The history of the Roman witch is thus prophetic of that of her Christian successor
The history of the Roman witch is thus prophetic of that of her Christian successor
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6,852 published records with substantive text · Page 124 of 143
Roman witchcraft--continually reinforced from the Orient--grew in importance as faith in the greater gods…
Roman witchcraft--continually reinforced from the Orient--grew in importance as faith in the greater gods decreased
Read record →Passed from mouth to mouth, ignorant, or understanding, they might reach the distant flock so diluted as to…
Passed from mouth to mouth, ignorant, or understanding, they might reach the distant flock so diluted as to have opportunity for compromise with time-honoured precedent--and what more so than witchcraft
Read record →S married a barbarian princess and before the close of the third century A.D
s married a barbarian princess and before the close of the third century A.D
Read record →Whereas the pagan had chastised the witch with rods for injuring man, the Christian set about her with…
Whereas the pagan had chastised the witch with rods for injuring man, the Christian set about her with scorpions as an enemy of God
Read record →As the Church increased in power, many such practices--as, for example, the dancing of women round sacred trees…
As the Church increased in power, many such practices--as, for example, the dancing of women round sacred trees and wells, with torches or candles in their hands, the common meal, the choral song and sacrifice--were roundly forbidden as witchcraft, the uprooti
Read record →Considering the vast and ever-increasing population of witches and demons, it seemed an almost hopeless task to…
Considering the vast and ever-increasing population of witches and demons, it seemed an almost hopeless task to exterminate them altogether
Read record →It is noteworthy, and a fact that vouches strongly for the sincerity of the early Church, that although she…
It is noteworthy, and a fact that vouches strongly for the sincerity of the early Church, that although she thus practised what was nothing less than sanctified witchcraft, she never attempted one of the most frequent and popular of witch-practices--the forete
Read record →Familiarity in some measure breeding contempt, the public in these early days thus regarded neither witch nor…
Familiarity in some measure breeding contempt, the public in these early days thus regarded neither witch nor dæmon with the dread and hatred so manifest in the fifteenth century and onwards
Read record →Although in 696 the Council of Berkhampstead decreed that any person sacrificing to the Devil should be…
Although in 696 the Council of Berkhampstead decreed that any person sacrificing to the Devil should be punished--a clear enough reference to witches--it was not until some centuries later that the conception of the witch definitely crystallised into its moder
Read record →Whether or no the sins of witch and sorcerer be definitely codified, it is the duty of the law-giver to provide…
Whether or no the sins of witch and sorcerer be definitely codified, it is the duty of the law-giver to provide for all contingencies; and just as Justinian devoted part of his code to dealing with witchcraft, so Charlemagne, two centuries and a half later, en
Read record →Small wonder that they sought for something which, instead of the hopeless contemplation of inherent sin,…
Small wonder that they sought for something which, instead of the hopeless contemplation of inherent sin, should provide some ray of present comfort
Read record →Though the anathemas of the Church might for a time stem the increasing tide of witch-popularity, they were…
Though the anathemas of the Church might for a time stem the increasing tide of witch-popularity, they were fundamentally only incentives towards a cult which did not include anathemas or persecution--except, indeed, those within the control of the humblest in
Read record →Among the forbidden institutions upon which the Crusader found reason to reconsider his ideas, witchcraft took…
Among the forbidden institutions upon which the Crusader found reason to reconsider his ideas, witchcraft took a prominent place
Read record →By this time Satan had assumed a definite form and personality in the public mind, and the idea that the witch…
By this time Satan had assumed a definite form and personality in the public mind, and the idea that the witch obtained her powers through a compact with him, long sedulously inculcated, had taken root
Read record →The practice of medicine by women, however beneficial, grew more and more into disfavour, and year by year the…
The practice of medicine by women, however beneficial, grew more and more into disfavour, and year by year the attributes of the witch grew more infernal as the material Devil became more and more familiar in men's minds
Read record →The convenience, from the Church point of view, of catching witch and heretic in the same net was too obvious…
The convenience, from the Church point of view, of catching witch and heretic in the same net was too obvious to be disregarded
Read record →These and other diseases, constant wars, bad harvests, and other troubles brought about a series of class-wars,…
These and other diseases, constant wars, bad harvests, and other troubles brought about a series of class-wars, the Jacquerie in France, and Wat Tyler's insurrection in England, for example; the Devil and the witch between them shared the blame in the eyes of
Read record →The ever-increasing prestige of witchcraft in time raised it to a point where it could be made an apt weapon…
The ever-increasing prestige of witchcraft in time raised it to a point where it could be made an apt weapon for political intrigues
Read record →I have elsewhere in this volume attempted to show that, even in our own days, there is nothing particularly…
I have elsewhere in this volume attempted to show that, even in our own days, there is nothing particularly incredible about a witch--and that the disrespect into which she has fallen is due rather to our modern lack of any sense of proportion in our beliefs,
Read record →As we have seen the severest period of witch-persecution commences from their definite classification as…
As we have seen the severest period of witch-persecution commences from their definite classification as heretics by the Bull of Innocent VIII
Read record →The Inquisitor, Sprenger, lost little time in making use of this delegated authority--and such was his zeal and…
The Inquisitor, Sprenger, lost little time in making use of this delegated authority--and such was his zeal and so many his opportunities of acquiring knowledge that within two years after the issue of the Bull he gave to the world his famous "Witch's Hammer,"
Read record →The effects of the Witch-Bull were immediate and in every way satisfactory to its authors--a perfect frenzy of…
The effects of the Witch-Bull were immediate and in every way satisfactory to its authors--a perfect frenzy of witch-finding resulting
Read record →Calvin, again, says of Psalm v., 6, "If there were no charms of sorcery, this were but a childish and absurd…
Calvin, again, says of Psalm v., 6, "If there were no charms of sorcery, this were but a childish and absurd thing which is here written." It is true that Protestant and Catholic regarded the witchcraft question from diametrically opposite standpoints
Read record →However enduring might be the enthusiasm of the judges, the commonalty in time grew sated with the spectacle of…
However enduring might be the enthusiasm of the judges, the commonalty in time grew sated with the spectacle of their own and their friends' aunts and grandmothers being burned to ashes for the glory of God
Read record →Not content with stirring up doubt as to the spiritual nature of witchcraft, Wierus has the audacity to…
Not content with stirring up doubt as to the spiritual nature of witchcraft, Wierus has the audacity to question the motives of some of its judges
Read record →Wierus had studied the natural history of the witch no less closely than his predecessor, the Inquisitor…
Wierus had studied the natural history of the witch no less closely than his predecessor, the Inquisitor Sprenger
Read record →Fifteen years after the publication of "De Præstigiis," appeared Jean Bodin's counterblast
Fifteen years after the publication of "De Præstigiis," appeared Jean Bodin's counterblast
Read record →F a neighbour's goods or person, the making of images or pictures of men, women, children, angels, devils,…
f a neighbour's goods or person, the making of images or pictures of men, women, children, angels, devils, beasts and fowls for magical purposes, were declared felony without benefit of clergy, was repealed in the reign of Edward VI
Read record →As against his contemporary, Holland, who, writing in 1590, urges that since witches were in the Bible, "shall…
As against his contemporary, Holland, who, writing in 1590, urges that since witches were in the Bible, "shall Satan be less cruel now?", Scot, in "The Discoverie of Witchcraft," scoffs at "Sprenger's fables and Bodin's bables"--a conceit that must have afford
Read record →To this no less than to his desire for literary laurels, is to be ascribed his painstaking--not to say…
To this no less than to his desire for literary laurels, is to be ascribed his painstaking--not to say pedantic--"Dæmonologia," published in 1597, which the loyal Hutchinson excuses in his "Historical Essay on Witchcraft"--excuses on the ground of his youth an
Read record →He is fearfully and wonderfully theological--and occasionally indulges in touches of elephantine lightness such…
He is fearfully and wonderfully theological--and occasionally indulges in touches of elephantine lightness such as might well have given pause to the most obstinate sorcerer
Read record →Such august patronage of their efforts served the ever-increasing tribe of professional witch-finders in good…
Such august patronage of their efforts served the ever-increasing tribe of professional witch-finders in good stead, and the Act of 1563 was enforced more stringently than ever
Read record →Accordingly, we find the inquisitor or judge always ultra-punctilious in bringing all due form and ceremony to…
Accordingly, we find the inquisitor or judge always ultra-punctilious in bringing all due form and ceremony to bear upon a witch-trial
Read record →A host of precautionary measures to be taken by the judge when the witch was brought into court, have been…
A host of precautionary measures to be taken by the judge when the witch was brought into court, have been recorded
Read record →Before burning the witch, it was, however, necessary to catch her
Before burning the witch, it was, however, necessary to catch her
Read record →Gaule, however ill-advised, proved himself no despicable antagonist
Gaule, however ill-advised, proved himself no despicable antagonist
Read record →Be that as it may, his fall, when it came, was heavy
Be that as it may, his fall, when it came, was heavy
Read record →That Matthew Hopkins initiated new methods of witch-finding by no means implies that there was any lack of such…
That Matthew Hopkins initiated new methods of witch-finding by no means implies that there was any lack of such before his time
Read record →Most popular test of all, as taking place in the open and thus providing a general holiday, was witch-ducking…
Most popular test of all, as taking place in the open and thus providing a general holiday, was witch-ducking or "swimming." So near was it to the great heart of the British public that its celebration continued informally well into the nineteenth century
Read record →Of how it might be obtained Reginald Scot gives us a vivid example
Of how it might be obtained Reginald Scot gives us a vivid example
Read record →Blackstone, indeed, one of the greatest of English lawyers, went so far as to declare that "to deny the…
Blackstone, indeed, one of the greatest of English lawyers, went so far as to declare that "to deny the possibility, nay, the actual existence of witchcraft is at once flatly to contradict the revealed Word of God." The attitude of Sir Matthew Hale, Lord Chief
Read record →It would be both tedious and unprofitable to trace out the whole long history of witch-persecution in the…
It would be both tedious and unprofitable to trace out the whole long history of witch-persecution in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
Read record →And instead of the brown one a little Boy, whom this Informer knoweth not." Dickenson's wife offered him a…
And instead of the brown one a little Boy, whom this Informer knoweth not." Dickenson's wife offered him a shilling as the price of his silence, but he answered, "Nay, thou art a witch." Whereupon she put her hand into her pocket and pulled out something like
Read record →In the same year Margaret Elmore was tried at the Ipswich Assizes before the same judge
In the same year Margaret Elmore was tried at the Ipswich Assizes before the same judge
Read record →This," she said, "she did five or six times, and laughed and said Bess Horner held her up." Poor Elizabeth had…
This," she said, "she did five or six times, and laughed and said Bess Horner held her up." Poor Elizabeth had a wart on her shoulder, which the children said was a witch-mark, and was sucked by her toad
Read record →Thenceforward the law of England had no more terrors for the witch, though she was not yet quite out of danger
Thenceforward the law of England had no more terrors for the witch, though she was not yet quite out of danger
Read record →[Footnote 1: "If any person, or persons, shall use, practise, or exercise any invocation or conjuration of any…
[Footnote 1: "If any person, or persons, shall use, practise, or exercise any invocation or conjuration of any evil and wicked spirit, or shall consult, covenant with, entertain, employ, find, or reward any evil and wicked spirit, to or for any intent or purpo
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