Last Podcast On The Left
Last Podcast On The Left
"The great European witch hunts lasted literally hundreds of years with the most ferocious incidents happening in the 16th and 17th centuries. So before the heyday of witch hunts, witchcraft itself was seen as something that was ultimately not that big of a deal to European society." — Marcus Parks
"The Malia's Malficerum, translated to English as 'The Hammer of Witches.' But actually it was a terrible thing. Yeah, we can't celebrate it. It's one of the most, I mean, it's not as early up there with the Bible, but it's in the top five of the most blood-soaked books and all of that." — Ben Kissel
"The conspiracy can be blamed for all sorts of problems that a government might have. And as we said earlier, which hunts rather than being a constant feature of life during these centuries, they were incidents that burn bright and very hot for relatively short amounts of time. And many times said hunts coincided when that particular region was suffering from religious or political problems." — Marcus Parks
This episode of "Last Podcast on the Left" meticulously details the historical phenomenon of European witch hunts, primarily focusing on the period between the 14th and 18th centuries. The hosts begin by framing witchcraft as a less significant concern before the 14th century, often involving simple fortune-telling or minor folk magic. The pivotal shift, they explain, was the 14th-century introduction of the Devil as a major adversarial force, moving from a trickster figure to a formidable entity requiring a more structured opposition, a concept actively promoted by the Catholic Church to consolidate power and unify believers against a common enemy.
The discussion then centers on the Malleus Maleficarum, or "The Hammer of Witches," published in 1487. This text is presented as a foundational handbook for identifying, prosecuting, and punishing suspected witches, detailing perceived characteristics such as being a lone woman, having a sexual proclivity, or being sexually free. The book's influence is highlighted by its simultaneous release with the printing press, leading to widespread dissemination and a standardized approach to witch trials across Europe, often including brutal interrogation techniques and the search for a "devil's mark." The hosts draw parallels between these historical events and more modern phenomena like the "Satanic Panic" of the 1980s and 90s.
Throughout the episode, the hosts explore various aspects of the witch hunts, including the societal and economic factors that contributed to the hysteria, such as the aftermath of the Black Plague and the marginalization of the elderly, particularly women. They also touch upon the role of confessions, often extracted under severe torture, and the problematic reliance on the testimony of children and individuals suffering from mental illness. Specific regional examples from Germany (Bamberg) and France (Affair of the Poisons) are discussed, illustrating the financial incentives for witch hunts and the paranoia that infiltrated even the highest societal circles. The episode concludes by noting the eventual decline of large-scale witch hunts by the 18th century, attributing it to a combination of factors, including a growing skepticism and the cessation of lucrative financial gains from confiscations.