The Hammer of Witches

Image right: A torture scene from the Wickiana. Torture of the wife and daughter of the teamster Hans Ueli, 1577. The wife is being tortured with strappado. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Read for discussion in class: Oldridge, chapter 4.

I. Discussion: The Malleus Maleficarum

II. Intellectual Currents and the Feminization of Witchcraft
A) Elite (Male) and Popular (Female) Magic
1. The Rise of Learned Magic in the Late Middle Ages
2. Conflating Sorcery and Common Magic
B) From the Seven Deadly Sins to the Ten Commandments
1. Sins against Community versus Sins against God
2. The Transformation of Satan

The Seven Deadly Sins:
Wrath (Ira), Lust (Luxuria), Vanity (Superbia), Sloth (Accidia), Gluttony (Gula), Avarice (Avaritia), Envy (Invidia).

Image: The so-called "Madrid tabletop," by Hieronymous Bosch (c. 1453-1525). On panel, 120 x 150 cm. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Source: boschuniverse.org. In this painting, Bosch sought to describe the late medieval conception of sin. The central element is the all seeing eye of God, with Christ positioned at the center, in its pupil, giving a blessing; beneath him is the legend, Cave, Cave, Dominus videt (Beware, beware, the Lord sees [all]). Around the pupil are arrayed the seven deadly sins with their Latin names. The four corners of the panel are decorated with scenes of the Four Last Things: Death (top left), the Last Judgment (top right), Hell (bottom left), and Heaven (bottom right) [for more information, go to boschuniverse.org].