social standards governing female sexuality. That is, until the publication of Malleus (The Hammer of Witches) in 1487. If the binary of the and Madonna/Whore was to Maleficarum survive however, just as the Church needed proof of the devil for legitimization, society needed proof of the Whore or woman to further exalt the Virgin Mary. deviant ‘bad’ The Church would quickly come to support the Witch Hunts as outlined in as Malleus, Pope Innocent XVIII issued the Papal Bull Summis desiderantes in 1484. He lamented the to devils, incubi and and gave the “many persons [who]…have abandoned themselves succubi” Inquisitors free reign under the of to against all persons, of whatsoever “zeal religion” “exercise condition and rank, the said office of inquisition, correcting, imprisoning, punishing and chastising, according to their deserts, those persons whom they shall find guilty as aforesaid”. This papal bull would be printed as an introduction to launching the Church into a Malleus, crusade that has been referred to as as roughly 80 percent of an “genderized mass murder” estimated 60,000 killed over the Witch several centuries were women. Hunt’s The Salem Witch Trials have become an aspect of the American historical memory that is infamous for its cruelty and fascinating as an example of the dangers of unchecked mass anxiety, particularly when that anxiety centers on one division of society. Nearly twenty women were killed and several hundred were accused of being witches, a drastically lower mortality rate than the European Witch Hunts. This is central for two reasons: firstly, the Puritan tradition was more concerned with individuals being equal before God than the Catholic Church, and secondly the American colonies purported purpose of establishing a democratic nation allowed for more rational trials that resorted in less convictions. Nonetheless, the sexualized and violent nature of the Trials left an indelible scar upon the American consciousness, one that Nathanial Hawthorne would revisit in 1850 when he published The Scarlet Letter.
social standards governing female sexuality. That is, until the publication of Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches) in 1487. If the binary of the and Madonna/Whore was to survive however, just as the Church needed proof of the devil for legitimization, society needed proof of the Whore or deviant ‘bad’ woman to further exalt the Virgin Mary. The Church would quickly come to support the Witch Hunts as outlined in Malleus, as Pope Innocent XVIII issued the Papal Bull Summis desiderantes in 1484. He lamented the “many persons [who]…have abandoned themselves to devils, incubi and succubi” and gave the Inquisitors free reign under the “zeal of religion” to “exercise against all persons, of whatsoever condition and rank, the said office of inquisition, correcting, imprisoning, punishing and chastising, according to their deserts, those persons whom they shall find guilty as aforesaid”. This papal bull would be printed as an introduction to Malleus, launching the Church into a crusade that has been referred to as “genderized mass murder” as roughly 80 percent of an estimated 60,000 killed over the Witch Hunt’s several centuries were women. The Salem Witch Trials have become an aspect of the American historical memory that is infamous for its cruelty and fascinating as an example of the dangers of unchecked mass anxiety, particularly when that anxiety centers on one division of society. Nearly twenty women were killed and several hundred were accused of being witches, a drastically lower mortality rate than the European Witch Hunts. This is central for two reasons: firstly, the Puritan tradition was more concerned with individuals being equal before God than the Catholic Church, and secondly the American colonies purported purpose of establishing a democratic nation allowed for more rational trials that resorted in less convictions. Nonetheless, the sexualized and violent nature of the Trials left an indelible scar upon the American consciousness, one that Nathanial Hawthorne would revisit in 1850 when he published The Scarlet Letter.
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