Without science, when disaster comes, religion will only raise a butcher knife and kill innocent people.

In the long history, human beings have been seeking ways to explain phenomena and seek truth. Why do people commit crimes? Why do people die? Why is there a disaster? And so on, mankind has been looking for an explanation.

Basically, there are two ways for human beings to explain the phenomenon. One is what we call naturalism. The so-called naturalism is to explain the phenomenon with things and things in today's world and things that can be seen in this world.

The other is called the demon theory, which holds that all phenomena in the human world are caused by the power of other worlds or the power or spirit of other worlds, and are not controlled or selected by individuals.

From the end of the Western Roman Empire to the15th century, the West entered the so-called Middle Ages. In this dark period of thousands of years, people were very superstitious, and Catholic theology was the only ideology at that time. So the devil says that everything in the world is created by God, and whenever a disaster happens, he thinks that evil forces are at work. People will violate social norms or religions, and are also considered to be possessed by evil spirits or wizards themselves.

This thought lasted until17th century. Before17th century, thousands of people were accused of being "heretics" and "witches" and tragically died at the stake or other torture. Among them, the most famous witch hunting movement took place from the end of15th century to17th century. During that period, fires raged in Europe, and both religious and secular judicial organs made great efforts to arrest so-called witches and wizards.

At that time, religious or secular judicial organs easily convicted people with unreasonable secret trials, evidence rules and severe penalties. In this horrible movement, women are the biggest victims, and thousands of innocent women are judged as "witches" and tied to the stake to burn.

These materials will roughly introduce the historical background of witch hunting, as well as the contents of trial and punishment, so that adults can better understand that dark history and explore why women are the main victims of witch hunting.

In the Middle Ages, the system collapsed, chaos spread everywhere, and the interpersonal network based on medieval feudal system and manor economy also changed greatly, and the "interdependent society" became a "selfish society". In the tragic years of tense interpersonal relationships, people generally lack security and distrust each other, and even think that social chaos is related to the devil (Satan) and his fellow travelers-wizards or witches.

Therefore, when disasters or accidents happen, people are accused of being witches on trumped-up charges. Why many misfortunes have happened in society is explained by witchcraft events. Secondly, some scholars believe that the witch hunting movement is related to the changes of religious beliefs in early modern western society.

15 17 After the Reformation in Europe, because of the fierce confrontation between Catholics and Protestants, and the secular regime was also involved in this religious war, social control was stricter than in the past, and individuals were forced to choose their positions in their beliefs.

You can only choose Catholicism or Protestantism, there is no "religious tolerance". Therefore, people who die because their religious views are different from their churches often happen.

Due to the aforementioned historical background, the social factors of witch hunting, especially witch hunting, are complete. Two large-scale witch hunting campaigns took place between 1480 and 1520 and 1580 and 1670.

The first witch hunting movement

The first large-scale witch hunting took place between 1480 and 1520. At that time, the Inquisition was responsible for hunting witches and wizards. The bugle of witch hunting began in 1484 when Pope pope innocent viii issued the < < summis desiderantesaffectibus > > (highest hope) decree, which can be regarded as a legally binding witch hunting order. This decree was issued because two religious magistrates discovered witchcraft when chasing pagans in Germanic areas, but local officials did not cooperate with the chase, so the church tried to suppress it.

In addition, in 1487, two religious magistrates, Insti Daoli and Spelungi, co-authored "malleus maleficarum", which made great contributions to persecuting witches and wizards.

This book is written for inquisitors, teaching them how to detect witches' crimes and providing reasons to suppress witchcraft. The book says witches are divided into two categories, one is just divination, and the other is light to solve their sins; The other kind of people turn their backs on God and serve the devil, which not only harms mankind, but also establishes the devil's career and commits serious religious crimes. This is different from people who believe in "impure" and commit crimes in a daze. These witches don't need leniency, they can be sentenced to the stake. If they have the intention of repentance, the court can be more lenient, hang or hang the witch first, and then be burned at the stake.

The book also describes witches who turn their backs on God, often in the middle of the night, applying special ointment all over their bodies and riding witches naked to attend parties in specific places.

The second witch hunting movement

From 1580 to 1670, the suppression of witchcraft reached its climax and set off the largest witch hunting movement.

At this time, the pursuit activities were gradually taken over by the "secular court", the repression was more severe, and the number of persecuted people was more than the previous wave. At that time, the southern part of the French Kingdom and the Germanic Empire was the most violent place for hunting, such as:

From 1575 to 1590, Remy, then the president of the French Lorraine Religious Court, burned more than 900 wizards.

At the same time, judges, scholars and other elites from all over the world are also scrambling to publish demonized papers, providing "academic basis" for witch hunting. For example, Jean Bodin, a famous contemporary political theorist and humanist, published the book "Magical Techniques of Wizards" in 1580, which brought him greater prestige, and President Remy of Lorraine Province also published this book in 158.

I. Inquisition and secular courts

The inquisition, also known as the heresy inquisition, as its name implies, was set up to punish heresy.

Its establishment can be traced back to 12 16. Pope Honorius III established a new group of monks, Dominicans, known as "police dogs of true faith". Later, in 1233, Pope grigori IX ordered Dominican monks to play the role of inquisition originally played by bishops of various parishes, and awarded them "correction by the court".

At this point, the inquisition was basically formed. By 1252, Sinibaldo Fieschi issued the directive on uprooting, which stipulated that all parishes should set up special committees to arrest, interrogate, punish and confiscate the property of pagans, and formally approved the establishment of the inquisition. Therefore, since the second half of the13rd century, inquisitions have been generally established in western European countries.

However, we must realize that not all inquisitions participated in the suppression of witchcraft and launched a large-scale "witch hunting movement". For example, the most notorious Spanish Inquisition punished 340,000 people in 350 years, of which 32,000 were burned alive, but its main targets were Judaism and Muslims. In other words, the main task of the Inquisition is to crack down on heresy.

Such as Donatos, Aliens, Oneness, Frodo, Albee, Muslims and other pagans. It was only at the end of15th century to the beginning of16th century that the religious courts in some areas began to hunt down the so-called wizards and witches who cursed and worshipped the devil.

/kloc-After the 6th century, the task of hunting witches was taken over by the secular courts of kings and vassals. Due to the supremacy of judicial power under the feudal system in Europe, vassals were given the right to declare the death penalty. After the secular court took over, the repression became more ruthless.

Second, the procedure of witch trial-"investigation procedure"

Inquisition and secular courts use the so-called "investigation" (Latin for "investigation") procedure when trying witch cases. This "investigation" procedure is formed by the experience accumulated by the Inquisition in cracking down on cults for three centuries.

Third, cruel torture and strange and unusual "witch judgment standard"

Whether it is a religious court or a secular court, torture is usually used to get witches to confess. At the same time, the court also has a strange "witch judgment standard" to judge whether a person is a witch.

"Torture" When the judge can't get the "witch" to confess with ordinary interrogation methods, he will start to use torture. There are many kinds of torture, including psychological intimidation and physical torture.

Psychological threats, such as: the court can open the door of the interrogation room next to the interrogation room, so that prisoners are afraid to see all kinds of torture devices; You can also close the door of the interrogation room next to the interrogation room, arrange servants to pretend to be tortured, and make a piercing cry of pain to make prisoners confess because they are afraid of pain.

The forms of physical torture are even more varied, which can vary according to the time and place, such as flogging, fasting and water, pulling the defendant's limbs with scaffolding, burning his feet, needling his nails, and "clamping sticks"-sticking a wooden stick on his calf, tying it with a rope, nailing it into a wedge shape, and "waterboarding"-using a rope.

After a torture, the second torture will take at least one day. This is not to give prisoners a chance to breathe, but to give prisoners time to reflect on the pain and fear of punishment. Moreover, in order to show that the confession is correct, the testimony obtained in the confession is generally repeated without extorting a confession by torture, usually the day after extorting a confession by torture.

P.S. If the prisoner recants his confession, he will have to be interrogated again, which means that the prisoner will be tortured again.

Awakening of justice! The end of witch hunting movement

As mentioned earlier, the16th century was the most dramatic time to suppress witches, and both judges and intellectual elites admitted that devil witchcraft was guilty.

However, there are still some church priests, judges, doctors or conscientious intellectuals who speak out for the witch trial and even put forward different views on the concept of the devil. Although these voices were not taken seriously at first, and some people were even accused of being Satan's fellow travelers because they were wronged by witches, justice will eventually awaken, and this idea of opposing witch persecution is gradually accepted. In the 18th century, reason finally overcame superstition and gained popular support.

Awakening and reflection

In the16th century, the pioneer who criticized this crazy witch hunting movement was Dr. Janville, who was then a private doctor of the nobility. 1563, Dr. Jean Wier published a paper on "Fantasies, Spells and Poisons of Monsters" in Bar. He doesn't deny the existence of Satan or "real" wizards, but he thinks most people are judged witches.

In addition, Fr. Luce, a professor at Trier University in the Germanic Empire, also wrote a book saying that he opposed the witch hunt and persecution movement. However, due to the intervention of the Inquisition and senior clergy of the church, he was forced to go back on his word and withdraw his opinion in 1592, but his courage is still worthy of admiration.

In the17th century, there appeared an authoritative person who opposed the suppression of witchcraft, the priest. Spee is a priest of the Jesuit Society in Germany. He often takes this opportunity to rehabilitate witches. For example, a bishop in Wü rzburg talked to the priest and asked him why his hair turned white when he was only thirty. He replied half jokingly, "Because I sent countless witches to the guillotine, they took revenge on me. Although I am only near middle age, my hair has turned white because they are all innocent! " 」。

163 1 year, he published a book written in Latin, Be careful when trying or prosecuting witches. This book strongly criticized the theory of witches' existence and the improper use of torture to extract confessions, which was widely echoed. It says: Do witches really have supernatural abilities? Can they fly around, call the shots or harm others' bodies? There is no such thing. Are the pathological products of ordinary people, especially country people, the executioners in court. In fact, the "witch" they refer to cannot be a "witch" at all.

This book was quickly translated into French and widely spread in Europe. In the process of awakening, many just people died, for example, three famous Jesuit priests, Fr. Mount Godfrey, Grandi and Fred. Bull stood up bravely, not afraid of offending powerful people and defending innocent rural women.

Therefore, the time to reverse the case is not yet ripe. While the anti-witch movement was in the ascendant and France was making great efforts to arrest them, these three enlightened priests were falsely accused by the court of being accomplices of Satan, became attached to the devil, and deliberately disturbed the audio-visual, so they were indiscriminately sentenced to know the devil, put in prison for trial, and finally burned to death like witches. Gibble, the famous French abbot, was also sentenced and burned to death for the same motive.

However, due to their sacrifice, public opinion has more doubts about the existence of witches and witchcraft, which also urges the church and judicial authorities to reflect on the cruel trial process.

The end of witch hunting movement

1657, Pope Alexander VII publicly warned judges not to be careless when sentencing witchcraft cases. In 167 1, Father Dodong of Capesin published the first important French book refuting witchcraft guilt, which is an epoch-making work for France.

The supreme courts of the provinces in the kingdom have also become enlightened in hearing witch cases. They once claimed that people who refused to accept lower-level judgments could appeal (especially in death penalty cases, this right of appeal was naturally effective), and immediately executed some lower-level court judges who did not comply with the appeal system and burned witches, in order to respect the effect.

At the same time, with the judicial reform, the witch hunting movement was gradually stopped. 1682, king Louis XIV of France issued an imperial edict, stipulating that only when there is physical evidence, such as the use of poison, can he have the right to hunt down wizards and witches, and cannot file a case for arraignment just because of rumors or secret reports. Although this decree does not deny the existence of witchcraft, it requires judges to concentrate on collecting physical evidence, which is actually tantamount to denying the devil.

After entering the18th century, with the progress of natural science, the high-spirited rationalism and the spread of philosophy in the enlightenment period, the idea that witchcraft harms people has become vulgar superstition and foolish fantasy, and the witch hunting movement has finally come to an end and become a bloody page in history.

Witch hunting is caused by Catholic superstition, which has caused countless deaths and become the laughing stock of atheism.

At the beginning of the Reformation, some Christian sects were influenced by Catholicism to some extent, so they didn't understand the truth of religious tolerance. But later, Christians gradually understood, accepted the separation of church and state, and left the old Catholic superstition. ]