On Medieval Europe’s Systemic Slaughter of Nonconformist Women

By the late Middle Ages, European society widely believed that some women had made pacts with the devil to perform evil magic.

Treatise writers like William Perkins (late 1500s England) argued that any apparent power these women had was borrowed from Satan, not innate.

This marked a shift from earlier myths, such as the autonomous female monsters of ancient lore (e.g., Tiamat or Medea), to a new idea of women as mere vessels for Satan’s will.

Witches were depicted as devoid of true power, yet their alleged crimes—such as infanticide or consorting with the devil—were used to justify their execution.

This belief system framed witchcraft as a threat to Christian society, requiring the persecution of these women regardless of evidence.