37. The Medieval Church Did Not Conduct Witch Hunts
When picturing the Middle Ages, it is assumed by many that the era was one of widespread superstition, during which church authorities were burning witches left, right, and center. While it is true that medieval people were extremely superstitious, especially when compared to the modern era, their superstitions did not find expression in witch hunts. While there were some witch trials in the Middle Ages, they were relatively rare, and were usually done by the secular authorities, not directed by the church.
Indeed, throughout most of the medieval era, the standard message disseminated by churchmen regarding magic was that it was silly nonsense that did not work. The European witch craze was more of a sixteenth and seventeenth-century phenomenon, that took off after Heinrich Kramer wrote the infamous Malleus Mallificarum in the late fifteenth century, in an attempt to convince a then-disbelieving public that witches were real. When it first came out, the church actually condemned the book, and warned inquisitors not to believe what it says.
