The trail of Dame Alice Kyteler was and important
case in Ireland during the time 1324-25 (Levack 43). Dame Alice was accused of
harmful, dark magic that involved murder so she can gain wealth. Along with
witch craft she was also accused of belonging to a sect of heretics that
secretly met a night. The sect were charged with having potions and were in
possession of clothing of dead unbaptized babies. Even though, somethings related to witchcraft,
practice of ritual magic was not present. This case was a landmark because “it
reflects for the first time the belief that malefici were organized in a devil-worshiping
heretical sect” (Levack 44).
The demonization that occurred in Dame
Alice case relates back to many others during the pre-witch hunt era. During this
time the idea of witchcraft had not been fully formed; because of this people
were only on trial and accused not yet burned and killed. Like in this case and
others it shows how trials can be politically motivated by relating magic to
worshiping the devil.
Along with murder and creating potions
the accusation of cannibalistic infanticide came into Dame Alice’s case; they were
not charged. Cannibalistic infanticide disappeared for some lengths of time and
did not reappear until 1450s; there is still a creepy feeling that comes into
play when thinking about such acts of witchcraft. Like the image below from
page 45 of The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern
Europe by Levack.
What do you think about this image?
Witches burning and boiling infants. From Guazzo, Compendium Maleficarum (1610 edition)
Shelby,
ReplyDeleteThey say that a picture is worth a thousand words and this picture speaks volumes. I like that you included this image. One thing that strikes me as odd is that none of the women look like the old "hags" that are so prominent in images from that time. They look like they are normal people. It's probably why I find the image particularly disturbing.
Great image, Shelby! When I first saw it I immediately thought of the views that were being placed on the audience, both in the past and today. The artist no doubt desired to illustrate the wickedness and pure evil that constituted such depravities. Who could not go along with the idea that these people were allied with the Devil, they're burning and boiling infants for goodness sake! Wonderful use of propaganda for the time, and a wonderful piece of history to analyze and try to gain a little more knowledge about the past. Thanks for the blog!
ReplyDeleteA thing I noticed about the image was just how casual it seems that the witches are cooking the children. It seems to be representative of how they are perceived at the time to be fallen from moral standards and helps to demonize them from society.
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