Accused, tortured, strangled, burned: Why Scotland’s witches should be pardoned

[Nearly Sane]

Yep


https://www.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/heritage/accused-tortured-strangled-burned-why-scotlands-witches-should-be-pardoned-2440698?fbclid=IwAR14vF864uIooqIowiUwCaoDOedOAZOdFa4HSSk6KroDjAc-l2ajJ2s7X5o

[Owlswing]

Yep

https://www.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/heritage/accused-tortured-strangled-burned-why-scotlands-witches-should-be-pardoned-2440698?fbclid=IwAR14vF864uIooqIowiUwCaoDOedOAZOdFa4HSSk6KroDjAc-l2ajJ2s7X5o

With all due respect should this topic not be transferred to the Pagan Topic?

It is a terrible period in Scottish history; the Scots, being Catholic, burned those convicted of Witchcraft at the stake. Their sisters in England were hanged, England being Protestant.

There can be no doubt that most of those burned were not witches in the sense the term was used at the time. Most were, in modern terms, pharmacists and midwives. The making of potions was seen as proof that the woman was a follower of Satan as it was deemed that Satan gave these potion makers the recipes for their 'poisons'. The fact that as many 'patients' of male potion makers died as those treated by women did not, unfortunately, result in a similar reduction if the population of male potion makers who, in the eyes of the Church, did not need the aid of Satan to produce exactly the same potiona as the women.

   

   

[Nearly Sane]

The Scots were in the main Protestant at this time. It was a Protestant witch hunt.

[Owlswing]

The Scots were in the main Protestant at this time. It was a Protestant witch hunt.

The Scot's were burning witches from about 1400 to about 1650, which actually covers the transition from Catholic to Protestant towards the end of the 1500s.

It is one of the old trick questions asked of new initiates to a Coven, English Coven, of "How many witches were burned in England during the "Burning Times"? 

[Nearly Sane]

The article is talking about the 16th Century through to the 18th. In the 15th century England was RC too. The differences in time beetween the English Reformation and the Scottish reformation are minimal.

[Owlswing]

The article is talking about the 16th Century through to the 18th. In the 15th century England was RC too. The differences in time beetween the English Reformation and the Scottish reformation are minimal.

OK OK OK!

[ad_orientem]

I admit that I find it difficult to see much point in things like this.

[jeremyp]

Technically, being pardoned means "you did the crime but we are going to let you off". For example, Alan Turing was guilty of breaking the law as it existed at the time. He was posthumously pardoned because the government of the time thought the optics would be good we recognise that the law was unjust and the punishment inhuman.

I haven't read the whole article but it seems to me that, in the main, the women who were convicted of witchcraft usually had confessions extracted from them by means of torture. They should not be pardoned: they should have their convictions quashed.

[Owlswing]

I haven't read the whole article but it seems to me that, in the main, the women who were convicted of witchcraft usually had confessions extracted from them by means of torture. They should not be pardoned: they should have their convictions quashed.

Agreed!