Witch trials

[festuco]

No: HPFGUIDX 154853

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "katssirius" <katbofaye at ...> wrote:
>
> Witch trials had been going on in Europe for 100's years prior to the 
> Salem witch trial and estimates from 100,000 to one million people were 
> tortured and murdered in Europe during that time.  JKR consistently has 
> shown a grasp on history that would indicate a knowledge of this early 
> holocaust.  Making it unlikely that a handful of people dying an ocean 
> away would have bothered anyone in Europe. The actual history of witch 
> persecution does explain Slytherin's hatred of Muggles.  Of course at 
> the time midwives, non-Christians, women who inherited estates, and 
> inconvenient wives were the targets.
> 
> katssirius

Gerry
I totally agree with your conclusion, besides the brunt of the witch
trials in Europe was still to come. I think the official act was just
putting something into record that already was happening for a couple
of centuries. 

Now off topic:
Your information is wrong. Estimates are 50.000 to 100.000 and the
targets were none of the ones you describe. These are only the targets
in outdated feminist and pagan literature. 
Targets were ususally the old and impoverisht, people at the wrong
place at the wrong time and people who were involved in long standing
feuds about a three quarters of the victims were women, one quarter
were men, except in some countries like Iceland for example where 90%
were male. 

Read Briggs 'Witches and Neighbours' for a discussion of the witch
hunts, its reasons, the kind of acquisations and its prime targets. It
is very informative, though utterly horrible reading material because
he laces his writing with illustrations of trail records so it is
painfully clear that he is talking about real people.

>From PoA it is clear that JKR is not very knowledgable about the witch
hunts because otherwise she would never have placed them in the Middle
Ages, but in the Modern ages.

Gerry
>