Witches in the Middle Ages are true stories. "Burn the witch!" Why were beautiful women tortured and executed in Europe? Loyalty to witches in Eastern Europe and Russia

Many people have risen to the heights of fame and notoriety due to their supposed knowledge of magic and secret knowledge. For some, laying parquet is something secret and incomprehensible, but some, thanks to their talent, became rich and famous, others became victims of violent death.

The people in the list below came from different walks of life and from different periods of history. Some had friendly personalities, while others had creepy personalities. But they all had one common feature and the world still remembers these people as witches and sorcerers.

10. Moll Dyer

Moll Dyer was a woman who lived in the 17th century in St. Mary's County, Maryland. Much about her is shrouded in mystery, but everyone knew that she was a strange woman. An herbal healer and outcast who survived on the generosity of others, she was eventually accused of witchcraft and had her hut set on fire on a cold night. But she ran away into the forest and was not seen for several days... until a local boy found her body.

Moll Dyer died of cold on a large rock, kneeling, with her hand raised, cursing the men who attacked her. Her knees left a mark on the stone. The villagers quickly discovered that they had disturbed the wrong woman. The curse of Moll Dyer fell on the city, and for several centuries, it caused cold winters and epidemics.

The Moll Dyer stone became a place of worship

Her ghost, often accompanied by various strange animals, has been sighted many times and is still said to haunt the place. Her creepy reputation eventually became the inspiration for the movie The Blair Witch Project. Although Moll Dyer is an influential folk figure in American witchcraft, no reliable historical evidence of her existence has been found.

9. Laurie Cabot

Laurie Cabot was a popular witch in the United States. A California girl with a legendary history as a dancer, her keen interest in the witchcraft arts led her to New England. After studying the witch's craft for several years, she opened a shop in Salem, Massachusetts, the historical epicenter of the witch hunts. She was initially wary of declaring herself a witch.

But when her black cat got stuck in a tree for days and the fire brigade refused to rescue her, she was forced to say she needed the cat for rituals. The year was 1970 and the word "witch" was like a stigma in Salem. The cat was immediately rescued by the extremely gentle and polite firefighters.

Cabot became a national celebrity. She created a coven of witches and opened a witchcraft store, which became instantly popular. The store, which subsequently moved online, became a favorite destination for tourists. Cabot became one of the world's top witches. Even the Governor of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis, declared her the official "Witch of Salem" for her positive influence and Good work in society.

Cabot claims that any evil curse sent by a witch will return to her and the evil intent will not be fulfilled. According to her, witchcraft is all about magic, astrology and a sense of nature.

8. George Pickingill

George Pickingill sounds like he stepped straight out of a horror novel. A tall, intimidating 19th century man with a hostile demeanor and long, sharp fingernails. He was a famous cunning man who practiced folk witchcraft. Old George, as he was generally known, was a farm worker who claimed to be a hereditary witcher.

His magical lineage could be traced all the way back to the 11th century, to the witch Julia Pickingill, who was a sort of magical assistant to a local lord. Pickingill was a vile, unsympathetic man who often terrorized other villagers for money and beer. However, he was respected as much as he was feared. George was said to be a skilled healer and would sometimes settle disputes between villagers.

In secret circles, Pickingill was a superstar—essentially the Aleister Crowley of his day. He was recognized as an assistant to the ancient horned god, a frequent ally of the Satanists, and wielded primary authority in the witchcraft arts. Even his lawyer was wanted by other witches.

However, this authority was somewhat tainted by the fact that Pickingill was something of a fanatic (he could approve of a witches' coven if its participants could prove that they were of pure descent), and something of a sexist (all work at his covens was made by women, who also had to submit to some rather dubious conditions).

7. Angela de la Barthe

Angela de la Barthe was a noblewoman and notorious witch who lived in the 13th century. She was burned at the stake by the Inquisition for a number of brutal deeds committed. Her crimes were limited to not only having sex with a demon, giving birth to a snake and wolf demon, being blamed for missing children, but also being a generally unpleasant person.

In reality, of course, Angela was probably a mentally ill woman, and her main crime was supporting the religious sect of Gnostic Christianity, which was denied by the Catholic Church. Her unusual behavior led to accusations of witchcraft, which in turn led to a gruesome death. In those days, such a fate was quite common.

6. Mage Abramelin

The true story of such a 15th century personality as the magician Abrmelin has been lost. However, his legacy lives on in the form of thousands of followers and imitators. Abramelin was a powerful sorcerer who is described by Abraham of Wurzburg as a magician's apprentice who convinced Abramelin to give him his secrets. Abraham did painstaking work on the magical system of Abramelin, which included complex processes for commanding spirits, evil and good.

The system was based on magical symbols, which could only be activated at certain times and using certain rituals.

In 1900, the manuscript was published in book form under the title The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin. The book became an instant hit in the occult community, and had a direct influence on notorious practitioners such as Aleister Crowley.

5. Alice Kyteler

For a long time, Ireland was less concerned about witchcraft than continental Europe. Eventually, the witch hunt arrived there too. One of the first and most famous victims was Dame Alice Kyteler, a wealthy moneylender whose husbands had a nasty habit of dying and leaving her everything. The fourth husband began to feel sick, and the children began to stink like rats - just when they saw that their father was going to leave everything to Kyteler.

In 1324, the church recognized Dame Kyteler for conspiring with a secret heretical society. She was not only the first Irish woman to be accused of witchcraft, but also the one to have a relationship with an incubus. The authorities tried to imprison Alice several times, but she had many allies and, each time, she avoided sentencing.

Ultimately, Kyteler disappeared, leaving behind her son and servant. She is said to have fled to England, where she lived in luxury for the rest of her days. Whether she truly practiced the dark arts or not, she is remembered to this day as Ireland's first witch.

4. Tamsin Blythe

A well-known figure of the 19th century in Cornwall, England, Tamsin Blythe was a highly respected medicine woman and natural witch. The term nature witch comes from the fact that European villages were surrounded by a fence or forest, and acted as a symbol of the boundary between this world and the next. Blythe was said to be particularly good at removing spells and curses, as well as being a healer. She could go into a trance and predict the future.

Either way, she also had an arsenal of bad fetishes, and her reputation was tarnished by her husband, James Thomas, a magician like her. Although Thomas was a respected magician, he often drank and became a hooligan, for which everyone disliked him. Tamsin eventually broke up with him, but they got back together late in her life.

Tamsin Blythe's curses were effective in practice due to her reputation and respect. Tamsin cursed the shoemaker for not fixing her shoes - she had no intention of paying for it - and as a result, she said he would be out of work. When word got out about this, no one would do business with the man, and as a result, he was forced to leave his position.

3. Eliphas Levi

Alphonse Louis Constant was known as Eliphas Levi Zahed. He demanded that the name given from birth be translated into Hebrew. Alphonse was the man responsible for the mystical arts as they are known today. During the 19th century, Eliphas Levi explored a variety of faiths - from Christianity to Judaism - to combine beliefs such as the Tarot and the writings of historical alchemists - into a strange hybrid that became known as "Occultism".

A trained theologian who almost became a priest, Levi was always more of a scholar than a practicing magician. However, he was extremely charismatic and had extensive knowledge in many areas of witchcraft. He wrote many books on ritual magic. Levi was especially famous for his work "Baphomet", a satanic deity supposedly worshiped by the Knights Templar.

He considered this figure to represent the “absolute.” Eliphas painted the famous painting “Baphomet” as a winged, female figure with a goat's head. One of the first pictures anyone will think of when the occult is mentioned.

2. Raymond Buckland

Raymond Buckland, the "Father of American Wicca" was deeply impressed by modern Gardnerian Wicca. He took Gerald Gardner's New World teachings and eventually refined them into his own variation called Sixx Wicca.

A veteran of witchcraft, Backlund has been involved in witches' covens since the '60s, usually as a leader. He is a Wiccan priest and a respected expert in all things neo-pagan. Until his retirement from active witchcraft in 1992, he spent decades as the most recognizable and foremost expert in the magical craft. These days, he lives in rural Ohio, where he writes books about witchcraft and continues to practice a solitary version of his magical craft.

1. Agnes Waterhouse

Agnes Waterhouse, commonly known as Mother Waterhouse, was one of the most famous witches England has ever known. The crimes she was accused of were quite heinous - Mother Waterhouse and two other witches were put on trial for entertaining the devil, cursing people, and even causing bodily harm and multiple deaths due to their black magic.

The surprising thing is that the church did nothing towards Agnes. She was the first English witch to be sentenced to death by a secular court. In her testimony, Agnes openly admitted that she practiced the dark arts and devil worship.

Agnes had a cat, which she called Satan, which she claimed to be sending to kill livestock her enemies, or, on occasion, the enemies themselves. She was a sinner and stated that Satan told her she would die, hanged or impaled, and Agnes could not do anything about it. Mother Waterhouse was indeed sentenced to hang, despite the fact that two other witches who faced similar charges were released (one was found not guilty, the other was sentenced to a year in prison - although later charges led to her death).

Her satanic bravado disappeared somewhere after the verdict. On her way to the gallows, Waterhouse made one final confession - she once did not kill a man because his strong faith in God prevented Satan from touching him. She went to her death praying for God's forgiveness.

Witch hunts reached a special scale in Western Europe at the end of the 15th century. mid-17th century centuries. Bonfires where people accused of having connections with the Devil were burned broke out in France, England, Scandinavia, and most of them were in Germany.

The largest mass burning of “witches” in Europe occurred in 1589 in the Saxon city of Quedlinburg, located on the northern edge of the Harz mountain range, about 60 km southwest of Magdeburg. By order of the Quedlinburg diocesan court, 133 people were burned alive during one execution. All of them were accused of witchcraft. Moreover, there could have been more victims: at the last moment, 4 girls were pardoned.

2 Fulda

In Germany, Balthasar von Dernbach, abbot of the city of Fulda, was especially famous for his brutal reprisals against witches. One of the abbot's first victims was Merga Bean. Despite the fact that Merga was a fairly wealthy woman, she could not avoid a sad fate. Under torture, she was forced to confess to the murder of her second husband and his children; in addition, Merga admitted to participating in witches’ Sabbaths and to the fact that the father of the child with whom she was pregnant at that time was the Devil himself. Merga Bean was burned.

After this, Dernbach got the hang of it and spent the next three years chasing witches throughout Hesse, resulting in the execution of more than 250 more people. The witch trials only ended with the death of the abbot himself in 1605.

In 2008, a memorial plaque dedicated to the approximately 270 victims of the witch hunt was erected in the old Fulda cemetery. The inscription on it reads: “Your story is also our story.”

3 Bamberg

The persecution of witches in Germany was especially brutal in those territories whose rulers, both temporal and spiritual, were bishops - Trier, Strasbourg, Breslau, as well as Wurzburg and Bamberg. The last two principalities were ruled by two cousins, especially famous for their atrocities: Bishop Philipp Adolf von Ehrenberg (1623−1631), who burned 900 witches, and the “witch bishop” Gottfried Johann Georg II Fuchs von Dornheim (1623−1633), who burned 600 person according to the most conservative estimates.

The witch hunt began in Bamberg later than in other German states. It was started by Bishop Johann Gottfried von Aschhausen (1609−1622), who burned 300 people on charges of witchcraft. The year 1617 was especially difficult - 102 people were executed. But the “witch bishop” Johann Georg II, with the help of his chief vicar, suffragan bishop Friedrich Ferner, and with the support of a secular council of doctors of law, achieved better results. They renewed the persecution in 1624 and 1627. and even built a special house for night spirits (Drudenhaus), designed for 30-40 prisoners at a time, as well as similar prisons in the small towns of the diocese: Zeil, Hallstadt and Kronach. From 1626 to 1630, the processes were characterized by particular cruelty and complete disregard for all laws.

The Vice-Chancellor of Bamberg, Dr. Georg Haan, achieved relative success in temporarily curbing the witchcraft processes. But his intervention ultimately led to him being accused of being a witch sympathizer. The doctor, along with his wife and daughter, were burned in 1628 - and this despite the emperor’s order to restore their freedom, since “their arrest was a violation of the laws of the empire, which cannot be tolerated.”

The terror ceased by the summer of 1631, partly due to the death of the suffragan Bishop Ferner, partly due to the threats of the Swedish king Gustav, who had occupied Leipzig in September and now threatened war, and only partly due to the protests of the emperor. In 1630, another 24 people were executed, but in 1631 there were no more executions. The Bishop of Bamberg died in 1632.

4 Wurzburg

The diocese of Würzburg competed in the cruelty of the persecution of witchcraft with the diocese of Bamberg. Bishop Philipp-Adolf von Ehrenberg of Würzburg distinguished himself with a particular passion for witch hunting. In Würzburg alone, he organized 42 bonfires, on which 209 people were burned, including 25 children aged from four to fourteen years.

A list of 29 mass executions in Würzburg, dated February 16, 1629, with a total of 157 victims, has been preserved. There were almost as many men on the list as women, many of them were rich and high-ranking people, and children were also present.

Around the same time, a young relative of the Bishop of Würzburg was beheaded on charges of witchcraft. The young man was the only heir of his powerful relative; if he had survived, he would have inherited a significant fortune. Ernest von Ehrenberg was an exemplary student with brilliant prospects, but, as they said about him, he suddenly abandoned his studies and became involved with an older woman. The Jesuits questioned him and came to the conclusion that he was familiar with all vices, including visiting the Sabbath. Ernest was charged, then tried and found guilty. Soon the young man was executed.

After this execution, some changes occurred with the bishop, because he established a memorial service for all victims of the witch trials, and the hysteria subsided.

5 Bury St Edmunds

In England, one of the most famous witch hunters was Matthew Hopkins. In 1645, Hopkins and his companion, the stern Puritan John Sterne, scoured the countryside, looking for “witches” and generously paying for the help of informers. According to surviving records, they accused about 124 Suffolk residents of witchcraft, and they were tried at Bury St Edmuwds in August 1645. Most of the convicts admitted to being possessed by demons, making deals with the devil, as well as having a carnal relationship with the devil, which caused particular indignation among the Puritan judges. In addition, some witches were charged with killing people and domestic animals.

The victims were carefully examined for the devil's mark, which was especially humiliating for women, since these marks were usually looked for on the genitals. Stern had a special predilection for searching for devilish marks.

6 Pestilence

In Sweden, the most famous trial for witchcraft took place in 1669. The outbreak of witch persecution in Mora (Dalecarlia) is one of the most astonishing incidents in the history of witchcraft, ending with the burning of 85 people. They were accused of persuading three hundred children to fly to Blokula.

It all started on July 5, 1668, when a pastor from Elfsdale, in Dalecarlia, reported that Erik Eriksen, 15 years old, accused Gertrude Swensen, 18 years old, of stealing several children and taking them to the devil. Similar accusations rained down one after another.

By May 1669, King Charles XI appointed a commission to bring the accused to repentance through prayer, without imprisonment or torture. But the prayers only served to fuel mass hysteria, and when the royal commission met for the first time on August 13, 1669, 3,000 people turned out to listen to the sermon and help the investigators. The next day, after listening to the children's stories, the commission members identified 70 witches. Twenty-three confessed without coercion. In addition, 15 children were caught on the fire. Another 36 children between the ages of 9 and 15 were determined to be less seriously guilty, and as a punishment they only had to run the gauntlet.

On August 25, a mass execution of convicts took place. Before going to the stake, all witches had to admit the truth of the accusations brought against them by children.

Mikhail Ikhonsky| Jul 9, 2018

Witchcraft rituals have accompanied people throughout their history. Since ancient times, inexplicable natural phenomena have been attributed to otherworldly forces, with which only sorcerers or witches could come into contact.

Before the spread of Christianity, witchcraft in Europe was generally treated calmly. The pagan rituals of the Germanic, Celtic and Slavic tribes were based on magical rituals. The Roman Empire preferred not to notice magicians and sorcerers until they caused harm to the population or state through their actions. Everything changed with the spread of Christianity in Europe.

The Cathar Heresy and the War on Witchcraft

In the early years, the Church, of course, condemned the practice of witchcraft. But the half-mad shamans hiding in the forests could do little harm to the new religion, and it ignored them.

A turn in relations with witches occurred in the 12th – 13th centuries during the first heresies. The Cathar movement that arose in the south of France lured parishioners, reducing the income of the Church, which attracted the attention of the papal throne.

Residents of the region were declared sorcerers and witches. A bloody crusade began.

Realizing that such heresies would arise constantly, the Church declared a large-scale war on witches. The Inquisition was created to counter the sorcerers.

The persecution of witches has begun

For almost a hundred years, inquisitors fought for the purity of faith in fairly humane ways. Trials and investigations were held. Sentences were passed. Sometimes even exculpatory.

Large-scale persecution of sorcerers, as well as accusations of witchcraft and connections with the devil against all undesirables, began under Pope John XXII. The clergyman immediately after ascending the throne burned the bishop from his hometown.

John was truly obsessed with the idea of ​​destroying all witches. Papal legates were sent to the south of France, Switzerland, Germany and northern Italy. The number of death sentences increases sharply during this time. An accusation of “heretical witchcraft” appears.

How people imagined witches

The enemy had to be personified. Since all accusations of witchcraft were generally false, the category of witches and sorcerers included the most different people under a variety of pretexts. There were accusations of possession, damage by witchcraft, the evil eye, etc.

It was then that the classic image of a witch on a broom was formed; witch changing appearance and doing evil to people.

Bonfires are burning all over Europe

In the 60s of the 15th century, all of Europe was catching witches. Sorcerers were destroyed with particular zeal in Germany. Books dedicated to the fight against Evil were even published here: “The Bull on Witchcraft” and.

The accused were arrested for any reason. As soon as a neighbor looked at someone else’s estate, its owner was denounced and sent to the dungeons of the Inquisition. Denunciations spread everywhere. Women who suffered most often were women who could be caught for a sidelong glance, an incorrect movement, or even for their beauty.

At first, the trials were conducted by inquisitors. There was even a special code with a list of actions that fell under the definition of witchcraft. However, fairly quickly, witch trials began to be held in secular courts.

While the inquisitorial court often acquitted the accused, ordinary courts punished almost everyone.

Witch Trial

Particularly cynical is the search for devilish marks on the body of the accused and the ongoing witch trials.

Any mole, birthmark, or skin defect could be mistaken for a witch's mark. Everything depended on what the judge wanted: to punish or spare. In search of marks, women were subjected to severe torture and had their hair shaved off.

A common test was the "test by water." A bound woman was thrown into the river. It was believed that water, being a pure matter, would be determined by the witch in front of it or not. If a woman drowned, then she was declared innocent, since “the water accepted her.”

If the unfortunate victim surfaced, then she was declared guilty of witchcraft.

Executions carried out by inquisitors

Before sending the victim to the stake, she was tortured, extracting a confession of evil intent and witchcraft.

The execution of a witch by burning was a public spectacle attended by the entire city. Events were often held during fairs and other folk festivals.

Very rarely, beheading, drowning or hanging were used for execution. It was believed that death at the stake was “pure” due to its “bloodlessness,” and thus the clergy seemed to forgive their victim and give her a chance for eternal life.

The end of the witch hunt

The end of the witch hunt is associated with the development of science, the emergence of Protestantism and the Thirty Years' War, the cruelty of which forced Europeans to take a fresh look at their own lives and church dogmas.

The last witch in Europe died in 1782 in Switzerland. Her head was cut off.

In total, approximately 100,000 people were executed during the Inquisition, 20,000 of whom died in Germany.

We have all heard that in the 15th-17th centuries, Western Europe experienced a terrible period in its history, called by historians the “Witch Hunt”. In the Catholic and Protestant states of Europe, as well as in the American colonies of England, during this period women who were considered witches were massively persecuted and executed.

During the Middle Ages, the clan of witches included women who possessed knowledge and skills incomprehensible to most ordinary people. Witches knew how to “harm” by depriving livestock of the ability to produce milk, meat, lard, wool, and poultry to lay eggs. Witches allegedly robbed peasants of their harvests and poisoned food, sent terrible diseases to people, and caused droughts or floods.

On the one hand, they were respected and feared. On the other hand, such women were considered to have conspired with the devil, participated in Sabbaths and copulated with male demons.

It was for such “misconducts” that “advanced” women of that time were persecuted by the Inquisition for any denunciation and slander, and were mercilessly destroyed, having previously been subjected to severe torture.

Let us recall some of the most vividly recorded witch trials in the history of medieval Europe.

1. Bridget Bishop "The Witches of Salem"

What to do? Search for witches! And they were found. First, an elderly woman, Bridget Bishop, owner of several local taverns, was found guilty “without trial” and hanged. And then more than seventy more “witches” were deprived of their lives.

2. Agnes Sampson

There was simply a strong storm, common in those places, and the ship was “on the brink” of destruction, but miraculously escaped. And the king of Scotland, being a superstitious man, considered this to be the work of real witches. And a witch hunt began in Scotland...

Again, the “witnesses” of the terrible witch rituals testified against the witches under terrible torture, and the first to be captured was a very respected lady in the city, a midwife named Agnes Sampson. She was terribly tortured, wearing a “witch’s bridle.” In the end, she told everything, confessed to everything and gave up five more of her accomplices. Of course, Agnes was sentenced to death, strangled and burned at the stake.

3. Anna Coldings

4. Kael Merry

The Spanish judges really wanted to torture Kael, but the local court took pity on Mary, leaving her alive, and simply ordered her extradition, saying modern language. Merry left Holland, but this did not save her. The Spaniards did not abandon their attempt to punish the witch; their mercenary tracked down Mary and drowned her in the Meuse River.

5. Anthony Gillis

In total, 63 witches lost their lives in this process. They all had to confess to their crimes, led by the Devil himself. This process went down in history as a process in which it was killed greatest number witches

There is a period in the history of European civilization that has earned itself a very bad reputation. The years between the decline of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires are called the “Dark Middle Ages.” Remember :) - bonfires are blazing all over the city squares of Europe, heretics and witches are burning on them, and in the dark dungeons Inquisition great scientists and artists are languishing... However, the prevalence of an opinion does not at all mean its truth, and by presenting the Middle Ages in such gloomy tones, we are most seriously mistaken.

Mmassive repressions began not during the years of the “dark Middle Ages”, but in the fifteenth century, that is, during the Renaissance, which is considered a time when the people who inhabited Europe were completely devoted to the arts, philosophy and, one and all, were convinced humanists. Alas, it was during the Renaissance that murder became familiar and everyday in Western Europe. The infamous " witch-hunt" blossomed immediately after the first edition of The Witches' Hammer in 1478. This book, written by the Dominican friar Heinrich Institoris and the dean of the University of Cologne Jacob Sprenger, contained a “scientific” interpretation of witchcraft, described methods for identifying witches, and proposed the most effective set of tortures recommended for use against those convicted of witchcraft.

What led to the mass insanity that led to witch hunt, hard to tell. Most likely, the reason was the unbridled decline in morality after the wars and plague epidemics that swept across Europe.

It is believed that the mass burnings of witches were “run” by the servants of the Inquisition, that is, ignorant fanatics and obscurantists. However, this is also a misconception. In 1610, in the city of Logroño, at one of the trials, the Jesuit inquisitor Alonso de Salazar so ardently argued that witches and demons do not exist that he was supported by the Archbishop of Toledo, the Grand Inquisitor Bernardo de Sandoval, and then by the High Council.

From this moment, according to the decision of the Inquisition, in Catholic countries " witch-hunt"was stopped, while where the Reformation was victorious, the burning of the unfortunate continued, and it was not priests who took the most active part in these processes, but lawyers, scientists and university professors.

It’s sad, but we didn’t stay away from “ witch hunt"and such iconic figures of the Renaissance as the famous physician Paracelsus and the no less famous religious reformer Martin Luther, who demanded that witches be identified and burned alive. Note that most prominent intellectuals, even in the 18th century, believed in demons and witches. Even in the age of the scientific revolution, hundreds of thousands of “witches” were sent to the stake. In the United States of America they were burned until the 18th century, and the judges were professors at Harvard University.

The modern historian F. Donovan adds: “If we mark on a map a dot for each established case of witch burning, then the greatest concentration of dots will be in the area where France, Germany and Switzerland border. Basel, Lyon, Geneva, Nuremberg and nearby cities would be hidden under many of these points. Solid spots of dots would form in Switzerland and from the Rhine to Amsterdam, as well as in the south of France, splashing England, Scotland and the Scandinavian countries. It should be noted that, at least over the last century witch hunt, the areas of greatest concentration of points were centers of Protestantism. In fully Catholic countries - Italy, Spain and Ireland - there would be very few points; in Spain there is practically none.”

Another historian, Henry Charles Lee, who was the first to attempt to debunk the “black myth” of the Inquisition, notes in this regard: “There are no more terrible pages in European history than madness.” witch hunt during three centuries, from XV to XVIII. For a whole century Spain was threatened by the explosion of this contagious madness. The fact that it was stopped and reduced to relatively harmless proportions is due to the caution and firmness of the Inquisition... I would like to emphasize the contrast between the horror that reigned in Germany, France and England, and the comparative tolerance of the Inquisition.

The widespread belief that it was the Inquisition that organized the largest mass burning of witches is also untrue. Nothing like this. This is also a misconception. In this case, the Inquisition is attributed to a crime committed by Protestants. In 1589, by order of the diocesan court in the Saxon city of Quedlinburg, 133 people were burned alive during one execution. By that time, Saxony did not belong to the Catholic camp, since it broke away from it during the Reformation.

Let us add that the most terrible mass executions in the era “ witch hunt"were committed precisely by Protestant church courts. This is not surprising, since the most prominent figures of Protestantism, such as Luther, Calvin and Baxter, were fanatical persecutors of witches.

It should also be understood that even when it comes to the persecution of witches by Catholics, this does not at all mean participation in these dark affairs of the Inquisition. For example, in various publications, inquisitors are blamed for the monstrous witch hunt in the German lands in the 17th century. However, they have nothing to do with it. Bishoprics of Bamberg and Würzburg, where during 1625 - 1631. About 1,500 people were burned on charges of witchcraft; they were indeed Catholic, but there were no inquisitorial tribunals in these lands. The “witches” were sentenced by episcopal courts that had nothing to do with the Inquisition.

A few years ago Catholic Church represented by the Pope himself, apologized for the crimes of the Inquisition. However, let us recall that the collective insanity that gripped Western Europe during the Renaissance was to blame not only and not so much for the Inquisition as for the ignorance and religious fanaticism of those who, it would seem, were supposed to resist them. Well, this is far from the only paradox in the history of mankind.