| PART I | ETHICAL CANONS CONCERNING WAR | |
| Chapter 1 | About Ethical Canons and War | |
| Chapter 2 | Decisions Precipitating War | |
| Chapter 3 | Human Sacrifice | |
| Chapter 4 | Amiriyah Shelter | |
| PART II | ETHICAL CANONS CONCERNING EQUALITY | |
| Chapter 5 | Slavery | |
| Chapter 6 | Arens' Atrocity Attribution Theory | |
| Chapter 7 | Genocide of Native Americans | |
| Chapter 8 | Intermarriage | |
| PART III | ETHICAL CANONS CONCERNING JUSTICE | |
| Chapter 9 | Incarceration | |
| Chapter 10 | Reemergence of Torture | |
| Chapter 11 | Witchcraft Trials | |
|
Chapter 12 | Trials of Heretics |
| PART IV | ETHICAL CANONS CONCERNING RELIGION | |
| Chapter 13 | The New and Old Testaments | |
| Chapter 14 | Transplanted Mentality | |
| Chapter 15 | God and His Messengers | |
| PART V | ETHICAL CANONS CONCERNING EMPATHY | |
| Chapter 16 | Karla Tucker and George W. Bush | |
| Chapter 17 | A Girl with the Almond Eyes | |
| Chapter 18 | Beyond Partiality: Building a World of Laughter and Love |
If you're in favor of free speech,
then you're in favor
of freedom
of speech
precisely for views you dislike.
Otherwise, you're not in
favor of free speech.
Noam Chomsky
Trials of heretics
The burning of witches is closely associated with the burning of heretics (from
Latin haereticus, able to choose), i.e., persons who maintained opinions
other than those accepted by the church or rejected doctrines prescribed by the
church. As Martin Del Rio observed in his (1599) book Disquisitionum
Magicarum Libri Sex, heresy, magic and witchcraft are intrinsically linked:
|
...all heresy is prone to violence
at the start, |
|
|
De haeretico comburendo
In 1395, representatives of the ecclesiastical reform movement that originated
at Oxford and was led by John Wycliffe presented to the Parliament a petition
with demands to condemn wars and to abolish certain religious practices, as
summarized on the left-hand side of the table below. The Parliament retorted by
passing, in 1401, the statue De haeretico comburendo (On burning of
heretics), legislating death by burning on the charges summarized on the
right-hand side of the table. Wycliffe died in 1384 of apoplexy, but the Council
of Constance declared Wycliffe (on 4 May 1415) a heretic, decreed that his books
be burned and his remains be exhumed, burned, and the ashes cast into the river.
These controversies preceded the Hussite Wars (1419 - 1436).
|
Oxford |
Parliament |
| transubstantiation | heresy |
| wars | sorcery |
| sacramentals | witchcraft |
| auricular confession | alchemy |
| clerical celibacy | blasphemy |
| chastity vows of nuns | sexual deviations |
 John Huss at the stake, 1415. |
John Huss of Bohemia
John Huss is together with John Wycliffe among the
forerunners of Protestantism. Convicted of heresy, John Huss of Bohemia was
burned at the stake in 1415. At that time, Bohemia was ruled by the King
Wenceslaus (1361-1419). Shortly after Wenceslas accession to the throne, in
1400, the German princes accused Wenceslas of incompetence and alcohol abuse,
and elected his brother Sigismund as the king .The Czech version of Wenceslas'
alcoholism is that
| “Young Wenceslas helped with the harvest of
corn and grapes and his joy in preparing bread and wine for religious purposes stayed with him into adulthood.” |
Wenceslas retaliated by issuing a decree giving
the Czechs control over the Prague’s Emperor Charles IV University, founded in
1348 by his father and nominated John Huss as its Rector. The tenure of John
Huss as an academic administrator was disastrous, leading to a mass exodus of
the German professors and students. Huss mandated the use of a new alphabet he
invented by adding numerous diacritical signs to the Latin alphabet, fostered
the Slavic vs. Germanic controversy, and modified the liturgy by incorporating
several features of the Wycliffe’s ecclesiastic reform. Huss was accused, tried,
and convicted of heresy and burned at the stake. The King Wenceslas used this
event to encourage the Hussite movement. After Wenceslas' death, the followers
of John Huss, the Hussites, refused to acknowledge the rule of Wenceslas’
brother, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Sigismund (ruled 1410 -1437), and
instituted a religious rule in Bohemia instead, exacting criminal penalties
from 'sinners' and transgressors of the church law. The Hussite Wars
(1419-1436), followed, lasting 17 years, and resulting in a staggering loss of
life. The Hussite Wars ended in a draw, when an amendment to the peace treaty
legalized both Catholicism and Protestantism in Bohemia. However, the tension
between Bohemian Catholics and Protestants continued, culminating in 1618 when
Protestants attempted a coup d'état, starting the Thirty Years' War
(1618-1648).
 Milla Jovovich in The messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999). |
The maid of Orleans
Among the victims of the heretics' trials, perhaps the best known is Joan of
Arc. The story of Jeanne d'Arc (1412-1431) unfolds against the background of the
Hundred Years’ War between the British and French. Jeanne d’Arc was a girl who
led the French against the army of England after hearing voices of Saint
Catherine, Saint Margaret, and Saint Michael telling her that her destiny is to
liberate France from English domination. After being tested by a group of
theologians, Jeanne was given command of the French army and lifted the English
siege of Orleans. Captured by the English and turned over to a church court in
Rouen, she was tried on charges of heresy and burned alive. Jeanne was nineteen
years old.
 Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) |
E pur si muove
Among the victims of the heretics' trials was Giordano Bruno (1548-1600),
perhaps the best-known philosopher of the Italian Renaissance. He taught at
Toulouse, Oxford, Marburg, Wittenberg, Prague, and Frankfurt. In 1592 he
returned to his native Italy where, in Venice, he was imprisoned by the
Inquisition and burned as a heretic in 1600. In his book De Umbris Idearum
(On Shadows of Ideas), Bruno stressed that reality is constituted by the mind.
Giordano’s central thesis was that both Judaism and Christianity perverted
religion. He hoped that Christianity would be replaced by a new religion which
would be able to effect a social change. Bruno also taught Copernicus’
heliocentric explanation of planetary motions. His last cry from the stake was
E pur si muove! - 'And still, she is turning!' referring to Copernicus'
heliocentric theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun. This exclamation is
sometimes erroneously ascribed to Galileo Galilei.
 Emanuelle Seigner as the Devil in Love in Roman Polanski’s The Ninth Gate (1999). |
Delomelanicon, The
urban legend has it that it was Giordano Bruno and not Aristide Torchia who
published in 1599 De Umbrarum Regis Novum Portis (Door to the Kingdom of
Shadows), rumored to be copied from the apocryphal Delomelanicon, (from
Gr. δηλοω, to show, make clear, summon, and μελας, black, dark) a book
purportedly written by the devil himself and containing within its pages
knowledge to raise the devil. These notions are based on the Roman Polanski's
movie The Ninth Gate, the film adaptation of The Dumas Club,
written by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. However, Arturo Pérez-Reverte says that,
Aristide Torchia, though fictional, was inspired by the life of Giordano Bruno;
both arrested in Venice and burned at Campo del Fiori, Torchia in
February, 1666, Bruno in February, 1600.
 Burning of Heretics |
Frequency of the Burnings of Heretics
Burning of heretics was most frequent during the 16th
Century and ceased with the advent of the Enlightenment.
References
Bruno, G. (1532) De umbris idearum. Joseph H. Peterson (Digital edition,
1997).
del Rio, M. (1599) Disquisitionum Magicarum Libri Sex. English
translation: Maxwell-Stuart (ed.) Investigations into magic: Martin del Rio.
Manchester University Press (2000).
