The accusation that certain ostracized groups can and do kill children, particularly young children, is an ancient one, one that has been applied variously to Jews, pagans, Rroma, and witches, to name a few groups.
In the Malleus Maleficarum, witches are alleged to kill infants at the order of their master, Satan. According to one condemned witch in the state of Berne, they were commanded to find unbaptized children or those that have been baptized but are not protected by blessings and crosses. Through spells they cause these children to die in their cradles or in their parents' beds, and once the children have been buried they exhume them. Once exhumed, the witches cook down the children in large cauldrons and make potions and unguents from the resulting brew. This potion is used most importantly in the ceremony that initiates a new witch into the coven, during which he or she denounces Christ and the Church, offers himself or herself to Satan, and drinks the potion.
Other sources claim that witches (or other ostracized groups) kidnapped children for the purpose of blood sacrifice. This is where the term "blood libel" comes from; it refers to the accusation of Jews specifically, and is a major consequence and source of antisemitism. But I digress.
I find it interesting that the witches claim to cause infant deaths in a way that resembles what we would now call Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) or crib death. The most unnerving part of this is that the cause of SIDS is still unknown. I'm not suggesting that SIDS is caused by witches' curses, either in the Middle Ages or today. I am suggesting that perhaps witches were blamed for the death of children by genuine natural causes, which in turn caused more and more witches to confess to the charge under torture.
Thoughts?
Kors & Peters p. 192-193
Beckett,
ReplyDeleteI think it's really interesting that you linked the previous deaths of children, and the accusations that witches murdered children, with current medical conditions and causes of death that are still plaguing us today. It's never previously occurred to me that the death experienced in these times could be compared to SIDS and have a specific cause that can be pinpointed without further research.
Why do you think that the potions they concocted called for deceased children? It seems to me as if one that is boiled alive, for lack of a better term, would be more effective for serving whatever purpose they may need the potion to (whether it be an introduction, creating a healing potion, hex, etc.).
Thanks for posting! I really enjoyed reading some of your thoughts and words - you definitely brought some new ideas to the table!
Graham
That's a really interesting thought. I think much of what was considered witch-craft or sorcery has a modern explanation. Like you said however much about SIDS is still unknown. It makes you wonder if it were simply some explainable phenomenon like SIDS that may have caused the deaths that many "witches" were accused of.
ReplyDeleteI definitely wonder about many things that could have been the cause of deaths, sicknesses, agricultural or weather mishaps instead of witchcraft. I feel that it was easier to find a scapegoat in a time of despair than truly find a logical reason, if applicable and possible. We still see evidence of this today throughout daily life in sayings and beliefs that almost everyone says or has faith in. Moreover, if we dig deep enough we will find evidence that answers our questions and concerns... but isn't that what the inquisitors were tasked with doing? Thanks for the blog!
ReplyDeleteIt is a serious wonder as to what causes SIDS. It is a little unnerving that we still don't know what causes it. However, I think you are accurate in saying that many people didn't understand why children were dying to suddenly, so they looked to what they thought was the only explanation. It's interesting, but very possible.
ReplyDeleteI'm inclined to agree with you. While it is terrible that they would blame other women for it, I think it does make a lot of sense wen you consider the reality of living with a child that died of SIDs. My youngest brother actually passed this way and the idea of not really having a reason for the child to pass is very hard on the parent. My mother, despite being told numerous times that it was not her doing in any way, felt that she was to blame for his death. I can only imagine how much less guilt she would have felt if she could blame it on someone else. It is tough for us as humans to deal with pain when we cannot blame on someone or something solid. As cruel as it is, I suppose that it was easier for parents to believe that their children would die from someone's malicious intent instead of an unexplained medical phenomenon.
ReplyDeleteIn the very basic of a earliest human intellect that the unknown is perplexing and a captivating thing of interest. The unknown of the various and numerous situations leading to infant death and early developmental issues causing such complications resulting in death has riddled generation after generation. Even with modern medicine, to find an explanation, as Beckett and responders have identified, leads us to questionable and still unknown territories. I am even inclined to think that individuals such as the numerous women that had children of their own die under that unknown had zero to do with such practices of sorcery, magic, and witchery. Yet, they may have confessed under duress of their own bewilderment and sadness of the situation. Chaniqua provides that very insight in the pure heartbreak that can overcome a mother in the loss of a child. Who, or what is to blame? If not anything else, is it ourself that must be the cause? That unknown can lead to many assumptions, right or not. While their is that aspect of confession, there was also the other side of the coin in which individuals that practiced the diabolical claimed responsibility to legitimize their beliefs/practices; furthered own cause and the larger movement. Beckett provides a lead into what we now know in comparison of the limited knowledge that led to many of the persecutions of innocent. Somewhere in the mix though, were actual psychos that believed in such things, and likely followed through as any individual would to satiate their appetite, albeit without magic.
ReplyDeleteInteresting discussion--and very nice pinpointing of something very real in the Malleus Maleficarum. Might be necessary to see that inhumane actions were linked to witchcraft because of the context of the time, while death in childhood through sleeping (piling in everyone) might have been common through the ages.
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