Focus On The Rainbow

The deadly “outings” lasted roughly from the 15th through the 17th centuries in Europe, and the people who accused gay men of being witches even had at their disposal a handbook: the Malleus Maleficarum (“Hammer against Witches”), which was published in the 1480s by two Dominican Catholic priests (please see note below).

The horror stories were passed from generation to generation and encouraged by local government and religion: The witches would come at night and steal the villagers, forcing them deep into the forests. Once in the woods at a magical fire, all sorts of horrible things would then happen to these poor folks, from being eaten, to being used in pagan rituals and orgies, to being turned into wolves. Basically, anything that went wrong in your life could be blamed on the “witches” who killed babies while they slept, who caused male impotence and female infertility, and miscarriages. If all that weren’t enough, they also were busy spoiling the crops and causing the plague. And just who were these demonic witches? Usually the social outcasts, such as mentally and physically disabled persons, and of course those who were suspected as behaving like queers.

The Malleus Maleficarum had topics such as the merits of torturing with red hot irons as opposed to boiling water, and how to strike the right balance of food and/sleep deprivation. To escape further torture, men accused of being witches (AKA homosexual) would often name neighbor men and attest to their witchery (AKA sexual) behavior. The detailed confessions included the official witchcraft, such as the ability to fly, to cast spells, or to turn themselves into animals. Yet it seems that over and over, one of the inquisitors’ favorite fixations was the sexual practices of the accused men. Confessions included the ability to to magically castrate other men, and in one striking case, even keeping their stolen cocks in birds nests, where they fed them grain and corn! Men would break down and admit that yes, they had buggered with the neighbor man, but that it was the neighbor’s fault for having cast a demonic spell to make him say yes to having sex. Not uncommon, the man with the most valuable land was the one who received the harshest punishment (loosing his assets and maybe his life). Between 1450 and 1750, approximately 110,000 people were tried for witchcraft in Europe and America, of whom 60,000 were executed.

In modern media, witches are thought of as females. But for this period of sad history, the people who were tortured were of both sexes. Most male “witches”, like their female counterparts, had done nothing more than annoy their neighbours. As one of the accused men would write: “Innocent I came to jail, innocent I was tortured, innocent I must die,”in 1628. “They stripped me, bound my hands behind me, and drew me up in the torture. Then I thought heaven and earth were at an end.”

NOTE: 1486-1487: Institoris (Heinrich Kraemer) and Jacob Sprenger published the Malleus Maleficarum (The Witches’ Hammer). Modern historians consider it a fascinating and frightening study of the authors’ misogyny and sexual frustration. It describes the activities of Witches, as well as the horrific methods of extracting confessions:

“…while he is being tortured, he must be questioned on the articles of accusation, and this frequently and persistently, beginning with the lighter charges-for he will more readily confess the lighter than the heavier. And, while this is being done, the notary must write down everything in his record of the trial – how the prisoner is tortured, on what points he is questioned and how he answers. And note that, if he confesses under the torture, he must afterward be conducted to another place, that he may confirm it and certify that it was not due alone to the force of the torture.

But, if the prisoner will not confess the truth satisfactorily, other sorts of tortures must be placed before him, with the statement that unless he will confess the truth, he must endure these also. But, if not even thus he can be brought into terror and to the truth, then the next day or the next but one is to be set for a continuation of the tortures – not a repetition, for it must not be repeated unless new evidences produced.

The judge must then address to the prisoners the following sentence: We, the judge, etc., do assign to you, such and such a day for the continuation of the tortures, that from your own mouth the truth may be heard, and that the whole may be recorded by the notary. And during the interval, before the day assigned, the judge, in person or through approved men, must in the manner above described try to persuade the prisoner to confess, promising him (if there is aught to be gained by this promise) that his life shall be spared. The judge shall see to it, moreover, that throughout this interval guards are constantly with the prisoner, so that he may not be alone; because he will be visited by the Devil and tempted into suicide.”

- source – Reprinted with permission from Vintage Gay Media History (NSFW – Viewer Discretion Strongly Advised)