So I have seen the whole "medieval alewives are the archetype for the modern stereotypical witch depictions" thing going around.... again, and I thought I would do a bit of myth-busting. Grab a seat, this is a long one. #skystorians - ThreadSky

braciatrix.bsky.social • 37 days ago

So I have seen the whole "medieval alewives are the archetype for the modern stereotypical witch depictions" thing going around.... again, and I thought I would do a bit of myth-busting. Grab a seat, this is a long one.

#skystorians

Comments

braciatrix.bsky.social•36 days ago

I'm amending to add the following thanks to @winstonblack.bsky.social‬, who told me that this manuscript image is actually of Vaudoises, women Waldensian heretics- but still represents an extant instance of women using flying broomsticks or the like.

winstonblack.bsky.social•36 days ago

Thanks! A little more info: it's possibly by the artist Barthélemy Poignare, in a 1451 manuscript of Martin LeFranc's French poem "Le champion des dames".
(shameless plug alert) I discuss it in a chapter on witches in my book, The Middle Ages: Facts and Fictions.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/middle-ages-9781440862328/

braciatrix.bsky.social•36 days ago

Ooo this sounds fab! Must see if my library has it, and if not, request it! I love a good myth busting!

braciatrix.bsky.social•37 days ago

Let's start with the pointy black hat. The image above is perhaps one of the oldest extant illustrations to picture witches, dating to 1451 in Le Champion Des Dames. Notice, no pointy hats. Leaving aside the (false) concept of some pan-European medieval millinery for alewives

braciatrix.bsky.social•37 days ago

the introduction of the pointy-hat clad witch seems to have surfaced late 17th or early 18th century children’s chapbooks (a pamphlet of tales). Behold! Mother Shipton in all her glory, dating to the 18th century.

braciatrix.bsky.social•37 days ago

We have further examples in "The History of Witches and Wizards: Giving a True Account of All Their Tryals in England, Scotland, Sweedland, France, and New England … Collected … By W. P." Dating to either 1720 or 1760, here we also see pointy hats.

braciatrix.bsky.social•37 days ago

And Goya has a slightly different interpretation of the pointy hat.

braciatrix.bsky.social•37 days ago

Prior to the use of the pointed black hat, witches were generally depicted as either naked, wearing the traditional garb of the time, or up through the early modern witch-hunting horrors. Here is an image of accused witches dating from 1612. Again, no pointy hat.

braciatrix.bsky.social•37 days ago

So where did the pointy hats come from? The short answer is that there isn’t academic consensus aka we aren’t sure. There are a few theories, such as:

It may be an exaggeration of the dunces cap that were popular in royal courts in the 15th century

winstonblack.bsky.social•37 days ago

Thanks for this thread!
It's important to know that the manuscript image you use (and many others too) as the first depiction of "witches" is actually of "Vaudoises", i.e. women Waldensian heretics. Many accusations levelled against supposed witches were drawn from older heresy trials.

braciatrix.bsky.social•36 days ago

Oh interesting- thank you for sharing this. And of course, hence the black cats and other things. Perfect. I will amend.

softblossom.bsky.social•37 days ago

They had pointy hats bc back in the day that’s what was popular! lol! It was just the fashion of the time!

moonponysophia.bsky.social•37 days ago

Excellent myth-busting. Great pics too!

villanabrew.bsky.social•37 days ago

Always here for a debunking of this myth that insists on hanging around!

dougmccrae.bsky.social•37 days ago

The witch's visual tropes -- pointy hat, broomstick, cat -- only seem to get firmly established after the witch trials are over, or at least once their peak had passed in western Europe.

braciatrix.bsky.social•37 days ago

Exactly!

lorij214.bsky.social•37 days ago

I always thought the pointy black hat for alewives was so they could be seen in the markets selling their wares. Not sure how that translated to witches though. Maybe through association with depictions of witches in such headgear?

braciatrix.bsky.social•36 days ago

Yes, unfortunately this is a myth. A very widespread one, but a myth nonetheless when we look to the sources from medieval, and early modern England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland

dglaity.bsky.social•36 days ago

The supposed 'link' was it was to do with a generalised suspicion (at best) of women with independent means. It comes back round a lot I think because of that. It offers people a quick & cheap shorthand to draw a parallel to now. Except as the Doctor explained, it wasn't a thing. The other .../2

dglaity.bsky.social•36 days ago

2/... one that's popular is the 'no/insufficient pockets' thing. That one comes up a lot. I'm not so well up on the history of pockets, but I've a degree of suspicion for anything that relates .../3

dglaity.bsky.social•36 days ago

3/... one single thing to huge swathes of people generally.

It's interesting though, isn't it - as far as tracking what's important to folks now (and in what cycles).

holmfirthartist.bsky.social•37 days ago

📌

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply