PSY-35 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Pope Innocent Viii, Malleus Maleficarum, Demonic Possession
Document Summary
Suggested that the death of galen (last major physician of the classical era) marked the beginning of the dark ages for western european medicine and for the treatment and investigation of abnormal behaviour. Greek and roman civilisation ceased to exist. Churches gained in uence and the papacy was declared independent of the state. Christian monasteries replaced physicians as healers and as authorities on mental disorder. Monks prayed and touched them with relics or took them to shrines. Times of suffering and social unrest lead people to turn to demonology. Witchcraft was seen as heresy and a denial of god. Those accused as witches were blames and persecuted. Pope innocent viii sent monks to look for witches and they creates a manual (malleus male c arum or the witches hammer) to guide witch hunts. Those accused were tortured if they did not confess. Those convicted and penitent were imprisoned for life. Those who were convicted and unrepentant were executed.
