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| Image depicting the Strasbourg witch hunts |
In Strasbourg on February
14th, 1347, 900 people were killed as a result of well-poisoning. From
1324-1325, what is often considered to be the first witchcraft trial took plane
in Kilkenny, Ireland when Dame Alice Kyteler was accused of witchcraft. From the
years spanning between 1300 and 1499, there were a total of 410 witchcraft
trials.
On page 135 of our
coursepacket, we see a table entitled Major
European demonologies and their context, 1400-1700 (CP 135). In this
document, we see a listing of dates, titles of written works, the author, and
the persecution that it is describing. We see a strong trend the locations
where the persecutions occurred, such as those in Milan in 1505, 1506, 1520,
and 1523.
Late medieval witchcraft
sources began to form new ideas and new victims for the persecutions. Jews were
being targeted, and were accused of blood libel – or the accusation that they
kidnapped and murdered Christian children in order to use their blood as part
of religious and demonic sacrifices – in addition to the discrimination
experienced as Christians labeled them the ones who crucified and were
responsible for the death of Jesus.
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| A collection of Jews committing blood libel |
According to Claude
Tholosan in his 1436 Ut magorum et
maleficiorum errors, “Further, at the instigation of their master, these
people swear that those who enter thir sect deny God, whom they call the Prophet” (Kors and Peters 164). Although
in this specific instance, Tholosan was speaking of magicians, the denying of
Jesus can also be applied towards the Jews and their denial that Jesus is the
messiah.
What are your thoughts? Were
the Jews rightfully persecuted due to their heretical beliefs that Jesus was
not the messiah? Were they guilty of blood libel? Why was there a sudden surge
of witch hunts in certain areas as we see in our course packet? It’s something
that I think we need to further analyze before coming to any conclusion.
Image credits:
http://cdn3-www.webecoist.momtastic.com/assets/uploads/2008/12/witches-1.png
http://www.historyinanhour.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Nuremberg-Chronicle.jpg
Fascinating blog post! I find it interesting to see that definitions and characteristics were used so much to describe entirely different groups of people. Much as you mentioned about the words written by Tholosan about magicians, one can apply them to the Jews. No doubt the Jews' disbelief that Jesus was the messiah played a large role in their vilification, as did their economical success in the business field. I believe that if we delve further into the backgrounds of each of the persecuted groups, we will begin to see similarities besides the ones that came in the form of accusations and punishments. We can begin to see similarities by ways that the persecuted groups were not seen as an aspect of "normal" and "accepted" society. Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dylan in that a lot of the persecution of the Jews, and many other religious/heretic groups that did not fully obey the Catholic tradition, came from their background and their differing beliefs. Personally, I don't think they deserved to be persecuted in such a way (I don't think anyone deserves that), but nevertheless, it's something that seems to happen when a certain group contrasts with the typical norm. However, I agree with you that we would need to do some more analyzing before we can come up with a conclusion.
ReplyDeleteI thought your inclusion of the statistics relevant to persecution, especially in relation to the example you provide of Milan, is interesting and a good way to draw out the quantifiable data. However, I'm not sure your questions concerning the persecution of Jews are relevant or get to the heart of the matter. For one, I don't think its a question of "rightful" persecution as you describe it. I hardly think that is the issue at hand. In addition, blood libel was propaganda to prop up the targeting of Jews; again, not exactly a question of whether it did or didn't occur.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post. I also found the point about the labeling of Jews as the killers of Jesus important. I remember in the reading it discussed this development as tying to the advancement of images of Jews. And as we could imagine labeling the Jews as the killers of Jesus would also encourage antisemitism.
ReplyDeleteBen provides a segway into the labeling of whole cultures and civilizations as the blame for the few. Though the jewish ruling factions had the hand in the crucification of Jesus, was it the whole of the Jews? The vilification of whole cultures, race, civilizations run a course that begins with embers and ignites into all out frenzy through the tools of jealousy, envy, and the the straight up dislike of others just because. The fantasy mob effect can effect the intellectual and uneducated alike. The statistics appear none other than documentations of deviance, as Sarah pointed out in contrasts with the "norm". You are absolutely right, Graham. We need to to definitely uncover this historical event spanning centuries, as we don't want the perils of history to repeat, but as we've seen, they were (and) are doomed to do so.
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