The first thing that comes to my mind as I read about the various things people were punished for is that these people were crazy. Burchard of Worms lists some crimes and their resulting punishments, and some of those punishments seem rather harsh. Spending a month consuming only bread and water would be quite bothersome; it isn't nutritious. For doing things that most people in the modern day would consider strange at worst, you would be condemned to some long lasting punishment.
That aside, I was most interested in the story of The Life of St. Justina. There is a lot of emphasis put on her virginity, and Cyprian's desire to rid her of it. I enjoyed the differences between the two: Justina was pure and devoted to her faith, and Cyprian had been left for the demons at a young age and practiced magic ever since. His desperation to make her his resulted in him consorting with all sorts of demons. Justina was too devoted for the demons to do a thing; I was interested in how perceptive she was. She was always able to figure out that she was targeted by a demon, and was subsequently able to chase it away through prayer. Even the prince of demons was unable to do Cyprian's bidding.
My favorite part though, was that they Cyprian eventually saw the error of his ways, fearing the demons, and became a man of prayer himself. He saw the powers of Christ protecting Justina and realized that there was no way to fight against them. He went from feverishly pursuing the virginity of a pure woman to making her the abbess of a monastery of virgins. And in the end they die together and are left to rot together.
I enjoyed this portion of the reading the most because it felt the most real to me. Some other pieces focused on punishments for certain deeds that seemed far too abstract to me. Thinking in some way, even if it resulted in no actions, was still punishable by the church. That baffles me. The story of Cyprian and Justina drew me in more, almost like I was reading a book in my own leisure time. The lengths he went to take her purity and the failures he was faced with made him change his ways, yet in the end he still received a painful penalty: death. But hey, at least he was beheaded alongside Justina. That's at least a little bit romantic, right?
I agree with your notion that the punishments did not always fit the crime at least in our (modern) standards. However, after reading up on witchcraft for this course, I've realized that Witchcraft was in many cases considered heresy which was a capital crime in many places. So even though many of the punishments mentioned by Burchard of Worms seem outlandish they made sense to those carrying them out. Many were afraid of anyone who was different and (and one can assume that) in their eyes desperate times called for desperate measures.
ReplyDeleteThe story of Cyprian and Justina... where to begin? I think my favorite part of this story was how the two went about acting on their opposing views. At first I was a little confused because towards the end Cyprian did change his ways... so where was his happily ever after? Oh right, he worshiped demons... well at least he was smart than Dr. Faustus was but that's another story for another time. I guess Cyprian really didn't deserve a happy ending but Justina who was so good and pure died alongside him so... maybe this isn't a morality story but a warning about making mistakes in life? Either way it was an extremely interesting story and pretty entertaining as well.
I agree, the story of The Life of St. Justina seemed to be the most realistic. However, even after Cyprian's conversion, I felt little support or regard for him. He was a terrible character for most of the story, trying to sate his lust with help from demons, without legitimate care for Justina herself. He only wanted her for his own perverted reasons. Yeah he changed but meh, I felt no sympathy for him even after his death.
ReplyDeleteJustina though - she was an awesome, strong character who always stuck to her guns and I commend her for that. I wonder of Jacobus de Voragine got any conversions out of his story? Way to depict Christianity in such a nice light, especially with Justina and Cyprian's martyrdoms.