{"product_id":"2940013066410","title":"Witchcraft and Medicine (1484-17931) Published in conjunction with an exhibit at the NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE MARCH 25 - JULY 19.1974","description":"SNEAK PEAK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBelief in witchcraft goes far back into prehistoric\u003cbr\u003etimes. It continues today, not only among primitive\u003cbr\u003epeoples, but also in many civilized nations. Witches’\u003cbr\u003ecovens, Satanism, black magic ~ these are among the\u003cbr\u003econcepts recognized by numerous people both here\u003cbr\u003eand abroad.\u003cbr\u003eWhen early Christians incorporated the Old\u003cbr\u003eTestament in their doctrines, they inherited with it\u003cbr\u003ethe pelief in witches manifested in such passages as\u003cbr\u003e“Thou shalt suffer no witch to live” (Exodus xii, 18)\u003cbr\u003eand “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft” (I Samuel\u003cbr\u003e15:23). The account of the witch of Endor (I Samuel\u003cbr\u003e28:7-25) is familiar to most industrious Sunday\u003cbr\u003eSchool pupils. While some scholars argue that the\u003cbr\u003eoriginal Hebrew terms should not be translated as\u003cbr\u003e“witch” or “witchcraft,” those were the words\u003cbr\u003eofficially accepted and thus interpreted by the\u003cbr\u003eChurch.\u003cbr\u003eThe procedures and organization of witch trials\u003cbr\u003ewere based on the Church’s trials for heresy by the\u003cbr\u003eInquisition, a tribunal established by Pope Lucius III\u003cbr\u003ein 1184 for the repression of all kinds of breaches of\u003cbr\u003eorthodoxy. The dividing line between heresy and\u003cbr\u003ewitchcraft was not at first very clear. Every heresy\u003cbr\u003ewas diabolical, and anyone convicted of practicing\u003cbr\u003emagic was a heretic.\u003cbr\u003eThe original attitude of early Christians to\u003cbr\u003ewitchcraft resembled provisions of Roman law -\u003cbr\u003ewitches were not punished unless they harmed\u003cbr\u003esomeone. With the exception of St. Augustine,\u003cbr\u003eChurch authorities opposed the belief in witchcraft.\u003cbr\u003eTheir opinions were expressed especially in the\u003cbr\u003eso-called Carron episcapi (Council of Ancyra, 9th\u003cbr\u003ecent.). However, in the 13th century, witchcraft\u003cbr\u003ebecame a crimen magiue and witch trials started\u003cbr\u003esporadically.\u003cbr\u003eThe gradual hardening of the Church’s attitude\u003cbr\u003etoward witchcraft through the 12th to 15th centuries\u003cbr\u003edid not meet with universal approval. Among the\u003cbr\u003ephysicianswho opposed it were Arnoldus de Villanova\u003cbr\u003e(1235-1315?), a professor at the University of\u003cbr\u003eMontpellier, and Pietro d’Abano (1250-l 3 16), who\u003cbr\u003etaught medicine in Paris and, later, at the University\u003cbr\u003eof Padua. The chief obstacle to witch hunts, however,\u003cbr\u003ewas the Canon episcopi, which was incorporated in\u003cbr\u003e1284 in the Decretales Gregorii IX and thus became a\u003cbr\u003epart of canon law.\u003cbr\u003eIn 1458 Nicolas Jacquier (Jaquerius), an\u003cbr\u003einquisitor, completed his Flagellum haereticorum\u003cbr\u003efascinariorum (not printed until 1581), in which he\u003cbr\u003erejected the application of the Canon episcopi in\u003cbr\u003ewitch trials. His rejection was based on the argument\u003cbr\u003ethat contemporary witchcraft was a new\u003cbr\u003ephenomenon, and that witches comprised a new sect\u003cbr\u003e- witch-heretics - who made pacts with the Devil,\u003cbr\u003ecelebrated sabbats (assemblies of witches to worship\u003cbr\u003ethe Devil), and flew by night.\u003cbr\u003eintercourse with the Devil; inflicting illness or death\u003cbr\u003eon their enemies, or damaging their property; eating\u003cbr\u003ehuman flesh; murdering children; raising storms; and\u003cbr\u003epreparing diabolical potions and philters. Hundreds of\u003cbr\u003eother misdeeds were named in the confessions\u003cbr\u003eextracted from the victims of unbearable torture.\u003cbr\u003eWitchcraft itself was treason against God, since it\u003cbr\u003erequired that the witch sign a pact with the Devil.\u003cbr\u003eEven the so-called “good” witches were punished\u003cbr\u003ewith death; wholly ignored or forgotten were the\u003cbr\u003eprovisions of old Roman law and the Constitutio\u003cbr\u003ecriminalis Carolina which required that the accused\u003cbr\u003ehave actually caused harm before punishment could\u003cbr\u003ebe applied.\u003cbr\u003eMost witches’ trials were conducted by secular\u003cbr\u003eauthorities, especially in England, France, and\u003cbr\u003eGermany, but ecclesiastical courts acted in some\u003cbr\u003ecases, as in Italy or in German states governed by\u003cbr\u003ebishops. Both, however, approved the use of torture\u003cbr\u003eto ascertain the “truth,” ignoring the famous opinion\u003cbr\u003ein Justinian’s Digests that “there are arguments for\u003cbr\u003eand against the use of torture. Torture, however,\u003cbr\u003ewhen used, is untrustworthy, perilous, and\u003cbr\u003edeceptive.”\u003cbr\u003eWood engraving from Joost Damhouder, Enchiridion _,\u003cbr\u003eRotterdam, I554\u003cbr\u003e2\u003cbr\u003eIt is almost impossible to conceive the horror of\u003cbr\u003ethe tortures to which accused persons were subjected.\u003cbr\u003eThe rack, mutilation, the press, submersion in water\u003cbr\u003e(if the victim sank, he or she was innocent!), and fire\u003cbr\u003ewere only a few of the means of suffering used to\u003cbr\u003eevoke confessions. If the accused later revoked his\u003cbr\u003econfession, he was tortured again until he confessed\u003cbr\u003ewith finality.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTO BE CONTINUED... 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