A Seventeenth-Century Witch Trial

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Humanities 202-01H
Michael Crowell
Unit 2 Short Writing Assignment- Chapters 14-15 A Seventeenth Century Witch Trial Brian Croteau

A Seventeenth-Century Witch Trial is about a woman named Suzanne Gaudry, an illiterate woman, who is accused of practicing witchcraft. The charges against Suzanne include renouncing “God, Lent, and baptism.” She was also charged with worshiping the devil, attending witches’ Sabbaths, and desecrating the Eucharist wafer.

Suzanne was questioned by the court of Rieux, France, strapped down, and basically forced to confess that she practiced witchcraft. Later, she recanted this statement, and stated that she was no lover of (the devil), and is not a witch, all the while struggling to cry. In these days, this was thought to be a sign of witchcraft. She also stated that when she was originally asked, she was forced to say that she was a witch. In this time confession was necessecary for conviction, but after she was subjected to torture she went back to her original story and said that she was not forced, and that she declared to be a witch without threat. Once put on the stretching rack, she stated that she had confessed to practicing witchcraft, but confessed her innocence and screamed the name of Jesus and Our Lady of Grace, saying nothing more. Eventually, she maintained the fact that she was a witch. When asked how long she had been dealing with the devil, she stated that it was 20 years ago when the devil first appeared to her, in the form of a little man dressed in cow-hide and black breeches. In the end, she made people to believe she was ill, and not another word was spoken from her.

In this era of time, witchcraft was very prevalent and many women were accused of practicing these devil worshiping ceremonies. It even went so far as women being accused because they may have a certain birth mark or beauty mark. In this case, a doctor Bouchain claimed that Suzanne had a mark that was said to be a sign of the...
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