Another aspect of the witch hunts, is while some of the accusers where sympathetic on some level, like one could reasonably feel sorry for them...The people who conducted these trials, many of them were either sadistic and\or paranoid, with some pedophilic undertones... In the witch hunts, no one was safe, and some accused where catholic priests, so I don't think the church played a decisive factor in it. However, the most dominant trait was that witch hunters attacked those not necessarily of ill repute, but those who couldn't fight back. Elderly widows, their young daughters (although youngsters were usually not executed, but their lives after that were miserable). Another aspects was that pariah groups of "ill repute" who were organized weren't very bothered, although sometimes they could be accused and they weren't safe, most of the women accused were not in a position to fight back, unlike a hardened pariah who fought more lynching mobs than they could count. Another aspect was the prior to the witch hunts, women in medieval Europe held considerable power: there was an adoration of the Virgin Mary and of many female Saints, widows had the power of interim and they were responsable for teaching the future generations about the secrets of plants. The women accused I came across in my research were for the most part well integrated into their communities, with the exception of a few who had been marginalized for their entire lives, and either old age or depression made them unable or unwilling to defend themselves. Some of them willingly brought themselves to justice, because they couldn't take being tormented by their communities anymore, and the trial was more a judicial suicide. Sometimes, the young, attractive daughter of one, sentenced to die at her mother's side would be given a chance to save herself by marrying the executioner. To my knowledge, none accepted the executioner, and refused with an impressive amount of courage and dignity. One of them even said she didn't want to dirty her mouth which kissed the devil's ass. The executioners and torturers themselves were extremely low class men, who jumped on the witch hunt business because it allowed them to acquire wealth and power. However, it wasn't necessarily safe for them: they could benefit from it, but they weren't the ones controlling it, and the fact they were despised by the general population made thus such travels not only immoral, but also dangerous. Others were pariahs, yes, but elite pariahs who kept the anti-social element on a short leash, sometimes to financially exploit them, while others were genuinely loyal to those communities, allowing them a certain respectability or even adoration. They were many times charity doctors, on which many people depended once the midwives lost much of their communal power. They were often patriarchs. In France, most of the time in small cities, the assistants of the executioner was his wife, who in case of the witch hunts, actively took part in torture. Sometimes, they were willing and even more cruel than their husbands, others they would have to be beaten and drugged to accept it. They were thus often even more feared and hated then their husbands, and thus displayed even more agressive behavior in their day to day lives. It is also during the times of the witch hunt that the anti-social element became more organized and held genuine economic power, slowly reaching towards their golden age in the XVIII century, that would end with the French Revolution. Those who managed to escape their untouchable status progressively joined the middle class, just with a few more stereotypes, while the rest were de-facto enslaved to fuel the Industrial Revolution. The Middle Ages were a period of tremendous progress. They managed to rebuild a new society after the old one collapsed in a disaster and after disaster...They built the first infrastructures meant to help out the most vulnerable members of any society, while in Antiquity, these people were simply left in the literal garbage to slowly die.
The witch hunts were caused entirely by a belief in the supernatural, many of the causes of the witch hunts were people telling on eachother. Women were more often than not found to be the culprits spreading rumours and gossip about eachother. The word misogyny wouldn't have even been in use back in those days. Misogyny had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the belief in witchcraft. Wherever you look in the modern world it is easy to see that it is women that are the most prone to magical thinking, like for example the belief in the validity of star signs being a good indicator of whether or not someone will be a good partner and so on.
I really enjoyed this video, as a pagan feminist I really appreciate your work 🕯️💞🌱
No one else did
I did enjoyed this as well s9 speak for yourself Wes Paul
This is a great channel!
this was a great explanation!
Thank you so much!
Thank you for add arabic translation
Another aspect of the witch hunts, is while some of the accusers where sympathetic on some level, like one could reasonably feel sorry for them...The people who conducted these trials, many of them were either sadistic and\or paranoid, with some pedophilic undertones...
In the witch hunts, no one was safe, and some accused where catholic priests, so I don't think the church played a decisive factor in it. However, the most dominant trait was that witch hunters attacked those not necessarily of ill repute, but those who couldn't fight back. Elderly widows, their young daughters (although youngsters were usually not executed, but their lives after that were miserable). Another aspects was that pariah groups of "ill repute" who were organized weren't very bothered, although sometimes they could be accused and they weren't safe, most of the women accused were not in a position to fight back, unlike a hardened pariah who fought more lynching mobs than they could count.
Another aspect was the prior to the witch hunts, women in medieval Europe held considerable power: there was an adoration of the Virgin Mary and of many female Saints, widows had the power of interim and they were responsable for teaching the future generations about the secrets of plants.
The women accused I came across in my research were for the most part well integrated into their communities, with the exception of a few who had been marginalized for their entire lives, and either old age or depression made them unable or unwilling to defend themselves. Some of them willingly brought themselves to justice, because they couldn't take being tormented by their communities anymore, and the trial was more a judicial suicide. Sometimes, the young, attractive daughter of one, sentenced to die at her mother's side would be given a chance to save herself by marrying the executioner. To my knowledge, none accepted the executioner, and refused with an impressive amount of courage and dignity. One of them even said she didn't want to dirty her mouth which kissed the devil's ass.
The executioners and torturers themselves were extremely low class men, who jumped on the witch hunt business because it allowed them to acquire wealth and power. However, it wasn't necessarily safe for them: they could benefit from it, but they weren't the ones controlling it, and the fact they were despised by the general population made thus such travels not only immoral, but also dangerous. Others were pariahs, yes, but elite pariahs who kept the anti-social element on a short leash, sometimes to financially exploit them, while others were genuinely loyal to those communities, allowing them a certain respectability or even adoration. They were many times charity doctors, on which many people depended once the midwives lost much of their communal power. They were often patriarchs. In France, most of the time in small cities, the assistants of the executioner was his wife, who in case of the witch hunts, actively took part in torture. Sometimes, they were willing and even more cruel than their husbands, others they would have to be beaten and drugged to accept it. They were thus often even more feared and hated then their husbands, and thus displayed even more agressive behavior in their day to day lives. It is also during the times of the witch hunt that the anti-social element became more organized and held genuine economic power, slowly reaching towards their golden age in the XVIII century, that would end with the French Revolution. Those who managed to escape their untouchable status progressively joined the middle class, just with a few more stereotypes, while the rest were de-facto enslaved to fuel the Industrial Revolution.
The Middle Ages were a period of tremendous progress. They managed to rebuild a new society after the old one collapsed in a disaster and after disaster...They built the first infrastructures meant to help out the most vulnerable members of any society, while in Antiquity, these people were simply left in the literal garbage to slowly die.
This was very insightful, thank you!
love this
The witch hunts were caused entirely by a belief in the supernatural, many of the causes of the witch hunts were people telling on eachother. Women were more often than not found to be the culprits spreading rumours and gossip about eachother. The word misogyny wouldn't have even been in use back in those days. Misogyny had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the belief in witchcraft. Wherever you look in the modern world it is easy to see that it is women that are the most prone to magical thinking, like for example the belief in the validity of star signs being a good indicator of whether or not someone will be a good partner and so on.
This demonstrates how sadistic religion can be. God save us from our saviors.
Except most of the participants and accuser's were themselves women, had men wanted this carry on, it would have done.
Yup...and men were victims too. She did not give the correct percentage.
@@Home-o2v4h of course they are going to lie about that.