lonetrucker4 said:people were convicted of heresy or witchcraft by secular authorities, often receiving a "humane" instruction to avoid spilling blood—which basically meant they were burned at the stake. Meanwhile, your average passerby might end up being hanged, decapitated, or in even more extreme cases, tortured on the rack.
Look, there were all sorts of punishments and plenty of crimes to go around. In Spain, for instance, you could pretty much choose your own adventure—hanging, crucifixion, burning, drowning; they didn't really sweat the small stuff when it came to the method.
It’s quite clear we’re discussing heresy and witchcraft here.
Witchcraft accusations weren't just thrown around randomly out of some religious fervor, either; I suspect there was usually a very specific sin or a bit of greed driving those charges. In England, for example, the pyres were often fueled by brewers who were watering down their ale, poisoning folks, or straight-up robbing them. You also had instances of infanticide and pyromania, and I believe grave robbing wasn't uncommon either. There were even times when people were burned simply because they were sick—you know, like when the plague is sweeping through and you suddenly break out in a rash. All of that was just swept under the rug as witchcraft.
The Orleans case is actually a pretty good example of that.
When it comes to heresy, though, it wasn't exactly some mindless savagery; I'd say it was mostly just internal factional maneuvering and power struggles happening right within the Church itself.
If this were posted on the History PDF, it wouldn't be phrased like that, since they know they'd get flagged for breaking the subforum rules.
With a moderation style like yours, I guess you might have even burned Galileo alive if you had been the Pope back in his day!👍
