Witch Trials

4 Pages 887 Words

The mock witchcraft trial done in class displayed many aspects of witchcraft trials that might normally have been used long ago. I think one thing that directly affected the result of the trial was the fact that the two women accused of witchcraft were both illiterate peasants. Since they were illiterate, they were not able to use outside written sources to defend themselves. For example, the village crone could have brought in Part I., Question Viii. Of the Malleus Maleficarum which states that witches could only affect the lives of the babies that were from unmarried women since matrimony was God’s work, and the devil was not as strong as God (http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/part_I/mm01_08a.html). This would have disproved the accusations against her relating to being a midwife since the only babies that were dead were from married women. Also, the trial might have been different if the people would have found out about the village girl’s mother’s abortion by the midwife. This act would have added further reason to convict her. Another way the trial could have been different is if the people had never discovered that the village girl’s rambling was just form her being lonely and imaginative. If they would not have questioned her as much as they did, they would have thought she was simply possessed rather than just over imaginative.
In addition, there were several points during the trial that most determined its outcome. First, when it was discovered that many of the babies that the midwife had delivered had died, everyone seemed to think this was a sure sign of witch craft. They believed this because throughout history witches that are midwives have been known to kill babies and sacrifice them to the devil. For example, Part II, Question 1, Chapter XIII of the The Malleus Maleficarum states, “…the greatest injuries to the Faith as regards the heresy of witches are done by midwives…” (http://www.malleusmaleficarum.o...