Post-medieval Europe

The Dark History of Witchcraft and the Devil

# The Dark History of Witchcraft and the Devil For centuries, the word witchcraft has conjured images of shadowy figures ... Read more

# The Dark History of Witchcraft and the Devil

For centuries, the word witchcraft has conjured images of shadowy figures whispering curses, flying on broomsticks, and dancing with the devil under the moonlight. But what really defined witchcraft in medieval Europe? And why did so many people—mostly women—end up burned at the stake?

This is a story of fear, power, and the terrifying belief that witches were agents of Satan himself.

Contents

The Devil’s Bargain: Witchcraft as Heresy

In the late Middle Ages, witchcraft wasn’t just about casting spells—it was about making a deal with the devil. According to Christian demonologists, witches were people who had abandoned God, traded their souls for dark powers, and used magic to spread chaos.

They were accused of:
– Summoning storms to destroy crops
– Causing plagues and infertility
– Murdering infants in secret rituals
– Flying through the night to attend demonic gatherings

The infamous Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches), published in 1487, declared that witchcraft was the worst crime imaginable—worse than murder, worse than heresy. Witches, it claimed, had to be exterminated.

But where did this obsession with witches come from?

The Church and the Witch Hunts

For much of the Middle Ages, witchcraft was seen as superstition—something the Church dismissed as peasant nonsense. But by the 15th century, that changed.

In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued a papal bull, Summis Desiderantes Affectibus, declaring that witches were real, dangerous, and must be hunted down. This decree gave inquisitors and secular authorities the power to prosecute witchcraft as heresy.

The result? A wave of terror.

Between 1550 and 1650, thousands of people—mostly women—were accused, tortured, and executed. Some confessed under duress, describing wild gatherings where they feasted on children, kissed the devil’s backside, and engaged in orgies.

Why did so many believe these stories? Because the devil was very real to them.

The Devil: God’s Dark Shadow

Christian theologians had long struggled with the problem of evil: If God was all-powerful and good, why did suffering exist? The answer: the devil.

Augustine argued that evil wasn’t a force equal to God—it was a corruption of God’s creation. The devil, once an angel, had rebelled and now tempted humans into sin.

Martin Luther took this further, declaring that the world was ruled not by God, but by Satan. He saw the devil everywhere—in temptation, in greed, even in the rise of capitalism.

And what did the devil look like?

Descriptions varied, but common traits emerged:
– Black skin or animal form (often a goat or cat)
– Horns, claws, and sulfurous stench
– A grotesque, exaggerated sexuality

Freud later suggested that the devil was a twisted father figure—a symbol of repressed guilt and forbidden desires.

Witch Covens and the Carnival of Sin

One of the most chilling accusations against witches was their supposed gatherings—the sabbath.

According to trial records, witches would:
– Fly to remote forests at night
– Worship the devil in the form of a black goat
– Feast on forbidden foods (sometimes human flesh)
– Engage in wild, ritualistic sex

These descriptions eerily mirrored another phenomenon: the carnival.

Carnivals were times of excess—days when normal rules were suspended. People gorged on meat, drank heavily, and engaged in raucous, sometimes violent, celebrations.

Some scholars believe the witch hunts were a backlash against this chaos. The Church feared disorder, and so it created an enemy: the witch, the ultimate symbol of rebellion against God.

Capitalism’s Dark Side: Abstinence vs. Indulgence

The witch hunts coincided with the rise of capitalism—and the tension between two opposing forces:

1. Puritanical Discipline (Weber’s “Protestant work ethic”)
2. Unrestrained Greed (Sombart’s “luxury and excess”)

The devil became a symbol of both. On one hand, he represented temptation and sin. On the other, he was linked to the anal-retentive, money-hoarding traits of early capitalists.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown, the protagonist discovers that even the most pious villagers secretly worship the devil. The story reflects a deep anxiety: that beneath the surface of morality, humans are drawn to darkness.

The End of the Witch Hunts

By the 18th century, the witch trials faded. Science, skepticism, and changing social attitudes made the idea of witches seem absurd.

But the legacy remains. The witch hunts weren’t just about superstition—they were about control. They exposed the darkest fears of a society torn between God and the devil, order and chaos, abstinence and desire.

And perhaps, in some ways, we still wrestle with those fears today.

Final Thought

The next time you hear the word witchcraft, remember: it wasn’t just about magic. It was about power, fear, and the terrifying belief that evil could walk among us—disguised as your neighbor, your friend, or even yourself.