They were burned at the stake. Hot tendrils of fire flicked around their legs as they hung, chained at the hands and feet. The flames came first for their lower extremities–their toes, their ankles, their shins–stopping last at organs that would definitively leave them unconscious once burned. Until then, the accused witches would scream as they intermittently gasped their final breaths of air.
Not all of these women were burned. In fact, many were hanged–and not in the style of “humane hanging” developed by Samuel Haughton in 1866. There was no calculation made as to how much torque was needed to break the subject’s neck and sever their spinal cord, leaving them oblivious to their remaining spiral into death. These women likely experienced slow strangulation, gasping as their carotid arteries compressed and painfully severed off blood flow to their brains.
As a whole, women accused of witchcraft in 16th and 17th century Europe were subject to brutal measures of execution, and often for crimes that they did not commit. Perhaps the most tragic subjects of these executions were the innocent women who simply practiced medicine.
The word “medicine” held more fluid significance in Medieval and early Renaissance times than it does today. Medieval medicine was characterized by herbal remedies, bloodletting, and even a curious mix of astrology in certain eras. Humans held a rudimentary understanding of biology and physiology–surgeons’ chests were filled with kitchen spices like peppercorn and frankincense alongside amputation knives; people referred to texts such as Hippocrates’ “Diseases of Women,” which claimed that if a woman did not bleed enough on her period, it was good if she bled through her nose. And still, as humans slowly navigated and deepened their understanding of human health, women were allowed to practice medicine alongside men to a certain extent.
Some women worked as surgeons, others as general practitioners, and others as “leeches,” or bloodletters, according to documentation in France and England. But midwifery was the one area of medicine that belonged almost exclusively to women.
Most men thought that partaking in delivery was demeaning to their dignity, and left this practice to the midwives, who passed down their techniques and knowledge from generation to generation. As a woman’s contractions began, her cervix dilated, and her water broke, the social hierarchy inverted from a world dominated by men to a room commanded by women. In many cases, men would wait outside the room and were only called in during an emergency. In moments of pain, shrieking cries, sweat, and blood, it was the learned hands of women that wrapped themselves around those in labor and coaxed them through the most excruciating moments of their lives.
So what was the purported connection between midwifery and sorcery, and why were many of these women condemned to death? The answer rests largely in stereotypes and misinformation.
As Joseph Klaits notes in his book “Servants of Satan,” the witch was generally “pictured as a woman, usually middle-aged or older, often poor and a widow.” Typical midwives in England were indeed poor and often occupied the margins of society. They were also blamed for a variety of unfortunate incidents involving babies, including stillbirths and accidents that happened to children long after they were born.
One German midwife named Walpurga Hausmännin was accused of causing miscarriages in “order to cause disunion between two spouses.” This attitude reflects two diametrically opposed forces: a midwife committed to aiding, nourishing, and healing those around her, and the damning accusations of the afflicted, which only served to persecute the hands that treated them.
The craze of witch hunts came at a time when society progressed at an astonishing rate. Klaits notes that this phenomenon unfolded during the age of Michaelangelo, Shakespeare, Galileo, Descartes, Renaissance art and literature, the Protestant Reformation, and the emergence of modern science. And yet, at the same time that humans learned, grew, and flourished, they hampered their own progress with detrimental skepticism. As universities became nationally established, women were barred from these institutions and ushered out of the practice of medicine. Nonetheless, they worked with the best information that was available to them at the time, in a field that was neglected for years by the public. Their efforts marked a struggle for progress against distrustful members of society who rejected their work.
As we now live in a time where enthralling scientific feats are opposed by those who deny their existence, the lesson of the European witch hunts seems particularly relevant: we must be careful who we burn.
In an age where we have made leaping advancements in genomic sequencing, drug development, space exploration, biomechanical engineering, and countless other fields, our accomplishments grow at a pace which rivals that of any other time in human history–and yet, we still witness the uncanny tendency of some to push back, to slow down, to halt intellectual progress. In the same era that we launched a man onto the moon, we saw a flat-earther movement that argued against all scientific evidence–star patterns, lunar eclipses, the rotation of tornadoes, the projectile path of bullets–that the earth we inhabit is not round. In the same century that we grew globally connected through the development of the internet and cell towers, conspiracy theories emerged that 5G radiation was linked to the development of Covid-19. And in the very same year that researchers classified the structure of a viral protein, translated this into a strand of mRNA, packaged it in lipid particles, tested it for efficacy and safety, and made it globally available to save human lives, we now witness a counter-movement by those who swear that the work of people with decades of training, education, and experience is a worthless political farce.
It is important to note that science has not always been used for good–the reverberating effects of scientific racism, eugenics, and the usage of biological weapons have left lasting impacts on society. But in spite of these events, the tendency of many citizens to sweep all forms of data and evidence under the rug in favor of conspiracy theories is a dangerous trend.
Anti-science and anti-intellectual tendencies are nothing new in society, but they are something that we must combat on a daily basis. As we consider the ways that we have hindered our own progress in the past–the times we have persecuted those who were trying to help, discounted worthwhile discoveries, claimed harmless inventions were catastrophic–let us be careful who we drive to the stake, who we dismiss, and whose discoveries we disparage in society. Sometimes, these are the very people that are trying to heal us.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.