Is witchcraft to blame for medieval Europe's problems?

Witchcraft in medieval Europe

During the thirteenth and the eighteenth centuries, The Little Ice Age ran a course that saw a number of witches hunted with an approximately tens of thousands being burnt on stake accused of causing crop failure and famine. They were believed to cause these phenomena by inviting unseasonal storms from hell. The causes of these problems were mainly pointed in the direction of hapless women who could not adequately defend themselves before the authorities at the time. They were also believed to possess powers that would influence the weather conditions the society experienced at any given time (Fagan, 2000).

For a long period of time, the witches had claimed the ability of causing certain weather conditions. For instance, they claimed ability to create hailstorms at will. During the planting season, farmers sought the help of the witches because of their claimed abilities. Farmers were therefore forced to approach them in their rundown houses so as to request them to prevent any hailstorms from destroying their crops. Residents complained when the witches’ prowess did not yield fruits. The farmers’ complaints are among the key things that led to the persecution of the old women practicing witchcraft. Persecution was mainly done by burning the houses of the hapless women.

When it came to the warm period, vine yards throughout England boosted the agriculture economy. However, during the Little Ice Age, there was a major decrease in the advanced agricultural productions and the blooming vine yards soon stopped yielding grapes.

During the thirteenth century, there were a number of meteorological changes occurring with increased frequency which also marked the repeated occurrence of hailstorms. For example, a major hailstorm hit almost the entire central Europe in August, 1562. This storm, accompanied with darkness, destroyed crops, houses, cattle farms of thousands of square kilometers and vineyards that killed birds too. Consequently, famine set in, resulting in mass poverty that forced a great population to migrate within and across the continent.

These incidences looked so unnatural at the time that people turned to the two prime authorities of the land, the State and the church, for answers. The churches put the blame on the witches for these ‘unnatural’ happenings. These accusations led to the very first witch hunts in Europe (Midelfort, 1972).

The church was quick to perceive that weather was indeed being controlled by the witches. These allegations were later to be confirmed by the then Pope Innocence VIII in 1484. 1563 saw the largest massacre in the territory of Wiesensteig of Helfenstein with sixty three women being burnt on the account of practicing witchcraft.

Temperatures also greatly reduced and the weather was also set to change and drift for the worse. The Little Ice Age otherwise also known as ‘Maunder Minimum’ reigned in Europe between 1645 and 1715. The changes in weather were further worsened with volcanic eruptions in the 1960s. Witchcraft trials constantly rose and fell as the temperatures fell and rose alternately (Behringer, 1999).

References

Behringer, W. (1999). “Climatic Change and Witch-Hunting,” Climatic Change.

Fagan, B. (2000). The Little Ice Age, New York, NY: Basic Books.

Midelfort, E. (1972). Witch Hunting in Southwestern Germany, Stanford,

California: Stanford University Press.