They believed that they were evil.

they want to eat'em

they want to eat'em

Being a witch was a sin against God, so they were put to death. Burning at the stake was a cruel and terrible way to do it, just the way it was done then.

Witches are too large for the hibachi.

Because they are made of wood. Just ask Sir Bedevere the wise! (Monty Python)

Being a witch was a sin punishable by death. Granted, the definition of a "witch" was very vague. A lot of times, you could be accused of heresy or witchcraft without actually doing anything wrong. Just sitting at home, then BAM!...you're the guest of honor at a BBQ. Of course, burning had to be the primary means of execution. Actually, there were two other ways. You could do that thing where the person is pulled apart by four horses. That's always fun. And you could be defenestrated, which is to be thrown out a window (or off the top of a building). Actually, that's the punishment for homosexuality in a lot of Islamic countries. Great stuff.

People were branded as witches and warlocks by the authorities of the day.These people were targets,not because they had any powers,but were lied about by informers that had something against another person.The insane tests that they used to prove a person was a witch made no sense and justice meant nothing.

Witches were seen as followers of the devil. Obviously the religious leaders of the early settlers in the current New England region believed that these people should be "sent to hell where they belonged." Many of these settlements, the most famous being Salem (for the witch trials), were run by a theocracy (religious based government), and matters such as this were handled to "cleanse the town" of "bad seeds."

It was the mandatory sentence of the time.

I cannot even stand thinking about this too much, but I know it was some self serving bull. And I believe that some people that did have them burned , saved the best practitioners for their own deeds... I wouldn't know for sure of course

They thought they were doing God's work. How sadly mistaken they were. More like the Devil's work, i.e burning innocent people.

First of all, put all popular romantic images of "ancient witches" ala the modern Wiccans, Harry Potter, Bewitched, and the Wizard of Oz out of your mind. When your read "witch" in any pre-19the century source, or in regard to a non-Christian or pre-Christian culture, think "voodoo priest/priestess" or something like the witch/villainess from "Sleepy Hollow". Prior to the 15th Century in Europe, and in all pagan/animistic societies, a "witch" is a person who wallows in "spiritual uncleannes", especially everything relating to death, disease, decay and disgust, so as to 1) better attract and associate with "unclean spirits", and 2) use his/her "spiritual pollution" as a way of actually blackmailing the bright/high gods and spirits: "do what I want or I'll desecrate your holy places just by walking by them." All societies that believe a person can put a spell, hex, or curse on someone THAT WORKS, or that people can summon and communicate with spirits of the dead, condemn witchcraft (both black-magic and necromancy) and vilify their practitioners. Black magic was a capital crime under the Laws of Hammurabi and in ancient Egypt, as well as "enlightened" Athens and "religiously tolerant" Rome. As for burning witches at the stake, that was what the pagan Celts and Germans did, and it was Christian missionaries and clergymen who tried to teach them to stop. Yes, the Church did not invent the idea of witchcraft as a potentially harmful force whose practitioners should be put to death. Furthermore, the Church and European society was not always obsessed with hunting witches and blaming them for bad occurrences. Saint Boniface declared in the 8th century that belief in the existence of witches was un-Christian. The emperor Charlemagne decreed that the burning of supposed witches was a pagan custom that would be punished by the death penalty. In 820 the Bishop of Lyon and others repudiated the belief that witches could make bad weather, fly in the night, and change their shape. This denial was accepted into Canon law until it was reversed in later centuries as the witch-hunt gained force. Other rulers such as King Coloman of Hungary declared that witch-hunts should cease because witches do not exist. The classical period of witch-hunts in Europe falls into the Early Modern period (1450-1700) spanning the upheavals of the Reformation and the Thirty Years' War, resulting in tens of thousands of executions – the vast majority of them in Germany, and the majority of the rest in Scotland. It should be noted that the Witch-hunting Craze of Europe began with, and was part of, the Scientific Revolution, which began as an overt fascination with "high sorcery" and the manipulation of occult forces: all the "scientists" of the 16th and 17th centuries were inveterate occultists, Bruni, Fludd, Brahe, Kepler, and Newton included. As to "burning at the stake": that was the historic punishment for being a relapsed heretic (someone who'd confessed to and repented of a heresy, and then gone back to preaching/practicing it). It became the way of executing those convicted of witchcraft because since Philip the Fair's extermination of the Templars (1307) it had become increasingly common to add "witchcraft" to the charge of "heresy" (when the real 'crime' was having a great reputation of being a living Saint and using that reputation to challenge or threaten powerful political enemies who then managed to get you in their clutches – e.g., Joan of Arc, also, the Maid of Bath.) In England and her colonies, however, no one was ever executed simply for "being a witch", but only when convicted of committing an act of black magic (using magic to hurt someone), and the punishment was to be hanged, not burned. The infamy of the Salem witch trials was not that they executed people convicted of black magic, but that they convicted them on the basis of "spectral evidence": the hysterical girls claimed that the devil appeared to them and tormented them in the guise of _________(fill in the blank with your victim of choice). The Salemites believed (God only knows why) that the Devil couldn't use a person's likeness without their consent, and thus the person was ipso-facto in league with the Devil.

Seems to me, that if you really look into, the people calling for the deaths of witches were using the best for themselves behind closed doors, to do their bidding. I do not care to argue here, and that said... if you are actually interested, look for yourself. I say it was purely bullshit as to them thinking that these people were evil etc. All selfish reasons, distractions etc. Only the flunkies carrying out the actual burnings etc, were maybe convinced of these people being evil etc.

Actualy, in many Puritan colinies, if you admited to being a witch a repented God would forgive you, and you would not be burned.

Many drowned on the Ducking stool. If you drowned you were innocent. If you survived you were guilty and were burned.

I think from what I've read on this thread is good. There were a lot of motives for accusing one of witchcraft and the gaining by the accusoer of the accused property...the law gave the witches property to the person who accused them...are correct. But May have missed the actual reason for the burning itself. From the eyes of a Christian, until recently cremation was frowned on. In fact, Catholics are allowed to cremate now but the church officially counsels against it. Why? Here is the reason...It is believed especially at the time of the witchcraft hysteria that the body itself needs to be buried intact so that it can rise on Judgment day and present itself to God intact for Judgment. The mutilation of cremation at the stake prevents this and thus dooms the Witches soul to hell by preventing it from rising on Judgment Day.

No person was ever burned at the stake for witchcraft in England or their American colonies, nor were they dunked. (People were dunked for other reasons - but never as part of the investigation, only as part of their sentence after being convicted.) "Witches" were hanged after being convicted of practicing black magic--that is for seriously injuring someone through magical or demonic means. If you believe that there is or could be such a thing as black magic and demons, you should treat the people who use them to hurt others as dangerous criminals. How you convict someone of being the culprit is another matter, but the people of that time thought they had ways of doing so that were (for them) as reliable as fingerprints and DNA testing is (for us). I'm sure they would have thought us all horribly naive and even superstitious for trusting in fingerprints, video-tapes, voice-recordings, electronic-trails, and DNA as evidence of anything. The witch hunting (and burning) craze was a phenomenon of 16th and early 17th Century Europe, mostly in Germany. It was a mania produced by the disintegration and collapse of the old Medieval Catholic world-view circa 1500, that also produced the Reformation, the Counter Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, rabid republicanism, "enlightened" despotism, Rossicrucianism and the explosion of interest in hermetic (occult) philosophy, alchemy and High Sorcery. Basically, the old world-view no longer worked, so out of deep psychological need, people were scrambling and desperately clinging to ideas and beliefs that offered to make sense of everything for them: but since not everyone clung to the same ideas, people felt their new found paradigm was threatened by any and all other paradigms just by their mere existance, and so lashed out in increasing fanaticism. And even people who weren't that fanatical, were driven to fanaticism by the fanatics who were attacking them. The result was the Wars of Religion, Occultism and Faustianism (which became the Science: modern science is just the magic that worked), near obsessions with demons and devils, and consequently the Witch Burning Craze. In the Middle Ages, lapsed heretics were burned at the stake. Only some of these were also accused of wtichcraft/Satanism, but that charge was usually just added for rhetorical flourish. The crime for which they were executed was "recanting their recantation", that is, a person who had confessed to heresy, repented of it and repudiated it, granted absolution, and then subsequently returned to their heresy, repudiating their confession and repudiation. And executions of lapsed heretics were very rare. Heretic killings by murder, vigiliantiism, riot, and war atrocities were somewhat more common, but were confined to situations when a heresy or supposed heresy had grown in strength to constitute an actual sect or rival religion. The lone religious eccentric *usually* had nothing to fear from the Church, the State, or the mob, and was far more likely to be hailed as a saint than a heretic -- though if his popularity in life grew too great, he might find himself first hailed as a saint and THEN as a heretic. The pagan Germans, Norse, and Celts burned witches all the time, basically because witches were vile, malignant, and disgusting sociopaths (think "voodoo priestess"), and (believing that witches actually could and did work effective black magic against people and the community) naturally wanted to destroy them -- not just kill them, but destroy them and the malign spiritual/magical energy that surrounded and permeated them, and they believed that fire get rid of it all.

Short answer: Witches were rarely burned alive in the middle ages. They were usually hung, then the bodies were burned. The witches in Salem are sometimes thought to have been burned, but they too were hanged. You may be thinking of heretics. They were always burned alive or dead.

that was the only way to kill them. not true, of course, but thats the only way they had since they hadn't discovered vampires or werewolves yet :)

They were afraid of what they didn't understand...they thought they would be ridding the world of evil...when instead they are sinning and becoming murderers.

They were afraid of what they didn't understand...plus...they thought they were ridding the world of evil...when they themselves were becoming evil with their sinful and tarnished souls by murdering innocent people.

They were afraid of what they didn't understand...plus...they thought they were ridding the world of evil...when they themselves were becoming evil with their sinful and tarnished souls by murdering innocent people.

Jack: you're wrong...it was pope innocent the 4th who instigated the spanish inqueistion.... back then a witch was someone who practiced midwivery, was either single,widowed ,or very beautiful...although women were accused of& found guilty of witch craft ,more than men...it was men who started the whole ball rolling with this heresy... besides ,it was the villagers who accused each other of witch craft... either for monitary,or land gain.. this happened more in salem ma..than in britain ,or euorpe... please watch in search of history :witch craft... there also is a book called the maleus maleficarum ,which detailed the particular conditions of a women's body& inked it to deonology & witch craft... who was a healer ,or a cook.... the poor soul would be accused of witchcraft... none of this is fair! don't start repeating biblical texts ( of any kind) and by the way,it was the christains who burned people at the stake...not pagans/heathens who burned people only after they died! not to death! so everything that you've said is eronious...because ,all of this BS started during the black death of the 1300s

because , the magistrates ordered them to..(wurtzburg 1629) it was the churchmen who excommunicated the person who was accused of witch craft....they were tortured& then condemned to the stake... PAgans ( heathens in partuicular) burned people after they died..itwas their form of burial...the christains burned them n the ground basically it was false accusations,zealotism& greed which caused innocent people to be urned back them..If the question are you a witch would have been asked,everything could've turned out differently

this is why they burned witches back then: THE BURNING TIMES: The time line: the Dark Ages to now The Witch hunt timeline Prior to the 9th century CE: There was a widespread popular belief that evil Witches existed. They were seen as evil persons, primarily women, who devoted their lives to harming and killing others through black magic and evil sorcery. The Catholic church at the time officially taught that such Witches did not exist. It was a heresy to say that they were real. "For example, the 5th century Synod of St. Patrick ruled that 'A Christian who believes that there is a vampire in the world, that is to say, a witch, is to be anathematized; whoever lays that reputation upon a living being shall not be received into the Church until he revokes with his own voice the crime that he has committed.' A capitulary from Saxony (775-790 CE) blamed these stereotypes on pagan belief systems: 'If anyone, deceived by the Devil, believes after the manner of the Pagans that any man or woman is a witch and eats men, and if on this account he burns [the alleged witch]... he shall be punished by capital sentence." 1 906 CE: Regino of Prum, the Abbot of Treves, wote the Canon Episcopi. It reinforced the church's teaching that Witches did not exist. It admitted that some confused and deluded women thought that they flew through the air with the Pagan Goddess Diana. But this did not happen in reality; it was explained away as some form of hallucination. Circa 975 CE: Penalties for Witchcraft and the use of healing magic were relatively mild. The English Confessional of Egbert said, in part: "If a woman works witchcraft and enchantment and [uses] magical philters, she shall fast for twelve months...If she kills anyone by her philters, she shall fast for seven years." Fasting, in this case, involved consuming only bread and water. circa 1140: Gratian, an Italian monk, incorporated the Canon Episcopi into canon law. circa 1203: The Cathar movement, a Gnostic Christian group, had become popular in the Orleans area of France and in Italy. They were declared heretics. Pope Innocent III approved a war of genocide against the Cathars. The last known Cathar was burned at the stake in 1321 CE. The faith has seen a rebirth in recent years. 1227: Pope Gregory IX established the Inquisitional Courts to arrest, try, convict and execute heretics. 1252: Pope Innocent III authorized the use of torture during inquisitional trials. This greatly increased the conviction rate. 1258: Pope Alexander IV instructed the Inquisition to confine their investigations to cases of heresy. They were to not investigate charges of divination or sorcery unless heresy was also involved. 1265: Pope Clement IV reaffirms the use of torture. 1326: The Church authorized the Inquisition to investigate Witchcraft and to develop "demonology," the theory of the diabolic origin of Witchcraft. 1 1330: The popular concept of Witches as evil sorcerers is expanded to include belief that they swore allegiance to Satan, had sexual relations with the Devil, kidnapped and ate children, etc. 1347 to 1349: The Black Death epidemic killed a sizeable part of the European population. Conspiracy theories spread. Lepers, Jews, Muslims and Witches were accused of poisoning wells and spreading disease. 1430's: Christian theologians started to write articles and books which "proved" the existence of Witches. 2 1436-7: Johannes (John) Nider wrote a book called Formicarius, which describe the prosecution of a man for Witchcraft. Copies of this book were often added to the Malleus Maleficarum in later years. Some sources say that the author Thomas of Brabant; this is apparently an error. 1450: The first major witch hunts began in many western European countries. The Roman Catholic Church created an imaginary evil religion, using stereotypes that had circulated since pre-Christian times. They said that Pagans who worshiped Diana and other Gods and Goddesses were evil Witches who kidnapped babies, killed and ate their victims, sold their soul to Satan, were in league with demons, flew through the air, met in the middle of the night, caused male impotence and infertility, caused male genitals to disappear, etc. Historians have speculated that this religiously inspired genocide was motivated by a desire by the Church to attain a complete religious monopoly, or was "a tool of repression, a form of reining-in deviant behavior, a backlash against women, or a tool of the common people to name scapegoats for spoiled crops, dead livestock or the death of babies and children." Walter Stephens, a professor of Italian studies at Johns Hopkins University, proposes a new theory: "I think Witches were a scapegoat for God." 3 Religious leaders felt that they had to retain the concepts of both an omnipotent and an all-loving deity. Thus, they had to invent Witches and demons in order to explain the existence of evil in the world. This debate, about how an all-good and all-powerful God can coexist in the world with evil is now called Theodicy. Debate continues to the present day. 1450: Johann Gutenberg invented moveable type which made mass printing possible. This enabled the wide distribution of Papal bulls and books on Witch persecution; the witch hunt was greatly facilitated. 1484: Pope Innocent VIII issued a papal bull "Summis desiderantes" on DEC-5 which promoted the tracking down, torturing and executing of Satan worshipers. 1486-1487: Institoris (Heinrich Kraemer) and Jacob Sprenger published the Malleus Maleficarum (The Witches' Hammer). It is a fascinating study of the authors' misogyny and sexual frustration. It describes the activities of Witches, the methods of extracting confessions. It was later abandoned by the Church, but became the "bible" of those secular courts which tried Witches. 1500: During the 14th century, there had been known 38 trials against Witches and sorcerers in England, 95 in France and 80 in Germany. 4 The witch hunts accelerated. "By choosing to give their souls over to the devil witches had committed crimes against man and against God. The gravity of this double crime classified witchcraft as crimen exceptum, and allowed for the suspension of normal rules of evidence in order to punish the guilty." 7 Children's testimony was accepted. Essentially unlimited torture was applied to obtain confessions. The flimsiest circumstantial evidence was accepted as proof of guilt. 1517: Martin Luther is commonly believed to have nailed his 95 theses on the cathedral door at Wittenburg, Germany. Apparently it never happened; he published his arguments in a less dramatic way. This triggered the Protestant Reformation. In Roman Catholic countries, the courts continue to burn witches. In Protestant lands, they were mainly hung. Some Protestant countries did not allow torture. In England, this lack of torture led to a low conviction rate of only 19%. 4 Circa 1550 to 1650 CE: Trials and executions reached a peak during these ten decades, which are often referred to as the "burning times." They were mostly concentrated in eastern France, Germany and Switzerland. Witch persecutions often occurred in areas where Catholics and Protestants were fighting. Contrary to public opinion, suspected witches -- particularly those involved in evil sorcery -- were mainly tried by secular courts. A minority were charged by church authorities; these were often cases involving the use of healing magic or midwifery. 1 1563: Johann Weyer (b. 1515) published a book which was critical of the Witch trials. Called "De Praestigiis Daemonum" (Shipwreck of souls), it argued that Witches did not really exist, but that Satan promoted the belief that they did. He rejected confessions obtained through torture as worthless. He recommended medical treatment instead of torture and execution. By publishing the book anonymously, he escaped the stake. 8 1580: Jean Bodin wrote "De la Demonomanie des Sorciers" (Of the punishments deserved by Witches). He stated that the punishment of Witches was required, both for the security of the state and to appease the wrath of God. No accused Witch should be set free if there is even a scrap of evidence that she might be guilty. If prosecutors waited for solid evidence, he felt that not one Witch in a million would be punished. 1584: Reginald Scot published a book that was ahead of its time. In Discoverie of Witchcraft, he claimed that supernatural powers did not exist. Thus, there were no Witches. 1608: Francesco Maria Guazzo published the "Compendium Maleficarum." It discusses Witches' pacts with Satan, the magic that Witches use to harm others, etc. circa 1609: A witch panic hit the Basque areas of Spain. La Suprema, the governing body of the Inquisition, recognized it as a hoax and issued an Edict of Silence which prohibited discussion of witchcraft. The panic quickly died down. 1610: Execution of Witches in the Netherlands ceased, probably because of Weyer's 1563 book. 1616: A second witch craze broke out in Vizcaya. Again an Edict of Silence was issued by the Inquisition. But the king overturned the Edict and 300 accused witches were burned alive. 1631: Friedrich Spee von Langenfield, a Jesuit priest, wrote "Cautio criminalis" (Circumspection in Criminal Cases). He condemned the witch hunts and persecution in Wurzburg, Germany. He wrote that the accused confessed only because they were the victims of sadistic tortures. 1684: The last accused Witch was executed in England. 1690's: Nearly 25 people died during the witch craze in Salem, MA: one was pressed to death with weights because he wouldn't enter a plea; some died in prison, the rest were hanged. 5 There were other trials and executions throughout New England. 1745: France stopped the execution of Witches. 1775: Germany stopped the execution of Witches. 1782: Switzerland stopped the execution of Witches. 1792: Poland executed the last person in Europe who had been tried and convicted of Witchcraft. A few isolated extra-legal lynchings of Witches continued in Europe and North America into the 20th century. 1830's: The church ceased the execution of Witches in South America. 1980: Dr. Lawrence Pazder (1936 - 2004) and Michelle Smith wrote "Michelle Remembers." The concept of humans in league with Satan, which had been largely dormant for decades, was revived. Although the book has been shown to be a work of fiction, it is presented as factual, based on Michelle's recovered memories. 6 This book was largely responsible for triggering a new Witch/Satanist panic in the U.S. and Canada. 1980 to 1995: Two types of trials were held in North America, which repeated many of the same features of earlier Witch trials: Staff at some pre-schools, day care facilities and Sunday schools were accused of ritual abuse of children. Evidence was based on faulty medical diagnoses and memories of non-existent abuse implanted in the minds of very young children. Tens of thousands of adults, victimized by Recovered Memory Therapy, developed false memories of having been abused during childhood. In about 17% of the cases, these memories escalated to recollections of Satanic Ritual Abuse. Hundreds of parents were charged with criminal acts. Almost all of them were innocent. Most of the charges involved acts that never actually happened. Sanity has since prevailed. Most of the accused have been released from jail. Those held in the state of Massachusetts are an exception. 1990's: Some conservative Christian pastors continue to link two unrelated belief systems: The imaginary religion of Satan-worshiping Witches promoted by the Church during the Renaissance, and Wicca and other Neopagan religions which are nature-based faiths and which do not recognize the existence of the Christian devil. 1994 to 1996: Several hundred people were accused of witchcraft in the Northern Province of South Africa, and were lynched by frightened mobs. 8 1999: Conservative Christian pastors occasionally call for a renewal of the burning times, to exterminate Wiccans and other Neopagans. One example shows the intensity of misinformation and hatred that fear of Witches can continue to generate in modern times. In 1999-AUG, Rev. Jack Harvey, pastor of Tabernacle Independent Baptist Church in Killeen, TX allegedly arranged for at least one member of his church to carry a handgun during religious services, "in case a warlock tries to grab one of our kids...I've heard they drink blood, eat babies. They have fires, they probably cook them..." During speeches which preceded his church's demonstration against Wiccans, Rev. Harvey allegedly stated that the U.S. Army should napalm Witches. One of the Christian's signs read "Witchcraft is an abomination" on one side and "Burn the witches off Ft. Hood" on the other. 9 (Ft. Hood is a large army base near Killeen TX. A Wiccan faith group is active there.) Sponsored link: References: Jenny Gibbons, "Recent developments in the study of the great European Witch hunt," at: http://www.cog.org/witch_hunt.html "Why are there Witches? History of Witchcraft for Halloween", News release, Johns Hopkins University Office of News and Information, 1999-OCT-11. Walter Stephens, "Demon lovers: Witchcraft, Sex and Belief," University of Chicago, (2000). "Witches: a psychoanalytic exploration of the killing of women," Free Association Books, (1999) Chapter 1. Review/order this book The first chapter is available online. "A village possessed: A true story of Witchcraft," by Discovery Online, at: http://www.discovery.com/stories/history Lawrence Pazder & Michelle Smith, "Michelle Remembers," Pocket Books, (1980) This book was out of stock on 1999-DEC-14, but may become available. Elisa Slattery, " 'To Prevent a "Shipwreck of Souls': Johann Weyer and 'De Praestigiis Daemonum'," published in "Essays in History," by the Corcoran Department of History, University of Virginia, Volume 36, (1994), Page 76. See: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/journals/EH/EH36/slattery1.html Stephen Hayes, "Christian responses to Witchcraft and sorcery," at: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/witch1.htm Barry Shlachter, "Bothered and bewildered; Wiccans at Hood shrug off media hubbub," Fort Worth Star Telegram, 1999-AUG-7 "The Papal Bull," at: http://www.angelfire.com/ Site navigation: Home page > Laws & religion > Genocide > Burning Times > here or: Home page > Religious violence > Genocide > Burning Times > here or: Home page > World religions > Wicca > Burning Times > here or: Home page > Christianity > Christian relations > Burning Times > here Copyright © 1999 to 2006 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance Originally written: 1999-DEC-14 Latest update: 2006-MAY-30 Author: B.A. Robinson Web ReligiousTolerance.org Jack wallace's answer was neither Helpful,or educational at all!

WICCA / WITCHCRAFT Other religions Other spirituality Cults and NRMs Comparing religions THE BURNING TIMES: The time line: the Dark Ages to now Sponsored link. The Witch hunt timeline Prior to the 9th century CE: There was a widespread popular belief that evil Witches existed. They were seen as evil persons, primarily women, who devoted their lives to harming and killing others through black magic and evil sorcery. The Catholic church at the time officially taught that such Witches did not exist. It was a heresy to say that they were real. "For example, the 5th century Synod of St. Patrick ruled that 'A Christian who believes that there is a vampire in the world, that is to say, a witch, is to be anathematized; whoever lays that reputation upon a living being shall not be received into the Church until he revokes with his own voice the crime that he has committed.' A capitulary from Saxony (775-790 CE) blamed these stereotypes on pagan belief systems: 'If anyone, deceived by the Devil, believes after the manner of the Pagans that any man or woman is a witch and eats men, and if on this account he burns [the alleged witch]... he shall be punished by capital sentence." 1 906 CE: Regino of Prum, the Abbot of Treves, wote the Canon Episcopi. It reinforced the church's teaching that Witches did not exist. It admitted that some confused and deluded women thought that they flew through the air with the Pagan Goddess Diana. But this did not happen in reality; it was explained away as some form of hallucination. Circa 975 CE: Penalties for Witchcraft and the use of healing magic were relatively mild. The English Confessional of Egbert said, in part: "If a woman works witchcraft and enchantment and [uses] magical philters, she shall fast for twelve months...If she kills anyone by her philters, she shall fast for seven years." Fasting, in this case, involved consuming only bread and water. circa 1140: Gratian, an Italian monk, incorporated the Canon Episcopi into canon law. circa 1203: The Cathar movement, a Gnostic Christian group, had become popular in the Orleans area of France and in Italy. They were declared heretics. Pope Innocent III approved a war of genocide against the Cathars. The last known Cathar was burned at the stake in 1321 CE. The faith has seen a rebirth in recent years. 1227: Pope Gregory IX established the Inquisitional Courts to arrest, try, convict and execute heretics. 1252: Pope Innocent III authorized the use of torture during inquisitional trials. This greatly increased the conviction rate. 1258: Pope Alexander IV instructed the Inquisition to confine their investigations to cases of heresy. They were to not investigate charges of divination or sorcery unless heresy was also involved. 1265: Pope Clement IV reaffirms the use of torture. 1326: The Church authorized the Inquisition to investigate Witchcraft and to develop "demonology," the theory of the diabolic origin of Witchcraft. 1 1330: The popular concept of Witches as evil sorcerers is expanded to include belief that they swore allegiance to Satan, had sexual relations with the Devil, kidnapped and ate children, etc. 1347 to 1349: The Black Death epidemic killed a sizeable part of the European population. Conspiracy theories spread. Lepers, Jews, Muslims and Witches were accused of poisoning wells and spreading disease. 1430's: Christian theologians started to write articles and books which "proved" the existence of Witches. 2 1436-7: Johannes (John) Nider wrote a book called Formicarius, which describe the prosecution of a man for Witchcraft. Copies of this book were often added to the Malleus Maleficarum in later years. Some sources say that the author Thomas of Brabant; this is apparently an error. 1450: The first major witch hunts began in many western European countries. The Roman Catholic Church created an imaginary evil religion, using stereotypes that had circulated since pre-Christian times. They said that Pagans who worshiped Diana and other Gods and Goddesses were evil Witches who kidnapped babies, killed and ate their victims, sold their soul to Satan, were in league with demons, flew through the air, met in the middle of the night, caused male impotence and infertility, caused male genitals to disappear, etc. Historians have speculated that this religiously inspired genocide was motivated by a desire by the Church to attain a complete religious monopoly, or was "a tool of repression, a form of reining-in deviant behavior, a backlash against women, or a tool of the common people to name scapegoats for spoiled crops, dead livestock or the death of babies and children." Walter Stephens, a professor of Italian studies at Johns Hopkins University, proposes a new theory: "I think Witches were a scapegoat for God." 3 Religious leaders felt that they had to retain the concepts of both an omnipotent and an all-loving deity. Thus, they had to invent Witches and demons in order to explain the existence of evil in the world. This debate, about how an all-good and all-powerful God can coexist in the world with evil is now called Theodicy. Debate continues to the present day. 1450: Johann Gutenberg invented moveable type which made mass printing possible. This enabled the wide distribution of Papal bulls and books on Witch persecution; the witch hunt was greatly facilitated. 1484: Pope Innocent VIII issued a papal bull "Summis desiderantes" on DEC-5 which promoted the tracking down, torturing and executing of Satan worshipers. 1486-1487: Institoris (Heinrich Kraemer) and Jacob Sprenger published the Malleus Maleficarum (The Witches' Hammer). It is a fascinating study of the authors' misogyny and sexual frustration. It describes the activities of Witches, the methods of extracting confessions. It was later abandoned by the Church, but became the "bible" of those secular courts which tried Witches. 1500: During the 14th century, there had been known 38 trials against Witches and sorcerers in England, 95 in France and 80 in Germany. 4 The witch hunts accelerated. "By choosing to give their souls over to the devil witches had committed crimes against man and against God. The gravity of this double crime classified witchcraft as crimen exceptum, and allowed for the suspension of normal rules of evidence in order to punish the guilty." 7 Children's testimony was accepted. Essentially unlimited torture was applied to obtain confessions. The flimsiest circumstantial evidence was accepted as proof of guilt. 1517: Martin Luther is commonly believed to have nailed his 95 theses on the cathedral door at Wittenburg, Germany. Apparently it never happened; he published his arguments in a less dramatic way. This triggered the Protestant Reformation. In Roman Catholic countries, the courts continue to burn witches. In Protestant lands, they were mainly hung. Some Protestant countries did not allow torture. In England, this lack of torture led to a low conviction rate of only 19%. 4 Circa 1550 to 1650 CE: Trials and executions reached a peak during these ten decades, which are often referred to as the "burning times." They were mostly concentrated in eastern France, Germany and Switzerland. Witch persecutions often occurred in areas where Catholics and Protestants were fighting. Contrary to public opinion, suspected witches -- particularly those involved in evil sorcery -- were mainly tried by secular courts. A minority were charged by church authorities; these were often cases involving the use of healing magic or midwifery. 1 1563: Johann Weyer (b. 1515) published a book which was critical of the Witch trials. Called "De Praestigiis Daemonum" (Shipwreck of souls), it argued that Witches did not really exist, but that Satan promoted the belief that they did. He rejected confessions obtained through torture as worthless. He recommended medical treatment instead of torture and execution. By publishing the book anonymously, he escaped the stake. 8 1580: Jean Bodin wrote "De la Demonomanie des Sorciers" (Of the punishments deserved by Witches). He stated that the punishment of Witches was required, both for the security of the state and to appease the wrath of God. No accused Witch should be set free if there is even a scrap of evidence that she might be guilty. If prosecutors waited for solid evidence, he felt that not one Witch in a million would be punished. 1584: Reginald Scot published a book that was ahead of its time. In Discoverie of Witchcraft, he claimed that supernatural powers did not exist. Thus, there were no Witches. 1608: Francesco Maria Guazzo published the "Compendium Maleficarum." It discusses Witches' pacts with Satan, the magic that Witches use to harm others, etc. circa 1609: A witch panic hit the Basque areas of Spain. La Suprema, the governing body of the Inquisition, recognized it as a hoax and issued an Edict of Silence which prohibited discussion of witchcraft. The panic quickly died down. 1610: Execution of Witches in the Netherlands ceased, probably because of Weyer's 1563 book. 1616: A second witch craze broke out in Vizcaya. Again an Edict of Silence was issued by the Inquisition. But the king overturned the Edict and 300 accused witches were burned alive. 1631: Friedrich Spee von Langenfield, a Jesuit priest, wrote "Cautio criminalis" (Circumspection in Criminal Cases). He condemned the witch hunts and persecution in Wurzburg, Germany. He wrote that the accused confessed only because they were the victims of sadistic tortures. 1684: The last accused Witch was executed in England. 1690's: Nearly 25 people died during the witch craze in Salem, MA: one was pressed to death with weights because he wouldn't enter a plea; some died in prison, the rest were hanged. 5 There were other trials and executions throughout New England. 1745: France stopped the execution of Witches. 1775: Germany stopped the execution of Witches. 1782: Switzerland stopped the execution of Witches. 1792: Poland executed the last person in Europe who had been tried and convicted of Witchcraft. A few isolated extra-legal lynchings of Witches continued in Europe and North America into the 20th century. 1830's: The church ceased the execution of Witches in South America. 1980: Dr. Lawrence Pazder (1936 - 2004) and Michelle Smith wrote "Michelle Remembers." The concept of humans in league with Satan, which had been largely dormant for decades, was revived. Although the book has been shown to be a work of fiction, it is presented as factual, based on Michelle's recovered memories. 6 This book was largely responsible for triggering a new Witch/Satanist panic in the U.S. and Canada. 1980 to 1995: Two types of trials were held in North America, which repeated many of the same features of earlier Witch trials: Staff at some pre-schools, day care facilities and Sunday schools were accused of ritual abuse of children. Evidence was based on faulty medical diagnoses and memories of non-existent abuse implanted in the minds of very young children. Tens of thousands of adults, victimized by Recovered Memory Therapy, developed false memories of having been abused during childhood. In about 17% of the cases, these memories escalated to recollections of Satanic Ritual Abuse. Hundreds of parents were charged with criminal acts. Almost all of them were innocent. Most of the charges involved acts that never actually happened. Sanity has since prevailed. Most of the accused have been released from jail. Those held in the state of Massachusetts are an exception. 1990's: Some conservative Christian pastors continue to link two unrelated belief systems: The imaginary religion of Satan-worshiping Witches promoted by the Church during the Renaissance, and Wicca and other Neopagan religions which are nature-based faiths and which do not recognize the existence of the Christian devil. 1994 to 1996: Several hundred people were accused of witchcraft in the Northern Province of South Africa, and were lynched by frightened mobs. 8 1999: Conservative Christian pastors occasionally call for a renewal of the burning times, to exterminate Wiccans and other Neopagans. One example shows the intensity of misinformation and hatred that fear of Witches can continue to generate in modern times. In 1999-AUG, Rev. Jack Harvey, pastor of Tabernacle Independent Baptist Church in Killeen, TX allegedly arranged for at least one member of his church to carry a handgun during religious services, "in case a warlock tries to grab one of our kids...I've heard they drink blood, eat babies. They have fires, they probably cook them..." During speeches which preceded his church's demonstration against Wiccans, Rev. Harvey allegedly stated that the U.S. Army should napalm Witches. One of the Christian's signs read "Witchcraft is an abomination" on one side and "Burn the witches off Ft. Hood" on the other. 9 (Ft. Hood is a large army base near Killeen TX. A Wiccan faith group is active there.) Sponsored link: References: Jenny Gibbons, "Recent developments in the study of the great European Witch hunt," at: http://www.cog.org/witch_hunt.html "Why are there Witches? History of Witchcraft for Halloween", News release, Johns Hopkins University Office of News and Information, 1999-OCT-11. Walter Stephens, "Demon lovers: Witchcraft, Sex and Belief," University of Chicago, (2000). "Witches: a psychoanalytic exploration of the killing of women," Free Association Books, (1999) Chapter 1. Review/order this book The first chapter is available online. "A village possessed: A true story of Witchcraft," by Discovery Online, at: http://www.discovery.com/stories/history Lawrence Pazder & Michelle Smith, "Michelle Remembers," Pocket Books, (1980) This book was out of stock on 1999-DEC-14, but may become available. Elisa Slattery, " 'To Prevent a "Shipwreck of Souls': Johann Weyer and 'De Praestigiis Daemonum'," published in "Essays in History," by the Corcoran Department of History, University of Virginia, Volume 36, (1994), Page 76. See: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/journals/EH/EH36/slattery1.html Stephen Hayes, "Christian responses to Witchcraft and sorcery," at: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/witch1.htm Barry Shlachter, "Bothered and bewildered; Wiccans at Hood shrug off media hubbub," Fort Worth Star Telegram, 1999-AUG-7 "The Papal Bull," at: http://www.angelfire.com/ Site navigation: Home page > Laws & religion > Genocide > Burning Times > here or: Home page > Religious violence > Genocide > Burning Times > here or: Home page > World religions > Wicca > Burning Times > here or: Home page > Christianity > Christian relations > Burning Times > here Copyright © 1999 to 2006 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance Originally written: 1999-DEC-14 Latest update: 2006-MAY-30 Author: B.A. Robinson Go to the previous page, or to the Burning Times menu, or choose: Web ReligiousTolerance.org that is why witches were burned back then..and this time line has nothing to do with what Jack wallace said... http:www.religioustolerance.org/wic_2

there were several reasons. First as a punishment for witchcraft. Second, there is a belief that if the vody is cremated it no longer can be resurrected on judgment day. For this reason, many Christian denominations still frown on cremation. It also purified the soul. Gave the victim a taste of their new eternal home in hell and probably just as importantly, scared the crap out of anyone thinking of challenging the religious government authorities.

It was written in the old testament to do it. I guess those people misunderstood the new testament.

Burning was a method of execution used by "christians" because they thought (a) it was un-christian to spill blood and (b) that causing great pain would help the sinner to repent.

Frist i would like to say that they rarely ever did that it was forbdin to do such act and beside the point all of people back then who were condeamn back then was not witches maybe 2% were and the rest was people who hated others if u like more i can enligthen you more on the subject.

King James Version of the Bible says not to suffer a Witch to live.

You probably heard about the so-called "Reformation" in Europe which supposedly helped in the convertion of their people to orthodox Christianity. Well, the "Reformatiom" didn't convert the people overthere through preaching and catechism alone. IT WAS 300 YEARS PERIOD OF WITCH-HUNTING--from the 15th to the 18th century! This is what R.H. Robins (The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology) called: "The shocking nightmare, the foulest crime and deepest shame of western civilization". Here's what they did. The Church elaborated the concept of devil and devil worship, then used the persecution of it to wipe out dissent, subordinate the individual to authoritarian control, and openly denigrate women. The witch-hunt was an eruption of orthodox Christianity's vilification of women--in St. Peter's own words: "The weaker vessel". In the 2nd century, some dude named St. Clement of Alexandria wrote: "Every woman should be filled with shame by the thought of being a woman", or something akin to that. I'm not trying or wish to insult any one, but while Islam may be currently the source of much fear in the world today, Christianity is far and away the bloodiest in history. Here's what a 6th century Christian philosopher so bluntly wrote in his "The Consolation of Philosophy": 'Woman is a temple built upon a sewer'. The name of this guy was Boethius--just in case you care about his name. Dig this, the Inquisitors who wrote the Malleus Maleficarum, or "The Hammer of the Witches," cojectured that women are more likely than men to become witches. I'm not done yet. This is the bullshit this prick wrote: "Because the female sex is more concerned with things of the flesh than men; because by being formed from a man's rib, they are only imperfect animals and crooked, whereas men belong to a privileged sex from whose midst Jesus emerged" (Walter Nigg's The Heretics: Heresy Through the Ages). King James I estimated that the ratio of women to men who succumbed to witchcraft was 20 to 1. And those formally persecuted for witchcraft between 80 to 90 were women. Don't take my words, read "The Devil in the Shape of a Woman", by Carol F. Karlsen (1987).

it wasnt just witches burnt at the stake, they also burnt christians. I was taught the christians they labled as heretics for reading and interpreting the bible in a less than traditional fashion were deemed evil and burned at the stake(in simple terms) thank goodness that doesnt happen anymore. these not so free thinking people would proably burn the many a god loving person starting with the LDS.

It basically was out of fear which was perpitated by the Christain church Plus it was written in to the laws of the time It started with a accusation( usually finger Pointing) then things esculated from there

Because they thought that Witches were the practitioners of the arts of the Devil. This is completely and utterly false. And I thought that was quite stupid.

Hi! I so know what you mean. I'm sorry i can't be more helpful. Good luck working this issue out;P

This site gives the best possible explanation: http://tinyurl.com/q9z8wj

Basicaly. It was rampant drug-induced paranoia gripping small religious farming communities. Or so they say these days.