Table of contents:
- Matilda Kshesinskaya
- Anna Askew
- Ann Bolein
- Marie-Madeleine de Branville
- Countess Elizabeth Bathory
- Marquis Françoise-Athenais de Montespan
- Joan of Arc
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-17 17:22
History knows many cases when a woman was proclaimed a witch, although there was no particular reason for this. At the same time, completely innocent young ladies could easily get into the number of women using magic, whose intelligence and beauty someone simply envied. However, if some actually became just a victim of slander, others managed to become famous for their cruel acts. And some were called witches even after the days of hunting them were long gone.
Matilda Kshesinskaya
This legendary ballerina was suspected of belonging to the clan of witches. After all, Matilda Kshesinskaya literally fascinated the audience with her plasticity, and her ability to seduce any man was considered witchcraft. Allegedly, the ballerina's grandmother owned the secrets of divination, and her mother was a real witch who passed on the secrets of manipulating people to her daughter. For her eyes, the ballerina was called "the royal witch", and even Grigory Rasputin envied Matilda Kshesinskaya's magical abilities.
Anna Askew
At the age of 15, the English writer and poet was married to a Catholic Thomas Kyme, although she herself was a Protestant. Anna's religious convictions and Protestant literature could in no way be the reason for her arrest. But her husband put her out the door, leaving two children for himself, and Henry VIII ordered Anna to be imprisoned in Tower prison, declaring her a heretic. But she did not renounce her convictions under torture on a rack, for which she was burned at the stake as a witch. And her only crime was unwillingness to give up her faith.
Ann Bolein
Not being a beauty, this woman knew how to charm any man. Henry VIII could not resist her charm, and he threw away all conventions for Anne Boleyn. He went against the will of the Pope, who did not allow the king to divorce Catherine of Aragon. Henry VIII was not disturbed by the fact that the common people immediately dubbed Anna a "black witch", attributing to her a connection with Welsh sorceresses. In the future, Henry VIII himself uses these rumors and speculation to accuse Anna of all mortal sins and sentence her to be burned. True, they will not burn her, but they will execute her by chopping off her head.
Marie-Madeleine de Branville
In the family where Marie-Madeleine grew up, the atmosphere was not the best. Her siblings harassed her, she herself was forced to engage in not very specious deeds. Father Antoine de Aubre, who held a high position, was not particularly interested in what was happening in the family. This did not prevent Marie-Madeleine from getting an education, learning to read and write, and marrying the Marquis de Branville. True, her hopes for a happy family life were not justified, and her husband, without a twinge of conscience, squandered his wife's dowry.
Anger accumulated in her soul, and as a result, she got herself a lover, Chevalier Gaudin de Sainte-Croix, who even settled in the house of the spouses as a family friend. Marie-Madeleine's father, having learned about his daughter's behavior, immediately sent her friend to the Bastille, where he learned the secrets of poisons from the Italian poisoner Exili. Sharing his knowledge with Marie after leaving prison, he seemed to let out the fiend of hell.
The marquise tested the poisons on the patients of the hospital she attended, and then she sent all her relatives to the other world, except for her sister, who managed to take refuge in the monastery. Marie-Madeleine was able to seize all the family wealth, but the letters discovered after the death of her lover describing their joint affairs with the Marquis revealed the truth. The Marquis was publicly executed by scattering the ashes in the wind after being burned.
Countess Elizabeth Bathory
She dreamed of remaining forever young and beautiful, and therefore acquired her own sorceress, who became Dorotta Shentez-Dorvulu. But Elizabeth Bathory, in addition to her beauty, was also distinguished by a very cruel disposition, and her character deteriorated from year to year. She mercilessly beat the maids and drove them naked into the cold for the slightest offense.
Pandora's Box was opened at the very moment when the Countess discovered the first wrinkles on her face. On the advice of the home sorceress, Bathory bathed daily in the blood of innocent girls for ten years, who began to disappear in dozens in the vicinity. The truth was revealed thanks to the priest, who sounded the alarm after the funeral service in the castle at once for nine dead.
In the castle, representatives of the authorities found women dying from torture, and in the dungeon there were literally mountains of corpses. Elizabeth Bathory was christened a witch, but not executed, sentenced to imprisonment in a cramped room of her own castle, where no one had access, and meager food was served through a narrow window. Only after almost three years, the inhabitants of the county were able to get rid of their fear when they learned about the death of the countess.
Marquis Françoise-Athenais de Montespan
For seven years, the favorite of Louis XIV not only enjoyed the king's favor, but literally twisted ropes from him. She made him happy with the birth of seven children and sought the fulfillment of all her whims. When Louis XIV began to lose interest in the Marquis, she began to order black masses from La Voisin, who was reputed to be a real witch, in the hope of regaining the location of the "sun king".
The truth came to light thanks to a spoken healer who took part in the disgusting rituals of the marquise. It was the drunken healer who told about the impending poisoning of the king with a potion and about the gloves soaked in poison, prepared for his new favorite. La Voisin was executed along with his accomplices, and the Marquise received the stigma of a witch and was sent into exile by Louis XIV with a very solid lifelong boarding house.
Joan of Arc
Enemies feared her and was loved by ordinary people who venerated Joan of Arc as a saint. She helped Charles VII ascend the throne, and he did not even think to stand up for her when Joan of Arc was captured in one of the battles and was condemned by the Holy Inquisition. Accusations of wearing men's clothing, using witchcraft against the king, and heresy were the reason for the burning. The one who was named a witch in 1431 will be canonized after 478 years.
The witch hunt and subsequent trials against them have always been truly scary. Throughout world history, innocent people (in the overwhelming majority of cases they were women) were interrogated, punished, tortured and killed, provided that they did at least something related to the occult or witchcraft.
Recommended:
How Soviet soldiers survived, who were carried into the ocean for 49 days, and How they were met in the USA and the USSR after they were rescued
In the early spring of 1960, the crew of the American aircraft carrier Kearsarge discovered a small barge in the middle of the ocean. On board were four emaciated Soviet soldiers. They survived by feeding on leather belts, tarpaulin boots and industrial water. But even after 49 days of extreme drift, the soldiers told the American sailors who found them something like this: help us only with fuel and food, and we will get home ourselves
5 movie heroes who were loved by Soviet women, or Why modern young ladies are annoyed by Zhenya Lukashin, "aka Goga" and others
Times change - tastes also change. A striking example of this is how the images of heroes were transformed in the cinema. During the Soviet era, the idols of women were Zhenya Lukashin, Nestor Petrovich, Gosha, aka Goga, aka Georgy Ivanovich … But let's be honest: all these characters would hardly have become the idols of today's girls, because give them pumped-up, strong, brave supermen, ready accomplish any feat. And if you think about it, it's not entirely clear what they could find in the cult heroes of Soviet films
What were the outstanding women that the whole world talks about: Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keeffe and others
The world of art is filled with real geniuses who worked not only within the framework of painting, but also sculpture, as well as photography and in other spheres. And not every recognized master of his craft was a man. So, today we will talk about six women who were real innovators in art and were able to prove that they too can achieve tremendous success
5 women philosophers who became famous at a time when women and philosophy were considered incompatible
There is an old anecdote: “There are two sailing along the river, a man and a woman. The man smokes and the woman row. Suddenly the man says: "It's good for you, woman: row yourself and row, but I have to think about life." This anecdote describes well the centuries-old attitude of philosophers to their occupation and women. But even in those days when it took a lot of fortitude and a lot of effort to break into science and make a woman talk about her works, women's names flashed in the horizon of philosophy. Yes, women always
How did women's handbags appear, and what bags were worn by Coco Chanel and other famous ladies
The Marquise de Pompadour, Coco Chanel, Grace Kelly, Jane Birkin and many other iconic figures of their time had an interesting feature: they stood at the origins of fashion for some things and accessories - and in particular, bags. The very ones that have been known to mankind since ancient times, when their appearance, perhaps, was also subject to some fashion trends - in imitation of the then celebrities