37. Matteuccia di Francesco was a folk healer executed for witchcraft in 1428
Matteuccia di Francesco was what’s known as a wise woman. She sold herbal remedies from the tiny Umbrian village of Ripabianca to people who couldn’t afford a proper doctor. Unfortunately, in 1426, a Franciscan preacher named Bernardino of Siena came to Todi, where many of her clients lived. He gave sermons on witchcraft, which made many people who’d bought remedies from Matteuccia suspect her of sorcery. Former clients alerted the authorities, who arrested and tortured her. Most of her ‘confessions’, for example, infanticide and flying, repeated ludicrous details from Bernardino’s influential sermons. In 1428, Matteuccia was burned at the stake.
