Witches are connected to Dystopia.
As soon as disaster starts, they show up and take over the horizon over the hilltops … Or, at least in our heads.
The myth around witchcraft as it developed in Europe in late medieval and early modern times was a reaction to historic events which made life appear fragile. I am trying to summarize them in this blog post, because it‘s always so much fun to only look at those parts of history that killed millions of people, so here we go.
Where to start?
It is not easy to determine what exactly caused another specific event. Knowledge of the past is always interpreted by the kind of present in which it is perceived. The tale of my witch is taking place in the 17th century mostly, which also has its own reasons to count as one of the worst centuries in history, but the belief in witchcraft is at least 200 years older.
The belief in witchcraft as we remember it today can be identified at least in the 15th century. Around this time, books such as „Malleus Maleficarum“ were written and the existence of the witch as a creature in general had to be discussed by the church. During this time, the first trials for witches under the common suspicion of having bonded with the devil, participated in his orgies and done damage to this physical world in some way, were taking place.
Dystopia has arrived!
Why exactly at that time? It cannot only be explained by Christianity taking over Europe, since that had already happened centuries ago, without causing something similar ever. An interesting argumentation for this can be found when searching for the first real witching trials. In older sources, it was often referred to them taking place in the early 14th century. This belief dates back to the (German) enlightenment in the 18th century, interpreting the middle ages as dark and uneducated (which is a simplification, but I will not discuss this here). There are no records of any of those trials taking place that early.
The necessity to find a creature among humans that has turned evil and is working with the devil on transforming this world into a bad and deadly one only came up later. Its cause likely was an event causing great suffering and also not easily being explained by the people exposed to it. This event made the people look for an explanation they could grasp, as well as for a possibility to protect themselves, so the (very old) belief in magic transformed into the legend of the evil witches and their conspiracy. „Malleus Maleficarum“ was published in 1486, but it took several years to write it, and it in general was written as a detailed discussion of accepted knowledge of its time to prove once and for all that this myth of witchcraft was true. So, the witching myth was not born with this book, but rather manifested through it. Although it is not stated anywhere in this book, or other sources on witchcraft of that time, the plague of 1347 and the following years can likely be seen as a cause.
First of all, because the belief in magic has existed long before, but there was no need the ever hunt and kill those practicing it in such a systematic way. Also, a devastating event like that is not forgotten one or two generations later. The memory is passed on, and even still visible and the demographic and economic changes Europe went through in the following years after losing millions of people. When looking at art from the following 15th century, death as well as the end of the world are constantly dealt with. I am thinking of the works of artist Hieronymus Bosch and have to remember 15 year old me looking at his copper engravings depicting the end of the world as an orgy of devils seducing poor Christians into sleeping in, eating too much and having sex, and naturally I was thinking that this looks like a fun weekend! But back to the late middle ages …
Looking back at the year 1347, it is said that Karl the 4th, currently king in Prague, was woken up by his priest one morning and being told that the end of the world had come. They had already faced the worst flood of the century, a plague of locusts roaming the forests and eating up plants and leaves of trees, and reports of a known disease having returned worse than ever before had reached them.
So, this year and the following have likely felt like the end of the world, the apocalypse starting. I won‘t go much into detail, in countless of cases it literally was a cruel waiting for a painful death, or expecting it, watching it happen and surviving in a world suddenly emptied.
It was a horrible time to be alive.
You may think that these things constantly happened throughout history, and you are right. But first of all: Come on, these three catastrophes in only few years are impressive, and second of all: I bet I could also for other years in human history analyze the changes they caused, because they usually always did.
But back to my witch, and the historical background to make her tale possible.
A soul in Dystopia
I think we can all agree that the people in the 15th century were either the survivors of this traumatic event, or grew up in memory of it, still seeing its consequences. Also, the possibility of the end of the world having started leaves, from a biblical point of view, a lot of interpretations possible. Are we waiting for another disaster? Is the cattle dying the next sign? Are we dead and don‘t know, because we were damned already? Just imagine to look at the world like that, it‘s exhausting!
And also, the church did not really react to this in unity. In the 16th century, it started to split. In Germany it was Martin Luther, in England Henry the 8th … Imagine people still having the memory of a disaster once having killed the village or the town they now live in and still remember the suspicion that the world might come to an end soon, who suddenly have to deal with the institution taking care of their soul falling apart in debates. That is terrifying. And of course, it resulted in wars and conflicts. In and around Germany, the 30 years war being the final one, the big endgame of this splitting and debates. Now we are in the 17th century, the time my witch had to spend her life in. I recently read an article about this century having likely been one of the worst. Once again, I refer to art and literature first. In German Baroque, death once again is a constant theme. Death, loss and being tired of life the way it is. Walter Gropius, for example, spent most of his life writing about his experience during the 30 years war, because that covered a big part of his adult life. In numbers: alone in Germany, this war took 5 million people. The population was once again reduced as it once had been 300 years ago, when the plague arrived.
I try to summarize this listing of events I am glad I did not see with my own eyes (writing this actually caused a physical response as if I had…).
The belief in witchcraft was born in a world devastated by events having caused a lot of suffering and not being possible to explain. Those events left traces in the world still visible for the generations to come after, and who were exposed to a lot of changes, resulting in conflicts and wars, all accompanied by the fear of the possible end of the world having arrived and the desperate need to take care of their souls and recognize any evil threats to it.
I hope it appears a bit more reasonable how it actually came to be that people back in the days of my witch believed in her to be this creature no one had ever actually proven to have seen having all of this mysterious abilities. When I try to think myself into their mindset, it certainly makes some kind of sense, and I don’t feel the best for a little while.
That being sad, I am going to continue writing about this, because I know how to have fun.
I hope you found this interesting and maybe learned something!
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