Printing Press Effects on the Conception of Witches

As we discussed in class and have been observing through our readings, over time the ideas of what was witchcraft, heresy, or magic developed. Especially through the 15th century, the association of demonic worship with heretics and witches developed. As Brian P. Levack points out, the development and spread of thoughts towards these "out-groups" of people were assisted greatly with the development of the printing press. The Gutenberg printing press was introduced during the 15th century and greatly assisted in people's spread of ideas to one another, especially in a timely manner. The benefit of the printing press to the inquisitors was that it allowed them to convince the literate members of the European society of the presence and power of the witches (Levack 57). Recording the testimonies of the witches, the techniques of the inquisitors to gain the testimonies, and new theories on witchcraft were all essential to the advancement of the witch hunt. Levack explained that there were two components required to greater the magnitude of the witch hunts. First is the convincing of the literate to believe and fear the presence of witches and more importantly the belief in it being practiced on a large scale (Levack 31). This was essential in order to set into motion the elites that controlled the operation of the judicial system. And this was done through the production of manuals and treatises on witchcraft. Levack wrote, "Judges and inquisitors had often acquired extensive knowledge of witchcraft through their education and reading," (Levack 54) He observed one manual for inquisitors called the Malleus. This was effective because of its writing structure. It was composed of information drawn from judicial experience and it contained enough theological citations is appeared authoritative and was more effective (Levack 56). It is significant because it was one of the early printed manuals thanks to the printing press and was therefore more widely used influencing a broader spectrum of people. The second component required to greater the magnitude of the witch hunts was the convincing of the civilians the severity and danger of witches. Of course the communities were largely illiterate. So, one would assume the printing press was limited to helping a small minority of literate people. However because of the printing press and the ability to produce more volumes in a shorter amount of time, the literate in a lot of areas were able to have a copy of the manuals and treatises. This allowed them to spread the word orally that was spread to them through writing. Levack gives a few example of exact ways the illiterate were educated on witchcraft. These include the public readings of the charges at executions, the deliberate instruction to the people, and the uses of ecclesiastic readings or sermons concerning the sinful nature of witchcraft (Levack 60). Overall, the spread of manuals and treatises to the literate caused the further spreading to the illiterate assisting in the advancement of the witch hunts. Most importantly, the ideas that were spreading were becoming more and more similar. Because of the printing press ideas were conveyed in a singular form rather than the different variations of oral recitation. This allowed for the creation of a common enemy in all areas rather than a blurry and confusing idea of who is and is not a witch dependent upon the area the of the inquisition.

New Times, New Accusations: The Emergence of New Ideas in the European Witch Hunts

Image depicting the Strasbourg witch hunts

In Strasbourg on February 14^th, 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.

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