A History of Modern Europe - From the Renaissance to the Present

122 Ch. 3 • The Two Reformations

1630, almost all women (in itself not surprising, as Church authorities
and priests were all male).
Theologians and judges sought to demonstrate that accused witches
embodied the kingdom of the devil. To some extent, the Catholic Reforma­
tion wanted to create the idea of a satanic realm of evil on earth with

which to juxtapose orthodoxy. “Witches,” identified by common reputation,
sometimes stood accused of saying Latin prayers backward or performing
“black Masses” while standing facing their “congregations,” instead of fac­
ing the altar, defiantly inverting the kingdom of God. One woman was
accused of “consuming” several husbands. Often “witches” were blamed
for evil that had befallen villagers: a fire, the unexplained death of a cow,
or a male suddenly smitten with impotence.
Most of those accused of being witches were rural, poor, and single
women who were victims of other villagers, particularly small town officials
and wealthy peasants (it was the opposite in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts,
where many of the women accused of witchcraft had just inherited property,
and therefore were resented by the community). Some “witches” confessed
under pain of torture, such as one woman in southern France, who was
“scorched like a pig” and cooked alive, having been accused of spreading an
“evil powder” while committing crimes.
Women stood out as targets because they were transmitters of the collec­
tive memory of popular culture. They were genealogists, storytellers, and
healers, but almost always without formal education. Women were in many
ways the guardians of tradition, although also regarded by the Catholic
hierarchy as the source of sin. The social exclusion or even execution of
women had a social value for those in power, affirming authorities’ position
and role as interpreters of beliefs and customs deemed appropriate.
After the persecution of witches ebbed, some lay authorities then turned
their attention to outcasts, the socially marginal. In the Austrian Nether­
lands, a sign “useless to the world” was hung above the head of a beggar.
Monarchies increasingly demonstrated their authority in carrying out sen­
tences of royal justice and, therefore, the justice of God. Those found
guilty of capital crimes—at least those of the lower classes—were tortured
and then executed in public, their mutilated bodies exhibited for all to see.

The Baroque Style

The monumentalism, flamboyance, and theatrical religiosity of the baroque

style complemented the Catholic Reformation. “Baroque” refers to a style of

extravagant and irregularly shaped ornamentation (the term itself comes

from Old French for “irregularly shaped pear”). As an architectural, artistic,

and decorative style, the baroque triumphed in southern Germany, Austria,

Flanders, Spain, and other Catholic regions during the first decades of the

seventeenth century (but was also popular in Protestant England, where it

merged with the classical style).