CLIMATIC CHANGE AND
WITCHCRAFT TRIALS
Why do witch trials start
in the 15th century?
Background outlined in course so far
12- 13th C.: rise of
towns, heresies (Cathars, Waldensians)
13th C: creation of mendicant orders and medieval
Inquisition
rise of
universities, scholastic theology, theory of diabolical pact
14th C. sorcery
trials involving invocation of demons in
courts of French
king and Avignon Pope John XXII
15th C. witch trials beginning in
then
All the above factors affect elite involvement in witch beliefs (creation of
theological theories about
magic) or in the judicial process under
which witch trials would
be conducted (inquisitorial procedure)
What about popular perceptions of maleficium? Are these
constant or do
they change as well? What conditions might lead to intensified
charges of maleficium at the
village level?
Historical climatology: past climate changes measured by ice core
sampling
and dendroclimatology
(measurement of annual tree ring growth)
10-14th C: “The Medieval
Warm” global warming period, average temperatures
one degree Celsius higher than 20th C. average
result is expansion of arable
land (arable = land under cultivation)
deforestation to
clear land, expansion of population, rise of
medieval towns
(with cathedrals, universities, and heresies)
14-17th C: “Little Ice Age”: end of
medieval warm, cooling trend leads to
temperature drop of about 2 degrees
Celsius
result is crop
failures, beginning in the north, famine, abandonment
of marginal
lands, reduction of areas under cultivation,
overall
population decrease
Black Plague 1347
to late 17th C: preceded by
famines, which
weakens resistance
to infection; contributes to population decrease
Graph of temperature for Medieval Warm and Little Ice Age
Winter
severity in
This graph
plots several different reconstructions of temperatures each in a different
color.
http://www.greatdreams.com/iceage.htm