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Witchcraft Past and Present
The book went on to inform on how proceedings should be initiated
against alleged witches; the manner in which they should be arrested;
how witnesses should be questioned; the use of torture; and the sentence.
Judges were warned not to touch an accused person with their bare
hands and to wear a bag around their neck containing salt that had been
consecrated on Palm Sunday. In the same bag there should be herbs,
similarly blessed and enclosed in consecrated wax. Witches should be led
backwards into the court and if the judge had to approach the suspect he
must first cross himself and approach her ‘manfully’. In this way, the
two monks wrote, ‘with God’s help the power of that old Serpent will be
broken.’
The Witch-Hunts
The book led to thousands of men and women being accused of
witchcraft all over Europe and, later, European colonies in the New
World. Torture was often used to force a confession out of an innocent
person. Some were deprived of sleep and became so disorientated that
when they came to stand trial they were in no state to argue their
innocence. Others were tortured in more physically painful ways. In
some parts of Europe the ‘strappado’ was used. This hideous machine
was a sort of pulley that raised an accused person off the floor and held
him or her hanging by their arms , feet off the ground, the weight of the
Satan Chained
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