Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Witchcraft in the Middle Ages. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1972.
Medieval, renaissance, Victorian, Elizabethan… all these periods that fill the fantasy landscape, but I can think of none that cover the Anglo-Saxon period! I don’t know a lot about English history, to be fair, but I spoke to other people at the launch party, and they agreed that few books (especially YA fantasies) talk about the period. The film is in part a textural, creative reading of the Malleus Maleficarum, a German witch-hunters' guide from the 1400s by clergyman Heinrich Kramer that provided insight into how to deal with all manner of devilish concerns. The film's opening chapter is a relatively straightforward lecture with historic slides and information, while the second chapter has a playful series of vignettes depicting some basic practices of witchcraft. By the later chapters, however, Christensen is dramatising a disturbing narrative in miniature, following Maria (Emmy Schønfeld) who is tortured into confessing a range of occult activities, including bearing the children of Satan, before being burnt at the stake. After this series of visceral images, the final chapters focus on the more modern psychological potential of the phenomena and look into the possibility that such violent inquisition itself was responsible for many of the confessions. In an effort to help combat the witch menace, courts relaxed traditional rules of evidence and procedure -- after all, witches are a terrible menace and must be stopped. In place of the normal rules and methods, the courts used what was common among Inquisitors in Europe -- scouring the women's bodies for marks, numb spots, etc. Also accepted were "spectral sources" of evidence -- if someone had a vision of a woman being a witch, that was good enough for the judges. If you like suspense, witch craft, an epic across the centuries love story and a sibling relationship that will make your heart bleed, than this is the book for you.
More
Extra digit: an extra toe or finger nearly always meant a witch in past centuries and some believe still so today A lot of stuff is happening in this book. Not to much talking (an other manuscript I've read had A LOT of explaining in talking and it was really boring because of that, hence I noticed in this one). And I really really really liked the ending ;) So that is a good thing to look forward to while reading this! The family dynamic had a massive saving grace: Leo. I would gladly read a book based entirely upon his character. Truthfully, he was my favourite character of the entire book. We all want a big brother just like him. He can be annoying, but he is always there for his sister. If I’m being honest, I feel as though he was the most fleshed out character in the book. There was more depth to him than any of the other characters. My only complaint is that he wasn’t in the book enough. He was deserving of so many more scenes. Honestly, he made the book more than worth it.
For certain reasons that will make sense when you read the book, I did not crush on Leo, but that didn’t stop me from seriously appreciating him and wishing I had a big brother like him!Red-hot tongs were applied to women's breasts and genitalia. Researcher Nancy van Vuuren has written that "The women's sex organs provided special attraction for the male torturer." It should not be surprising that just about every torture victim eventually confessed.
The Obscene Kiss, an illustration of witches kissing the Devil's anus from Francesco Maria Guazzo's Compendium Maleficarum (1608). It was these direct experiences that inspired Guazzo to write his Compendium Maleficarum which was published in 1608 and was widely regarded among his contemporaries as the authoritative manuscript on Witchcraft. Within his text, Guazzo discusses witches’ pacts with the devil, detailed descriptions of witches’ powers and poisons and also prepared his classification of the demons based on a previous work by Michael Psellus. Diana realizes Matthew’s in trouble but Kit guides her down to the shore and encourages her to head off with him in a rowing boat for parts unknown. As they do, the Queen’s men scour the house and eventually it’s Cecil who finds the book hidden under the floorboards. Just as the soldiers take off, Gallowglass stands in their way and looks set to stop them. He eventually has second thoughts though and allows them to pass.
Where to watch
Speaking of babies, there hasn’t been anything about Sophie and Nathaniel’s child this episode and one can’t help but feel this second season has struggled to balance the present and past storylines together harmoniously. One of the most famous symbols of the Inquisition's witch-craze was the publication of the Malleus Maleficarum ( Witches' Hammer) by Jakob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer. These two Dominican monks wrote a lurid account of what witches were "really" like and what they "really" did -- an account which would rival modern science fiction in its creativity, not to mention its fictitiousness. The additional persecution of anything which resembled feminine religiosity went to interesting lengths in that devotion to Mary became suspect. Today the figure of Mary is both popular and important in the Catholic church, but to the Inquisition, it was a possible sign of overemphasizing the feminine aspect of Christianity. In the Canary Islands, Aldonca de Vargas was reported to the Inquisition for nothing more than smiling at hearing mention of Mary. In 1429 she convinced the Dauphin Charles VII to let her demonstrate that she had the ability to match her ambitions and she led French forces to liberate the city of Orleans from an English siege. She was eventually taken prisoner by the Burgundians, allies of England, and turned over to the English who burned her at the stake as a witch on the argument that her claims of direct communication with God were heretical and an act of disobedience to the Church. I think that it was the religious authorities who were obsessed and insatiable with their sexuality, but since their repressive ideology couldn't allow that, they had to project their desires onto others. If women, sexually evil beasts, were actually responsible for the priests' sexual desires, then the priests could in turn still feel holy -- and better yet, "holier than thou," more righteous and holy than the hated women around them.
Great Deal 
New Comment