The Affair of Poisons: Examining Witches and Witchcraft in Middle Ages

This essay explores the history of witches and witchcraft during the Middle Ages, examining how beliefs and social attitudes shaped the European witchcraft phenomenon. It discusses the role of the Church, the persecution of accused witches (often elderly and poor women), and the connection betwe...Read More

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The affair of poisons
The subject of witches and witchcraft trials is a complex and fascinating topic. A lot has
been written on the topic by leading scholars but with conflicting views. The paper investigates
the history of witches and wizards from the Middle Ages.
Witchcraft persisted through the Middle Ages although the Medieval church accepted the
viewpoints that neither witches or the wizards or devils carried any powers. Their magic was just
invented to make people afraid and lure them away from Christianity (Newman). Gradually,
Church began to influence the laws to create regulations against witchcraft and any of the related
activities. Thus Witchcraft and poisoning was a crime in the Middle Ages. Towards the end of
the Renaissance, the physicians of the Middle Ages were discovering anatomy and physiology
and thus changing the medical theory dramatically (Estes 271). The European concept of magic
appeared during the Middle Ages.
The witch-hunts during the 16th and 17th centuries were based on the beliefs from the
Middle Ages (Estes 271). Researchers take an interest in how people used witchcraft to target
certain social groups. Certain misfortunes were attributed to the malice of the witches. Witches
and Witchcraft were looked upon as a demon-worship in the Middle Ages. Cathars, a group of
heretics believed that God and Satan were at war with each other and both had had supernatural
powers. It was also argued that the world was full of demons and thus began a negative attitude
towards witchcraft in Christianity (Newman). There is a long history of witches getting hunt and
burned. It shows how the medical profession treated women and suppressed their role in the

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healing profession. The European medical profession played an essential role in creating the
image of witches and hunting them down (Ehrenreich and English 31). The witch hunts left a
lasting effect on the females related to the field of healing or medicine.
There several references to the practice of magic in the form of remedies, formulas, and
rituals in different contexts, whether medical, scientific or literary. Many of the healing rituals
are derived from Christian liturgy. The prescriptions for physical ailments often carried
incantatory words pointing to the charm or spell and can be seen as magico-medical texts (Jolly,
Raudvere and Peters 29). The word magic appears in prayers, blessings, and use of herbs and
animals. Witches and their witchcraft comprised of different practices and healing through spells,
potions, and potions. Wizards or witch doctors practiced curative magic, and then there were
toad doctors who were able to undo evil witchcraft (Newman). However, the witches, the
wizards and the toad doctors were considered valuable to society.
The common magical practices during the Middle Ages existed at the boundary between
the natural and unnatural manifestation of the illness and had visible and invisible causes (Jolly,
Raudvere and Peters 30). While many illnesses s are linked with possible physical causes, some
ailments were linked to supernatural causes like airborne poisons and demons and such ailments
required ancient rituals to get cured. Witchcraft and their practices were feared throughout
Europe. Witches used a variety of herbs to make potions and poisons. Magic was associated with
devil worship and could cause harms to others, by cursing them with bad luck or van causing
accidents and deaths (Newman). The effect of sorcery in sagas is diverse and can be offensive or
defensive when dealing with enemies. If accused of magic, the magicians can kill the accuser
with the use of deeper magic. Sorcery could make life miserable for people and could make the
weapons blunt or change people to animals (Kieckhefer 50).

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Medieval beliefs and superstitions, confessions by accused witches and social attitudes
played an essential role in shaping the European witchcraft during the Medieval Ages (Mitchell
5). The craze for witchcraft was created mainly by the ruling class to suppress the growing
popularity of Christianism. Despite scholarly interests in witches and witchcraft of the Middle
Ages, there is little information on who were these witches who were burned. There are opposing
views on if those victims were mainly the healers of the peasant society and the midwives.
However, recent studies on witchcraft and witch hunts reveal that the majority of these women
were elderly and poor ((Horsley 689). Intellectual history and church studies with a top-down
view of the witchcraft offers an insight into the origin of the witchcraft beliefs. A famous work
“The Witch-cult of Western Europe” shows that the medieval witches were created because of
the ancient fertility traditions in Europe ((Mitchell 4). In the eyes of the Church, the power of the
witches was derived from her sexuality, and all witchcraft came from the carnal lust. The
witches were not just women but highly organized as a secret society as asserted by Ehrenreich
and English (42).
If accused of witchcraft in the Middle Ages, the accused was forced to confess and even
if he or she was innocent, they had to go through brutal torture. They could be burnt alive for
their crimes (Newman). Often the strict laws against witchcraft were used for personal vendettas
and the influential persons in society arranged for those accusations against the victims, who
were forced to confess. Majority of those accused of witchcraft were women. Witches were often
portrayed to be ugly and old as the church wanted them to be disliked. The witches were accused
of every conceivable crime such as sexual crimes, accused of female sexuality and having
magical powers (Ehrenreich and English 39).

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There is a long history of witches getting hunt and burned. It shows how the medical
profession treated women and suppressed their role in the healing profession. The European
medical profession played an essential role in creating the image of witches and hunting them
down (Ehrenreich and English 31). The witch hunts left a lasting effect on the females related to
the field of healing or medicine.
One can look at the rise of witches and witchcraft in the Middle Ages due to several
factors and forces. While the influential encouraged it to suppress the power of the churches, the
society accused the elderly women of witchcraft and forced the victim to commit to their crimes.,
and, as such, persecution of witchcraft persisted through the Middle Ages.

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Works Cited
Ehrenreich, Barbara and Deirdre English. “Witches, Midwives, & Nurses (Second Edition): A
History of Women Healers.” The Feminist Press at CUNY, vol. 1, no. 1, 2010, pp. 1-112.
Estes, Leland L. "The Medical Origins of the European Witch Craze: A Hypothesis." Journal of
Social History, vol. 17, no. 2, 1983, pp. 271-284.
Horsley, Richard A.” Who Were the Witches? The Social Roles of the Accused in the European
Witch Trials.” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, vol. 9, no. 4, 1979, pp. 689-715.
Jolly, Karen, Catharina Raudvere, Edward Peters. " Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, Volume 3:
The Middle Ages." &C Black, vol. 1, no. 1, 2002, pp. 1-296.
Kieckhefer, Richard. “Magic in the Middle Ages.” Cambridge University Press, vol. 1, no. 1,
2000, pp. 1-240.
Mitchell, Stephen A “Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages.” University of
Pennsylvania Press, vol. 1, no. 1, 2011, pp. 1-384.
Newman, Simon. “Witches and Witchcraft in the Middle Ages.” The finer times, 2 Jul. 2018,
www.thefinertimes.com/Middle-Ages/witches-and-witchcraft-in-the-middle-ages.html.
Accessed 16 Nov. 2018