FIVE HISTORICAL FACTS ABOUT WITCHES

Matt Anderson • 23 July 2023

Witch History

From the Middle Ages through to the Early Modern Period, witch hunts swept across Europe, America, and even parts of Africa and Asia. The label of 'witch' was applied to anyone who threatened the status quo or who was convenient to blame for their misfortunes. This blog is about how the word 'witch' has been exploited as a tool to condemn and persecute innocent people throughout history.

NOT ALL WITCHES WERE WOMEN

Witch History no.1:

Not all Witches Were Women

At the end of the witch hunts in the mid 18th century, many people, especially women authors, started labelling the hunts as a type of ‘Women Holocaust’. However, many men were also trialed and murdered as witches, especially in Estonia , Russia, Normandy, Iceland & Burgundy (in France) where MOST of the people prosecuted for witchcraft were in fact men.

In Iceland between 0412 219 640, 92% of the persecuted were men.

Over the 300 year period of the ‘Witch Hunts’ in Europe, most of the executed (total of roughly 35,0412 219 640,000) were women, but we should not ignore the thousands of innocent men who were also murdered in the name of political & religious gain.

THERE WERE CERTAIN DEEDS THAT MADE WITCHES 'WITCHES'

Witch History no.2

Deeds that Made Witches ‘Witches’

Witch persecution dates back at least 2,000 years before the start of the witch hunts. Yes, this was even before Christianity but it was a much rarer occasion. Here I’ll be speaking of the Witch Hunt era between the 15th & 18th century CE.

So what made a witch and why were they blamed? Here’s a few things that could have you labeled a witch:

Medicinal healing (not prayers and hope),
Looking out at the stars at night by yourself,
Having a birthmark or mole (kiss of Satan),
If someone you don’t like falls ill,
Sitting on a gravesite and talking to the dead (this was a common practice in Northern Europe to gain wisdom and guidance from the dead, usually being their ancestors),
If you are financially independent (because the devil must have helped you),
Your neighbours have trouble conceiving,
You had sex out of wedlock,
If you broke any of the rules in the bible

….there are many more but this will do for now. I think it’s safe to say that every single one of us would have been considered a witch.

Now that the witches are identified, what were they blamed for? Well if there was a natural disaster such as cyclone, flood or fire, plague, unexplained deaths in livestock or even spoiled cheese, then they would have hunted down anyone with the above descriptions and blamed them.

The blaming was very easy and often there weren’t even trials which is why the estimate of people executed is so wide (35,0412 219 640,000). However if you accused someone of being a witch and the public found them not guilty, then you yourself would receive the punishment, being either drowned, hung or burnt alive.

SEIDR IS AN OLD FORM OF EUROPEAN WITCHCRAFT/MAGIC

Witch History no.3

Seidr ~ Northern European Witchcraft/Magic

Seidr is a very old form of witchcraft used in Northern Europe, mostly by women. This was actual Witchery with intent, such as seeing the future, altering the weather, inflicting illness or death onto people, healing and transitioning one’s spirit to that of an animal.

We know that it was a common practice thanks to all the sagas that mention it though exactly how it was practiced will probably never be truely understood, as the sources only mention fragments at a time.

From the sources, we know this:

The Völva/Shaman (witch) would get into a trancelike state of consciousness. How will be explained soon,
There will be a song or chant to call spirits,
Instruments were used; drums, rattles etc.,
There was always a staff (later broom),
The practice was performed on a platform. Not so she could see everyone, but so the spirits from afar could see her,
They would travel and get paid for their services,
It was shameful, especially amongst men.

Several court records starting in the 1200s mention that the witches would use their staffs (sticks) to get them into their altered state of mind during the practice. This is how they did it (hold onto your hats).

They would rub a few types of herbs onto their staffs as an ointment including Mandrake, Henbane & Deadly Nightshade. These plants together work as a hallucinogenic but cannot be ingested orally or it can make you very sick so the other way it can get into your system is through the skin glands as well as “down there”. Yep….

When Christianity made this act illegal, the witches would give up their sacred staffs to not get caught and instead use the common household tool, the broomstick. Being caught with a staff would result in death but never a broomstick. Now that you have the image of how the broomsticks were ‘ridden’, you can see why it was seen as a shameful act, and especially amongst men. Hence the whole “flying on a broomstick”.

BATTLE MAGIC WAS USED TO HELP DEFEND AGAINST VIKING ATTACKS

Witch History no. 4

Battle Magic ~ Seidr

This section about battle magic continues on from the previous section about Seidr. I suggest reading that before reading this one to help you understand it.

The most famous recorded use of Seidr was in the newly conquered England in 1066. Here’s a quick brief history of the Norman invasion: in the year 911, the king of Francia (France) gave a heap of land (Normandy) to the Dane Hrolf, later known as Rollo (yes from the Vikings tv show) to help defend their lands against Viking attacks. He brought with him thousands of Danes who bred with the French women and over time they became Christianised. They did however keep a lot of their pagan practices and beliefs for a few hundred years after this. William the Conqueror who invaded England in 1066 is the the great-great-great grandson of Rollo.

During Williams campaign in England, an area called the Isle of Ely was still heavily protected by the Anglo-Saxons. It was surrounded by swampland and was very hard to attack. William’s chief advisor brought in a Völva (Norse witch) from Normandy to perform Seidr on a platform in front of the Norman army, casting spells, chanting and flashing her backside to the opposition, possibly to attract the spirits (source: Liber Eliensis). This woman would have been of extremely high status to be given such a roll. Flashing her breasts to the Norman warriors would have also built their testosterone to help in battle. Seidr wouldn’t have been used only to cause death to the opponents, but to strengthen the army she was helping.

Another similar story is from the Saga of the Greenlanders, when Eirik the Red’s daughter Freydís Eiríksdóttir (the first European to birth a child on the American continent, late 10th century) flashed her breasts at a group of native Americans while slapping her boobs with a sword, screaming at the natives. This as a result scared them off for the time being. This may or may not have had magic intent though, more so just to shock them.'

OFFICIAL 'WITCH HUNTERS' WERE PAID BY THE STATE FOR THEIR ATROCITIES

Witch History no. 5

The Witch Hunters

During the witch hunts in Europe and America, and especially during the early 1600s, there were official witch hunters, paid by the state/church (same thing). At the start of the 1600s, tension was rising between the Catholics and the Protestants in Europe which ended up becoming the Thirty Years War, resulting in an estimate 5-8million deaths between 0412 219 640. Most deaths were in the Holy Roman Empire which later became Germany and lost over half of their population during this war.

Because of this tension, and as a way to reduce the population of people you don’t like because of their religion (even if those religions are nearly identical), modern day Germany had more witch executions than anywhere else. Having a large group of people executed for witchery was a lot easier than committing murder on civilians during war. The German town of Würzburg hosted a huge massacre that started in 1625 where 219 people accused were burnt alive or hung in the streets and a further 900 were executed in prison or died in custody. This was run by Philipp Adolf von Ehrenberg and during his 8 year reign, he burnt a total of 900 people, including his nephew, 19 catholic priests and many children.

One infamous witch hunter is Matthew Hopkins who thankfully died in 1647 at age 27 after his 3 year hunt. In his 3 year career, he was responsible for having more people hanged for witchcraft than there was the previous 100 years in England. England did however have a lot less executions than continental Europe, as using good magic was generally acceptable, only Witchery that created harm was illegal. He was famous in England for standing on the heads of people submerged in water to see if they can save themselves or not. “If they’re a witch then they can get themselves free and then we can execute them” was his logic.

Most of these Hunters were bishops & government officials, not just your average bounty hunter.