Post #4222839

@amydiehl@mstdn.social Yep. To be financially independent, women had to be single or widowed - if married, the household property belonged to the husband. That put them, as the article notes, outside of societal expectations and made them vulnerable. Status could certainly excite jealousy and create the frictions that led to witchcraft suspicions and accusations, but poverty was more often associated with accused and condemned witches - women who had to fend for themselves by providing magical spells and healing, who needed to beg, or who otherwise lacked a secure station were always seen as potential threats. Thomas Robisheaux’s The Last Witch of Langenburg is a terrific study of all these various factors, including how women’s domestic roles were perceived to connect them to witchcraft.