In this article, he deals with a theme that in particular is not very often discussed, namely witchcraft which, due to superstitions, fears, lack of knowledge and false revelations, we tend to avoid. Everyone is afraid of this world, but everyone is interested in having more clarity about it. After all, what scares us is also what most intrigues us.
We begin to understand who the witches really were and why they were called "witches".
Most of the people accused of witchcraft were female, as women were believed to be more likely to succumb to the temptation of the Evil One. In the charge of witchcraft, midwives and nannies, obstetricians and gynecologists and all women who by profession were in contact with children incurred. The midwives knew the contraceptive methods, the procedures to terminate the pregnancy or the system to alleviate the labor pains: popular ignorance led to accuse innocent women of witchcraft for the death of a woman during childbirth or a newborn baby, because witches were considered greedy of unbaptized children to sacrifice to the Devil to feed on during the Sabbath.
All women who were educated and were aware of remedies learned from nature, such as herbalists and popular healers, were therefore considered witches, women who knew how to exploit the positive virtues of plants and who knew human anatomy. Faced with these symptoms of unexplained diseases at the time, these women successfully intervened by preparing juices extracted from flowers and roots: preparing sleeping pills, calming, analgesic or exciting. It is fair to say, however, that sometimes the treatments only had a psychic effect on the patient, who for some time felt better without having been really treated. Unfortunately, not all healers and herbalists did good: those who know how to annihilate or relieve pain also know how to cause harm, for example poisons extracted from plants. For this reason many women were persecuted and a real war broke out against them.
Between 1550 and 1650 tens of thousands of people were sent to death across Europe on charges of witchcraft. Most of the witch trials were based on the inquisitorial method, according to which members of a community, or a magistrate, could sue a person based on rumors, suspicions or information about his alleged witchcraft activity. The judges had the task of investigating the matter and proceeding with interrogations. In the absence of decisive evidence and evidence, the judges had to rely on the accused's confession, which was often extorted by torture; the violence was such that the suspect hardly confirmed the charges and did not report his accomplices.
An example was what happened in a small town in the province of Imperia, Triora :
In 1587, after a long period of famine that had exhausted the population, the inhabitants of Triora began to think that the cause of their sufferings was not really natural ... and soon they blamed the wrongdoing on someone of evil, endowed with hidden powers. : witches. The process began immediately, after holding a solemn sermon in church that incited citizens to report any suspicion or anomalous behavior. Of course the complaints were not long in coming and in a short time about twenty women were arrested. During interrogations, the most varied tortures were used, and so other names came up: the list of suspects was increasing. The trial went on for months, with dozens of charges and indiscriminate use of torture and torture. Everything ended after more than a year since the condemnations from the Church were not valid.
But in the meantime, one of the prisoners, Isotta Stella, a poor 60-year-old woman, had died due to the torture inflicted and another had committed suicide by throwing herself through the window ... the history of the other women does not pass on either the name or the fate. However, it is probable that many of the women arrested on the basis of rumors and suspicions died from the suffering of torture.
If you are interested in the article, I will discuss other topics later. Thank you all
