Men were just at risk from accusations of witchcraft. Although, overwhemingly it was women who were accused, between 20-25% of those we know to have been executed for the crime of witchcraft were men. In what is now Ukraine, Russia and Finland, up to 80% of those accused were men. As Christina Larner said, witchcraft accusations were sex-related, not sex specific. Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger’s witch-hunting manual, the ‘Malleus Maleficarum’ (1486) acknowledged the existence of male witches. Although Kramer and Springer believed “a greater number of witches is found in the fragile feminine sex than among men”, they still devote an entire section to three types of witchcraft practised by men, the most important of which was magical archery (shooting at crucifixes and that type of thing. In Iceland, between 1625 and 1685, 92% of those prosecuted for witchcraft were men, the most infamous trial being that of a father and son named Jón Jónsson in 1655, known as the Kirkjuból witch trial. Unable to produce enough witnesses to testify to their innocence, the Jónssons were thrown in jail and after seven months they were willing to confess their crimes. Not only did they confess to tormenting a neighbour in his sleep, but also to keeping a book of spells, killing cattle and poisoning beer. Both men were burned at the stake on 10th April 1656. Overall, between 1625 and 1683, around 130 people were brought before Icelandic courts accused of witchcraft. Of that 130, 21 were executed – 20 men and one woman. In Russia, approximately 75% of those accused of witchcraft were men. Historian Valerie A. Kivelson analysed 250 Russian witchcraft trials and found that a significant subset of the accused were itinerants known as the ‘guliashchie liudi’, or ‘wandering people’; minstrels, monks, seasonal labourers, peddlers, freed slaves, and so forth. Although women could be wanderers as well, men were far more likely to roam the country looking for work and it seems that this social subset were heavily stigmatised and therefore more closely associated with witchcraft than any other. CONTINUES IN THE COMMENTS https://www.instagram.com/p/CC6VatXn9E8/?igshid=1hauyatftc48m
