Medieval magic and superstition-the devil?

Question

What did medieval ppl in Europe and England think that the devil looked like, and wat did they blame him for?
PS-this is for an assingnment thx

Answer 1

Horned gods were worshipped in Europe and the rest of the world from the dawn of humanity. They were always part of a pagan belief system, a polytheistic belief system, which accepted many gods. Tribal pagan belief systems still in existence share this characteristic: the tribes worship their tribal gods, and other gods mentioned by strangers are not evil, or non-existant, they are simply not their gods.
There were many ancient monotheistic religions such as Judaism, but again these were tribal religions, which had no urge to prosyletise, to "spread the word". Jehova was the god of the Jews, and they felt no need to persuade other tribes to worship him as well.

Christianity changed all that. It felt an overpowering need to make their one god the god of everybody else within range, and so they invented the missionary. But to do this it was necessary to discredit the old pagan gods, and in particular the goddess and the horned god.

Pagan pantheons never include gods of evil. Pagan gods are aspects of Nature, and in Nature there can be no evil; it exists only in the human imagination. They frequently include trickster gods, such as Loki, and gods can have a reputation for being unwise to be involved with, but not actual evil. Monotheistic religions, on the other hand, require a god of evil as an adversary of their god of good. Otherwise, why would you need Him ? An obvious way to discredit the horned god and justify punishment of his worshippers is to say that he is, in fact, the god of evil in the new religion. And has been all along.

This did not happen all at once. For centuries Christianity existed alongside much older pagan beliefs all across Europe, and adapted to the people there and accomodated their beliefs as far as possible. The Celtic Christian Church in dark age Ireland is a typical example.

Then in AD 1248 Pope Innocent IV decided that it was time to suppress all heresy and for that purpose he founded The Holy Office, or as it later became better known, The Inquisition. It really took off in the fifteenth century (especially in Spain), and began rooting out all and any lingering traces of pagan belief.
Being an organisation run entirely by men it took an instant dislike to the old wise women living around every country village, passing on ancient pagan folk-lore to the new generation and selling folk medicine and magic charms. The priests declared that these women were worshippers of the devil, and must be burned. During the process of extracting imaginative confessions from their bewildered captives a brand new folk myth was gradually born, as the inquisitors continually outdid one another in imagining new horrors of depravity in the worship of Lucifer, and under torture their prisoners confessed to it all. Christianity created its own reflection, and called it Satanism.

In order to improve the consistency of the confessions, and thereby create the evidence for this imaginary foul creed, a special manual was required, detailing the exact acts of which the "witches" stood accused, and would therefore confess to. It also described in excruciating detail exactly how to extract such confessions. This "Witch Hunting: How To Do It" guide was published in 1486, written by two monks, Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger. It was called The Malleus Maleficarum, or "Hammer of the Witches".

This was the origin of Satanism as most people understand it.

Answer 2

During medieval times the church became very active in creating "Christendom", a christian kingdom. They promoted the notion that the devil was a terrifying beast such as a hydra from the greek myths, or a Horned red man, the horned part could have been taken from the celtic-pagan God Cernnunos, aka the horned God. Also some thought he was a half man half goat creature like the God Pan from pagan greece. They also would blame the devil for any ailment that the area came to, such as a plague or bad harvest, even someone falling ill. Their response to this was to have the priest pray and hold services to help with what could be done, and to do faith healing for the sick and injured.

Answer 3

I believe that most Europeans considered it in the form of a goat. They also blamed the devil for EVERYTHING!!!!!! I had to do a research project on medieval punishments, and it is crazy! to fully understand what I mean, search "medieval punishments". You'll get it after you read them. Hope that helps! Ciao!!!

Answer 4

The medieval people of Europe had many designs of what Satan look like... But the early Catholic Church is what gave Satan horns and a tail very early on in history... And I believe that the viking had a great deal to do with what Satan looked like For they were the very picture of evil to medieval Europeans... But Satan is described in the bible as a beautiful angel.. And a angel of light..................................................................................

Answer 5

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ha112/234233755/
http://www.stratis.demon.co.uk/gargoyles/gg-ety-hist-myth.htm
There are a lot of websites you can search to. I did not have the time to look through many as I am going out but if you just type your title, you can get a lot of information.

Answer 6

they blamed him for illness
http://ny.essortment.com/medicalhistory_rnvo.htm

Answer 7

scarey... t