C
CAESARIUS OF HEISTERBACH ca. 1180-1250 . A well-known Cistercian abbot of Heisterbach in the Rhineland, Caesarius was a theologian and the author of numerous treatises on religious subjects. His most famous work was the Dialogus miraculorum Dialogue on Miracles , composed in the 1220s and 1230s. In this long, moralizing work he included several stories of demons and demonic sorcery, particularly necromancy. He stands as an example of the increasing concern over such matters on the part of...
D
DANEAU, LAMBERT 1530-1590 . A Calvinist preacher and pastor near the French city of Orl ans, Deneau probably became concerned about witchcraft due to a number of witch trials that took place in nearby Paris. In 1564, he wrote a treatise De veneficiis On Witches in the popular form of a dialogue. His purpose was to counter the skepticism that still existed regarding many aspects of witchcraft and the full threat that witches supposedly represented to Christian society. Although influenced...
M
MALEBRANCHE, NICOLAS 1638-1715 . A French philosopher born in Paris, Malebranche studied theology at the university there. In 1660, he entered the Catholic religious order of the Oratorians, intending to pursue his studies of the early church father Augustine of Hippo, until he encountered the highly rationalist philosophy of Ren Descartes. In his major work, De la recherche de la v rit The Search after Truth , published in 1674, Malebranche espoused a near-complete skepticism about witchcraft....
Chronology
Ca. 1750 b.c.e. The Code of Hammurabi, one of the first written law codes, contains sections dealing with magic and legal charges of sorcery and witchcraft. Ca. 400 b.c.e. By this time, magicians magoi come to have a very negative reputation in ancient Greece. They are condemned by Plato, among others. Ca. 150-400 c.e. Early Christian writers such as Tertullian, Origen, and John Chrysostom condemn magic by associating it with demonic forces, while defending Christian miracles as non-magical....
F
FAMILIARS. Various typically lesser demons who were thought to attend witches in some assumed animal form were generally known as familiar spirits, or more simply as familiars. This aspect of the witch stereotype is somewhat unique in being more developed in English, Irish, and Scottish sources than in continental ones. A demonic familiar might appear in almost any animal form. Toads, owls, rats, mice, and dogs were all common, but cats were especially associated with familiar spirits. A witch...
The Emergence Of Witchcraft And The Age Of The European Witchhunts
In the early 15 th century, the fully developed idea of European witchcraft of witches as demonic sorcerers who worshiped the devil and formed a vast, conspiratorial, diabolic cult dedicated to the destruction of the Christian world began to emerge. Especially in lands in and around the western Alps, where some of the first true witch-hunts took place, the number of trials involving charges of harmful and maleficent sorcery increased significantly. In addition, even when the initial accusations...
B
BABA YAGA. A famous witch in Russian folklore, Baba Yaga was pictured as an old woman who lured people to her home where she cooked and devoured them. She especially liked to practice such cannibalism on young children. Much more a demonic monster than a human figure, she lived in a hut beyond a river of fire. The hut was surrounded by stakes set with human heads and was built on chicken legs, so that it could move at her command. She often flew through the air in an iron cauldron. She is...
L
LAMIA. In classical mythology, Lamia was a queen of Libya whom Zeus, the king of the gods, loved. Hera, Zeus queen, took revenge on Lamia by killing her children. She in turn became a monster who roamed the night seeking to kill the children of others. Over time, the individual Lamia became a whole category of demons or monsters, all called lamia plural lamiae , that preyed on children. They were believed to be vampires who sucked the blood from their victims. They contributed to the medieval...