MEDIEVAL WITCH BELIEFS IN SECULAR AND CHURCH LAW
I.
Images of the Witch in early medieval sources --
series of separate images which later are
combined:
1)
MALEFICA: female perpetrator of maleficium
THEODOSIAN
CODE - late 4th C. (see handout on witch beliefs)
380 Emperor Theodosius: Christianity
becomes official religion of Empire
2)
STRIX or STRIGA (Latin: screech owl; witch)
cannibalistic,
flying bird/woman: evidence from
a)
late Roman sources
OVID, Metamorphoses
APULEIUS, The Golden Ass
b)
Barbarian Law Codes : customary
laws of Germanic tribes
written
in Latin from 6-8th C.
Wergeld
system: penalties = fines, "lucrative justice"
Salic
Law (Franks) 6th C
Lombard Code (Italy) 7th C, 643 AD
Charlemagne's
capitulary for Saxons 789 AD
( for these texts: see link for Week 2 on early medieval beliefs & Cohn p. 164)
3) DIANA, HOLDA, LADIES OF THE NIGHT
CANON EPISCOPI 960 AD
(see
text in Kors & Peters, #5, pp. 60-63)
1140 included in Gratian's Decretum: authoritative
compilation
of canon law (= church law)
popular image: protective female figure
clerical version: reversion to paganism
II. Attitude of Church to Witch Beliefs
early skepticism:
1) Canon Episcopi on nightflying with Diana
2) Burchard's Corrector rusticorum on striga
text
in Kors & Peters (2cd edition) #6, pp. 63-67
later growth of ecclesiastical support for witch beliefs:
Causes: 1) THEOLOGICAL: to be covered in Week 3
a) SCHOLASTICISM and b) DEMONOLOGY
2) JUDICIAL: rise of the INQUISITION