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.

The persecution of witches centered on the fear of female sexuality. Jean Bodin, a French jurist, defined a witch in his 1580 treatise The Demon-Mania of Witches as someone who used diabolical means to harm others. Witches were accused of murdering their own or other women’s children, drinking their blood, and eating their flesh. Bodin’s work reflected a broader European trend where witchcraft accusations often targeted women whose behavior—whether perceived as promiscuous, independent, or unruly—challenged societal norms. The focus on sexuality was not incidental; it was a deliberate strategy to control and punish women who deviated from expected roles.

Accused witches in 16th-century Europe faced brutal interrogation methods designed to extract confessions. Common practices included stripping women naked, shaving their bodies, and subjecting them to sexualized torture, such as rape or piercing with needles. These methods were explicitly or implicitly sexual because female sexuality was the primary concern. Public executions by burning were used to terrorize communities, particularly the daughters of executed witches, who were often forced to watch their mothers die in agony. These daughters were sometimes whipped in public, further humiliating them and ensuring they would disavow their mothers to survive socially. The trauma inflicted on these young girls was both psychological and intergenerational.

The rise of witch persecutions in the 16th century coincided with the privatization of land in Europe. Regions with high levels of enclosed land—where wealthy landholders took control of previously communal or shared resources—saw a disproportionate number of witch trials. This was no coincidence, as controlling land required controlling female reproduction to ensure clear inheritance lines. Silvia Federici, a scholar, argues that witch hunts were a tool to enforce patriarchal control over women’s bodies and reproductive rights. The earliest law criminalizing witchcraft with the death penalty was the Carolina code in 1532, issued in imperial Spain. By 1604, England had passed similar laws, and other European regions followed suit around 1550.

Between the 16th and 17th centuries, hundreds of thousands of women were tried, tortured, and executed for witchcraft across Europe. Many of these women were midwives or had used midwives’ services, as their knowledge of reproductive health made them targets. Others were accused for reasons as trivial as being too loud, too independent, or experiencing misfortunes like erectile dysfunction or stillbirths in their communities. The scale of persecution was vast, with entire families and generations affected. The trauma extended beyond the executed women to their daughters, who were forced to witness and internalize the brutality, often leading to lifelong psychological damage.