Yet another adventure delving into "why women are more applicable to devil worshipping". However this is not anything new and it was already said that women were frivolous and sinful, like they were beacons of evil. "For every one man burnt for witchcraft, there are ten women burnt...women are more likely than men to be witches because of their instability of spirit, because they are understood better than demons, and because of their talkativeness" (238). That is good old William of Paris' reasoning: totally invalid. How did he even come up with such a riveting and evidence supported argument! He must have staged a competition between men and women and their ability to hold a conversation with demons....? Lame, this guy was lame. Yet, I did like the hilarious "witch milking an axe-handle".
(Any way you look at it, that's weird. Also pg 254)
It was a clever concept that the witches were not actually flying, but were imagining it. It is more realistic that the confused women believed they were flying and were actually being deceived by the devil. Except those cases where the devil actually allowed them to fly? I don't know, things get weird. I also like that during this time it wasn't just "Oh witch. Okay, execute." It moved onto "Oh witch. Okay, confess and repent. Give us some names. You will live but be punished/shamed." There was that new leeway that if the accused admitted to the crime they could be spared. Whoa, humanism. Moving up in the world.
(This is a pic of Johann Geiler Von Kaysersberg at the end of his life, also he died in 1510 two years after the Die Emeis, so accurate depiction of his striking good looks and wrinkles for days, he looks rude so I needed this here.)
