this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2024
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It wasn't his followers that killed him though. His followers did however torture and kill women.
Ya but I'm pretty sure the witches' followers didn't kill the witches either. Obviously just needed more followers. Clearly, the predominant religion is the one with the most followers willing to kill competing dark arts users. It's basically politics.
Many times it was to get property. If a landowner died and had no children his wife would inherit the land. If that woman were to die before remarrying and having children, then the lord of that area would get that land. If that woman were to be accused of being a witch, then that same Lord would preside over the trial and determine whether the woman was guilty of witchcraft. I think you can see a conflict of interest here.
Check the history of Luxembourg. It got so bad the Church had to step in. Now the church wasn't a great defender of women's rights, but this kind of thing got so bad even the church had to say "ok you're taking this too far."
But sometimes it was for petty reasons. Someone in town hates a woman for whatever then accusations of witchcraft were made. This is kinda anecdotal, but I got an ancestor that lived in Salem, Mass. and there was a witch trial simply because a woman got re-married to my ancestor too soon after her previous husband died.
Although the poster above made a goof by mentioning Jesus, the general sentiment of the whole witchcraft thing being about killing women for horrible (and sometimes petty) reasons seems right to me.
this is where i wish lemmy had r/askhistorians because i remember for a fact there’s some mandela effect here and culturally we are misremembering something key but as a non-historian i’d look like an idot trying to call it out
edit: ok i figured it out and my point is moot. i am remembering that the Salem witch trials in America did not involve burnings, but hangings. however the witch trials in Europe very much did involve burning.
sorry for the semi-useless comment haha
literally the modern burning of the library of alexandria is going on and no one* is talking about it
*ok probably not no one im just being overdramatic
there’s just so much value to historians being accessible to the public. there’s a reason universities pay them tenure despite not bringing immediate material benefit to the local community or economy, and reddit seemingly magically allowed for a forum that was even more open and accessible than a university.
and now that’s being fucked over by IPOs and LLMs.
Yes, the penalty for being a witch was hanging. Unfortunately the test to prove you were a witch sometimes involved tying you up and throwing you into a lake to see if you float or sink, and if you float then they would hang you. Of course the situation resolved itself if you didn't float. No one ever floated.
Or putting you under a stone.
Giles Corey, one of the more famous Salem victims. His wife was tried for witchcraft, and while he stood against her, he got wrapped up in it, too. They placed large stones over his body, telling him if he confessed he would be given a clean death.
His last words are reported to be "More weight".