Burchard, a Bishop of Worms, composed twenty books
about the Canon Law to form what we know it to be as the Decretum. The Decretum
was composed for the clergy men of Burchard’s own region, but in the end his work
was used throughout Germany. The section Burchard of Worms: The Corrector, sive Medicus in Witchcraft in Europe 400-1700 by Alan
Charles Kors and Edward Peters taught me a lot about penance and the different
acts of witchcraft. The book, The
Corrector, sive Medicus is the ninth book out of the twenty and was widely
used as a practical confessors guide. I found interesting the different types
of penance a person has to do for the different acts that were being displayed.
I also found interesting that the penance were not as harsh as I was expecting.
Some penances are a bit excessive when it came down to how long a person must
do it for but that is it. There are plenty of acts of witchcraft that need
penance if such activity was being acted out. For example, number 90 talks
about participating in infidelity and following Diana, goddess of pagans. The
penance for this act is to do penance for two years on appointed fast days.
This particular law was more detailed compared to some of the other ones mostly
because it was more serious and the devil was involved, doing penance for two
years seemed a bit easy considering the severeness of the act.
Burchard of Worms had a different out look on who is participating in witchcraft compared to other writers like Augustine. Burchard introduced women to doing these acts of witchcraft while Augustine made it clear that it was men who participated in magic. Number 60 was also another law I found interesting, mostly because we talked about fortune telling in class. "Have you consulted magicians and led them into your house in order to seek out any magical trick" (Kors and Peters 63). Consulting a magician to do magic for you was even against the laws. If a person did consult a magician then they had to do penance for two years on appointed days. Now a days people see fortune tellers all the time, even if it is just for curiosity.
Burchard of Worms had a different out look on who is participating in witchcraft compared to other writers like Augustine. Burchard introduced women to doing these acts of witchcraft while Augustine made it clear that it was men who participated in magic. Number 60 was also another law I found interesting, mostly because we talked about fortune telling in class. "Have you consulted magicians and led them into your house in order to seek out any magical trick" (Kors and Peters 63). Consulting a magician to do magic for you was even against the laws. If a person did consult a magician then they had to do penance for two years on appointed days. Now a days people see fortune tellers all the time, even if it is just for curiosity.
Do you think the penances were as harsh as you thought they were going to be?
Nice blog Shelby. Like you, I was surprised with how minor the punishments seemed. I know that it was discussed in class the other day that we may not know the harshness of the penance, but it still seems that there could have been something more 'persuasive' to lead people back to the Church. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree, the penances seem to be a lot less severe than one might have originally thought, it's still pretty severe punishment. Just thinking of one's biology and all of the vitamins and nutrients it needs on a daily basis, going so much as a month (let alone years, like many penances seem to suggest) on bread and water alone can be really hazardous to one's health. Especially during these times when people were most likely sickly on a good day, people need much better nutrition if they are going to do penance for a number of years.
ReplyDelete