As we
are slowly discovering in class, more women were accused of being witches than
were men. But why is that? The Malleus
Maleficarum, a book on witchcraft written by a pair of medieval inquisitors
(Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger), begins by attempting to shed some light
on why more women were susceptible to utilizing witchcraft than were men.
One
reason the book talks about for why women are more likely to become witches, is
“the woeful rivalry between married folk and unmarried men and women,” (Kors
and Peters 185). In the text, this is explained through religious examples, such
as Miriam speaking ill Moses and so being stricken with leprosy (Numbers vii) (Kors and Peters 185).
Kramer and Sprenger mention that many women turn to witchcraft out of a
jealousy that comes from a hatred that married women supposedly feel towards
unmarried women or that unmarried women supposedly feel towards married women.
What a woeful rivalry indeed!
Another
reason that the inquisitors give for a woman’s susceptibility to witchcraft is “a
natural vice in them [women] not to be disciplined, but to follow their own
impulses without any sense of what is due,” (Kors and Peters 186). Essentially,
the authors are claiming that women turn to witchcraft because they are deeply
impulsive. The main example given in the text for this is actually an
explanation from the Greek philosopher Theophrastus. His reasoning states that
if you allow a women to be in control of all the duties needed to run the
house, but save a few duties for yourself, she will invariably that you lack
faith in her. He states that unless you quickly resolve the matter, she will
become witch out of out her anger for you (Kors and Peters 186). So, according
to Theophrastus, women are so impulsive that the slightest anger could cause
them to turn to witchcraft.
Of
course, these are only a couple of reasons listed in the Malleus Maleficarum for why women were supposedly more susceptible
to witchcraft than were men. However, even just these two bits of reasoning
bring up a question or two.
It is with one of these questions
that I will finish: If women were witches because they gave into vice more
than men, then why didn’t the noblemen who gave into vice by feasting and
wildly celebrating not become witches, too?
Interesting blog. I find it telling how the authors/compilers of the Malleus Maleficarum utilized religious texts to support their arguments as to why women were more likely to be witches. As with pretty much all groups throughout all periods of history, people in power interpret readings and "evidence" in ways that support what they are contending. This makes one wonder as to what the true meanings of these writings actually were meant to be.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the question about whether or not nobility were equally susceptible of becoming witches, "history was written by the victors" as well as the people in political and religious power too. So one can assume that the vast majority of nobility were above becoming witches. Thanks for the blog!