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40 Real People Executed for Witchcraft

Tim Flight October 15, 2019 27 min

4. Why made Ursulina de Jesus’s husband infertile? Witchcraft, duh!

Witches were often accused of making men infertile, and even keeping penises as pets, like these nuns in 14th-century marginalia. Wikimedia Commons

People thought witches made men infertile. The Malleus Maleficarum even cites an example of a witch keeping severed penises in a bird’s nest up a tree. Ursulina de Jesus lived in Sao Paolo, Brazil, with her husband Sebastian, an important city figure. When Sebastian realized he was infertile, he naturally blamed Ursulina. The city’s officials arrested Ursulina for witchcraft. Testifying against Urusulina alongside Sebastian was his mistress, Cesaria, who confirmed that he was, indeed, infertile. Poor Cesaria lamented that she couldn’t have any illegitimate children with her lover! This ‘evidence’ was sufficient: Ursulina was burned at the stake in 1754.

Written by

Tim Flight

I am a freelance historical and literary writer based in West Yorkshire, UK. I read for a funded PhD in English at the University of Oxford (Magdalen College) and graduated in 2016. I am a former lecturer in Medieval English Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London. My publications include peer-reviewed articles in academic publications, and pieces in mainstream magazines such as History Today and Fortean Times. For more information, please see www.drflight.co.uk