hunts from 184 to 180 BCE, records claimed a total of 5000 executions of accused witches in Roman provincial towns. However, some experts believe that this number is an exaggeration. Early Christians melded Greek, Roman, and other ancient beliefs with Christian beliefs in evil and the devil. Christians believed that magic and witchcraft were a product of the Devil’s work.¹¹⁷

Accused witches were supposedly a direct threat to other humans through the use of spells and other non-physical methods. According to the self-proclaimed experts, witches harmed neighbors or family, worked within a tradition that hated humanity, and allied themselves with Satan or other evil forces.¹¹⁸

The accused witches received blame for problems like epidemics, poor harvests, and extreme cold weather. The accused were primarily women who were old, alone, acted outside the norm for women at that time, or had non-academic knowledge of healing.¹¹⁹

Women as Witches

About 75 percent of those tried for witchcraft were women, and most were ordinary peasants or artisans. Accused witches tended to be those who had trouble with their neighbors, appeared to be different, or were Jewish or foreign. People also accused one another of being witches to gain political advantage.¹²⁰

Accused witches suffered persecution, torture, and death until well into the 1700s. At least 70 percent of those who died were women, and the rest were mostly men who were associated with them.¹²¹

In Europe, witch hunts began around 1075 when a series of burnings and lynchings occurred with one or two victims each. By 1370, local friars were preaching against magicians and witchcraft. This was one of the catalysts for increased persecution of witches. During my research, I found the range of estimates of the number of people killed during the European and North American witch hunts was from 40,000 to 100,000. One authoritative source asserted that the actual number was closer to the bottom of the range.¹²² A canton in Switzerland beheaded one of the last accused European witches, Anna Göldi, in 1782.¹²³

One of the most famous examples of an accused witch is Jeanne d’Arc (Joan of Arc). As a teenager, she had divine visions that helped her lead France to victory during several battles against the English in the early 1400s. The English gained custody of her and charged her with heresy with implied witchcraft. After a series of events, they convicted her of heresy and burned her alive.¹²⁴

Witch trials made it to the New England colonies in North America by the mid-1600s. One of the first “witches” to die was a midwife and healer named Margaret Jones; the authorities hanged her in 1648. Other women accused of witchcraft in North America were those who stepped outside of women’s subservient roles. They were businesswomen, healers, or people who stood up for themselves against men.¹²⁵ The witch trial fever broke after the trials in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692-1693. Young girls and others accused marginalized women of witchcraft, including an enslaved woman named Tituba. These and other accusations led to about 25 people being executed or dying in jail and about 200 people facing accusations of witchcraft.¹²⁶ Men in power finally decided things had gone too far.

Men as Persecutors

A man wrote the Malleus Maleficarum, or The Hammer of Witches. It describes witches and how to identify, try, and torture them. The book was first printed in 1486; eventually up to 30,000 copies were available, which accelerated the witch hunts. Certain Roman Catholic and Protestant clergymen promoted the book and spread the terrorism of witch hunts against women across Europe. Trial judges used the Hammer of Witches too.¹²⁷

Men managed the machinery of the witch accusations, trials, convictions, and deaths. Many men carried out sexual torture of women, in addition to other horrors. For example, some accused witches were subject to tests designed to prove their innocence. Dunking in water was one of them. If a woman floated, she was a witch; if she sank, she wasn’t. However, if she sank, she could drown. Such tests occurred publicly and served to keep women docile to avoid accusations of witchcraft.¹²⁸

Two things to note. One is that historians believe that there was no widespread witchcraft or Satan worship in Europe during this time. Another is that women accused other women of witchcraft, often over community disputes.¹²⁹

Reflections

The centuries of witch hunts, torture, and death were a war on women. This terrorism resulted from thousands of years of men denigrating and controlling women and a backlash against some of the economic and spiritual advances that women made during the Middle Ages. Certain men still use terror and violence against women to control them. We see this in domestic violence and during war when soldiers use rape as a weapon.

I can only imagine the widespread pain and suffering that women and men experienced during the centuries of a religiously infused terror campaign against accused witches, most of whom were women.

The only information I learned as a young student about witch trials was what happened in Salem, Massachusetts during the late 1600s. My information came from reading Arthur Miller’s play called The Crucible during an English class. I grew up thinking this was an isolated occurrence; it wasn’t.

Learning how women are treated or persecuted is critical to understanding the dimensions of the problems we face today. We need to advocate against unjust laws and practices and challenge derogatory statements about women. Sometimes such challenges are feasible, and sometimes it isn’t safe to challenge injustice in the moment. Everyone has to use their own judgment about what to do and when to do it safely.

What are the underlying lessons from the history of women’s achievements and the periodic backlashes they have experienced?