Witch hunting has gone on through the ages. Sometimes it was endorsed by the government, the church, and sometimes by both. Throughout time it was considered a noble practice to round up the brides of Satan as they were known as.
The captured witches were rarely even considered witches. They were women who refused a suitor, perhaps a woman who owed money she couldn’t repay. And even wives that a husband had tired of and wanted her gone. In those times divorce was very frowned upon but turning in a ‘witch’ spouse often carried a reward.
Serfs were often sentenced to death without the benefit of a trial. They were, after all, justly accused. Women of high society would face a mockery of a trial where the tribunal always found them guilty.
In those days women condemned of witchcraft were sentenced to death. Their executions were done by burning them at the stake.
The reason for burning them was to purge the devil from their bodies so their souls might be saved. Their painful deaths also entertained the crowd, some who were family and friends.
But the early roots of commercialism were growing then and the vendors that set up tents and sold wine and spirits want the witches burned naked. It would make a better show and they would sell more of their wares. The Church was against the appearance of witches being brought to the stake bare of clothing. The witches were being burned at the stake for their sins and to chase the devil from their bodies as the flames ate their flesh. It certainly was not to present them as a lewd show to the witnesses.
A wily barrister named Jollyrei approached an archbishop and explained that if the witches were burned at the stake naked the vendors would be able to pay a tithe of more than ten percent extra due to increased sales of their wines and spirits. Archbishop Despard Wragg II contemplates the possibility (for less than a minute) and agreed to a compromise. The witches could be brought to the stake clothed and after they were bound to the stake they could be stripped of their clothing before being burned. He even said if he did not see the promised increase in the tithes after the third with was burned that Jollyrei would be expected to make up the shortfall.
In addition to being a barrister, Jollyrei also owned the Crux Chronicle, which today would be known as a tabloid paper. He knew he could easily meet the promised tithe. Of course, some witch would have to be the first to try Jollyrei’s new process.
A young woman identified as ‘Miss Kathie’ has been found guilty of witchcraft and was sentenced to burn to death at the stake. Miss Katie was no more a witch than a new born child but she was a pretty young woman that rejected proposals from one of the town’s prominent leaders (well, it was a series of propositions for sex as he was married and wasn’t about to leave his wife- a daughter of nobility).
Being sentenced to death was bad enough but Miss Katie was brought to the stake wearing a smock that would not be considered adequate for a nightshirt!
This is beyond belief! I am to be burned to death for refusing a married man’s advances of me. I am virtuous! They cannot do this to me!
-Miss Kathie
But soon Miss Kathie is bound to the stake. Chains have her wrists bound behind the stake and a very thick one wraps around her stomach. Her ankles are chained to stake and any movement of her feet sends wooden shards into her feet. They lower to the pile of wood she stands on. The final preparation for Kathie’s execution is to tear the smock from her body. She stands chained naked before the crowd that is screaming for her to burn.
“You cannot do this to me” I scream.
-Miss Kathie
But they do light the pile and for more than a quarter hour she howls in pain before the flames consume her life.
It is a well appreciated burning for all but Miss Kathie.
Years later the enthusiasm for burning witches was starting to wane. One of the last women to be burned at the stake is Barbara Moore who was deemed a tool of Satin himself as she refused to service the Church. What she actually did was refuse to suck now Archbishop Despard Wragg IV’s cock.
By this time the aversion to bringing the condemned woman to stake wearing minimal clothing has passed. Barbara is marched naked through the crowd to the stake where she will be burned to death. The whole time the executioner is binding her to the post Barbara protests that she is not a witch but a woman of virtue.
Her protests only fires up the crowd that chants “Burn her! Burn the witch!”
Barbara looks down as the kindling is lit. She knows she has only a few moments before the fire will fully catch and her body will be burned to death.
She lets out a horrified scream when the kindling flares and burns the hair from her body. It warms her flesh but has not been the flames that will kill her.
Chained naked to the stake with her hair singed from her body, the fire below has grown and is burning the flesh from her feet and lower legs.
Barbara’s screams now are no longer of protest but sheer pain as the flames grow and consume her body. In a quarter of an hour the fire has seared her lungs and encased her body.
Barbara Moore is the last recorded witch burned to death at the stake.
This hardly concludes our story. This is the background of what is to come in the years that follow.
The captured witches were rarely even considered witches. They were women who refused a suitor, perhaps a woman who owed money she couldn’t repay. And even wives that a husband had tired of and wanted her gone. In those times divorce was very frowned upon but turning in a ‘witch’ spouse often carried a reward.
Serfs were often sentenced to death without the benefit of a trial. They were, after all, justly accused. Women of high society would face a mockery of a trial where the tribunal always found them guilty.
In those days women condemned of witchcraft were sentenced to death. Their executions were done by burning them at the stake.
The reason for burning them was to purge the devil from their bodies so their souls might be saved. Their painful deaths also entertained the crowd, some who were family and friends.
But the early roots of commercialism were growing then and the vendors that set up tents and sold wine and spirits want the witches burned naked. It would make a better show and they would sell more of their wares. The Church was against the appearance of witches being brought to the stake bare of clothing. The witches were being burned at the stake for their sins and to chase the devil from their bodies as the flames ate their flesh. It certainly was not to present them as a lewd show to the witnesses.
A wily barrister named Jollyrei approached an archbishop and explained that if the witches were burned at the stake naked the vendors would be able to pay a tithe of more than ten percent extra due to increased sales of their wines and spirits. Archbishop Despard Wragg II contemplates the possibility (for less than a minute) and agreed to a compromise. The witches could be brought to the stake clothed and after they were bound to the stake they could be stripped of their clothing before being burned. He even said if he did not see the promised increase in the tithes after the third with was burned that Jollyrei would be expected to make up the shortfall.
In addition to being a barrister, Jollyrei also owned the Crux Chronicle, which today would be known as a tabloid paper. He knew he could easily meet the promised tithe. Of course, some witch would have to be the first to try Jollyrei’s new process.
A young woman identified as ‘Miss Kathie’ has been found guilty of witchcraft and was sentenced to burn to death at the stake. Miss Katie was no more a witch than a new born child but she was a pretty young woman that rejected proposals from one of the town’s prominent leaders (well, it was a series of propositions for sex as he was married and wasn’t about to leave his wife- a daughter of nobility).
Being sentenced to death was bad enough but Miss Katie was brought to the stake wearing a smock that would not be considered adequate for a nightshirt!
This is beyond belief! I am to be burned to death for refusing a married man’s advances of me. I am virtuous! They cannot do this to me!
-Miss Kathie
But soon Miss Kathie is bound to the stake. Chains have her wrists bound behind the stake and a very thick one wraps around her stomach. Her ankles are chained to stake and any movement of her feet sends wooden shards into her feet. They lower to the pile of wood she stands on. The final preparation for Kathie’s execution is to tear the smock from her body. She stands chained naked before the crowd that is screaming for her to burn.
“You cannot do this to me” I scream.
-Miss Kathie
But they do light the pile and for more than a quarter hour she howls in pain before the flames consume her life.
It is a well appreciated burning for all but Miss Kathie.
Years later the enthusiasm for burning witches was starting to wane. One of the last women to be burned at the stake is Barbara Moore who was deemed a tool of Satin himself as she refused to service the Church. What she actually did was refuse to suck now Archbishop Despard Wragg IV’s cock.
By this time the aversion to bringing the condemned woman to stake wearing minimal clothing has passed. Barbara is marched naked through the crowd to the stake where she will be burned to death. The whole time the executioner is binding her to the post Barbara protests that she is not a witch but a woman of virtue.
Her protests only fires up the crowd that chants “Burn her! Burn the witch!”
Barbara looks down as the kindling is lit. She knows she has only a few moments before the fire will fully catch and her body will be burned to death.
She lets out a horrified scream when the kindling flares and burns the hair from her body. It warms her flesh but has not been the flames that will kill her.
Chained naked to the stake with her hair singed from her body, the fire below has grown and is burning the flesh from her feet and lower legs.
Barbara’s screams now are no longer of protest but sheer pain as the flames grow and consume her body. In a quarter of an hour the fire has seared her lungs and encased her body.
Barbara Moore is the last recorded witch burned to death at the stake.
This hardly concludes our story. This is the background of what is to come in the years that follow.
