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uitthts tonjurinl t shouw of rdin l Lnri& liolitoa Dt LartttEs

rir A1H()\r(-ts vt ruriRrl rs (Ot F{ ttr,ri. Sor.r ms and Sooth*tyer)
(t189)'
Preface
Cdli[dr
and tle l4litdr presents the nrain thenles of a research project on women in the
"transition" from feudalisln to capiralisnr that I begen in the mid-1970s,in colleboration
rvith :rn Italian Gnrinist, Lcopoldina Fortunati ls first results appeared in a book that we
publishcd in Italy in 19tt4:1/ Crantfu Calibantt Strtial del eorpo social ribdlc nella prindJase
rir'/ r,4rir,r/c (Milano: Franco Angeli)
l7'hc
Crcat Cdliban Hi*ttry t{ tfu Rcbcl Body ir the
I:isr Phdsc Llf Capitalivnl.
My interest il this research was originally rnotivated by rhe debates drat accompe-
nicd the development of the Feruinist Movement in the United States concerniug the
roots of rvomen's "oppression," and rhe political srretegres which thc' urovenrenr should
rdopt rn the strupgle for wotneni liberation.At the time,the leading rheoretical and polit-
icllpcnpectives from which the realiry ofsexual discrimination wx analyzed were those
proposed by the two main branches of rhe wonteni rttoventelt: rhe Radical Feninisrs
rud rhc Socialist Feminiss. In rny view, however, neither provided a satisfactory explana-
tion of the roots of the soci:rl and economic exploitation of wollen. I objected to the
Radical Fenrinists because of their tendency to account for sexual discrinrination and
patriarch:rl
rule on the basis of traushisrorica.l cultural structures, presutrrably openting
irrdependcndy
ofrelations ofproducrion and class. Socielist Feminists, by contnst, recog-
nized that the history ofwomen cannot be separated from rhe history ofspecific systems
ofexploitation
and, in their analyses, gave priority to wonren as workers iIr capitdist soci-
ety. llut the linit ofrheir positiou, in my understandinpg ofit at the tinre, was that it failed
to acknowledge the sphere of rcproductiou as a source of vdue-cn'ation and exploita-
tion,
and thus traced the roos of the power diferential betwc'en wouren and nren to
wonrcn's
exclusion fronr capitalist developnrent - a stand which again cottrpelled us to
rc'ly
on cultural schemes to account for the survival ofsexisnr withitr the univcrse ofcap-
italist
relations.
It was in this contcxt drat the idea oftrrcing the history ofwourcn in the transr-
ttotr
frorrr feudalism to capirdisnr took forur.The thesis which iuspircd this rcsearch was
first
articulated by Mariarcsa Delh Costa and SeLna
James,
as wc'll as other activists in
rhc
Wages For Housework Movenrent, in a set ofdocunrents thrt iIr the 1970s were very
c()Drroversial,
but eventually reshapcd the discourse on worDen, reproduction, and capi-
talisnr.The
nrost influential nong thenr were Mariarosa Dalla Costai lli,ntn dnd the
Subwtsion
of the Comnunity (1971), rnd Seltna
Janres'
S.:!, R.r. .rr.t C/,rss (1975).
I Preface
Agarnst the Marxist orthodoxy' which explained women's "oppression" and sub-
ordination to men as a residuum offeudel relations, Dalla Costa andJames argued that
the exploitation of women has played a central function in the process of capitdist
accumulation, insofar as women have been the producers and reproducers ofthe most
essential capitalist commodity: labor-power. As Dalla Costa put it, woment unpaid
labor in the home has been the pillar upon which the exploitation ofthe waged work-
en,"wage slavery," has been built, and the secret ofits productivity (1972:31)'Thus' the
power differential between women and men in capitalist societry cannot be attibuted
to the irrelevance ofhousework for capitalist accumulation - an irrelevance belied by
the sFict rules that have governed women's lives - nor to the survival of timeless cul-
tural schemes. Rather, it should be interpteted as the effect of a social system ofpro-
duction that does not recoppize the production and reproduction of the worker as a
social-economic activiw, and a source of capital accumulation' but mystifies it instead
as a natural resource or a personal service, while pro6ting from the wageless condition
of the labor involved.
By rooting the exploitation ofwomen in capitdist sociery in the sexual division
oflabor end women! unpaid work, Ddla Costa andJames showed the possibiliry oftnn-
scending the dichotomy between patriarchy and class, and gave patriarchy a specific his-
torical content.They also opened the way for a reinterptetation ofthe history of capi-
talism and clas struggle ftom a feminist viewpoint
It was in this spirit that Leopoldina Fortunati and I bcgan to study what can only
be euphemistically described as the "transition to capitdism," and began to search for a
history that we had not been teught in school' but proved to be decisive for our educa-
tion.ihis history not only offered a theoretical understanding ofthe genesis ofhouse-
work in its main structural components: the separation of production liom reproduc-
tion, the specifically capitalist use of the wage to command the labor ofthe unwage4
and the derzluation ofwomen! social position with the advent ofcapitalism lt dso pro-
vided a genealogy ofthe modern concepts offenininity and masculinity that chdlenged
the posimodern essumPtion of an almost ontological predisposition in "Western
Culture" to capto.e gerrier th-ugh binary oppositions' Sexual hierarchies' we foun4
are a.lways at the service ofa project of domination that can sustain itselfot y by divid-
ing, on a continuously renewed basis, those it intends to rule'
The book that resulted ftom this rse arch' II Grande Calibano: sto a del corpo wciolc
ribelle nella pimaJase del capitale (1984)
'w:s
an attempt to rcthink Marx's analysis ofprirn-
itive accumulation fiom a feminist viewpoint. But in this
Process,
the received Marxian
categories proved inadequate.Among the casualties was the Marxian identification ofcap-
italJm witi the advent of wage labor and the "free" laborer, which contributes to hi&
and naturalize the sphere of reproduction 11 Gtande Calibano wzs dso critical of Michel
Foucault! theory of the body; as we argued' Foucaultt anallsis ofthe power techniques
and disciplines to which the body has been subjected has ignored the process of repro-
duction, Ls coltapsed female and male histories into an undiferentiated whole, and has
been so disinterested in the "disciplining ' of women that it never mentiors one of the
most monsfiuous attacks on the body perpetrated in the modern era:t}le witch-hunt'
The main thesis in Il Ctande Calibano wx that in order to understand the history
of women in the transition liom feudalism to caDitalism, we must analyze the changes
Preface I
rhat
capital,is6
has introduced in the prccess ofsocial reproduction and, especially, the
,gproduciion
oflabor-power.Thus, the book examined the reorganization ofhousework,
63nrily
life, child-nising, sexualiry, male-femde relations, and the relation between pro-
ducdon
and reproduction in 16th and l7th-century Europe.This analysis is reproduced
in
Coliban
and theWitdr; however, the scope ofthe present volume difers from that ofll
Cnnde
Calibano, as it responds to a dilGrent social context and to our growing know-
ledge
of women's historY.
Shordy after the publication of Il Crande Calibaro, I left the United States and
took
a teaching position in Nigeria, where I remained for nearly three years.Before leav-
ing,
I had buried my papers in a cellar, not expecting that I should need them for some
time.
But the circumstances ofmy stay in Nigeria did not allow me to forget this work.
The
years between 1984 end 1986 were e turning point for Nigeria, as for most Afiican
countries.These
were the years when, in response to the debt crisis, the Nigerian gov-
ernment
engaged in negotiations with the Internationd Monetary Fund and the Wodd
Bank, which eventually resulted in the adoption ofa StructuralAdjusnnent Program, the
World Bank's univenal recipe for economic recovery across the planet.
The declared purpose of the program was to make Nigeria competitive on the
internarional market. But it was soon apparent that this involved e new round of prim-
itive accumulation, and a rationalization of social reproduction aimed at destroying the
last vestiges ofcomrnunal properry and communiry relations, and thereby impose more
intense forms oflabor exploitation. Thus, I saw unfolding under my eyes processes very
sinrilar to those that I had studied in preparation for 11 Crande Calibano, Anong them
were the attack on communal lands, and a decisive intervention by the State (instigated
byWorld Bank) in the reproduction ofthe work-force: to regulate procleation rates,and,
in this case, reduce the size ofa population that was deemed too demanding and indis-
ciplined from the viewpoint of is ptospected insertion in the globa.l economy. Along
,
with these policies, apdy named the "WarAgainst Indiscipline," I also witnessed the fuel-
ing ofa misogynous campaign denouncing women's laniry and excessive demands, and
the development ofa heated debate similar, in many respects, t o the 17th cencury querelles
des
Jenmes, touching on every aspect of the reproduction of labor-power: the femily
$olygamous vs. monogamous, nuclear vs. extended), child-raising, women! work, male
and female identiry and relations.
In this context, my work on the tnruition took on a new meaning. In Nigeria I
tealized
that the struggle against strucnrnl adjusonent is part of a long struggle lgairst
land
privatization
and the"enclosure" not only ofcommunal lands but also ofsocial rela-
trons
that stretches back to the origin ofcapiulism in 16rh-century Europe andAmerica.
I-also
realized how limited is the
-victory
that the capitalist wo*-discipline has won on
this
planet,
and how many people sti.ll see their lives in ways radica.lly antagonistic to the
requiremens
ofcapitalist production. For the developers, the multinational agencies and
toreign
investors, this was and remains the problem with places like Nigeria. But for me
It
was
a source ofgrcat strength, as it proved that, worldwide, formidable forces still con-
kast
the imposition ofa way ofliG conceived only in capitalist ternx.The strength I gained
was
a.lso due to my encounter with Women in Nigeria (WIITI), the countryt 6nt femi-
ftst
organization, which enabled me to better undentand the struggles that Nigerian
women
have been making to defend their rcsources and to refuse the new model ofpatri-
I
Preface
I
archy imposed on them, now promoted by the World Bank.
Bv the end of1986,the debt crisis reached the academic institutions and, no longet
able to support myself, I left Nigeria, in body if not in sPirit. But the thought of the
attacks launched on the Nigerian people never left me Thus, the desire to restudy "the
transition to capitalism" has been with me since my return.I had rcad the Nigerian even8
through the prism of 16th-century Eutope.In the United States, it was the Nigerian pro-
letariat that brought me back to the struggles over the corrmons and the capitalist dis-
ciplining ofwomen, in and out ofEulope. Upon my return,I also began to teach in an
inteldisciplinary program for undergnduates where I confronted a different type of
"enclosure": the enclosure ofknowledge, that is, the increasing loss, among the new gen-
eratiorx, ofthe historical sense ofour corunon past.This is why in Caliban and theMth
I reconstruct the anti-feudal struggles ofthe Middle Ages and the smrggles by which thc
Euopean prcletariat tesisted the advent of capitalism. My goal in doing so is not ody
to make available to non-specialiss the evidence on which my analysis relies, but to revive
among younger generations the memory ofa long history of resistence that today is in
danger ofbeing ensed. Saving this historical memory is cmcial ifwe are to 6nd an alter-
native to capitalism. For this possibility will depend on our capaciry to heat the voices
of those who have walked similar paths.
Introduction
Since Marx, studying the genesis ofcapitalism bas been an obligatory step for activists and
scholars convinced that the fint task on humaniry's agenda is the construction of an
dternative
to capialist sociery Not surprisingly, every new revolutionary movement has
returned to the "nansition to capialism," bringing to it dre penpectives ofnew social rubjecs
and uncovering new grounds of exploitation and resistance.l This volume is conceived
within this tradition, but two considerations in paticular have motireted this work.
Fint, there has been the desire to rcthink the development of capitalism ftom a
feminist viewpoint, while, at the same time, avoiding the limis of a "women! history"
separated from that of the mde part of the working class.The dtle, Caliban and the Wtch,
inspired by Shakespearel The Temryst, reflecs this effort. In my interpretation, however,
Caliban represens not only the anti-colonial rebel whose struggle still resonates in
contempomry Caribbean literature, but is a syrnbol for the world poleariat and, more
specifically, for the proletarian body as a terrein and irxtrument of resistance to the logic
of capitalism. Most imporant, the 6gure of the witch, who in The Ttmpest is confrned
to a remote backgrcund, in this volume is placed at the center-stage, as the embodiment
ofa world of Gmale subjecs that capitalism had to destroy: the heretic, the healer, the
disobedient
wife, the woman who dared to live alone, the obeha woman who poisoned
the mastert food and inspired the daves to revolt.
The second motiretion behind this volume has been the worldwide return, with
the new global expansion ofcapitalist relation5, ofa set ofphenomena usually associated
with the genesis of capitalism. Among them are a new rcund of"enclosures" that have
expropriated
millions of agricultural ptoducets ftom their land, and the mass
pauperization
and criminalization of workers, thtough a poliry of rnass incarcention
tecalling
the "Great Confinement" described bv Michel Foucau.lt in his srudv ofhistorv
of
madness.
We have also witnesed the *o.ld*id. development of new diasporic
movements
accompanied by the penecution of migrant worken, again reminiscent of
Lhe
"Bloody
Laws" that were inrroduced in 16rh and 17th-century Europe to make
vagabonds"
available for local exploitation. Most important for this book has been the
rntensification
of violence
"gr^,
*o-.n, including, in some countries (e.g.. South
^rlca
and Brazil), the return of wicch-huntins.
Why, after 500 years of capital! rule, ar ihe beginning of the third mrllennium,
arc
wo.ken on a mass scale still de6ned as paupen, witches, and outlaws? How are land
expropriation and mass pauPerization related to tlle continuing attack on women? And
what do we learn about capitalist development, past and ptsent, once we examine it
through the vantage-point of a feminist perspective?
It is with these questions in mind that in this work I have revisited the "tnnsi-
tion" ftom feudalism to capitdism fiom the viewpoint of women, the body' and primi-
tive accumulation. Each ofthese concepts reGrs to a conceptud framework that is a re!
erence point for this work: the Feminist, the Marxist' and the Foucauldian.Thus, I will
begin my introduction with some observations on the relation ofmy andysis to tlesc
different penpectives,
"Primitive accumulation" is the term that Marx uses, in CapitalVol. 1, to chanc-
terize the historical process upon which the development of capitalist relations was
premised. It is a useful term, for it provides a common denominator through which we
can conceptualize the changes that the advent of capitalism produced in economic and
social relations. But is imponance lies, above all, in the fact that "primitive accumulation"
is treated by Marx as a foundational process, revealing the sfilctural conditions for the
existence ofcapialist socieryThis enables us to read the past as sometling which survives
into the prcsent, a consideretion which is essentia.l to my usage ofthe term in this wort'
However, my analpis depars ftom Marx's in two waln.Vhereas Marx examinec
primitive accumulation from the viewpoint ofthe waged rnale proletariat and the devel-
opment of commodiry production, I examine it 6om the viewpoint of the changes it
inttoduced in the social position of women and the production oflabor-power'2 Thuq,
my description ofprimitive accumulation includes a set ofhistoricd phenomena that arc
absent in Marx, and yet have been extremely important for capitalist accumulation They
include (i) the development ofa new sexual division oflabor subjugting women's labor
and women's rcproductive function to the reproduction of the work-force; (ii) the con-
struction ofa new patriarchal order, based upon the exclusion of women 6om waged-
work and their suboridination to men; (iii) the mechanization ofthe proletarian body and
is transformation, in the case ofwomen, into a machine for the production ofnew wort-
ers. Most important, I have placed at the center ofmy analysis of primitive accumulation
the witch-hunts ofthe 16th and 17rh centuries, arguing that the persecution ofthe witches,
in Europe as in the New World, was as import nt as colonization and the expropriation
ofthe European peasantry from its land were for the development of capitalism'
My analysis also departs from Marx! in its evaluation ofthe legary and func-tion
ofprimitive accurnulation,Though Marx was acutely aware ofthe murderous charectcr
ofcapitalist development - its history, he declared,"is written in the annals ofhuman-
ity in characten offire and blood" - therc can be no doubt that he viewed it as a nec-
essary step in the process ofhuman liberation. He believed that it disposed ofsma.ll-scalc
ptoperty, and that it increased (to a degree unmatched by any other economic system)
the productive capaciry oflabor, thus creating thc materid conditions for the liberetion
of humanity from scarciry and necessiry He also assurired that the violence that had
presided
over the earliest phases ofcapitdist exPansion would recede witl the maturing
of capitalist rclations, when the exploitation and disciplining oflabor would be accom-
plished mosdy through the workings ofeconomic laws (Marx 1909 Vol. 1). In this, he
was deeply rnistaken.A
return ofthe most violent aspects of primitive accumulation has
accompanied every phase ofcapitalist globalization, including the present one, demon-
t2
,36ting
that the continuous expulsion of farmers 6om the land, war and plunder on a
,yqdd
scale, and the degradation ofwomen are necessary conditions for the existence of
6apialism
in all times.
-
I should add drat Marx cou.ld never have presumed that capitdism paves the way
sq
human
liberetion had he looked at is history liom the viewpoint ofwomen- Fot this
history
shows that,even when men achieved a certain degree offormal freedom, women
were
always treated as socidly inferior beings and were exploited in ways similar to dav-
"1y.
"Women,"
then, in the context ofthis volume, signfies notjust a hidden history that
needs
to be made visible; but a particular form of exploitation and, therefore, a unique
perspective
from which to reconsider the history of capitdist relations.
-
This project is not new From the beginning ofthe Feminist Movement women
have
revisited the "transition to capitalism" even though they have not always recognized
it. For a while, the main frarnework that shaped women's history was a chronological
one.The
most common designation Gminist historians have used to describe the tran-
sition
period has been "early modern Europe," which, depending on the author, could
designate
the 13th or the 17th century
In the 1980s, however, a number of works appeared that took a morc critical
approach.Among
them wereJoan Kelly's essays on the Renaissance and the
Querelles
des
Jemmes,Carolyo
Mercbaat\ The Death oJ Natrre (1980), Leopoldina Fortunati's LZnaao
della Riproduzione (1981) (now arailable in English, Fortunati 1995), Merty Wiesnerl
Wotking Women in Renaissance Cermany (1986\, and Maria Mies' Patiarchy and
A.cumulatiot on awold Scale (1986).To these works we must add the many monognphs
thar over the last two decades have rcconstructed women! presence in the rural and
urban economies ofmedieval and early modern Europe, and the vast literature and doc-
urnentary work that has been produced on the witch-hunt and the lives of women in
pre-colonial America and the Caribbean islands. Among the latter, I want to remember
in particular lrene Silverllan's The Moon, the Sun, and theWitcftes (1987), the fint account
on the witch-hunt in colonial Peru; and Hilary Beckles' Narr,rral Releh A Social History
oJ Borbados (1995) which, together with Barbara Bush! Slave Women in Caribbean
Sodety:1650-1838 (1990), is one of the majot texs on the history of enslaved women
tn the Caribbean plantations.
What this scholarly production has confrmed is that to reconstruct the history of
wonen
or to look at history 6om a feminist viewpoint means to redefne in fundamen-
tal ways the accepted historical categories and to make visible hidden structures ofdom-
ination
and exploiation. Thus, Kelly's essay, "Did Women have a Renaissance?" (1 984)
undermined
the cbssical historical periodization that celebrares the Renussance as an
outstanding
example of cultunl achievement. Carolyn Merchant's The Death oJ Nature
(1980)
challenged the beliefin the socidly progresive chancter ofthe scientfic revolu-
tlon,
arguing that the advent of scientfic retiondism produced a cultunl shift from an
organic
to a mechanical pandigrn that legitimized the exploitation ofwomen and nature.
Especially imponant has been Maria lvlies' Patriatchy and Acumulation on aWold
&4ie
(1986), now a classic work, that re-examines capitalist accumulation ftom a non-
lunocentric
viewpoint, connecting the destiny ofwomen in Europe to that ofEurope!
colonial
subjects, and providing for e new undenanding ofwomen's place in capitalism
and
the globalization prccess.
l 3
t-
Caliban arul theWitth builds upon these worts, rs on dre snrdics conained
within
Il Crande Calibano (r work I discuss in the Preface). Hou,cver, is historicd scop is
broader, as the book connecs the development of capitdism, on onc side, to the socid
srrugles and the rproduction crisis ofthe late feudd period an4 on the other, to what
Marx defnes as the "formation of the prolcariat." In this procesr, the book addresscs
1
number ofhistodcal and methodologicd questions that heve been at the center ofthe
debate on womcn's history and feminist theory
The most important historicd question addressed by the book is how to account
for the e:<ecution ofhundreds ofthousands of"witches" at the bcginning ofthe modcrn
en, and how to cxplain why the rise ofcapialism was coerd with a war against womcn.
Fcminist scholars have dcveloped a Famework drat throws much light on this question.
It is generally agced that the witch-hunt aimed at destroying the control tlrat womcn
had e:<ercised over their reprcductive function and served to pavc the way for the devel-
opment ofa more opptessive patriarchal regirne. It is dso argued that the witch-hunt was
rooted in the social tnnsformations that accompanied the risc ofcapitdism. But dre s1e-
cfic historical circumsanccs under which the persecution ofwitches was unleashcd, and
the rersons why the rise ofcapitalism demanded a genocidal attack on women have not
been investigated.This is the task I ake on in Coliban and theWitth, as I bcgin to analpc
the witch-hunt in the context of the demographic and economic crisis ofthe 166 rnd
lTth centudes, and the land and labor policies of the mercentilist en. My work herc it
only a sketch of thc rescarch that would be nccessary to clari$ thc connections I herrc
mentioned, and especidly thc relation between the witch-hunt and the contemponry
development ofa new sexud division oflabor, confning womcn to reproductirc wodr.
It is suffcient, howeveq to demonstrate dut the penecution of witches (like the dave
trade and the enclosures) was a ccntra.l aspect ofdte accumulation and formation ofthe
modern proleariat, in Europe as well as in the "New World."
There ate othet ways in whtch Caliban atd the Wth speaks to "womenl history"
and feminist thcory First, it confrms that "the trrnsition to capitalism" is a test case for
Gminist theory as the rcdcfinition ofpoductive and rcproductive tasks and ma.le-Gmalc
relations that we 6nd in this period, both rcalized with the maximum ofviolence and
sate intervention, lcave no doubt concerning thc constructed character ofsexual rolcr
in capitalist sociery The andysis I propose also dlows us to trarucend the dichotomy
between "gender" and "class." lfit is true that in capitalist sociery sexud identity bccamc
the carrier of spccifc work-functions, then gender should not be considered a purcly
clltural rcaliry, but should be treated as a specification ofclass relations. From this vicw-
point, the debatcs that havc taken place among postrnodcrn feminiss concerning the
need to disposc of"women" as a category of analysis, and dc6nc ferninism purcly in
oppositiond terms, have been misguided.To rcphnse the point I already nude:if"fem-
ininity" has been constituted in capitdist society as a work-function masking the pro-
duction of the work-force under the cover of a biological destiny, then "women's his-
tory" is "class history," and the question that has to be asked is whether t}le sexud division
oflabor that has pmduced that panicular concept has been transccnded. lf the answer
is a negative one (as it must be when we consider the prescnt organiation of reprc-
ductive labor), then "women" is a legitirnatc category ofanalysis, and the activities asso-
ciated with "reproduction" remain a crucial ground ofstruggle fot women, as they werc
l/r
6o11he
feminirt movemcnt of the 1970s which, on this basis, connected itself with the
history
of the witches
A funher question rd&essed by Calibon and the Wiui is raised by the contrrsting
oerspecdves
offcrcd by the feminist and Foucauldian analyses ofthe body in their appli-
irtions
to
"n
undentanding ofthc history of capitalist develoPment. From the begin-
fing
of the Women's Movement, fcminist ectivists and theorists heve seen the concept
ofthe
"body" as key to an undenunding ofthc roots of ma.le dominance and the con-
5jlrction
of fema.le social identity.Acros ideological diferences, the Gminiss have real-
ized
that a hierarchical nnking ofhuman faculties and the identfication ofwomen with
I degraded
conception ofcorpored redity has been instrumentd, historically, to the con-
soli&tion
ofpatriarchal power and the nale exploiation of female labor. Thus, analy-
ses
of sexualiry
procrcation, and mothering have been at the center of feminist theory
6d
womeni history In panicular, Gminiss have uncovered and denounced the strete-
gics and the violence by means of which mde-centered systems of exploitation have
attempted
to discipline and appropriatc the femde body, demorutnting that women's
bodies
have been the main targets, the privileged sites, for the deployment of power-
techniques
and power-relations. Indeed, the many feminist studies which have been pro-
duced since the early 1970s on the policing ofwomen's reproductive function, the efects
on women of rape, battering, and the imposition upon them of beauty as a condition
for social acceptability, are a monumental connibution to tlre discoune on the body in
our times, falsifying the perception common among acadcmics which amibutes is dis-
covery to Michel Foucault.
Starting ftom an andysis of"body-politics," feminiss have not only rcvolution-
ized the contemporary philosophicd and political discoune,but they have also begun to
rcvalorize the body.This has been a necessary step both to counter the negativiry atached
to the identification ofGmininity with corporealiry and to create a morc holisric vision
ofwhat it mearx to be a human being.3This vdorization has taken various forms, rang-
ing from the quest for non-dualistic forms ofknowledge, to the attcmpt (with feminiss
who view sexual "difference" as a positivc value) to develop a new type oflanguage and
"[rethink] the corporeal roos of human intelligence."a As Rosi Bnidoai has pointed
out, the body that is rechimcd is never to be understood as a biological given.
Nevertheles,
such slogans as "rcposessing the body" or"speaking the body"s hays lssn
cridcized
by post-structura.list, Foucauldian theorists, who reject as illusory any cdl for
instinctual
Liberation. In turn, feminists have accused Foucault! discoune on sexuality of
being
oblivious to sexual differentiarion, while at the seme tirnc appropriating many of
the insighs developed by the Feminist Moveme nt. This criticism ir quite appropriate.
Moreover,
Foucault is so intrigued with the "productive" charactet oithc powcr-tech-
niques
by which the body has been invested, tlut his analysis pnctically mles out any
,
critique
of power-relations. The nearly apologetic quality of Foucault! theory of the
body
is accentuated by thc fact that it views the body as consriuted by purcly discur-
srve
practices, and is morc interested in describing how power is deployed than in iden-
ti$ing
is source.Thus, the Power by which the body is produced appean as a self-sub-
ststent,
metaphysical entiry ubiquitous, disconnected from social and economic relations,
and
as mysterious in its permuations as a godly Prime Mover.
Can an an:lysis ofthe tnnsirion to capit lism and prirnitive accumulation help us
l 5
t
"-***"
to go beyond these dternatives? I believe it cen.With rcgad to the feminist approach,
our fnt step should be to document tlle social and historic conditions under which drc
body has become a central element and the defining sphere ofactivity for the corutitu-
tion of Gmininiry. Along these lines, Cdlibdn d d thewitch shou's that the body has been
for women in capitdist society what the factory has been for mde waged worken: thc
primary ground oftheir exploiation and resistance, as the female body has been appm'
priated by the state and men and forced to function as a means for the reproduction and
accumulation oflabor.Thus, the importence which the body in all its aspecs - mater-
nity, childbirth, sexualiry - has acquired in feminist theory and women's history has not
been misplaced. Caliban and theWtch also confrms the fcminist iruight which refuses to
identi$ the body with the sphere ofthe private and, in this vein, speaks of"body poli-
tics." Funher, it explains how the body can be for women both a source ofidentity and
at the same time a prison, and why it is so important for feminiss and, at the same tirng
so problematic to rzlorize it.
As for Foucault's theory, the history of primitive accumulation offers many
counter-examples to it, proving that it can be defended only at the price ofoutstanding
historical omissions.The most obvious is the omission ofthe witch-hunt and the dis-
course ofdemonology in his analysis ofthe disciplining ofthc body. Undoubtedly, they
would have inspired diferent conclusions had they been included. For both demonstnte
the repressive charecter ofthe power that was unleashed agarnst women, and the implau-
sibfity ofthe compLicity and role-revenal that Foucault inagines to exist between vic-
tims and their penecutors in his desciiption ofthe dynamic ofmicro-powen.
A study ofthe witch-hunt also challenges Foucaultl theory concerningthe devel-
opment of"bio-power," stripping it of the mystery by which Foucault surrcunds the
emergence of this regime. Foucault registers the sbift - presumably in 18th-cenhrry
Europe - from a type of power built on the right to kill, to a different one exercised
thrcugh the adninistration and promotion ofliG-forces, such as population grcwth; but
he offers no clues as to is motivations.Yet, if wc place this shift in the context of the
rise of capitalism the puzde vanishes, for the ptomotion of liG-forces turns out to be
nothing more than the result ofa new concern with the accumulation and reproduc-
tion of labor-power. We can also see that the promotion of population growth by the
state can go hand in hand with a massive destruction oflifei for in many historical cir-
cutnstances - witness the history ofthe slave trade - one is a condition for the other.
Indeed, in a q'stem where life is subordinated to the production ofprofit, the eccumu-
lation oflabor-power can only be achieved with the maximum of violence so that, in
Maria Mies' words, violence itself becomes the most productive force.
In conclusion, what Foucault would have learned had he studied the witch-hunt,
rather than focusing on the pastoral confession, in his Hr'srory o/ Sexuality (1978),is tbx
such history cannot be wdtten from the viewpoint ofa universal, abstract, asexual sub-
ject. Further, he would have recognized that torture and death can be placed at the sew-
ice of"liG" or, better, at the service ofthe production oflabor-power, since the god of
capitalist society is to traruform life into the capacity to work and "dead labor."
From this viewpoint, prirnitive accumulation has been a univenal process in every
phase ofcapitalist development. Not accidentally, is origind historical exemplar has sed-
imented strategies that, in di$erent ways, have been re-launched in the face of every
l 6
gvrjor
capitalist
crisis, serving to cheapen the cost oflabor and to hide the exploitation
^fwomen
ancl Colorual suDJec6.
This is what occurred in the 19tb century when the responses to the rise ofsocial-
i5rn,
the
Paris Commune, and che.accurnulation crisis of 1873 were the "Scrrmble for
'Aftir""
^nd
the simultaneous creation in Europe of the nuclear family, centered on the
"L.,nomic
dependence
ofwomen co men - following the expulsion ofwomen Gom the
]*asej
work-place.This
is also whar is happening today, as a new global expansion ofthe
hb-or-market
is attempting ro set back the clock with respect to the anti-colonid struggle,
"nd
the .t-ggl"t ofother rebel subjecs - students, feminisB, blue collar worken - who'
in the
1960s and 1970s, undermined the sexud and international division oflabor.
It is not surprising, then, iflarge-scale violence and endavement have been on the
isenda,
as they were in the period ofthe "transition," with the difference that today the
c-ooquistadon
are the officen ofthe \Vorld Bank and the International Monetary Fund,
who are still preaching the worth ofa
Penny
to the same populations which the domi-
nant
world powen have for centuries robbed and pauperized. Once again, much ofthe
violence
unleashed is dirccted against women, for in the age ofthe computer, the con-
ouest ofthe fernde body is still a precondition for the accumulation oflabor and wealth,
u demonstrated by the institutiond investment in the development of new reproduc-
tive technologies that, more than ever, reduce women to wombs,
Also the "feminization ofpoverty" that has accompanied the spread ofglobaliza-
tion acquires a new significance when we recall that this was the first eflect ofthe devel-
opment ofcapitalism on the lives ofwomen.
Indeed, the political lesson that we can lea rn from Caliban and the With is thai czp'
italism, as a social-economic system, is necessarily committed to racism and seism. For
capitalism must justify and mystify the contradictions built into is social relations - the
pmmise offreedom vs. the realiry of widespread coercion, and the prcmise ofprosper-
ity vs.the reality ofwidespread penury-by denignting the "ruture" ofthose it explois:
women, colonial subjects, the descendans ofAfrican slaves, the immigrants displaced by
globalization.
At the core of capitalism there is not or y the syrnbiotic relation between waged-
contractual
labor and enslavement but, together with it, the dialectics of accumulation
and destruction oflabor-power, for which women have paid the highest cost, with their
bodies,
their work, their lives.
It is impossible therefore to associate capitalism with any form of liberation or
aftribute
the longeviry ofthe sy*em to its capacity to satisfy human needs, Ifcapitalism
hu been
able to reorcduce irself it is onlv because ofthe web ofineoualities that it has
built
into the body of the world prolerariat, and because of is capaciry to globalize
exploitation.This
process is still unfolding under our eyes, as it has for the last 500 yean.
The difference is that today the rcsistance to it has also achieved a global dimeruion.
L7
1.
3.
l Endnot s
The study ofthe tnrsition to capitalism bas e long history which not accidenally
coincides with that of the main political movemens of dris century. Marxist histo-
rians such as Maurice Dobb, Rodney Hilton, Christopher Hill rvisited $e "ttrn-
sition" in the 1940s and 1950s, in the w'ake ofthe debates generated by the consol-
idation of the Soviet Union, the rise of new socialist sates in Europc and Asia, and
what at the time appeared as an impending capitalist crisis.The "transition" was agril
rcvisited in the 196G byThindWorldist theorisa (SemirAmin,Andt6 Gunder Fnnk),
in the context ofthe contemporary debates over neo-colonidism,"undetdevclop.
ment," and tlle "unequal exchange" between the "First" and the 'ThirdVorld."
These two realities, in my analysis, are closely connected, since in capitalism rcpro-
ducing worken on a gencrrtiond basis and rcgenereting daily their capacity to wo*
has become "women's labor," though mystfied, because ofits un-waged condition,
as a oersond service and even a natunl resource.
Not surprisingly, a wlorization ofthe body has been prcsent in nearly dl the lircr-
ature ofl'second wave" 2Odr-century feminism, as it has characterized the literaturc
produced by the anti-colonial revolt and by the descendants of the enslavcd
Africans. On this ground, across grcat geographic and cultura.l boundaries, Virginit
Woolfs A Room oJ Ole! An (929) anicipates Aim6 Cesairc's Retu'' to the NdtiE
Land (1938), when she mockingly scolds her female audience and, bchind it, e
broader female world, for not having managed to produce anything but cbildrcn.
'
"Young women, I would say ...
[y]ou
have never made a discovery ofany
of importance.You have never shaken an empire or lead an army into batde.
plays of Shakespeare are not by you....What is your excuse? lt is all very well
you to say, pointing to the smes and squaes and forests of the globe
with black and white and cofee-colored inhabiants... we have had other work
our hands. Without our doing, those seas would be unsailed and those fenile
a desert.We have borne and bred and washcd and taught, perhaps to the age of
or seven years, the one thousand six hundrcd and twenry-three rnillion
beings who are, accotding to satistics, at present in existence, and tbat, allowing
some had help, akes time." (Woolf, 1929: 112)
This capacity to subvert the degnded imagc offemininity, which has been
smrcted throueh the identification of women widr nature, matter, and
ity, is the power of the feminist "discourse on the body," that tries to unbury
male control of our corporcal rcaliry has suffocated. It is an illusion, however,
conceive ofwomenl liberation as a "return to the body:' Ifthe female body - as
I argue in this work - is a signiEer for a 6eld of reptoductive activities that have
been appropriated by men and the sate, and turned into an instmment for the pro-
duction oflabor-power (wi*r all that this entails in terms ofsexud rules and regu-
lations, acsthetic crnons, and punishments), then the body is the site of a funda-
mentd dienation that can be overcome onlv with the end of the work-discipline
which defines it.
l a l 9
5.
This thesis holds mre for men as well. Marx's portreit of the worker who feels
at home only in his bodily functions dready intuited this fact. Marx, however, never
conveyed
the magnitude ofthe attack to which the male body was subjected with
the advent ofcapitdisrn.lronicdly,like Michel Foucault, Marx too snessed the pro-
ductivity
of the power to which worken ate suborrdirnted - a productiviry that
becomes
for him the condition for the workers'fuhrle mastery ofsociery Marx did
not see that the development of workers' industrid powers was at the cost ofthe
underdevelopment
oftheir powers as social individuals, although he recognized that
workers
in capitalist society become so alienated ftom their labor, fiom their rela-
tions with othen, and the products oftheir work as to become dominated by them
as ifby an alien force.
Braidotti
(1991) 219. For a. discussion offeminist thought on the body, see Ariel
Sd)eh's EcoFeminism a Politks (1997), especially Chapten 3 through 5; and Rosi
Br:idotn's
Pattent oJ Assonante (1991) especidly the section entided "Repossessing
the Body: A Tirnely Proieca" (t'p.219-224).
I am referring here to the prcject of loiture
Jeminine,
a literary theory and move-
ment that developed in France in the 1970s, among feminist students of Iacanian
psychoanalysis, who werc seeking to create a language expressing the specifcity of
the female body and female subjectiviry
@nidotti,
op. cit.).
Won,n arryinX a basket oJ sqituth.Wom h lhe Middle Ages oien kept
xudcns,
ulrcn they
2reu
medic'rl hehs.Thcit ktrou'hdlc of the propmies oJ
lrcirs is onc of the scmts they handed dou'tr
-fron
g.nerdtion lo
lenerllion.
It'rlirrr,t. 138 5.
All the World Needs a
Jolt
Social Movements and Political Crisis in Medieval Europe
All the world must suffer a bigjolt.There will be such a g-lrre that the
ungodly will be thrown offtheir seas, and the downtrodden will rise.
-Thonras Miintzer,
'
.
Open Denial oJ the Fake Belief oJ thc CodlessWorld
on theTistinoty oJ the Cospel oJ Luke, hesetted kt Misuable and
Pitiful Christendom h Menttry of its Error, 1524
There is no denying that, after centuries of srruggle, exploitation
does continue ro exist. Only is form has changed.The surplus labor
extracted here and there by the masten of todayi world is not
smaller in proportion to the total amount oflabor tlran rhe surplus
extncted long ago. But the change in the conditions ofexploitation
is not in my view negligible....What is important is the hisrory the
srri vi ng for hberauon....
-Pierre Dockes, Medieval Slavery and Liberathn, 1982
I
I
I nt r odr r ct i on
A history
ofwomen and reproduction in the "trarrsition to capitali$n" nrust beFn wirh rhe
stiuggles
that dre European rnedielrl prcleariat - sm,all peasans, artisarx, day laboren -
waged
agiinst Gudel power in dl is forms. Only if we evoke these strugly'es, with their rich
cao
of denrands, socid and political aspirations, and anagonistic pnctices, can we under-
stand
thc ole that women had in rhe crisis of feudalism. and why their power had to be
'(-irloyed lor capialisnr to develop. u it was by the thrce-century-long persecution of the
wrtchcs.
Fronr the lanugB pornt of this strug{e, we can also see that capiulisnr was not the
Pralttr't
o[an evolutionary developrrrent bringrng fonh econonric forces thar were rrraruring
rI
thc
wonrb
ofrhe old onJer Capialisrrr wx the resporue ofthe feudal lonCs, the patrician
trrerchartts,
rhe brshops and popcs, to a cennrries-long social conflict that, in the end, shook
qcrr
power.
and tru.ly gave "Jl the world a bigjolt." Capitalisnr wls the counter-revolution
"r'r
dt\troyed
rhe possrbrhties rlut harl enrerged 6orn the anri-feudal strugje - posibilities
which, iftedizcd, might have sparcd us dre immensc dcsruction ofliv6 end dre rntural cnvi-
ronrnent dlat has nurked the adwrnce ofcapialist rclatioru worldwide.This much must bc
srsse4 for the belief*ut capialisrn "evolrcd" fiom feudalism and rcpresens a higher forq
ofsocial liG hat not
)t
been dispellcd.
How the history of women intenects with that of capitdist development c11-
not be gresped, howevcr, if wc concern ounclvcs only with the classic terrains ofclars
snuggle - labor services, rage ntes, rents and tithes - and ignorc the ncw visiorx
social life and the tnnsformation of gender rclations which these conflics produced.
These were not negligible. It is in thc coune of the anti-feudal srugle that we 6nd
the 6nt evidence in Europern history ofa gnstroots women's movement opposcd to
the established order and contributing to the construction of dternative models
communal life. The struggle against feudal power also produced the 6rst organizcd
anemps to challcnge the dominant sexual norms and establish more egalitarian rch-
tions between women and men. Combined with thc refusal ofbonded labor and corn-
mercial relations, these conscious forms ofsocid tnnsgrcssion constructed a powcrfirl
alternative not only to fcudalism but to the capitalist order by which feudalism w:l
replaced, dcmonstnting that another world was possible,and urging us to quesrion why
it was not realized.This chapter searches for some answcn to this question, whilc exam-
ining how the relations berween women and mcn and the reproduction oflabor-power
were rcdcfned in oppositon to Gudal rule.
The social strugles of thc Middle Ages must also be remembered because thcy
wrote a new chapter in thc history ofliberetion.At their best, they callcd for an egdiur-
ian socid ondcr based upon the sharing ofwealth and the rcfusal ofhienrchies end author-
itarian rule.These were to remain utopias. Instead ofdrc heavenly kingdom, whose advent
was prophesied in the preaching ofthe hcrctics and millenarian movements, what isued
from the demise offeuddign were disease, wat, faminc, and death - the four honemcn
of the Apocdypse, as reprcsented in Albrccht Diircr's famous print - mre harbingers
the new capialist en. Nevertheless, tltc attemps tlnt dlc mediernl proleariat made to
"turn the world up,side down" must be rcckoncd with; for despite their deGat, they put
the feudd
rystem
into crisis and, in their tirne, they were "genuinely revolutioneryJ' o
they could not have succccded without "a radical reshaping ofthc social order" (Hilton,
1973:223-4).Readrng the "transition" ftom the viewpoint ofthe anti-fcudal strugglc
the Middle Ages dso hclps us ro rcorutruct the socid dynamics that lay in the bacl-
ground ofthe English Enclosures and the conquest ofthe Americas, and above all uneanh
some ofthe rcasons why in the 16th and 17th centudes thc cxtermination ofthe "witches,'
and thc extension of state control over every aspect of reproduction, became thc cor-
nerstoncs of primitive accumulation.
|
9er f dor n as a Cl aeg R, el at i on
While the anti-feudal s*uggles of thc Middle Ages cast some light on the developmcnt
ofcapitalist rclations, their own political signifcance will remain hidden ur ess we fnme
them in the broader context ofthe history of serfdom, which was thc dominant clas
relation in feudd society and, until the 14th century the focus ofanti-feudal struggle.
22
Farmm prcpadng thc soil
lt
sowing. Acas to hrul uns thc
fouwlation
oJ
the povu oJ the se{t English ntiniatuft,.a, 1340,
Serfdom developed in Europe,between the 5th and 7th centuriesA.D., in respontc
to the breakdown ofthe slave system, on which the cconomy of imperid Rome had
been built.lt was the result of two related phenomena.By the 4d century,in the Roman
teritories and the new Germanic statcs, the landlorcls had to girnt the daves the right
to have a plot ofland and a family oftheir own, in otder to stem theit rcvolts, and pr-
vent their flight to the "bush" where maroon communities were forrning at the mar-
gins ofthe empire.l At the same time, the landlords began to subjugate the frec peas-
ans, who, ruined by the cxpansion of slave-labor and later the Germanic invuions,
tu.ned to the lords for protection, dthough at thc cost of their indcpendence. Thus,
while slavery was ncvcr completely abolishcd, e new class rclation developed that
homogenized
the conditions of former daves and free agricultural workers (Dockcs
1982: 151), placing all the peasantry in a subordinatc condition, so that for three cen-
tunes (from
the 9th to thc 11!h),"peasant" (r, sticus, villanus) wottld be synonymous with
"serf"
(ren rs) (Pirenne, 1956: 63).
As a work relation and ajuridical status, serfdom was an enormous burden.The ser6
were
bonded to the landlondq their penoru and posesions were their masten' property
and their
lives were ruled in every respect by the law ofthe manor. Nevertheless, serftlom
tedeGned
the class rclation in tcrms morc favonble to thc worken. Seddom marked the
,end ofgangJabor,
of\fe in the eryriitula,z and a lessening ofthe atrocious punisbmens (the
uon
collars,
the burning, the crucifxions) on which davery had rclied. On dre feudal
estates,
the ser6 wer subjected to the law ofthe lord, but their tnnsgrcsions werejudged
on
the
basis of"customary" agrcemens and, in time, cven of a peer-bascd jury systcm.
.
The most imponant aspect ofserftlom, ftom the viewpoint ofthc changes it intro-
-quced
in thc ruster-seryant relation, is that it gave the ser6 direct acces to the means of
heir
reproduction.
In exchange for the work which they were bound to do on the lords'
23
land (drc denronc), the ser6 rcceived e plot oflmd (rzarenrs
or [idQ which thcy could
to support thernselver, and pass down to their children "likc r rcd inheritence, by
prying a succession due"
@oissonrnde
1927:134),As Pierrc Dockcs poins out in
Slat'er! aul Liberation (1982), this ernogement incrEased the ser8'autonomy and
their living conditions, as thcy could now dedicate morc timc to dreit reproduction
negotiate drc cxtent of thcir obligations, instead ofbeing Eeetcd like chattel subject
an unconditiond rule. Most imporant, having the efective use and posession ofa
ofland meant that the ser6 could always suPPort thensclves and, wen at the peak of
confrontations with the lorcls, they could not easily be forced to bend bccause ofthe
of sanration.Tiug the lond could throw recalcitrant scr6 off the land, but this wrs
dong girrcn thc diftculty of recruiting new laborcn in a feirly closed cconomy and
collectivc naturc of peasant stmgles, This is why - as Man< notcd - on the
mrnor, the exploitation oflabot always depcnded on the direct use offorce.3
The expcrience ofself-reliance which the
Peaents
gained from having ecccrs
land dso had a political and ideological potentid. In time, the serfs began to look at
land they occupied as theit own, and to view as intolenble the rcstrictions that the
tocncy imposed on thcir freedom. "Land to the tillen" - the demand that has
through the 20dr century ftom the Mexican and Russian rcvolutions to the
rary rtnrggles rgainst land privatization - is a batde cry which dre mcdicrrd set6
have certainly rccognized as thcir own. But the smngth of thc "villeins" stemned
the fact that access to land was a realiry for them.
With the usc of land also camc the use of the "commons" - mcadows,
hkes, wild pastutes - that provided crucid resources for thc
Pcasxrt
economy
for ftel, timber for building,fishponds, grezing grounds for animals) and fostercd
munity cohesion and cooperation
@irrcll
1987123). ln Northern ltdy, control
these resources even providcd the basis for the develoPment of commund
istntions (Hilton 1973: 76). So important were the "commons" in the political
omy and struggles ofthe medievrl runl poPulation that their memory still cxcircs
imagination, prcjecting the vision ofa wodd wherc goods can be shated and
rathr than desire for self-aggnndizernent, can be thc substancc ofsocial relations.4
The medieval scrvile community fell short ofthesc goals, and should not bc
alized as an example of comrnunalism. In fact, its example rcminds us that neither"
munalism" nor "localism" can be a guanntec of egaliterian relations unless the
munity controls its mears ofsubsistcnce and dl its mcmbers have equd access to
This was not the case with thc ser6 on the feudd manon. Despitc the prevdence of
lcctive forms of wort and collective "contncts" with the landlorrrls, and despitc the
chancter of thc pcasant economy, thc mcdieval village was not a community of
As established by a vast documentation corning ftom every country ofWestern
there werE many social dillerences within the
Peasantry
that scparrted free peasants
those ofservile satus, rich and poor pcasants, peasants with securc land tcnurc and
les laborcn working for a wagc on the lordt dcmesne, and womcn and men.5
Iand was usudly givcn to rnen and trrnsmined through the mde lineage,
there werc many cascs of women who inherited it and managed it in thcir nama
Women were dso cxcluded from the officcs to which the better-of mde peasants
appointed, and, to all effects, they had a second-class status (Bennett 1988: 18-29;
24
2S
r9$).This
perhaps i5 why their namcs arc ruely mcntioned in the menorid registcts,
'-"..ot
fo, those of the courts in which the ser6' tr.nsgressions were recorded'
ii.*ntt.t.",
f"-4. ser6 were lcsr depcndent on their male kin,les difercntiated fiom
,t
"t
phy"."lly, t".idly, and psychologically, and werc less subsewient to men's needs
.u". "fua" *o-"tt *ere to be later in capialist sociery.
---
Wo-.n!
d"pendence on men within the rervile communiry was limited by the
r"d rhat ovcr the luthoriry ofdreir husban& and fathen prevailed that ofthc lorrds' who
JL.d
po*ttion of the ser6'penons and property, and ttied to control every aspect of
jheir lives,
fiom work to matriage and sexual behavior'
It was the lord who commanded women's work and socid relations, dcciding,
for
instance,
whcther a widow should rcmarry and who should bc her spouse, in some
aras
even claiming ahe il,s pimoe noclis - the right to sleep with a serfs wife on her
wedding
night.The authority ofmde scr6 over their femalc relatives wrs firrther lim-
ited
by the fact that the land was genemlly given to the family unit, and women not
only
worked on it but could dispose ofthe products oftheir labor, and did not have
to dcpend on thcir husbands for support.Thc partnenhip ofthe wifc in land poses-
sion
wes so well undentood in England that "[wlhen a villcin couPle m{ried it was
common
fot the mrn to come and turn the land back to the lord, aking it again in
both his name and drat ofhis wife" (Hanawalt 1986b; 155)'l Furthermore, since work
on the servile farm was orgrnized on a subsistcnce basis, the sexud division of labot
in it was less pronounced and les discriminating than in a capitalist farm. In the feu-
dd village no socid separation existed between the prcduction ofgoods and the repro-
duction of the work-force; all work contributed to the family's sustenancc, Vomcn
worked in the 6elds, in addition to raising children, cooking, washing, spinning, and
keeping an herb gardcn; their domestic activiticr werc not derdued rnd did not involve
diferent social relations from thosc of men, as they would later, in a money-economy,
when housework would cerse to be vicwed as real work.
If we also take into account th.t in medievd socicty collective relatioru prevailed
over funilid ones, and most ofthe tasks drat femde ser6 performed (warhing, spinning,
harvesting, and tending to anirnals on the commons) were done in cooperation with
other women, we then rcalize dut the sexud diviron of labot, far from being a source
of isolation,
was a source of power md potection for women. It was the basis for an
tntense
female sociality and soli&rity that enablcd women to strnd up to men, despite
the fact that the Church
prcachcd woment submision to men, and Canonic Law sanc-
ti6ed
the husbandt righito beat his wife.
The position of women on the feudal manor cannot be trerrcd, however, as if it
were
a static realiry8 For tJte power of women and their relations with me n were, at dl
tunes,
determined by the strugglcs which their communities fought against the land-
,
lonrls,
and the changes that these struggles produced in the rnaster-servant relation.
I
The St r uqgl e on t he Cor nr non6
By
the
end of the 14th ccntury rhc revolt of the peasantry
ainst
thc landlor,cls had
oecome
endemic, massified, and frcquently armed. However, the organizationd strength
that the persrnts demonstratcd in this period wes dre outcome of r long conllict dug
morc or less openly, ran through the Middle Ages.
Contnry to the schoolbook portnit of feudd society as r stitic world, in
each estatc accepted is designated phce in the social order, the picture th.t emeryes fiod
a study ofthc Gudal manor is rether that ofrclendes cless struggle. ;
As the rcconcls of the English manorid cours indicete, the medicvel village
the theatcr of daily warfare (Hilton 1966:154; Hilton, 1985: 158-59). At tirnes,
rcachcd moments ofgreat teruion, when the villagers killed the bailiffor attacked
lord's castle. Most frequendy, howevcr, it corxisted ofan endles litigation, by which t[6
ser6 tried to limit the abuses of the lords, 6x their "burdens," and rcducc the many tril-
utes which they owed them in exchrnge for the use ofthe land (Bennett, 1967;
1955: 39-91 ; Hanawalt 1986a: 32-35).
The main objective ofthe ser6 war to kecp hold of theit surplus-labor and
ucs and broadcn the sphere oftheir cconomic and juridicd rights.Thes two aspeca
servilc strugle were closely connected, as many obLigations isued ftom dre ser6'legal
tus.Thus, in 136-century Englend, both on the lry and ecdesiasticd esntes, mde
were fiequently fincd for claiming that they wcre not ser6 but ftee men, a chdlengc
could result in a bitter litigation, punucd cven by appcal to the rolzl court (Henawilt 1
31). Peasants wer also 6ned for refusing to bake their bread at the ovcn of the lorrrt,
grind their grein, or olives at their mills, which allovsed them to avoid the oncrous
that the lonrb imoosed for the use ofthcse facilities @cnnett
1967: 130-31; Dockes 1
176-79). Howwcr, the most important terrain of sewile strugle w?s thc work thag
certain days ofthe weck, the ser6 had to carry out on the land ofthc lonls.Thcsc
services" werc thc bundens tlrat most immcdiately affectcd the ser6'l.ivcs and, duough
13th century they were the central isue in the servile strugle for freedom.g
Thc serli'anitude towards the rontl, as labor services werc dso cdled'
through the entries in the book ofthe manorial coum, where the
Pendties
imPosd
the tenants werc recorded. By the mid 13th century thc evidence spcaks for a
withdn*al" oflabor (Hilton 1985: 130-31).Thc tcnans would neither go nor rend
childrcn to work on the land of the lords when summoned at lurvest time,l0 or
would go to the 6elds too late, so dut the crops would spoil, or they worted doppily'
ing long breal<s and generally meinaining an insubordinate anitude. Hencc the lotds'
for coruant and close supewision and vigilance, as cvinced by this recommendation:
Lct the bailiffand the mesor, be all the time with the ploughmen, to
see that thcy do their work well and thorougb.ly, and at the end ofthc
day sce how much they have done,...And because customary scrvants
ncglect their work it is necessary to guard against their fraud; further
it is necessary that they are oveneen oftcn;and besidc thc bailiffmust
ovenee all, that they work well and if they do not do well, let them
be reproved
@ennca
1967: 113).
A similar situation is portrayed in Pias Plouman (c. 1362-70) , Willian
dlegorical poem, whcre in one scenc the laboren, who had bcen busy in the
26 27
oased
the aftcrnoon sining and singing and, in anothet one, idle people flocked in at
i4vcst
dme seeking "no decd to do, but to drin& and to deep" (Coulton 1955: 87).
Also the obligrtion to provide mfiary services at wertime $?s strongly resisted.As
H.
S. Bermett
reports, force was dways nceded to rccruit in thc English villages, and a
6sdieval
commander nrely managed to keep his men lt war, for thooe who cnlisted
i165erted
at the 6nt oPportunity, rfter pocketing their pay. E:cmplary are the pry-rolls of
thc
Scottish
campaigr ofthe year I 300, which indicate dut while 1 6,000 recruis had been
eldered
to enlist inJune, by midJuly only 7,600 could be mustercd and this "war the crest
ofthe
wave,.. by August litde morc than 3,0@ renuined."As a result, incrvasingly thc king
fiad
to rely on pardoncd criminals and oudaws to bolster his army
@ernen
1967 : 123-25) .
Another source of conllict was the use of non-cultivated lands, including woods,
6kes,
hills, which the scr6 considcred a collective property. "
[W]
c can go to the woods..."
-
the ser6 declared in a mid 1 2th-century English chronicle - "and take what we want,
take
6sh ftom the 6sh pond, and game from the foress; wc'll have our will in the woods,
the
waters and the meadows" (Hilton, 1973: 71).
Still, the most biaer strugles werc those against the taxcs and burrderu that isued
6om the
juridictiond power ofthe nobility.Thesc included the maflomorta (a tax which
thc lond levied when a serfdied), the nrenlatz (a tax on marriage that increased when a serf
married someone 6om another manor), the fienbt (an inheritance tax paid by the heir of
a deceased serffor the right to gain entry to his holding, usually coruisting ofthe best beast
ofthe deceased), and, worst ofdl, the tallage,a srum of money arbitnrily decided, that the
lords could exact at will. I"est but not least rras the ritfte, a tenth ofdre peasant income, that
wrs exacted by the dergy, but usudly collectcd by the lonls in the clergy's name.
Together with the lebor service, these axes "against nature and fteedom" wcre the
most resented among the fcudal dues, for not bcing comperuarcd by any dlorncns ofland
or other benefs, they reveded all the arbitrariness ofGudal power.Thus, they werc strcn-
uoudy resisted. Tlpicd wes the anitude of the ser6 of the monks of Durxtable who, in
1299, declarcd drat "they would rather go down to hell than be beaten in this matter of
tallage," and,"after rnuch controveny," they bought theit freedom ftom it
@ennett, 1967:
139). Similarly, in 1280, the ser6 ofHedon, a village ofYorkshire,let it be undentood that,
if thc allage was not abolishcd, they would rather go to live in the nearby towns of
Rcvensered
and Hull "which have good harboun growing daily, and no ta.llage " (ilil.: 141).
These
were no idle thrcas.The flight m the city or tow;t
l
uas a constant;omponnt of
servile
smrggle, so that, again and again, on sone English manors,"men are reported to be
ru8rbvts,
and dwelling in the neighboring towns; and although orrder is given that thcy be
orought
back, the town continues to shelter rhcn.,.!' (ibid.:295-96).
-
To these forms ofopen confonation we must add the manifold, invisible forms
ol resistance,
for wh.ich subjugated peasants have been famous in all tirnes and places:
--toot
dragging,
dissimulation,
(llse
compliance, Gigned ignorance, descnion, pilfering,
smuggling,
poacbing...." (Scott 1989: 5) These "everyday forms oftesistancc,,' stubborJy
c"tt,i"d
on over thc yean, without which no adequate account ofclas relations is pos-
'tote,
were
rife in thc medievel villaee.
.
This may explain the meticul-ousnes with which the servile burrdens werc speci-
tred
in the manorial rccotds:
For iruance,
[the
manorial records] often do not sey simply that a
man must plow, sow rnd harrcw onc rcrc ofthc lord's land.They say
he must plow it with so many oxcn as he has in his plow, harrow it
with his own hone and sack..,. Services (too) werc rcmcmbercd in
minute detail....We must remember the cotrnen ofElton who admit-
ted that they werc bound to sack thc lond! hay in his meadow and
again in his barnyerd, but mainained drat they werc not bound in
custon to load it into carts to be carried from the fint olace to the
second (Homans 196O:. 27 2).
ln some arcas ofGermany, where the dues included yearly donations ofeggs
poultry, tess ofEmes were deviscd, in ordcr to prevent the ser6 ftom handing down
the lords the wont among thcir chickens:
The hen (thcn) is placed in ftont ofa fence or a gate; iffrightcned shc
has thc strengh to fly or scramble ovcr, the bailif must rccept hr,
she is 6t.A gosling, again, must be accepted ifit is mature enough to
pluck grass without loosing is balance and sitting down ignomin-
ioudy (Coulton 1955:7 4-75).
Such minutc rcgulations tcstiS to the dificulty ofcnforcing the medicval
contrect," and the Briety ofbatdefelds available to a combrtive tenant or village.
duties and rights werc rcgulated by "customs," but thcir interpretation too was an
of much dimute. The "invention of tnditions" was a colnmon oractice in thc
fronation bctwccn landlor,& and peasans, as both would try to rcdefne them or
get thcm, until a time came, towards the middle of dre t3th century when the lordr
thcm down in writing.
I
Li ber t y and Socl al Di vi r i on
Politicdly, the 6rst outcome ofthe servile smrggles wes the concession to many
(particulady in Nonhern ltaly and Fnnce) of"privilcgcs" and "charten" that 6xcd
burders and gnnted "an element of autonomy in the running of dre village
nity"providing, at times, for truc forms of locd self-government. Thesc charten
lated the 6ncs that werc to bc meted out bv the manorid cours. and esteblished rules
juridical proceedings, thus eliminating or rcducing the possibfity ofarbitnry arress
other abuses (Hilton 1973:75).They also lightened the ser6'duty to enlist as soldien
abolished or 6xed thc tallage; oftcn thcy gnntcd thc "liberty" to "hold stallage," that is
sell goods at the local market and, morc rarcly, the right to dienate land. Betwcen 1
and 1350, in Lonine alone,280 chanen werc conceded (ilrid.:83).
However, the rnost imporant rcsolution of the master-scrf conllict was the
mrtation oflabor srviccs with money payments (money rents, money taxes) that
the feudal relation on a more contractual basis,With this momentous develoomcnt.
2A 29
do@
pnctica.ly
endcd, but,likc nreny wor*en"'victories" which only in pert satisfr the
#cinzl
dernan&, commutation too co-opted the gorls of the struggle, functioning a5 a
lJns
of socid A"ision and conributing to the disintegrrtion ofthe feudal village.
To the well-to-do peasans who, possessing lrrge tncs ofland, could earn enough
money
to
"buy their blood" and employ other laborcrs, commuation must havc apperred
.s .
gtear stcp on the road to economic and penond independence; for the londs less-
3n6d
their contlol over thcir tenans when they no longcr dcpcnded dirccdy on their
work.
But the majoriry of poorer
Pcasan6
- who possesed only I few acrcs of land
btely
sufEcient
for their survivd - lost even the litde they had. Compelled to pay their
dues
in money, they went into chonic dcbt, borrowing agairut future harvests, a process
dut
eventudly
causcd many to lose their lend.As a rcsult, by the 13dr century when com-
mutadons
spread throughout Western Eutope, social divisions in the rural areas deep-
cned,
and part ofthe peasantry underwent a proces ofproletarianization. As Bronislaw
Gcremck
writes:
Thirteenth-cenhrry documents contain increasing amouns of infor-
mation about "landless" peasans who manage to ekc out a Living on
the margirx of village life by tending to flock.... One 6nds incrcasing
numbers of'gardcners," landles or dmost landless peasants who earned
their living by hiring out their services.... In Southern Fnncc the
"6rasrr'as" lived entitely by "selling" the smngth of their arms (!ras,) and
hiring themselves out to richer pcasants or landed gentry, From thc
beginning of the fourteenth ccntury the tax rcgisten show a marked
increase in the number ofirnpoverished peasans, who appear in thesc
documens as "indigens," "poor rnen" or cven "beggads" (Gcrcmek
1994:56\.rz
The commutation ro money-rnt had rwo other negativc consequencc. Fint, it
made it more di.fiicult for the producen to rncasurc their exploitation, because as soon as
the labor-services wcrc commutcd into money payments, the peasants could no longer
differentiate
between the work that they did for themsclves and that which they did for
the landlords.
Commutation also made it possible for the now-fue tenanb to cmploy and
cxploit
other wotken, so that, "in a further development," it prcmoted
.,the
growth of
independent
peasant property," turning "thc old self-employing p*arro., of the land-
nto a capitalist
tenant (Marx 1909;Vol.ItI,924 ft).
.
The monetization ofeconomic life, then, did notbenefit all people, contrary to what
is claimed
by supporten ofthe martet economy, who welcomc it as the crcation ofa new
.{orrunon"
rcplacing land-bondagc and inroducing in social lifc the criteria ofobjectiv-
r-ry,'
ntionality,
and even penonal ftecdom (Simrnel 19OO). With thc sprcad of monetary
Tldont,
udu.. ..tt"inly changed, evcn emong the clcrgy, who began to recorxider the
nnstotelian
docrrine of thc "sterfity
of moncy" (Kayc 1998) and, not coincidentally, to
rcvlse
ic views concerning thc rcdeeming qualiry ofcharity to the poor. But their effects
"sr
destrucdve
and divisive. Money and the mar*ct began to split the pcasantry by traru-
Nmung
income
difercnces into class diferences, and by producing a mass ofpoor peoplc
''
"u
could
survivc only on the basis ofperiodic donations (Gcrrrnek 1994:56{2).To the
growing influence of money we must also attribute the s)stematic attack to which
were subjected, starting in the 12th century, end the steady deterioration oftheir legal
social satus in the same period.There is, in fact, a revealing correlation between the
placement ofthe
Jews
by Christian cornpetiton, as moneylenden to Kings, popes and
higher clergy, and the new discriminatory rules (e.9., the wearing ofdistinctive
that were adopted by the clergy agairst them, as well as their expulsion ftom England
France. Degnded by the Church, funher sepanted by the Christian population, and
to conEne their moneylending (one ofthe few occupations areilable to them) to the
lage level, theJews becarne an easy target for indebted peasans, who often vented on
their anger agunst the rich
@atber
1992: 76).
women, too, in all classes, were most negatively allected by the increasing
mercialization of l.ife, for their access to properry and income was further reduced by
In the ltalian comrnercial towns, women lost their right to inherit a third of theit
bands'property (the tertia). In the rural areas, they were further excluded from land
session, especially when single or widowed. As a result, by the 13th century, they
leading the movement away from the country,beingthe most numercus among the
imrnigrants to the towns (Hilton 1985: 212), and by the 15th century women formed
large percentage ofthe population ofthe cities. Here, most of them lived in poor
ditions, holding low-paidjobs as maids, hucksters, retail tnden (often 6ned for lack of
license), spinsten, memben ofthe lower guilds, and prostitutes.l3 However,living in
urban centers, arnong the most combetive part ofthe medievd population, gave them
new social autonomy. City laws did not 6ee women; few could afford to buy the "
Femnle nnsons @tsttuating d
utrll, Frcttch, 1 sth entury
30
3l
4"siqm,"
as the privrleges connected with ciry liG were called But in the ciry, women's
liJoainrti""
,"
-Ae
rutelage was reduced, as they could now live alone' or with their
t-"u",iara"
.r heads of families, or could form new comrnuruties, often sharing their
lJ.Ung,
*i,tt other wonren. Wtile usually the poores! nrembers of urban sociery' in
::;;;-."
garned acces to many occupations that later would be considered male
lii rrr rn.
-.o"n"l
towns' women worked as smiths,butchen, bakers, candlestick mak-
J-"j-t
r,--r1".,,
ale-brewers' wool-carders, and retailers (Shahar 1983: 189-200; King
iuot, O+-+Z)."
tn fonkfurr, there were approximately 200 occupations in which women
-",.i.ipr,"d
b"t*".n 1300 and l500"
flMilliams
and Echols 2000:53) ln England, sev-
Ilrv-two
out ofeighty-five gu ds included women arnong their memben Some guilds,
inffuang,ltt
--"ting, were dominared by them; in others, female employment was as
t igfr
"r,hr,
of men.14 By the l4'h.century women were also becoming schoolteachen
"r"rr.ll
".
do.to.,
"ttd
surgeons, and were beginning to conpete with univenity-trained
men,
garning at times a high reputation. Sixteen femde doctols - among them several
lewish
women specialized in surgery or eye therapy - were hired in the 14th century
-by
the nrunicipality of FranKurr which, [ke other city administrations, offered its pop-
ulation a sysrem ofpublic health-care Female docton,as well as midwives ot sageJemmes,
were dominant in obstetrics, either in the pay ofciry governments or supporting them-
selves
with the comperuation they received from their
Patients.After
the Caesarian cut
was introduced in the 13th century female obstetrics were the only ones who practiced
i. (Opitz 1996t 370-71).
As women garned more autonomy, thei presence in social liG began to be recorded
more frequendy: in the sermons ofthe priess who scolded their indiscipline (Cuagrende
1978);in the records ofthe tribunals where drey went to denounce those who abused them
(S. Cohn 191t1); in the city ordinaaces regulating prostitution (Henriques 1966); among
the thousands ofnon-combatans who followed the armies (Hacker 1981); and above all,
in the new popular movemens, especially that ofthe herctics.
We will see later the role that women played in the heretic movements. Here suf_
6ce it to say that, in response to the new female independence, we see the beginning of
a misogynous backlash most evident in the satires ofthejfablt4ax, where we 6nd the 6rst
tnces of what historians have defined as "the struggle for the breeches."
I
l The
Mi l l enar i an and t he Her et i c Mower nent d
It was the growing landless proleuriat which emerged in the wake of commuation tlut
rvas
the protagonist (in the 1 2th and 1 3th centuries) ofthe millenarian movements, in which
we-6nd.
beside irnpoverrshed peasants, all the wretched of feudal society: prostrtutes,
aehocked
priesr, utban and rurrl day laboren
Q.{.Cohn
1970).The tnces ofthe millernr-
tans'
briefapparirion
on the historical scene are scanry and they tell us a story ofshort-lived
revolts'
and ofa peavnrry brutalized by poverry and by the clergy's inflammatory preach-
lng
that
accompanied
the launching of the Crusades. The signficance of their rebellion,
oowever.rs
that ir inaugurated a new type ofsmrggle, already projected beyond the confines
ur
the
nunor
and stimuJated by aspirations to toal change. Not surprisingty, the rise ofmil-
'snatrarusnr wes accornpanied by the spread ofprophecies and apocallptic visions announc-
ing the end ofthe wodd and the imrninence ofthe IastJudgment, "not as visions ofa
or less distant future to be awaited, but as impending evens in which many now living
take active part" (Hilton 1973:223).
A typical example of millenarianism was the movement sparked by the
ance ofthe Pseudo Baldwin in Flanden in 7224-25.'lhe man, a hermit, had claimed
be the oopular Baldwin IX who had been killed in Consantinople in 1204.This
not be proven, but his ptomise ofa new world provoked a civil war in which the
textile workers became his most ardent supporters (Nicholas 1992: 155).These poor
ple (weaven, fullers) closed ranks around him, presumably convinced that he was
to give them silver and gold and firll social reform (,,tolpe 1922:298-9). Similar to
movement werc those ofthe Pastoreaux (shepherds) - peasants and urban worken
swept through Northern Frrnce around 1251, burning and pillagrng the houses of
rich, demanding a betterment of their conditionls - and the movement of
Flagellans that, starting from Umbria (ltaly), spread in several countries in 1260, the
when,according to the prophecy ofthe abbotJoachim da Flora,the world was
to end
(Russell 1972a:137).
It was not the millenarian movement, however, but popular heresy that
expressed the search by the medieval proletariat for a concrete alternative to feudal
tions and its resistance to the growing money-economy.
Heresy and millenarianism are often treated as one subject,but while a preose
tinction cannot be drawn, there are signficant differences between the two
The millenarian movements were spontaneous, without an organizational
ture or program. Usually a specific event or a charismatic individual spurred them
A protession oJjagellants duing the
Bla& Dedth.
32 33
hut
as
soon
as they were met by force they collapsed. By contrast' the heretic move-
"---- *",
"
conscious attempt to create a new sociery,The main heretical sects had a
l'i.i,r oroe.r-
,1t", Aso reinterpreted the religious tradition'and they were well-organ-
i]"i-fa-
,ft" viewpoint of their reproduction, the dissemination of their ideas, and
l1)-" ,t ei. ,.lf-d"fense. Not surprisingly, they had a long duration, despite the extreme
I..r..",t""
to which rhey were subjected, and they played a crucial role in the anti-
i6udd
struggle
Today, Lnle is known about the many hetetic sects (Cathars, Waldenses, The Poor
^fLvon,
Spiriruals, Apostolics) that for more than three centuries flourished among the
itr,r., .h*"r" in ltaly, France, the Flanders, and Germany' in what undoubtedly was the
most
inrpoltant
opposition movement of the Middle Ages (Werner 1974; Lambert
t977).This
is largely due to the ferocity with which they were persecuted by the Church,
wh.ich
spared
no efort to erase every tr:ce oftheir doctrines. Crusades - like the one
poved ageinst the Albigensiansl6 - were cdled against the heretics, as they were called
to liberate
the Holy Land from the "infdels." By the thousands, heretics were burned at
rhe stake, and to endicate their
Presence
the Pope created one ofthe most perverse insri-
tutions
ever recorded in the history of state repression: the Holy Inquisition
ffauchez
lgg}t 162-7 0) .11
Nevertheless, as Charles H. Lea (among others) has shown, in his monumental
history ofthe persecution of heresy, even on the basis ofthe linited records available
to us, we can form an impressive picture of their activities and creeds and the role of
heretical resistance in the anti-feudal struggle (Lea 1888).
Although influenced by Eastern religions brought to Europe by merchants and
crusaders, popular heresy was less a deviation from the orthodox doctrine than a protest
movement, aspiring to a radical democratization ofsocial life.18 Heresy was the equi\"-
lent of"liberation theology" for the medieval proletariat. It gave a frame to peoples'
demands for spiritual renewal and socialjustice, challenging both the Church and secu-
lar authority by appeal to a higher ruth. It denounced social hierarchies, private prop-
erty and the accumulation ofwealth, and it disseminated among the people a new, rev-
olutionary
conception of society that, for the 6nt tirne in the Middle Ages, rede6ned
every aspect of deily life (work, properry, sexual reproduction, and the position of
women),
posing the question of emancipation in truly universal terms.
The heretic movement also Drovided an dternative communitv structure that had
alinternational
dimension, enabling the members ofthe secs to lead a more autonomous
llte'
and to benefit from a wide support network made ofcontacs, schools,and safe-houses
upon
which they could rely for help and inspiration in times of need. Indeed, it is no
e)Q&FI'Jtion
to say that the heretic movement was the 6nt "proletarian international"-
such
was the reach ofthe sects (particularly the Cathars and Waldenses) and the links they
esbblished
among themselves with the help ofcommercial fairs, pilgrimages, and the con-
stant
border-crcssing
ofrefugees generated by the persecution.
,. ,
Aa,h.
root ofpopular heresy was the beliefthat god no longer spoke through
"rc
clergy,
because ofis greed, corruption and scandalous behavior.Thus the two major
sects
presented
themselves as the "true churches." However. the heretics' challenge was
Primarrly
a polirical one, since to challenge the Church was to confront
"t
onl. th.
rdeological
pilJar offeudal power, the biggest landowner in Europe,and one ofthe insri-
tutions most responsible for the daily exploitation ofthe peasantry. By the 11th
the Church had become a despotic power that used its a.lleged divine investiture to
ern with an iron 6st and fill its coffers by endless means of extortion. Selling
tions, indulgences and religious ofices, cdling the faithlirl to church only to preach
them the sanctity of the tithes, and making of all sacrarnents a market, wete
practices from the pope to the village priest, so much so that the cotruption of
clergy became proverbial throughout Christianity.Things degenerated to the point
the clergy would not bury the dead, baptize or grant absolution from sin unles
received some comDensation. Even the communion became an occasion for a
and "[i]fan unjust demand was resisted the recalcitrant was excommunicated, and
had to pay for reconciliation in addition to the original sum" (Lea 1961:11).
In this context, the propagation ofthe heretical doctrines not only channeled
contempt that people felt for the clergy; it gave them confdence in their views and
gated their resistance to clerical exploitation.Thking the lead fiom the New
the heretics taught that Christ had no property, and that ifthe Church wanted to
is spiritual power it should divest iselffrom all is possessions.They dso taught that
sacnments were not valid when administered bv sinful
priess, that the exterior forms
wonhip - buildings, images, symbols - should be discarded because only innet
mattered.They also exhorted people not to pay the tithes, and denied the edstence
Pulgatory whose invention had been for the clergy a source oflucre through paid
and the sales ofinduleences.
In turn, the Church used the charge ofheresy ro attack every fotm ofsocid
political insubordination.ln 1377,when the cloth worken inYpres (Flanders) took
agairut their employen, they were not only hanged as rebels but were burned by
Inquisition as heretics (N. Cohn 1970:105).There are also records of female
being threatened with excommunication for not having delivered prompdy the
uct oftheir work to the merchants ot not having properly done their work (Volpe, 1
3ll.ln 1234, to punish his peasant tenants who refused to pay the tithes, the Bishop
Bremen called a crusade against them "as though they were heretics"
pambert 1
98). But heretics were penecuted also by the secular authorities, from the Emperor
the urban patricians, who realized that the heretic appeal to the "true religion" had
venive implications and questioned the foundations of their power.
Heresy was as much a critique of socid hierarchies and economic exploitation
it was a denunciation ofclericd corruption.As GioacchinoVolpe poins out, the
tion ofall forms ofautholity and a strong anti-commercial sentiment were common
ments among the sects. Many heretics shated the ideal of apostolic povertylg and
desire to return to the simple communal life that had chancterized the prirnitive
Some, like the Poor oflyon and the Brethren ofthe Free Spirit,lived on donated
Othen supported themselves by manual labor.2O Still othen experimented with "
munism," like the early Taborites in Bohemia, for whom the establishment of
and communal ownenhip were as important rs religious rcform.21 Of the Waldenses
an Inquisitor reported that "they avoid dl forms of cornmerce to avoid lies, freuds
oaths," and he described them as walking barefoot, clad in woolen garmens,
nothing and,like aposdes, holding all thinp in common (Lambert 1992: 64).The
content of heresy, however, is best expresed in the words ofJohn Ball, the i
31!
Pe'lJdnts h'ltl,l d ntoflk who has
sold indul{ewu. Nikl'rus Mon*I
Dut s. h, 1525.
leader ofthe English Peasant Rising of 1381, who denounced that "we are made in the
image of God, but we are treated like beass," and added, "Nothing will go well in
England... as long as there will be gendemen and villeins"
@obson
1983:371).22
The most influential among the heretical sects, the Cathars, a.lso stand out as unique
in the history ofEuropean socid movements because oftheir abhorrence for war (includ-
ing the Crusades), their condennation of capita.l punishment (which provoked the
Churcht fint explicit prcnouncement in support ofthe death penalty)23 and their toler-
ance for other religions. Southern Frrnce, theit stronghold before the crusade against the
Albigerxians, "was a safe haven forJews when anti-semitism in Europe was mounting:
[herc] a fusion ofCathar andJewish thought produced the Cabbala, the tradition ofJewish
mysticism" (Spencer 1995b: 171).The Cathan also rejected marriage and procreation and
were srict vegetarians, both because they refused to kill anirnals and because they wished
to avoid
any food,like eggs and meats, resulting from sexual generation,
This negative attitude towards natality has been attributed to the in.fluence exerted
on the Cathars by Eastern dualist secs like the Paulicians - a sect of iconoclass who
rejected
procreation as the act by which the soul is entnpped in the material world
(Erbstosser
1984:1!14) - and, above all, the Bogomits, who proselynzed in the 10th
ce[tury
anong the peasantry ofthe Balkans. A popular movement "born amidst peas-
ants
whose
physical misery made conscious ofthe wickedness ofthings" (Spencer 1995b:
r5),
the
Boqomils preeched that rhe visible world is the work ofthe devil (for in the
wotld
of Co.l th" elod would be the 6nt), and they refused to have children not to bring
new
slaves
into rhi-s "land ofrribulations," as life on earth was called in one oftheir tracts
(Wakefield
and Evrns 1991: 457 t.
The inlluence of the Bogomils on the Cathars is well-established,
21
and it
likely that the Cathars' avoidance of marriage and procrcation stemmcd from a
ilar refusd ofa life "degraded to mere survival" (Vaneigem 1998: 72), rathe. than
a"death-wish" or from contempt for life.This is suggested by the fact rhat the
anti-natalism was not associated with a dcgnded conception ofwomcn and
ity, as it is often thc case with philosophies that despise life and the body. Women
an important place in the sects.As for the Cathan'attitude toward sexudity, it
that while the "perfected" abstained from intercoune, the other mcmben werc
expccted to practice sexuel abstinence, and some scorncd the importance which
Church assigned to chastity, arguing that it implied an overva.luation of the
Some heretics attributed a mystical value to the sexual act, even treating it like a
ment (Cftrirteri4), and preached that pncticing sex. nther than abstaining from it,
the best means to achieve a state of innocence. Thus, ironicdly, heretics werc
cuted both as extreme ascetics and as libetines.
The sexual creeds of the Cathars were obviously a sophisticated elaboretion
themes developed through the encounter with Eastern hereticd religions,but the
ularity they enjoyed and the influencc they exercised on other heresies dso spea.k
wider experiential reality rooted in the conditions of marriage and reproduction
the Middle Aees.
We know that in medieval society, due to the limited availability ofland and
p.otectionist restrictions which the guilds placed on eDtnnce into the cnfts,
for the peasants nor for the artisans was it possible or desirable to have many
and, indeed, efforts were made by pcasant and artisan communities to control the
ber of children born amonp them. The most corunon method used to achieve
goal was t he post ponement of marri agc, an event t hat , even among
Chri sti ans, came at a l ate age (i fat al l ), the rul e bei ng "no l and. no marri age"
1960: 37-39). A large number ofyoung people, thereforc, had to practice scxual
nencc or def| the Churchl ban on sex outside ofwedlock, and we can imaginc
the hereticd rejection ofprocreation must have found some iesonance among
In other wonds, it is conceivable that in the sexual and reproductive codes of
heretics we may actually see the tmces of a mediel'al attempt at birth control.
would explain why, when population growth became a major social concern,at a
ofsevere demognphic crisis and labor shortage in the late l4th cenrury, heresy
associated with reproducrivc crimes, cspecially "sodomy," infanticide, and
This is not to suggest that the heretics' reproductive doctrines had a decisive
grephic impact; but rather, that for at least two centuries, a political climate was
ated in ltaly, France, and Germany, whcrcby any form of contraception
"sodomy," i.e. anal sex) came to be associated with heresy.The threat which the
ual doctrines ofthe heretics posed for the orthodoxy must dso be viewed in the
text ofthe efforts which the Church made to establish its control over marriasc
sexuality, which enabled it to place evcryone - from the Emperor to the poorcst
ant - under its scrutiny and disciplinary rule.
36 37
The Pol i t i ci zat i on of ser ual i t y
rr Mary
Condrcn has pointed out in Trte Seryeht and the Goddess (19ti9), a study of
li" .,.n.,."tio.
of Christianiry into Celtic lreland, the Church's attempt to regulate
l ""u"t
b"tt.ul ot
had a l ong hi story i n Europe. From a very earl y peri od (after
Zh.lru"oiry
became a sute religion in the 4th century), the clelgy recognized the
nower
thar sexual desire gavc wonten over men, and penistendy tried to exorcise it by
identifying
holiness with avoidance of women and sex. Expelling wornen fiom any
momenr
ofthe liturgy and from the administration ofthe sacraments; trying to usurp
wonren's
life-giving, magical powers by adopting a feminine dress; and making sexu-
giry an object ofshame - all these were the means by which a patriatchal caste tied
to break
rhe power of women and erotic aftraction. ln this process, "sexualiry was
invested
with a new significance....
[lt]
becamc a subject for confession, where the
minutest
details ofone's most intimate bodily functions became a topic for discussion"
rnd where
"the dillerent aspects ofsex were split apart into thought, word, intention,
involuntary
urges, and actual deeds of sex to form a science of sexuality" (Condren
1989:86-li7).A
privileged site for the reconstruction ofthe Church's sexual canons
rrc the Peuitentials, the handbooks that, starting from the 7th century, were issued as
practical guides for the confessors. [n the fint volume ofhis Hi stoty oJ Sexuality (191t]\,
Foucault stresses the role that these handbooks played in the production of sex as dis-
coune and ofa more polymorphous conception of sexua.lity in the 17th century. But
the Penitentials were dready instumental to the production ofa new sexual discourse
in the Middle Ages.These works demonstiete that the Church attempted to impose a
f\nishmntJot dduhery.The lovets arc guided though the tt'tct ti.d ro
cah otbr Fmn t 1296 mawsaipt
lton
Tbulouse, Fnrce.
preached that God is in all ofus and, consequently, that it is impossible for us to
I
I
wornen and Heresy
true sexual catechism, minutely prescribing the politions permitted during
(actually only one was dlowed), the days on which sex could be practiced, with
it was
permissible.
and with whom forbidden.
This sexual suoervision escalated in the 12th century when the Lateran
of 1123 and 1139 launched a new crusade against the common practice ofclerical
riage and concubinage,25 and declard matriege t sdtrdnen , whose vows no power
earth could distolve.At this time, the limitations imposed by the Penitentials on thc
ual act werc also reiterated.26 Then, forty yean later, with the III Lateren Council
1179, the Church intensified is attack on "sodomy," tatgeting at once gay people
non-procreative sex
@oswell
1981:277-86), and for the 6nt time it condemned
sexudity ("the incontinence which is ageinst nature") (Spencer 1995a: 1t4).
With the adoption of this repressive legislation sexualiry was
politicized. We do not have yet the morbid obsession with which the
Church later approached sexual matters. But already by the 12th ccntury we see
Church not only peeping into the bedroom of its flock, but making of sexuality
state matter.The unorthodox sexual choices ofthe heretics must also be secn,
as an anti-authoritarian stand, an attempt the heretics made to wrench theit
from the grip of the clergy. A clear example of this anti-clerical rebellion was
rise, in the 13'h century ofnew pantheist sects,like the Amalricians and thc
of the Free Spirit who, against the Church's effort to control sexual
One ofthe most significant aspects ofthc heretic movemcnt is the high status it
to women. As GioacchinoVolpe
Put
it, in the Church women were nothing, but
they were coruidered equal; they had the same rights as men, and could enjoy a
life and mobiliry (wandering, prcaching) that nowhere else was aveileble to them ir
Middle Ages (Volpe 1971: 20; Koch 1983: 247). In thc hercticd sects, above dl
the Cathan and Wddenses, women had the right to administer the sacraments,
baptize and even acquire sacerdotal onders.It is reponed that Waldes split ftom the
doxy becausc his bishop refused to allow women to prcach, and it is said ofthc
that thcy worshipped a fcmale 6gure,thc Lady ofThought, that influenccd Dantet
ception ofBeatrice (Tirylor 1954: 100).The heretics dso allowed women and men
shate the same dwellinp, even ifthey were not maried, since they did not Gar thet
would necesarily lead to promiscuous behavior. Hcreticd women and men often
freely together,like brcthers and sisters, as in the agapic communities ofthe early
Women also formed their own communities. A tlpical case was that of the
laywomen from the urban middle class who lived togcther (especially in Cermany
Flanden), supportini themselves with their laboq ouside of ma.le control and
submitting to monastic nrle (McDonnell 1954; Neel 1989).zz
Not surprisingly, women are present in the history of heresy as in no other
of medieval life (Volpe 1971: 20). According to Gotdried Koch, already in the 1Oth
3A
39
Heretk unn,n ondowtd to be
bumed.Wonm had a lage paeate
i the heretia nowtrcnt in evcry
tury they formed a large pan of the Bogomils. In the 1 I
th
century it was again women
who gave life to the hereticd movements in Frence and ltdy.At this time femde heretics
crme ftom the most humble ranks ofthe ser6, and they constituted a true women! move-
ment developing within the frame ofthe dilferent heretic groups (Koch 1983:246471.
Female heretics are also present in the rccords ofthe Inquisition; ofsome we know that
they were burned, of others that they were "wa.lled in" for the rest oftheir lives.
Can we say that this large fenrale prcsence in the heretic secs was rcsporuible for
the heretics"'sexual
revolution"? Or should we assume that the call for "free love" wes a
mele ploy designed to gain easy access to women! sexud favors? These questions ar not
easily
answered.We know, however, that women did try to control their reproductive func-
tion,
es rcfercnces to abortion and the use of contraceptive, by *o-an
"aa
numerous ln
the Penitentials.
Signifcantly - in view ofthe future criminalization ofsuch prrctices dur-
hg the witch-hunt
- contraceptives were referred to as "sterility potions" ot mal$cia
(Noon4l
19615 15${1). and it was assuned that women were the ones who used them.
.
tn the early Middle Ages, the Church srill looked upon these practices with a cer-
sun
indulgence,
prompted by the recogmtion that women rnay wish to limit their births
oecause
of economic reasons. Thus, in ahe l>oetum, written by Burchard, Bishop of
worns
(circa
1010), after the ritud quescion -
Have you done what sorne women are accustomed to do when they
fornicate
and wish to kill their o6pring, act with their malefrcia, md
their herbs so that they kill or cut the embryo, or, ifthcy have not yet
conceived, contrive that they do not conceive? (Noonan 1965: 160)
- it was stipulated that the guilty ones should do penance for ten years; but it
also observed that "it males a big difference whether she is a poor litde woman
acted on account ofthe difiiculty offeeding, or whether she acted to conceal a
of fornication"
(ilid.).
Thing changed drastically, however, as soon as womens' control over
tion seemed to oose a threat to economic and social stability, as it did in the
ofthe demographic catastrophe produced by the "Black Death," the apocdyptic
that, between 1347 and 1352, destroyed more than one third of the European
tion (Ziegler 1969 : 230).
We wi.ll see later what role this demographic disaster played in the "labor
ofthe late MiddleAges. Here we can notice that, after the spread ofthe plague, the
ud aspects ofheresy became more prominent in its persecution, grotesquely
in ways that anticipate the later reprcsentations ofthe witches' Sabbat. By the mid-l
century the lnquisitors' reports were no longer contcnt with accusing the heteticr
sodomy and sexual license. Now heretics were accused of animd wonhip, i
the infamous barism sab rarda (the kiss under the ail), and ofindulging in orgiastic
ua.ls, night flights and child sacrifices (Russell 1972).The Inquisitors dso reported
existence ofa sect ofdevil-worshippers called Lucifetans. Corresponding to this
which marked the transition from the persecution ofheresy to witch-hunting, thc
ure ofthe heretic incteasingly became that ofa woman,so that, by the beginning of
15th century the mein arget ofthe penecution against hetetics became the witch'
Th.is was not the end ofthe heretic movement, however. Its final
came in 1533, with the attempt by the Anabaptiss to set up a Ciry ofGod in the
town of Miinster. This was crushed with a blood bath, followed bv a wave of
reprisals that affected prolearian struggles dl ovet Europe (Po-chia Hsia 1988a:51
Until then, neither the 6erce penecution nor the demonization of heresy
Drcvent dre dissemination ofherctic belie6, As Antonino di Stefano wtites,
nication, the confscation ofprcperty, torture, death at the stake, the unleashing of
sades aereinst heretics - none ofthese measurcs could undermine the "immense
ity and popularity" of the haaetica pravitaris
fteretic
evil) (di Stefano 1950:769).
is not one commune," wrote
James
de Viry at the beginning of the 13d' century
which heresy does not have is supporten, is defenden and believen." Even after
1215 crusade against the Albigensiaru, that destroyed the Cathars' strongholds,
(together with Islam) remained the main enemy and threat the Church had to face.
recruits came from all wdks of life: the peasantry, the lower ranks of the clergy
identifed with the poor and brought to their smrgles the language ofthe Gospel),
town burghen, and even the lesser nobility. But popular heresy was prirnarily a
class ohenomenon.The environment in which it flourished was the rural and urban
letariar peasants, cobblen, and cloth workers "to whom it preached equdiry,
their spirit of revolt with prophetic and apocdyptic predictiors" (ibid.:776).
We get a glimpse of the populariry of the heretics fiom the trials which
Inquisition wes still conducting in the 1330s, in the Trento region (Northern
40
-;nst
those
who had given hospitality to the Apostolics, when their leadeq Fra
flt.ino,
h"d put.d through the area thity yean before (Orioli 1993:217-37) At the
irn.
"f
ttir coming' many doors had opened to give Docino and his followers sheltet
iin, in t:O+, *t.n announcing the coming ofa holy reign of poverty and love' Fra
'.'^i.ino
r., up a community among the mountains of the Vercellese (Piedmont)' the
i.al
pearants,
al.""dy in revolt against the Bishop ofVercelli, gave him their support
,iiorn.r"
"nd
Buratti 2000). For three yean the Dolcinians resisted the crusades and
)ie blockade
the Bishop mounted against them - with women in mde attire Gghting
],r. t., side with men, ln che end, they were defeated only by hunger and by the over-
l,"fr.t-ing
tup..;otlry of rhe forces the Church mobilized agarnst them (Lea 1961:
615-20;
Hihon 1973: 108). On the day when ttre troops amassed by the Bishop of
Vercelli
Enally prevailed upon them, "more than a thousand heretics perished in the
famcs,
or in the river, or by the sword, in the cruelest of deaths." Dolcinot compan-
ion,
Margherita,
was slowly burned to death befote his eyes because she refused to
rbiure.
Dolcino himself was dowly driven among the mountain roads and gndually
to-rn to pi"cer, to p.ovide a salutary example to the local population pea, 1961:620).
I
u"b"tt Strugrgrl es
Not onJy women and men but peasants and urban worken found in the hereuc move-
ment a corunon cause. This commondity ofinterests among people who could other-
wise be assumed to have di6erent concerns and aspiretions can be accounted for on sev-
enl grounds. Fint, in the Iviiddle Ages, a tight relation existed between ciry and country.
Many burghen were ex-ser6 who had moved or fled to the ciry in the hope ofa better
life, and, while exercising their ars, continued to work the land, particularly at harvest
time.Their thoughs and desires were still profoundly shaped by life in the village and by
their continuing rclatioruhip to the land. Peasants and urban worken were also brought
together by the fact that they were subjected to the same political rulen, since by the 13th
century (especidly
in Northern and Central Italy), rhe landed nobility and the urban patri-
cran merchants were becoming assirnilated, functioning as one power structure.This sit-
uauon promoted
among worken mutual concerru and solidariry Thus, whenever the
peasants
rebelled they found beside themselves the artisaru and day laboren, as well as the
Etowing mass ofthe urban poor.This was the case during the peasant revolt in maririme
danden,
which began in 1323 and ended inJune 1328, after the King ofFrance and the
tlemish
nobiliry defeated the rebels at Cassel in 1327. As David Nicholas writes, "[t]he
retels'abiliry
to continue rhe conllict for five yean is conceirable only in the light ofthe
cttyi
invohrnenC'
(N ichohs 1992: 213-14) . He adds that, by the end of 1 324, the peas-
anb
in revolt
had beenjoined by the craftrmen atYpres and Bruges:
Bruges,
by now under the contnl ofa weaver and fuller party, took
direction
of the revolt from the peasants.... A war of propaganda
began,as
monks andpreachen told the masses that a new err hed come
and that they were the equals ofthe aristocns (ibid.:213-14).
4l
Anothcr peasant-utban worker alliance was that of rhe Tirchins, a movement
"bandits" opereting in the mountains of Centrd Fr"ance, in which anisans joincd
organization that was typica.l ofthe rural populations (HiLon 19?3: 128).
What united peasans and attisans wes a comrnon aspiretion to $e lcvelling of
differences. As Norman Cohn writes, this is evidenced in documens of \rruous
From the provcrbs ofthe poor that lament that,"The poor man
works always, worries and laboun and weeps, never laughing from his
heart, while the rich man laughs and sings,.."
From the minclc plays where it is stated that"...each man ought
to have as much property as every other, and we have nothing we can
call our own.The great londs have all rhe property and poor folk have
nothing but sufering and advenity..."
From the most widely rcad satircs which denounced that,
"Magistrates, provosts, beadles, mayo.s - nearly all live by robbery
They all banen on the poor, they dl want to despoil them....The strong
robs the weaker...." Or again: "Good working men make wheaten
bread but they will never chew it; no, ell they get is the siftinp ftom
the corn, and ftom good wine they get nothing but thc drep and ftom
good cloth nothing but the chaff. Everlthing that is tasty and good
goes to the nobles and the clergy...." (N. Cohn 1970: 9F100).
These complaints show how deep was the popular resenrment against
inequalities that existed berween the "big binds" and the "smdl bids," the "fet
and the"lean people,"as rich and poor wcrc rcferrcd to in the Florentine political
of the 14th century"Nothing will be well in England until we are of the same
tion,"John Bdl proclaimed during his drive to orgenize the 1381 English Peasant
(i bi d.:199\.
As we have seen, the main expresions ofthis aspiration to a more egalitaian
ery were the exaltation ofpoverty and the communism ofgoods. But the
an egditarian penpective wes also te0ected in a ncw attitude towerds work, most
among the herctic secs. On one side, we have a "refusd of work" stntegy, such as
adopted by the French Waldenses (the Poor of Lyon), and the mcmben of some
ventual orders (Franciscans, Spiriruals)
,
who, wishing to be ftec ftom mun&ne
on begging and comrnuniry support for thcir survival. On the other, we have a new
orization of work, particularly manual labor, that achieved its most con5ctous
tions in the propaganda ofthe English Lollards, who reminded their followers drat
nobles have beautiful houses, we have only work and hanrlships, but it is fiom our
that everything comes" (i6il.; Christie-Mutny 197 6: 1 14-151.
Undoubtedly, the apped to the "!"lue ofwork" - a novelty in a sociery
nated by a military class - functioned primarily as a rcminder of the arbirrrrincs
feudal power But this new awareness also demonstrates the emergence of new
forces that plal'ed a crucial role in the downfall ofthe feudal system.
This valorization ofwork rcflects the formation ofan urban proletariat, rnade up
part ofjourneymen and apprentices - working under anisan masten, producing for
42
Ld 4zrket
-
but mosdy by waged dey-labo!6, employed by rich merchans in indus-
iics
producing
fo. .*p"T.^Y S: .1"
:fq:
I 4th century in Flore".:' St",".'
i1 IT&^:
l.rsentrati"ns
"fup
to 4'000 ofsuch day-laboren (weavers, fullers' dyers) could be found
,-i,lrc rexdl.
industty' For them, life in the ciry was just a new type of serfdom, this time
Irdcr
rhc
nrle ofthe cloth merchans, who exercised the strictest control over their activ-
ila
rnd
the most despodc class nrle, Uftan wage-workers could not form any associa-
to,
.rd
*.r. even forbidden to meet in any place and for any rcason; they could not
,nn
u""
or even the tools of dreir trade; and they could not sFike on pain of death
birenne
195e: 132). ln Florence, they had no civil righs; unlike the journeymcn,
they
,^,".
no,
p"a of any craft or guild, and they were exposed to the cruelcst abuses at the
hrnds
of the merchants who, in addition to connolling the town government, ran their
privrte
rribund and, with impunity, spied on them, arrested drem, tomrrcd drem, and
iunged
them at the lcasr sign oftroublc (Rodolico 1971).
It is among these wodren that we 6nd the most extteme forrns ofsocid protest and
3hc
greatest acceptance ofheretic ideas (ibid.; 5G-59).Throughout the 14th century panic-
ululy
in the Flanden, cloth worken were engaged in corutant rebellions agairxt the bishop,
thc nobiliry, the merchants, and even the major crefts. At Bruges, when the main crafts
gained power in 1348, wool workers continued to rebel ageinst them. At Ghent, in 1335,
r rcvolt by the local bourgeoisie was overtaken by a rebellion of weaven, who tried to
esablish a "wo*en' democnry" based on the suppression ofdl authorities, except thos
living by nranual labor (Boisonnade 1927: 310-11). Defeated by an irnpressive coalition
offorces (including the prince, the nobfiry, the clergy, the bourgeoisie), the weavcn tried
rgrin in 13711, when they succeeded in esablishing what (with some exaggenrion, per-
lup) has been called the 6nt "dicatonhip ofthe proletariat" known in history.Their goal,
according to Peter Boisonnade, was "to raise journeynen
agrinst nusters, wagq eirners
rgamst grat entlepreneurs, peasants against lon& and clergy. It was said dut drey had con-
tetnplated the extermination ofthe whole bourgeois class, with the exception ofchildren
ofsix and the same for the nobles" (ibid.: 311).They were deGated only by a battle in the
open 6eld, at Roosebecque in 1382, where 26,000 ofthem lost their lives (ibil.).
..
-The
events at Bruges and Ghent werc not isolated cues. In Cermany and laly as
rdl, the artisaru and laboren rebelled at every posible occasion, forcing the local bour-
geoisie
to live in a corutant sate offcar. In Florence, the worken seized power in 1379,Ied
\
the Cionrpi, the day-laboren in the Flotenrine textile indusrry.2s They too esublished a
n,orkeJs'goverunent,
but it Iasted only a few montlr before being completely deGated
\
rJdz
(Rodolico
1971).The worken at Liege, in the Low Counries, were morc successfi.rl.
h 1384,
the nob iry and the rich ("the great,"as they were called), incapable ofcontinuing
e Esstance
which had lasted for morc tlun a century capitulated. Fromthen on,.,the crafts
cornpletely
donrinated the town," becoming the arbiier of the municipal governmenr
truerne
1937:
201).The cnfsmen had also given support to the peasants in revolt, in mar-
^]"'
.lanoen,
in a strugle tlut lastcd from 1323 to 1328, which
pirenne
describes as.,a
*u'n.
"n".p,
at a social rcvolution" (i.4id.; 195). Here - acconding to a Flemish con-
qnporary
whose
clas allegiance is apparent -
"the plague ofiruurrection was such that
qr
Decane
disgusred with life" (i4id.: 196).Thus, from 1320 to 1332, the.,good people"
* I pres
implorcd
rhe king not to allow the town's inner bastiors, withln which they lived,
* ue
dertrofrshed
because rhey protccted them ftom the "commo
n people" (ibid.:20243).
lr3
Jaqueie.
Peasdnts took anr6 in
in | 323,in Fntue in 1358,in
in 1381, in Flotere, Glrc
in 1370 and 1380.
I t f r "
"t "ot
Deat h and t he I . abor Cr i di s
A turning point in the course ofthe medieval struggles was the Black Death, which
on an average, between 30/o and 407o of the European population (Zie$er 1969:
Coming in the wake of the Great Famine of 131F22, that weakened people's
to disease
flordan
1996), this unprecedented demognphic collapse prcfoundly
Europe's socid and political life, practically inaugureting a new era. Social hierarchies
turned upside down because ofthe levellingeffects ofthe widespread morbidiry
with death dso undermined social discipline. Contonted with the posibility of
death, people no longer cared to work or to abide by social and sexud regulations, but
to have the best of times, feasting for as long as they could without thought of the
However. the most important consequence of thc plague was the
ofthe labor crisis generated by the class conllict; for the decimation ofthe work
made labor extremely scarce, critically increased its cost, and stifened peoplel
nation to break the shackles offeudd rule.
As Christopher Dyer poins out, the scarcity oflabor which the epidemic
shifted the
power
relation to the ad!"ntaee of the lower classes. When land had
scarce, the peasants could be controlled by the threat ofexpulsion. But after the
lation was decimated and land became abun&nt, the threats ofthe lords ceased to
any serious effect, as the peasants could now freely move and find new land to
(Dyer 1968:26).Thus, wbile the crops were rotting and livestock wandered in the
oeasants and artisans suddenlv became masten ofthe sinration. A symotom ofthis
development was the growth ofrent strikes, bolstered by threats ofa mass exodus to
lands or ro the ciry As the manorial records laconically registered, the peasans "
to pay" (regant solvere).They also declared thaa they "will not follow the customs
111t
hnget"
(/tegdttt cottsuetldites), and ignored the orders ofthe lords to repair their houses,
.]"j,
ditch.s.
o. .h..e escaped ser6 (i6il.: 24).
"'*
By ,ha end ofthe 14$ century the rcfusal of rent and services had become a col-
r-;ve
phenomenon. Entirc villagesjoindy organized to stop paying 6nes, taxes and tal-
ill
'oi
no long.. ..cognrzed the commuted services, or the injunctions ofthe manor-
Iil.,uru,
*hlch *e." the rnain instrument offeudal power' In this context, the quantity
lir."n,
".d
r.rui..t *ithheld became les important than the fact that the class relation,
I"-whi.h
the feudd order was based' was subverted. This is how an early 16ih-century
J.i,"r,
*ho."
words reflect the viewpoint ofthe nobiliry summed up the srtuahon:
The peasants are too rich... end do not know what obedience means;
they dont take law into any account, they wish there were no nobles...
and they would like to decide what rent we should get for our lands
(ibid.: 33).
In response
to the increased cost oflabor and the collapse ofthe feudd rent,larious attempn
werc rlade ro increase the exploitation of work, either through the restoration of labor
seryices
or, in sotrre cases, the revival of slavery. In Florence, the importation of daves was
authorized
in 1366.2e But such measures only sharpened the class conllict. [n England, it
wes an a$empt by the nobiliry to contain the cost oflabor, by mears ofa Labor Statute
limiting the maximum wage, dut caused the Peasant Rising of 1381.This spread ftom
region to regron and ended with thousands of peasans marching from Kent to London
"to telk to the king" (Hilton 1973; Dobson 1983).Also in France, between 1379 and 1382,
there was a "whirlwind ofrevolution"
(Boissonnade
1927: 314). Prcletarian insurrcctiors
exploded at Bezier, where forty weaven and cord-wainen were hanged, ln Monpellier
the worken in revolt proclaimed that "by Christrnas we will sell Christian flesh at six pence
a pound." Revolts brcke out in Carcassone, Orleans, Amiers,Tournai, Rouen and finally
in Paris, where in 1 41 3 a " worken'democrary" came into power.30 In Im.ly the most impor-
tant revolt was that ofthe Ciompi.It began inJuly of1382, when cloth-worken in Florence
for a tirne forced the bourgeoisie to give them a share ofgovernment and declate a mora-
tonum
on all debs incurred by wage earners; they then proclaimed what, in essence, was
r dictatonhip
of the proletariat ("God's people"), though one soon crushed by the com-
bined
forces ofthe nobiliry and the bourgeoisie (Rodolico 1971).
"Now
is the time" - the sentence that recu$ in the letten ofTohn Ball - well
illustnres
the spirit ofthe European proletariat at the close ofthe l4L century. a time
when,
in Florence,
the wheel offortune was beginning to appear on the \4".lls oftaverns
and
work-shops,
ro symbolize the imminent change oflot.
In the course ofthis process. the poLitical horizon and the organizational dimen-
stons
of the peasant and artisan struggle broadened, Entire regions revolted, forming
asembhes
and recrurting armies.At times, the peasants organized in bands, attacking the
castles
of the londs. and
"destrovine
the archives where the written marks oftheir servi-
'wc.were
kept. By the lsth cenrury the confrooorion between the peasans and the
quoltrry
turned
inro true wan.like that of the rcmetuas in Soain. that lasted from 1462
t o | 4r . r , ,
i.',':n.''
In Cermany a cycle of"peasant wan" began in 1476 with the conspincy led
"' fians
the Piper. This escalated into four bloodv rebellions led bv Bundschuch
The Bhtk Deah desttoyed one-thitd ofthe populdtion ofEuape.It l.ns a
tuitin! point in Eutupein history smially Md politi@lly,
("Peasant Union") between 1493 and 1517, and culminating in a full-fledged wrr
fasted from 1522 to 1525, spreading over four countries (Engels 1977;B\chJe D7n.
ln all these cases, the rebels did not content theruelves with demanding
restrictions to Gudd rule, nor did they only bargein for bettcr living conditions.
eim was to put an end to the power of the lonrls. As the En$ish peasans declared
ing the Peasant Rising of 1381, "the old law must be abolished." Indeed, by the
ning of the 15th ce ntury in England at least, serfdom or villeinage had almost
disappeared, though the revolt had bccn polirically and militarily deGatcd and is
ers brutdly executed (Titow 1969: 58).
What followed has been described as the "golden age ofthe European
(Marx 1909,Vo1.I; Bnudel 1967: 128ff.), a far cry ftom thc canonic reprcsenation of
15th century which has been iconognphically immortdized as a world undcr thc
of the &nce of death and memento moi,
Thorold Rogers has painted a utopian irnage of this period in his famous
ofwages and living conditions in medict"l England. "At no tirne," Rogers wrote,
wages
[in
England] so high and food so cheap" (Rogen 1894:326fi).Worten
wcre paid for every day ofthe year, although on Sunday rnd the main holidays they
not work. They were also fed by their employers, and wcre paid a viaticum for
and going ftom home to work, at so much per mile of distance, In addition,
demanded to be paid in money, and wanted to work only 6ve days a week.
As we shdl see, there are ieasons to be skeptical about the extent of this
copia. However, for a brcad section of the western European peasantry, and for
workers, the 15th century was a period ofunprecedented power. Not only did the
oflabor give them the upper hand, but the spectacle of employen competing for
services strenghened their sense ofself-value, and erased centuries ofdegradation
.r6 atz
itb6ervience
The 'scanl'l'ofche high wages the workeis dernanded was only matched'
I rhe
eyes of the employen, by the new arrognce they displayed - their refusal to
irrk,
or,o
continue to work-after having satisned their needs (which they now could
i,i
-ote
quickly because of their higher wages); their stubborn determination to hirc
li*.;".t
out only for limited usls, nther than for prolonged periods of time; their
i,"r"dr
f"t other pe*s beside thcir wages; and their ostentatious clothing which,
L-"ordrng
to ,h. .o-plaints ofcontemporary social critics, made them indistinguisluble
tm
the
lonts.
"Servants are now masten and masters are ser\"enB," comPleined
John
cower
h Miour de I 'onlae (13711). "the peasant pretends to imitate the ways ofthe free-
,sn,
and
gives himself the appearance ofhim in his clothes" (Hatcher 1994: 17).
The condition ofthe landless dso improved after the Black Death (Hatcher 1994).
l.his
war notjust an English phenomenon.In 1348 the canorx ofNormandy complained
drt
they could not 6nd anyone to cultivate their lands who did not ask for morc dran
what six servans had earned at the beginning ofthe century Wages doubled and mblcd
in ltely, France and Germany (Boissonnade 1927:316-20).ln the lands ofthe Rhine and
Denube,
the daily agriculrural wage became equirdent in purchasing power to the price
ofe
pig or sheep, and these wage retes applied to women as well, for the difercntial
bctween
fema.le and male earnin5;s was drastically reduced in the wake ofthe Black Death.
What this meant for the European proletariat was not only the achievement of
e stendand ofliving that remained unparalleled until the 19th century but the demise of
scrfdorn. By the end ofthe 14tb century land bondage had pnctically disappeared (Marx
1909,Vo1. I:7118). Everywhere ser6 werc replaced by free farmen - copy holden or
lcase holders - who wou.ld acceDt work only for a substantial rewatd.
Sexual Pol i t i cs, r he Ri 6e of t he St at e
ar r d Count er - Revol ut i or r
Horvever, by the end ofthe 15th century a counter-rcvolution was already under way at
wery level ofsocial and political lifc. Fint, efors werc made by the poLitical authorities
to co-oPt the youngest and most rebellious male worken, by means ofa vicious sexud
politics
that gave them acces to free sex, and turned class antagonism into an rntagorism
a8
rut proletarian
women.AsJacques Rosiaud has shown in Medieudl Prcstitution (1988),
in France,
the municipal
"uth-oriti.,
prectically deoiminalized rape, provided the victims
n'crc
women
ofthe lower class. ln 14th-centuryVenice, the rape ofan unmarried prole-
btian
woman
nrely called for more than a slap on the wrist, even in the fuquent case m
which
it involvcd
"
group
"tu,llt
(Ruggiero 1989: 9l-108). The same was true in most
r'rcnch
ciries.
Here. the gang-rape of proleurian women becarne a comrnon practice
wrrch
the perpetraton
would carry out openly and loudly at night, in groups oftwo to
{!cctr'
breaking
into their victims'homes, or dragging their vicrirns through the streets,
wrthout
any attenlpt to hide or disguise themselves.Those who engaged in these "spors"
wcrc
youngjourneyma.,
o. do-.iu. ,..*nts,and the penniless sons ofwell-to-do fam-
*tI^lU.
the women targeted were poor girls, working as maids or washerwomen, of
.,.-""'
rt
was rumored that rhey were "kept" by their masten (Rossiaud 1988: 22). On
'verage, half
of rhe town nraje youth, at some point, en5;rged in these assaults, which
Rossiaud describes as a form ofclass protest, a means for proletarian men - who
forced to postpone marriage for many yean because oftheir economic conditions
--
get back "their own," and take revenge ageinst the rich. But the results were
for all worken, as the state-backed raping ofpoor women undermined the class
ity that had been achieved in the anri-feudd struggle. Not surprisingly, the
viewed the disturbances caused by such policy (the brewls, the presence ofyouth
roaming the strcets at night in scarch ofadventure and disturbing the public quiet)
small price to pay in exchange for a lessening of socia.l teruions, obsessed as they r
with the fear of urban insurrections, and the belief that if the poor gained the
hand they would take their wives and hold them in comrnon (ibid.:13\.
For proletarian women, so cavalierly sacrficed by masters and servants
the price to be paid was inestimable. Once raped, they could not easily regein thcir
in socieryTheir reputation being desrroyed, they would have to leave town or rum
prostitution (ibid.; Ruegiero 1985:99). But they were not rhe or y ones to suffer.
legalization of rape created a climate of intense misogyny that degrrded all
regardless of class. lt dso desensitized the population to rhe perpetrrtion of ei
against women, preparing the ground for the witch-hunt which began in this
Btothel,-fron a l'th+mtury C.emnn
qnodut.
Brctlrck u'o? seen
'ls.t
mnedy.fot social protest, heresy, md honosetuality.
-,tiod.
lt rvas at the end ofthe 14th century that the 6rst witch-trials took place, and for
It.'4",
,i-. the Inquisition recorded the existence ofan all-female heresy and sect of
,l.vil-wonhiPPers.
""-
Arro,h..
aspect ofthe divisive sexud politics that the princes and municipd
,uthoodes
Pursued
to difuse workers'protest wa5 the institutionalization of
Prostitu-
.';""n,
i-pt"-"",.a
through the opening of nrunicipal brothels soon proliferating
l],.r"nfr"",
Europc. Enabled by the contemponry high-wage tegime' sote-managed
l-.,iir,ion
*"t t..tt as a useful remedy for the turbulence ofproletarian youth' who in
',,j1 6rora
Uoiton" - as the stace-brothel was called in Frence - could enjoy a privi-
r"o" o.eviously
reserved for older men (Rossiaud 19tltt).The rnunicipal brothel was dso
.o""tia"*a
a renredy alpinst homosexuality (otis 191t5), which in several European
iowus
(e.g., Padua and Florence) was widely and publicly pncticed, but in the aftemrath
olthe
Black Death was beginning to be feared as a cause ofdepopulation
32
Thus, between 1350-1450, publicly rnanaged, tax-financed brothels were opened
in every
town and village in ltaly and Frence, in nurnben far supetior to those reached
in rhe l9rh century Aniens alone had 53 brothels in 1453. In addition' dl the restric-
tions
and penalties against prostiturion were eliminated. Prostitutes could now solicit
their cliens in every part oftown, even in front ofthe church during Mass.They were
no longer bound to any particular dress codes ot the wearing of distinguishing marks,
because
prostitution was oficidly recognized as a public service (ibid.:9-1O)-
Even the Church cane to see prostitution as a legitimate activiryThe state-man-
aged brothel was believed to provide an antidote to the orgiastic sexual prectices ofthe
hcrctic secs, and to be a rcmedy for sodomy, as well as a rneans to
Protect
family life.
It is dificult retrospectively to tell how far playing the "sex card" helped the state
to discipline and divide the nredieval proleariat.What is certain is that this sexual "new
deal" was part ofa broader process which,in response to the intensfication ofsocial con-
flicr,led to the centralization ofthe state, as the only agent capable of confronting the
gcnenlization ofthe struggle and safeguarrding the class relation.
In this process, u we will see later in this work, the state became the ultinute man-
ager ofclas relatiors, and dre supervisor ofthe reproduction oflabor-power - a function
it has conrinued to perform to this day. ln dris cepaciry state oficers pased laws in many
countries
thar set limitr to the cost oflabor (by 6xing the maximum wage) , forbid rtgnncy
(now
hantrly punished) (Ceremek 1985:6lfi), and encouraged wotkers to reproduce.
Ultimately, the mounting class conflict brought about a new alliance between
the
bourgeoisie
and the nobility, without which proletarian revolts may not have been
defeated.
It is diflicult. in fact, to accept the claim, often made by historians, accord-
ing
to w6ic6 these struggles had no ah"rr.. ofsuccess due to the narrowness oftheir
polrtical
horizons and the "confused nature of their demands." In reality, the objec-
tives
of the peasants and artisans were quite transparent. They demanded that "every
rnan
shoul d
have as much as another"
(Pi renne 1937:202) and, i n order to achi eve
thi s
goal .
they.l oi ned wi th atl rhose
"who had nothrng to l ose," acti ng i n concert, i n
qrlterent
regions. nor afrrid to confront the well-trained armies ofthe nobility, despite
their
lack
of military skills.
,
lfthey
were defeated. it was because all the forces offeudal
Power
- the nobiliry
tne
Church,
and rhe bourgeoisie - moved against thenr united, despite their traditional
lr9
| *, *""' *^c. @gJv. .
divisions, by their fear ofprolearian rebellion. Indeed, the image, drat has been
down to us, ofa bourgeoisie perennidly at war with the nobiliry, and carryrng on is
ners the call for equality and democrary is a distortion. By the late Middle Ages,
ever we turn, ftom Tuscany to England and the Low Counnies, we find the
already dlied with the nobfity in the suppression ofthe lower classes.33 For in the
ans and the democratic weavers and cobblen ofis cities, the bourgeoisie recognized
enemy far more dangercus than the nobiliry - one that made it worthwbile for
burghers even to sacrifce their cherhhed political autonomy.Thus, it was the urban
geoisie, after two centuries ofstruggles waged in order to gain full sovereignty within
walls ofis communes, who reinstituted the power ofthe nobility, by voluntarily
ting to the nrle ofthe Prince, dre 6nt step on the road to the absolute state.
l t ' , "' , or",
1. The best example ofa maroon society was the Bacaude who took over Gaul
the vear 300 A.D
(Dockes 1982:87).Their story is worth remembering These
free peasants and slaves, who, exasperated by the handships they sufered due to
skirrnishes berween the contenden to Romet imperial throne' wandercd off,
with farm implemens and stolen hones, in roving bands
ftence
their name:
of fighters") (Randers-Pehrson 1983: 26). Townspeople
joined them and
formed self-governing communities, where they struck coins, with "Hope"
on their face, elected leaders, and administered
j ustice. Defeated in the open field
Maximilian, the colleague ofthe emperor Diocletian, they turned to "guerrilla"
fare, to resurface, in full force in the 5th century when they became the targct
repeated military actions, In 407 A.D,, they were the protagonists of a
insulrection." The emDeror Constantine defeated them in battle in
(Brittany) (ibid.: 1241. Here "rebellious slaves and peasants
[had]
created
autonomous 'state' organization, expelling the Roman officials, expropriating
landowners, reducing dte slave holden to slavery, and
[organizing]
ajudicial
and an army" (Dockes 1982: 87). Despite the rnany attempts made to repless
the Bacaude were never completely defeated.The Roman emperors had to
tribes ofbarbarian'inaders to subdue them. Constantine rccalled theVisigodu
Spain and gave them generous donations ofland in Gaul, hoping they would
the Bacaude under control. Even the Huns were recruited to hunt them
(Renders-Pehrson 1983: 189). But we 6nd the Bacaude again fighting with
Visigoths and Alans against the advancingAnila.
2. The ergastala were the dwelling of the slaves in the Roman villas.They were
ranean prisons" in which the slaves slept in chains; they had windows so high (in
description ofa contemporary landowner) that the davc could not rcach drem
3.
1982: 69).They "were... found alrnost everywhere," in the regioru the Romans
quered "where the daves far oumumbered the free men" (ibid : 208).Ttre rnme
rolo is still used in the lalian criminaljustice vocabulary;it means "life sentence."
This is what Marx writes in Capirai, Vol. III, in compating the serf economy
50
the slave and the capitdist economies."To \ hat extent the laborer, the
9.
ing
serf,
can here secure for himself a surplus above his indispensable necessities of
6;!...
depends, othcr circu.rnstances remaining unchanged, upon the prcrportion in
which
his labor time is divided into labor time for himself and forced labor time for
[s
feudal
lold,... Under such conditions the surplus labor cannot be filched 6om
tthe
serfs] by any economic measures, but must be forced from them by other meas-
ures,
whatever
may be the form assumed by them" (Marx 1909'Vol. III: 917-18)'
For
a discussion
ofthe imporance ofthe cornmons and co[lmon rights in England,
see JoanThirsk
(1964),Jean Birrell (1987), andJ.M Neeson (1993).The ecologicd
anjeco-feminist
movements have given dte commons a new political significance.
For
an eco-feminist penpective on the importance ofthe commons in the econ-
omy
ofwomen!
lives, see Vandana Shiva (1989).
For a discussion ofsocial stratfication among the European
Peasantry
see R. Hilton
09a5:
116-17,141-51) and
I.Z.Tirow
(1969; 56-59). Of special imporance is the
distincrion
between pers onal freedotn and tewrrial &eedom.The former meant that a
oeasant 'ras
not a se{ though s/he may still be bound to provide labor services.The
iatter meant dut a peasant held land thet was not "burdened" by servile obligations.
In practice, the two tended to coincide, but this began to change alter the commu-
ation when ftee peasants, to expand their holding, began to acquire lands that car-
ried servile burdens. Thus, " We do 6nd peasans offree penond status (lireft hold-
ing villein land and we do 6nd villeiru (villani, natiul holding freehold land, though
both these occurrences are rare and both were Gowned upon"(Titow 1969:56-57).
Barban Hanawaltt examinetion ofthe wills from Kibworth (England) in the 15th
century,shows that"men favored mature sons in 41 percent oftheir wills, while tley
left to the wiG alone or the wife with a son the estate in 29 percent ofthe cases"
(Hanawalt
1986b: 155).
Hanarelt sees the medieva.l maritd relarionship among peasants as a "pannership."
"Land
transactions in manorial courts indicate a strong practice ofmutual respon-
sibility and decision making.... Husband and wife also appear in purchasing or leas-
ing pieces ofland either for themselves or for their children" (Hanawalt 1986b: 16).
For women's contribution to agriculturrl labor and control over their surplus pro-
duce also see Shahar (1983:23H2), For womeni extrdegd contributions to their
households, see B. Hanawalt (1986b:12). In England,"illegal gleaning was the most
common
way for a woman to get extra grain for her family" (ilid.).
This is the linit ofsome ofthe otherwise excellent studies produced, in recent yean,
on women in the Middle Ages, by a new generation of feminist historians.
Undentandably,
the difficulry in presenting a synthetic view ofa 6eld whose empir-
ical
contours are still being recoruructed has led to a preference for descriptive
analyses
focussing on the main classifications of women's socid life: "the mother,"
"the
worker,""women in the rural ereas," "women in the cities," often treated as if
abstracted
from social and economic change and social sruggle.
AsJ.
Z.Titow writes in the case ofthe English bonded peuants:"It is not diftcult to
see
why the personal aspect ofvilleinage would be ovenhadowed by the prcblem of
labour
services in the minds ofthe peasants.... Disabilities arising out ofunftee sutus
would
come into opention only sporadically. . .. Not so with the lebour services, par-
dculady
week-work, which obliged a rnan to work for his landlotd so many days a
1t .
week, every week, in addition to Endering other occasiond serviccs" (Iitow 1969:
10. "[T]ake the 6nt Gw pages ofthe Abbots Iangley rolls: men werc 6ned for not
ing to the harvest, or for not producing a su6cient number of mcn; drcy carnc
and when they did comc performed the work badly or in an idle fashion.
not one but a whole group failed to appear and so left the lond's crop
Othen even when they came made tlemselves very unpleasant" (Bennen 1967:1
The distinction between "town" and "city" is not always clear. For our purposca
city is a population center with a rc)"I chartcr, an episcopal see and a market,
a town is e population center (usually smaller than a city) with a tegular
12. The following is a statistical picturc ofrural poverty in 13tll-century Picandy:
gents and begprs, 13%; owners of small parcels ofland, so unsable
that a bad harvest is a threat to their survivd,33%; peexns with morc land but
out draught animals, 36%; wedthy farmen 1 9% (Gercmck 1994: 57) . ln
1280, peasans with less than three acres ofland - not enough to feed a farnily
represented 46% ofthe peasantry (rbid.).
A silk spiruren'song gives a gnphic picture ofthe poverty in which female
laboren lived in the towns:
A.lways spinning shees ofsilk
We shall nevcr be better dressed
But always naked and poor,
And dways suffering hunger and thint (Gercmeck 19941 65) .
In Frcnch municipd archives, spinners and other female wage workes
asociated with prostitutes,possibly because they lived done and had no family
ture behind them. In the towns, women suffered not only poverry but los
which left them vulnenble to abuse (Hughes 1975: 21; Geremek 1994:6!{6;
1985: 1&-20; Hilton 1985:212-13).
For an analysis of women in the medicr"al guil&, see Maryannc Kow'aleski and
M. Bennett (1989); David Herlihy (1995); and Williams and Echols (2000).
13.
14.
15. (Russell 1972: 136; Lea 1961:126-27\.Nso the movement ofthc Pastourcaux
provoked by evens in the Eest, this tirne the capturc ofKing Louis lX ofFnncc
the Moslems,in Eglpt,in t249 (Hilton 1973:10G42).A movcment madc
ble and simple" people was organized to free him, but it quickly took on an
clerical charactcr.The Pastorcaux rcappearcd in Southcrn France in the spring
summer of 1 320, sti.ll "direcdy influenced by the crusading amrosphere . . . .
had no chance ofcrusading in the east; instead, they spent their energies on
ing the
Jewish
communitics of south-west France, Navarre and Angon, often
the complicity oflocd consulates, before being wiped out or dispersed by ropl
cials" ( Batber 1992: 135-36).
The Crusade against the Albigensians (Cathars ftom the town ofAlbi, in
France) was the first large-scale attack against thc heretics, and the 6rst
against Europeans. Pope Innocent III launched it in the regions ofToulousc
Montpellier after 1209. In is wake, the penecution ofherctics dnmaticdly
sified,In 1215, on the occasion ofthe fourth Lateran Council,lnnocent Ill
in the councili canons a set of measurrs that condemned heretics to exile. to
16.
s2
con6scation of their propcrties, and excluded them from civil life. Later, rn
s3
thc
empcror Frederick lljoincd thc penecution with the corstjLtution Cum ad rcn-
setwndunt
th^t deflncd hcrcsy a crime of lesa maiestatis,to be punish with death by
6rc,
In 1229, the Council ofloulouse established that hcrctics should be identifed
and
punished. Proven heretics and their protectors werc to burned at the stake.The
house
wherc a heretic wes discovered was to be destroyed, and thc land upon which
it was built confucated.Those who rcneged their beliefs werc to be imrnurcd, whilc
those
who relapsed wcre to suffer the supplice of6re.Then,in 1 231-1233,Gregorio
lX instituted a specid tribund with the specific function ofendicating heresy:the
Inquisidon.
In 1252, Pope Innocent IV, with the consensus ofthe main theologians
ofthe
time, authorized the usc oftorture against heretics (Vauchez 1990: 163, 164,
165) .
17,
AndrcVauchez
attributes the "succes" ofthe Inquisition to its procedure.The arrest
ofsuspecs
was prepared with utmost rccrecy. At 6nt, the persecution consisted of
nids against heretics' meetings, organized in collaboration with publ.ic authorities.
I,1ter, when Waldenses and Cathars had dready been forced to go underground, su-
spects were called in front ofa tribunal without being told the rcasons for their con-
vocation.The same secrecy characterized the investigative process.The defcndants
were not told the charges moved against them, and those who denounced them
were allowed to maintain thcir anonymiry Suspecs were released, ifthey informed
against their accomplices and promised to keep silent about their confessions.Thus,
when heretics were arrested they could never know if anyone fiom their congre-
gation had spoken ageirst them (Vauchez 1990: 167-6tl).As ltalo Mercu poins out,
the work ofthe Roman Inquisition left deep scars in the history ofEuropean cul-
rurc, creating a climate of intolcrance and institutional suspicion that continues to
corrupt the legal system to this day,The legacy ofthe Inquisition is a culrure ofsus-
picion that relies on anonymous charges and preventive detention, and trets sus-
pecs as if a.lready proven gui.lty (Mercu 1979).
18. Let us recall here Frie&ick Engels' distinction between the heretical belie6 ofpeas-
ants and artisans, associated with their opposition to feudd authoriry and those ofthe
town burghers, that were ptimerily a protest against the clergy
@ngels
1977:43).
19. The poliricization ofpoverry, together with the rise ofa money-economy, bought
about a decisive change in the anitude ofthe Church towends the poor.
Unti.l the
t3th century the Church exalted povcrry a5 a holy sare and engagcd in distribu-
tions of alms, trying to convince the rustics to accept their situation and not envy
the rich. ln Sunday sermons, priests were prodigal with tales like that ofthe poor
t-azarus
sitting in heaven at the side ofJcsus, and r+atching his rich but stingy neigh-
Dor
burning in llames.The cxaltation ofss.ta paupeias (holy poverty") also served
to irnpress
on the rich the nced for chatity as a means for u.lvation.This tactic pro-
cured
the Church subsandd donations ofland, building and money, presumably .
to be used for distribution among the needy, and it erubled it to become one ofthe
trchest
institutions in Europe. But when the poor grew in numben and the heretics
staned
to challenge the Church's geed and corruption, the clergy dismised its
nomilies
about poverty and intrcduced many "distinguo." Staning in the 13th cen-
tury.
it aflirrrred that only voluntary poverty has merit in the eyes ofGod, as a sign
ot
hu
miliry and contempt for material goo&; this meant, in practice, that hclp would
now be gi!'en only to the "deserving poor," that is, to the irnpoverished
of the nobility, and not to those begging in the streets or at city gates. The
were increasingly looked upon with suspicion as guilty oflaziness or 6aud.
20, Much controversy took place among the Waldenses on the cotrect ways of
porting oneself. It was resolved, at the Bergamo Meeting of 1218, with a major
beween the two main branches of the movement.The French'Waldenses
@691
Lyon) opted for a life supported by dms, while those oflombardy decided that
must live out of his/her own labor and proceeded to form worken' collectiv6
cooperatives (conlrelationes labonntium) (di Stefano 1 950: 775). Thc
wddenses continued to maintain private possessions - houses and other forrns
property - and they accepted marriege and the family (Linle 1978:125).
21. Hol mes 1975:202: N. Cohn 1970:21F17; Hi l ton 1973:124.As descri bed
Engels, the Taborites were the revolutionery, democntic wing of the
netional liberation movement against the German nobility in Bohemia. Of
Engels tells us only that "[T]heir demands rellected the desire ofthe peasantry
the urban lower clases to end all Gudal oppression" (Engels 1977l.44nl.But
remarkable story is more fully narrated in H. C. Lea's The Inquisition oJ the
Ages (Lea 1961:523-40), in which we rcad that dley were peasants and
who wanted no nobles or gendemen in their ranks and had republican
They were called Tirborites because in 1419, when the Hussites in Prague first
under attack. they moved on to MountTabor.There they founded a new town,
becarne a center ofboth resisance against the German nobiliry, and
tion with communism.The story has it that, on arriral ftom Prague, they put
Iarge open chess in which each was asked to place his/her possessions, so tlnt
things could be held in common. Presumably, this collective atmngement was
lived, but its spirit lived on longer after its demise (Demetz 7997:752-157).
The Taborites distineuished themselves from the more rnoderate
because they included among their objectives the independence of Bohcrnia,
the retention ofthe properry which they had confscated (Lea 1961:530).They
agree, however, on the four articles of faith that united the Hussite rnovement
front of its foreign enemies:
I. Free preaching of the Word ofGod;
lL Communion in poth wine and breadl;
III. The abolition ofthe clergy's dominion over temporrl
and its return to the evangelical life of Christ and the
IV The punishment ofall ofenses against divine law without
tion ofoenon or condition.
Uniry was much needed. To stamp out the revolt of the Hussites, the Church'
1421, sent against Taborites and Calixtins an army of 150,000. "Five times,"
writes, "during 1421, the crusaden in'reded Bohemia, and 6ve times they
beaten back."Two
years leter, at the Council ofSiena, the Church decided
the Bohemian heretics could not be defeated militarily, they should be isolated
starved out through a blockade. But that too failed and Hussite ideas continued
spread into Germany, Hungary, and the Slavic territories to the South.
22.
lohn
H*t being m.ttyftd al
Cottlieben oi the PJine in 1413.
AJtcr his death, his ashes wrc
lhtutlm inlo lhe ivet
army of 100,000 was once more launched against them, in 1431, again to no avail.
This time the crusaden fled the batdeGeld even before the batde started, on "hear-
ing the batde hlmrt of the dreaded Hussite troops"(r'bid.).
What, in the end,destrcyed the Taborites were the negotiations that took place
between the Church and the modente wing ofthe Hussites, Cleverly, the ecclesi-
astlc diplomats deepened the split between the Calixtins and the Taborites.Thus,
when another crusade was launched against the Hussites, the Calixtinsjoined the
Catholic
barons in the pay ofthe Vatican, and exterminated their brothers at the
Batde of Lipan, on May 30, 1434. On that day, more than 13,000 Taborites were
left dead on the battlefield.
'Women
were very active in the Taborite movement as in all heletic movements.
Many fought in the battle for Prague in 1420 when 1500 Taborite women dug a
long
trench which they defended with stones and pitchforks
@emetz
1997).
These
words - "the most moving plea for social equality in the history of the
English
language." according to the historian R. B. Dobson - were actually put
lnto
John Ball's mouth to incriminate him and make him appear like a fool, by a
contemporary
French chronicler,
Jean
Froissart, e stern opponent of the English
Peasants'
Revolt.The fint sentence ofthe sermon. which lohn Ball was said to have
given
many times, (in Lord Berners' l6tl'-cenrury translation) is as follows:"Ah, ye
good
people,
matters goeth not well to pass in England, nor shall do till everyting
be comrnon, and drat there be no villains nor gendemen, but that we may be
united together, and that the lords be no greater mirsters than we be" (Dobson
I
371\.
23. By 1210 the Church had labeted the demand fot the abolition ofthe death
an heretical "error," which it attributed to the Waldenses and the Cathan. So
was the presumption that the opponents ofthe Church were abolitionists tnat
heretic who wanted to submit to the Church had to aftrm that "the secular
can, without mortal sin, exercise judgement ofblood, provided that it punishes
justice, not out ofhatred, with prudence, not precipitation" (Mergivern 1997:
As
J.J.
Mergiven poins out, the heretical movement took the monl high
on this question, and "forced the 'orthodox,' ironicdly, to take up the defensc
very questionable pnctice" (ilid.: 103).
24. Among the evidence proving the Bogomils'influcnce on the Cathan there are
works that "the Cathan of Western Europe took over from the Bogomils,"
are: The Wsiox oJ Isaiah md The Seuet Snppa, cited in Wake6eld and Erans's
of Catharist literatu rc (1969t 447
-465)
.
The Boeomils were for the Eastern Church what the Catlars were for
Western. Aside from their Manicheanism and anti-natalism, the Byzantine
ties were most alarmed by the Bogomils"'radical anarchism," civil disobedience,
class hatred. As Presbyter Cosmas wrote, in his sermons against them: "They
their own people not to obey their masters, they tevile the wealthy, hate the
ridicule the elden, condemn the boyan, regard as vile in the eyes ofGod those
serve the king, and forbid every serfto work for his lond."The heresy had a
dous and long-term influence on the peasantry of the Balkans. "The
preached in the language of the people, and their message was undentood by
people... their loose organiution, their attrective solution ofthe problem ofcvil
their cornrnitment to socid protest rude their movement vimrally
@rcwning
1975: 164-166).The influence ofthe Bogomils on hercsy is traceablc
the use, common by the 13th century of"buggery," to connote 6nt heresy and
homosexuality (Bullough 197 6a:7 6tr.).
25. The ban which the Church imposed upon cledcal marriages and concubinagc
moti!?ted, more than by any necd to restorc its reputation, by the desire to
its properry which was threatened by too many subdivisions, and by the fear
the wives of the priess might unduly interfere in clericd affain (McNaman
Wemple 1988: 93-95). The ruling of the Second Lateran Council
resolution that had dready been adopted in the previous century but had not
observed in tle midst ofan open revolt against this innovation.The protest had
maxed in 1061 with an "orgenized rebellion" leadins to the election ofthe
of Parma as Aatipope, under the tide of Honorious II, and his subsequent,
attempt to capture Rome (Thylor 1954: 35).The Lateran Council of 1123 not
banned clerical marriages, but declared those existent invalid, throwing the
families, above all their wives and children, into a state of terrcr and
@rundage
1987 : 21 4, 21rl-'171.
The reforming canons ofthe 12th century ondered married couples to avoid sex
s6
ing the thrce Lenten seasons associated with Eastet Pentacost and Chrismus, on
, o
s7
27.
Sunday
of dre year, on feast days prior to rcceiving communion' on dreir wedding
fljghts,
during their wifei merstrud periods, during pregnancy' during lacation, and
.rv;jle
doingpenance @rundage
1987: 198-99)'These testrictions were not new'They
wsr
reaftrrnations
ofthe ecclesiastic wMom embodied in dozeru ofPenitentids-What
was
novel was that they now became incorporated widrin the body of Canon I:w
.,which
was trensformed into an effective irutrument for Church government and dis-
cipline
in the tweLfth century." Both the Church and the lairy recognized dnt a legal
liuirement
with explicit pendties would have a dilferent status *un a perunce sug-
gested by one's conGssor. ln this period, the most intirnate rclations between people
iecame
a matter for lawyen and penologiss (Brundage 1987: 578).
The relation between the Beguines and heresy is uncenain. While some of their
contemporaries,
like
James
de Vitry - described by Carol Neel as "an important
ecclesiasticd
administrator" - supPorted their initiative as an dternative to heresy,
..they
were Enally condemned on suspicion ofheresy by the Council ofVienne of
1312,likely
because ofthe clergyt intolerance ofwomen who escaped me.le con-
trol.The
Beguines subsequendy disappeared, "forced out of existence by ecclesias-
tical reprobation"
(N eel 1989: 324-27 , 329 , 333
,
339)
-
The Ciompi were those who washed, combed, and greased the wool so that it could
be wo*ed.They were considered unskilled workers and had the lowest social sta-
tus. "Cionrpo" is a derogatory term, meaning dirry and poorly dresed, probably due
to the fact that the "ciompi" worked half-naked and were always greasy and stained
with dyes. Their revolt began in
July
1382, sparked by the news that one of them,
Simoncino, had been arrested and tortured. Apparendy, under torture he had been
made to reveal that the donpi had held a secret meeting during which, kissing eech
other on the mouth, they had promised to deGnd each other from the abuses of
their employers. Upon hearing of Simoncino's arrest, workers rushed to the guild
hall of the wool industry (Palazzo dell'Atte), demanding that their comrade be
released.Then, after securing his release, they occupied the guild hall, put patrols on
Ponte Vecchio, and hung the insignia of the "minor guilds" (arti minori) frorar the
windows ofthe guild hdl.They also occupied the ciry hall where they claimed to
have found e room full of nooses which, they believed, were meant for them.
Seemingly in control ofthe situarion,the riompi presented a petition demanding that
they become part ofthe government, that they no longer be punished by the cut-
ting ofa hand for non-payment ofdebts, that the rich pay more taxes, and that cor-
poral punishment be replaced by monetary fines. ln the 6nt week ofAugust, they
formed
a militia and set up three new crafts, while preparations were made for an
election
in which, for the first time, memben ofthe ciompi would participate.Their
new power, however,lasted no more than a month, as the wool magnates organized
a lock-out
that reduced them to hunger.After their deGat, many were arrested,hung
and
decapitated; tnany more had to leave the city in an exodus that marked the
oegtnrung
ofthe decline ofthe wool industry in Florence (Rodolico 1971:passirn).
In
the aftermath of the Black Death, every European country began to condemn
idleness,
and to penecute ragabondage, begging, and refusal ofwoik. England took
the
initiative
with the Statute of 1349 that condemned high wages and idlenes,
establishing
thet those who did not work, and did not have any means ofsurvival,
had to accept work. Similar ordinances were isued in France in 1351, when it
recommended that people should not give food or hostel to healthy beggan
vagebonds. A further ordinance in 1354 established that those who remained
passing their time in taverns, playing dice or begging, had to accept work or
the consequences: first offenders would be put in prison on bread and water,
second ofenders would be put in the stocks, and thid offenden would be
on the forehead.ln the French legislation a new element eppeared that became
of the modern struggle agarnst vagabonds: forced labor. [n Castile. an
introduced in 1387 allowed private people to arrest ragabonds and employ
for one month without wages (Geremek 1985: 51-65).
30. The concept of'workers'democracy"may seem prcposterous when applied to
forms ofgovernment. But we should considerthat in the U.S.,which is often vi
as a democratic country not one industrial worker has yet become President,
the highest governmental orgaru are all composed of representatives from an
nomic aristocracy.
The remensas was a redemotion tax that the servile Deasants in Catalonia had to
to leave their holding.A-fter the Black Death, peasants subjecttothe rcmensas
dso subjected to a new t:lxanon known as the "five evil customs" (ios nalos
that, in earlier times, had been applied in a less generalized way (Hilton 1
117-18).These new taxes, and the conflicts revolving around the use of
holdinp were the source ofa protracted, regional war, in the course ofwhich
Catalonian peasants recruited one man ftom every three households. They
strengthened their ties by means of sworn associations, took decisions at
assemblies and, to intimidate the landowners, put up crosses and other
signs all over the fields,ln the last phase ofthe war, they denanded the end of
and the establishment ofpeasant propetty ll^ghts (ibid.:120-21;1331.
Thus, the prolifention ofpublic brothels was accompanied by a campaign
homosexuals that spread even to Florence. where homosexuality was an i
part of the social fabric "attracting meles of all ages, matrimonial conditions
social rank." So popular was homosexuality in Florence that prostitutes used to
male clothes to attract their customen. Signs ofa change in Florence were two
tiatives which the authorities introduced in 1403.when the ciw banned"
from public office, and set up a watchdog commission devoted to the extirpation
homosexuality: the Office of Decency. But significandy, the main step which
office took was to make preparatioru for the opening ofnew public brothel, so
by 1418, the authorities were still looking for means to eBdicate sodomy "fiom
ciry and from the county" (Rocke 1997:30-32,35). On the Florentine
mentl promotion of publicly funded prostitution as a remedy against
decline and "sodomy," see also Richard C.Tiexler (1993):
Like other ltalian cities ofthe fifteenth century Florence
believed that ofticially sponsored prostitution combatted two
other evils ofincompanbly greater moral and social import:
male homosexuality - whose practice was thought to obscure
the diffelence between the sexes and thus all diference and
5A 59
33.
decorum - and the decline in the legitimate population which
resulted ftom an insulficient number ofmarriages (p.32).
Treder
poins out that dre same correlation between the spread ofhomosexualiry
population decline, and the sponsorship ofpublic prostitution can be found in late
fourte".rth-...ttury,
early fifteenth-century Lucca, Venice and Siena, and that the
erowth
in the number and social power ofprostitutes eventually led to a backlash,
so that whereas
[i]n
the early fifteenth century preachers and statesmen
[in
Florence]
had deeply believed that no city could long endure in which females
and mdes seemed the same ...
[a]
century later
[they]
wondered ifit
could survive when
[upper]
class women could not be distinguished
from brothel prostitutes (ibid.: 65).
ln Tuscany, where the democratization ofpolitical life had proceeded further than
in any other European region, by the second halfofthe 15th century, there was an
inversion ofthis tendency and a restoration ofthe power ofthe nobiliry, promoted
by the nercantile bourgeoisie to block the rise ofthe lower classes. By this time, an
orgrnic fusion had occurred berween the families ofthe merchants and those ofthe
nobility, achieved by means ofmarriages and the sharing of prerogatives. This put
ar end to that socid mobiliry that had been the major achievement ofurban soci-
ety and comrnunal liG in medieval Tirscany (Lluzza:J 19t11: 187, 206).
Albfttht Di.lrcl,THr FArL u' MAN (1510)
Tlris poutrfil srLn4 ot the cryrlsion of Alttn dnd Et'(.ftont lhe
Cddtn of EdM, cvok:r the etyukion of tht pars't 1try.ftottt its
huds, rhkh r.r''rs snniq to oran aooss n'tslenr Eurolc nl lhe wry
ulrcn Diru u"ts producin! lhis uoft.
The
Accumulation of Labor and
the Degradation of Women:
Constructing
"Difference"
in the
"
Tr ansition t o C apitalism"
I denrand whether all wars. bloodshed and niserv carrc nor
upon thc' creation when one nran endeavoured to be a lord over
another?... And whether this misery shall not remove... when
all the branches of mankind shall look upon the earth as one
conrnron treasury to all.
-Cernnd Winstanl ey, Tlrc Ncw lztu oJ Righteousness, lA19
To hinr she was a fragrnented conunodity whose feelings and
choices were rarely considered: her head and her heart were
separated from her back and her hands and divided from her
womb and vagina. Her back and rnuscle were pressed into 6eld
labor... her hands were denranded to nurse and nurture tbe
whire man....
[H]er
vagina, used for his sexud pleasure, was the
gatewey to the womb,which was his place ofcapital invesmrent
- the capital investment being the sex-act and the resulting
chi l d the accumul ared surpl us....
-Barbara Omolade."Hean of Darkness." 19113
I
I
Par t
One: I nt r oduct i on
The
developnrenr
ofcapirafisnr was not the onJy possible response to the crisis offeudal
P_ower.Throughout
Eumpe, !?st comnlunalistic social nrovenrents and rebellions against
leudalsrrr
hai offered th.' prorrrise of a new egJitariarr society built on social equaliry
"\uopcntion.
However. by 1525 their most powc'rful expression, the "Peasant War"
"',.\Jernlany
or, as Perer Blickle called it, the "revolutiorr
of the conunon nran," was
-'qlocd I
A hu ndrcd thousan.l rebels were messacred in retaliation.Then, in I 535, "New
I
Jerusalem,"
the attempt made by the AneblptisB in the town of Miirutet to bring
kingdom of God to eaith, dso ended in a bloodbath, 6rst undermincd presumably
the patriarchat turn taken by is leaden who, by imposing polygany' caused
among thcir renks to revolt.2 with these defcats, compounded by the sprcads of
huns and the efects ofcolonial expansion, the revolutionary process in Europe
an end.lviilitary might was not suffcient, however, to avert the crisis of fcuddism.
By the late Middle Ages the feudd economy wes doomed, faced with an
mulation crisis that stretched for more than a century We deduce is dimeruion
some basic estimates indicating that between 1350 and 1500 a majot shift
the power-relation between workers and masteis. Thc red wage increased by I
pricis declined by 33%, rents also declined, the length ofthe working-day decrcase<
a tendency appearcd toward locd self-sufficienry.3 Evidence ofa chronic
tion trend in this period is also found in the pessimism ofthe contemporary
and landownen, and thc measures which the European states adopted to prctect
kes, supprcs compctition and force people to work at the conditions imposed-As
istic wealth" (Marx 1909,Vo1.1: 789).
tt was in rcsponse to this crisis tlut the EuroPcan nrling das launched the globd
sive tlut in the course ofat least tluec centuries was to change the history ofthe
ing the foundations ofa capitalist wodd-q'stcm, in t}te rclcndes attempt to aPptopriate
sources ofwedth, expand is economic bds, and bring new worken undet its comrna
As we know,"conquest, cnslavement, robbery murder, in briefforce" were thc
lan ofthis proces (i6id. r 785).Thus, the concept ofa"transition to caPitalism" is in E
ways a 6ction. British historians, in the 1940s and 1950s' used it to de6ne a period
entries in the registen of the fcudal manors recorded"'the work
[wasl
not worth
breekfasC'(Dobb 1963:54).The feudd economy cou.ld not reproduce itself, not c<
a capitalist society have "evolved" ftom it' for sclf-sufficienry and the ncw hig
regime allowed for the "wealth ofthe peoPle," but "excluded the possibility of
roughly ftom 1450 to 1650 - in which feudalism in Europe was breaking down
no new social-economic systcm was yct in place' though elemens ofa capitdist s
wcrc taking shape.4 The concept of"tnnsition," then' helps us to think ofe pml
process ofchange and ofsocieties in which capitdist accurnulation coexisted witb
Age of Plunder (Hoskins), and the Age of the Whip (Stone)' "Tnnsition," then' cr
euoke the changes that paved the way to the advent of capitalism and the forces
shaped them. In this voiume, therefore, I use the term ptirnarily in a temporal
while I refer to the social proceses that characterized the "feudd reaction"and the
opment of capitalist relations with the Marxian concept of"primitive accumu
though I agree with is critics that we must rethink Marxi interpretation ofit's
ical formations not yet predominandy capitalistic. The term, however' suggess a
ual, lincar historical dcvclopment, whereas thc
Period
it names was among the
est and most discontinuous in world history - onc that saw apocalyptic
and which historians can only describe in the harshest terms: the lron Age (Kamcn)'
Marx introduced the concept of "prinitive accumulation" at the end of
Volume I to describe the social and economic restructuring that the European nrling
initiated in response to its accumulation crisis, and to establish (in polemics with A
Srnith)o 16x1
6i
.rO aalism could not have dertloped without a prior concentr:tion of
62
63
x2randrabor;andtha'Iils"-3:T19"1":x*::^3li:::31i.tslJ-"i;ll'
fi
-.u,i'.""."r,n'i:l',".h.:ll":.:f
",1::::*1:.fl
",::.::^'::*"^Tf i:?l
[l
u-,"ru
.on..pt'
ror it connecs the'G"3
:",:::1, :'** *]:l"if:::":".t:
nriul nd logical cotdttions for the development of
a[5t
economY'
and rt.to:nTt,3: n1t'
.
ff"rpi,Ao,
tr"*-, "primitive" ("originav
llif31"i9 "
n*conditon
for the existence
i"2pi
Ait,
t t",i"*
"t
much as a specifc ercnt in time
T
Marx,
howevct analyzed primitive accumulation dmost exclusively from the
;.wDoint
ofthe w.gcd industrid proletariat: the protagonist, in his vieq of the revolu-
,ion.ry
p-."tt
"f
ns cimc and the foundation fot the future communist sociery Thus,
in
hi,
"i.oun,,
pti-itive accumulation consists cssentidly in the exptopriation of dre
bnd
fiom
the European peasantry and the formation ofthe "fiee," independent worker'
jthough he acknowledged that:
The discovery ofgold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslave-
ment and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population,
[of
America], the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East
Indies, the turning ofA6ica into a preserve for the commercid hunt-
ing of black skins, are... the chief momens of primitive accumula-
ti on... (Marx 1909,Vo1. l : 823).
Marx also recognized that "[al grcat deal ofcapital, which today appears in the
United States without any certificate ofbirth, was yesterday in England the capitalised
blood of children" ( ibid.:82!)_301. By contrast, we do not 6nd in his work any men-
tion of the profound trensformations that crpitalism introduced in the rcproduction
oflabor-power and the social position ofwomen. Nor does Marx's andysis of primi-
tivc accumulation mention the "Great Witch-Hunt"of the 16tb and lTth centuries,
dthough this state-sponsorcd terror campaign was central to the defeat of the
Eumpean peasantry, faciliuting its expulsion fiom the lands it once held rn common.
In this chapter and those that follow, I discuss these developments, especially with
llfetnce
to Eurcpe, arguing that:
The expropriation ofEuropean worken from their means ofsubsis-
tence, and the enslavement of Nativc Americans and Africans to the
mines and plantations of the "NewWorld," were not the only means
by which a wodd proletariat was formed and "accumulated,"
This process required the trensformation of the body into a work-
machine, and the subjugation of women to the reproduction of the
work-force. Most of dl, it requircd the destruction of the powcr of
women which, in Europe as in America, was achieved through the
extermination
of the "witches."
Primitive
accumulation, then, was not simply an accumulation and
concentration
of exploitable worken and capital. It was also an accu-
uulation of dffercnes and divisions within the u.,trr&irg dass, whereby hier-
alchies built upon gender, as well $ "race" and agc, became constitu-
tive ofclass rule and the formation ofthe modern proletariat.
Iv. We cannot, therefore, identify capielist accumulation with the libcr-
ation of the workcr, Gmde or male, as many Marxists (among othen)
have done, or see the advent of capitdism as a moment of historicd
progrcss. On the contnry capitalism has crcated more brutal and
iruidious forms of enslavement, as it has planted into the body ofthe
proletariat deep divisions that have served to intensi$ and conced
exploitation.lt is in great part becausc ofthese inposed divisions
-
especia.lly those between women and men - that capitalist accumu-
lation continues to devasate life in everv cotner ofthe
planet.
Capitalidt Accurnulation and the AccrrErrrlation
of Labor in Europe
Capitd, Marx wrote, comes on the face ofthe earth dripping blood and dirt ftour
to toe (1909,Vo1. 1: 834) and, indeed, when we look at the beginning ofcapitalist
opment, we have the impression of being in an immense concentntion camp. ln
"NewWorld" we have the subjugation ofthc aboriginal populations to the
the nitd
^
d cuatelchils under which multitudes ofpeople were consumed to bring
ver and mercury to the su.face in the mines of Huancavelica and Potosi. In
Eurcpe, we have a "second serfdom," tying to the land a population offarmen who
ncvcroreviouslv been enserfed.9 In Western EumDe,we have thc Enclosures, the
Hunt, the bnnding, whipping, and incarcention ofvagabonds and beggan in newly
structed work-houses and correction houses. models for the future Drison svstem"
the horizon, we have the rise ofthe slave trade, while on the seas, ships arc already
porting indentured servants and convicB ftom Europe to America.
What we deduce fiom this scerurio is that force was the mein lever, thc meil
nomic power in the proces ofprimitilc accumulationl0 because capitalist
requircd an imrncnse leap in the wealth appropriatcd by the European ruling clas
the number ofworken brought under is command. In other woncls, primitive
lation consisted in an immense accumulation oflabor-oower-"dead labor" in thc
of stolen goods, and "living labor" in the form of human being madc arailablc
exploitation - realized on a sca.le never before matched in the course of history.
Signifcandy, the tendency ofthe capitalist class, during the 6nt three
its existcnce, was to impose davery and other forrns of coerced labor as the
work relation, a tendency limited only by the worken' resistance and the dangcr
exluustion of the work-force.
This was true not only in the Amcrican colonies, where, by thc 16th
economies based on coerced labor were forming, but in Europe as well. Later, I
ine the importance ofslave-labor and the plantation system in capitalist
Here I want to stress that in Europe, too, in the l5th century slavery, never
abolished, was revitalized.l
I
6.I 6S
16
.eportcd by the Itdian bistorien Sdvetorc Bono, to whom we owe the most
-;.6lvc
study ofdavery in ltaly, thete were nurnerous daves in the Mediterranean areas
lrtre t6,t'
and 17,t' centuries, and their numbers grew after the Batde oflepanto (1571)
]i* .r..trt.d
the hostilities against thc Muslim world. Bono cdculates that more then
in-ooo
rl"ue,
liued in Naples and 25'000 in the Napolitan kingdom as a whole (one per
,irrt ofthe
population), and similar figures apply to other ltdian towns and to southern
i-oncc.ln
ldy. a system ofpublic slavery developed whereby thousands of kidnapped
foraigrtatr
-
the rnceslors of-to&yl undocumented imrnigrent workcrs - were
.rnpl,oy.d
by .ity governrnens for public work, or were farmed out to privete citizens
who
employed
them in agriculturc. Many wcre destined for the oan,an irnportant source
ofsuch
employment
being the Vatican fleet (Bono 1999: 6-8).
Slavery
is "that form
[of
exploitation] towards which the master always strives"
(pockes 1982: 2). Europe was no exception. This must be emphasized to dispel thc
esumption
ofa specid connection between slavery andAfrica.l2 But in Europe slavery
prneined a limited phenomenon, as the materid conditions for it did not exist, ddrough
dre ernployen'
desires for it must have been quite strong ifit took until the lSth century
beforc
slavery was oudawed in England.The attempt to bringback serfdom fa.iled as well,
cxccpt
in the East, wherc population scarcity grve landlonds the upper hand.l3 In the
West is restoration was prevented by peasant resistance culminating in the "Cerman
Peasant War." A broad organizational effort spreading over three countries (Germany,
Austria, Switzerland) and joining worken from every 6eld (farmers, miners, artisarx,
including the best German andAustrian artists),14 this".evolution ofthc common man"
uns a wetershed in European history. Like the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, it
shook dre powerful to the core, merging in their consciousnes with the Anabaptiss
trkeover of Miiruter, which confrmed their fears that an international conspirecy wx
underway to overthrow their power.ls Atfter its dcfeat, which occurred in the same year
es the conquest of Peru, and which was commemoreted by Albrecht Diirer with the
"Monument to thevanquished Peasants" (Thea 1998:65; 13,1-35), the revenge was mer-
ciles, "Thousands
ofcorpses laid on the ground from Thuringia to Alsace, in the fields,
in the woods, in rhe ditches ofa thousand dismantled, burned castles," "murdered, tor-
turcd, impaled, martyred" (ibid.:153, 146). But the clock could not be turned back. In
vltlous parts of Germany and the other territories that had been at the center of the
"lar,"
customary righs and even forms ofteritorial government were preserved.l6
,
This was an exception. Where worken' rcsistance to re-enser6nent could not be
Droken,
the response wa5 the cxpropriation ofthe peasantry ftom ils land and the intro-
qucuon
offorced \'r'age-labor. Worken attempting to hire themselves out independently
or leave
their employen werc punished with incarceration and even with death, in the
clse
of recidivism.A "free" wage labor-market did not develop in Europe until the 18th
cctttury,
and even then, contraciral waqe-work was obtained onlv at the oiice ofan intense
sh8de
and by a linired set of laborei. mostly male and adult. Nevertheless, the fact tlut
qvery
and
serfdom could not be restored meant that the labor crisis that had character-
ucd
the
late
Middlc Agcs continued in Europe into the 17rh century aggwated by the
qr
that
the drive to nraximize the exploitation oflabor put injeopandy the reproduc-
uonofthe
work-lorce.This
contndiction - which st l clancte.ir., capita]ist deuelop-
"'cntr7
-
exploded nrost dramatically in the American colonies, where work, disease,
I
Pedstlnt unlu ing th. bnnno of"Frcedo ."
and disciplinary punisbments destrcyed two thirds of the native American poPulatioo
the decades immediately after the Conquest
lS
lt was also at the core of the slale
and the exploitation ofslave labor. Mi.llions ofAfricans died because ofthe
living conditions to which they were subjected during the Middle Passage and on
plantations. Never in Europe did the exploitation ofthe work-force reach such geno
irl proportio.rr, .*cept under the Nazi regime. Even so, there too, in the 16tb and I
centuries.land
prilatization and the comrnodification ofsocial relations (the respon9
lorls and merchants to their economic crisis) caused widespread poverty, mortdiry,
an intense resistance that threatened to shipwreck the emerging capitalist economy'
I arzue, is the histotical context in which the history ofwomen and reproduction in
transition from feuddism to capitalism must be placedi for the changes which the
ofcapitalism introduced in the social position ofwomen - especially at the
level, whether in Europe or America - were primarily dictated by the search for
sources oflabor as well as new forms ofregimentation and division ofthe work
66
67
AIIftrht
Dit./, MoNttut:it
'I() tHIt
/,{.\'errriHlil)
Prr.s,l.\lit (1 5 26).T}tis pn'
Mr,
nercs
litry tt
Pltlsttnl
enthroie.l ofl d aol
lr.lio
of olitds.fio hit diily li.fc' is highly
tt biguous.
lt an suglesl thnl th'
Pctrs't'lts
uin
bt ytd ot th, Illty lteuxlvLs sltoultl be
ntrrl
as ni'itors. Acotlinlly, il h,u bettt itkt-
pntd
nhr as ,t ;,nr, of !h,: nb'l
Y,u,tttti
ol
,x d hotr,tlt to thdr nonl stnngth ll'lnt wc
ktrou uith nndity i tlrdl Diiltr tuts pto'
Jounlly
ptrtutbcd by tht tntts ofl525,ui,
$ tt @ntitcd Luthu.tn, t,tust hdu(
Iollowed
Ittlw it his conduur,rtion oJ the reuoh .
il1
til
In suppon of this satement,I tmce dre main developmena dut shaped dte
ofcapitalism in Europe - land privatization and the Price Revolution - to argue tbat
ther was sufficient to produce a self-sustaining proces ofpmletarianization l then
in brcad oudines the policies which the capitalist class introduced to discipline,
and expand the European proletariat, beginning with the anack it launched on
resulting in the consmrction ofa new patriarchal ondet, which I define as the "paniarcly
the wage." Lasdy, I look at the production of recial and sexual hierarchies in the
asking to what extent they could form a ternin of conftontation or soli&rity
indigenous,African, and European women and between women and men.
Land Privatizalion in Errrope, the Production of
and the Separatiorr of Production frorn Reprodrrction
From the begrnning of capitdism, the immiseration of the working class began
war and land priratization.This was an international phenomenon.By the mid-16th
tury European merchans had expropriated much ofthe land ofthe Canary Islands
turned them into sulpr plantations.The most massive process ofland privatization
enclosure occurred in the Americas where, by the turn ofthe 17th century one-drid
the communal indigenous land had been appropriated by the Spanialds under the
rem of the ercomienda. Loss ofland was also one ofthe consequences ofslave-raiding
Africa, which deprived many communities ofthe best among their youth.
In Europe land privatization began in the late-t5th century sinultaneoudy
colonial expansion. It took difelent forms: the evictions of tenants, rent increase!,
increased state taxation, leading to debt and the sale ofland. I de6ne dl these formr
land exptopiationbecause, even when force was not used, the loss ofland occurred
the individual! or the communiryt will and undermined their capaciry for subsi
Two forms ofland expropriation must be mentioned: war - whose character
in this period,being used as a means to tr:lnsform territorial and economic
- and relisious reform.
"[B]efore 1494 warfare in Europe had mainly consisted of minor wan
terized by briefand irregular campaigns" (Cunningham and Grell 2000:95).Thcse
took place in the summer to give the peasans, who formed the bulk ofthe armies,
time to sow their crops; armies confronted each other for long periods ofdme
out much action. But by the 16th century wan becarne more frequent and a new
ofwarfare appeared, in part because oftechnological innovation but mosdy becausc
European states began to ntrn to territorial conquest to tesolve their economic
and wealthy frnanciers invested in it. Military campaigns became much longer,
grew tenfold, and they became permanent and professionalized.l9 Mercenaries
hired who had no attachment to the local population; and the goal of warfare
the elimination of the enemy, so that war left in its wake deserted villages, fiel&
ered with corpses, famines, and epidemics, as in Albrecht Diirerl "The Four
ofthe ApocalJpse" (1498).20 This phenomenon, whose traumatic impact on the
ulation is rcflected in numerous artistic rcpresentations, changed the agricultural
scaoe ofEurore.
6a
Jd.lucs
Cdllot , THE HoR"roRs )FWAR ( 1 63 3). E
Erttvin!.nrc
nten hanged
W
nilitary asthoitiet u,ere
Jorner
soliliers lurned rcblxrs. Disnissed solcliers
w*e a large part oJ the wgabonds dncl be4llars that dowdcd the rcdds of 1Vh-
entury Eurooe,
Many tenure contracts were also annulled when the Church's lands.were conis-
cated in the coune of the Protestant Reformation, which began with a massive land-
gnb by the upper class. In France, a common hunger for the Churchi land at first united
the lower and higher classes in the Protestant movement, but when the land was auc-
tioned, starting in 1563, the artisans and &y-laborers, who had demanded the expropri-
rtion of the Church "with a passion born of bitternes and hope," and had mobilized
with the promise that they too would receive their share, were betrayed in their expec-
tetions (Le Roy Ladurie 1974: 173_76).Also the peasants, who had become Protestant
to free themselves from the tithes,were deceived.When they stood by their riqhts,declar-
ing that ''the
Gospel promises land freedom and enfranchisement," they were savagely
ettacked
as fomenters of sedition (ihid.:192)2r In England as well, much land changed
hends
in the nanre ofreligious reform. W C. Hoskin has describe it as "the greatest trans-
rerence
of land in English history since the Norman Conquest" or, more succinctly, as
,
r ne Great Plunder."22 ln England,however,land privatization was mosdy accomplished
qrrough
the "Enclosures,"
a phenomenon that has become so associated with the expro-
Ptiation
of worken fio- thei. "co--or, *"alth" that, in our rime, it is used by anti-cap-
Italist
activists
as a signifier for every attack on social entitlements.23
..
-
In the l6rh century, "enclosure" was a technical term, indicating a set of strategies
he.English
lotds and rich farmers used to eliminate communal land property and expand
qeu
holdings.2'r
It mostly refetred to the abolition ofthe open-field system,an arrange-
;:':t
by
which
villagers owned non-conriguous strips of land in a non-hedged 6eld.
-r"'t$ng
dto included the fencing of of the conunons and the pulling down of the
-'{LKs o[ poor
conagers who had no land but could survive because they had access to
customary rights.2s Large tiacts ofland were also enclosed to create deer patks,
entire villages were cast down, to be laid to
Pasture.
Though the Enclosures continued into the 18.h century (Neeson 1993),
before the Reformation, more than two thousand rural conrmunities were destrcyed
this way (Fryde 1996: 185). So severc was the extinction of rural villages that in
and again in 1548 the Crcwn cdled for an investigation. But despite the appointmcnt
several royal comnissions, litde was done to stop the trend.What began, instead, \yas
intense struggle, climaxing in numerous uprisings, accompanied by a long debate o1
meris and demerits ofland privatization which is still continuing today, revitalized
the World Banll assault on the last planetary corfnons
Briefly put, the a4lument proposed by "modernizers," from all political
tives, is that the enclosures boosted agriculrural efiicrency, and the dislocations they
duced werc well cornpensated by a sigruficant increase in agricultunl productivity.
claimed that the land was depleted and, if it had remained in the hands ofthe
would have ceased to produce (anticipating Garret Hardinl "tragedy of thc
mons"),26 while is takeover by the rich allowed it to rest. Coupled with agri
innovation, the argument goes, the enclosures made the land rnore productrve,
to the expansion ofthe food supply. From this viewpoint, any praise for comrnunal
tenure is disrnissed as"nostalgia for the past,"the assumption being that agricultural
munalisrn is backward and inefficient, and that those who defend it are guilty ofan
attachment to tradition.
27
But these a4pments do not hold. Land privatization and the
ofagriculture did not increase the food supply available to the comrnon people'
more food was made alailable for the market and for export. For worken they i
rated two centuries ofstarvation, in the same way as today, even in the most fertilc
ofAfrica,Asia, and Letin America, mdnutrition is rampant due to the destruction of
munal land-tenure and the"exPort or perish"policy imposed by the World Bankt
tural adjusment programs. Nor did the introduction of new agricultural techniqucs
England compensate for this loss. On the contrary the development ofagrarian
ism "worked hand in glove" with the impoverishment ofthe rural population (Lis
Soly 1979: 102). A testimony to the misery produced by land priratization is the
that, barely a century after the emergence of agrarian capitalism, sixry European
had instituted some form of social assistance or were moving in this directior!
vagabondage had become an international problem (i6irl.: 87). Population growth
have been a contributing factor: but its importance has been ovetstated, and should
circumscribed in time.By the last part ofthe 16th centuryalmost everyvhere in
the population was stagrating or declining,but this time worken did not derive any
e6t from the change.
There are also misconceptions about the effectiveness ofthe open-field s)stem
aericulture. Neo-liberal historians have described it as wasteful, but even a supportcr
land privatization like
Jean
DeVries recognizes that the communal use of
fields had many advantages.lt protected the peasants from harvest failure,due to the
ety ofstrips to which a family had access; it also allowed for a manageable work
ule (since each strip required attention at a different time); and it encounged a
cratic way oflife, built on self-government and self-reliance, since all decistons -
70
7t
Rurol
Ject.All
the
Jestiwb, lamrs,
,trr! githeings oJ tfu pauatt
onnunity werc hckl on tht rcnt ons. 16th-@!ury efigttritq
W
Ddniel HopJet
lo plrnt
or harvest, when to drain the fens, how many animals to allow on the commons
-
were taken by peasant assemblies.2u
The same consideretiors apply to the "commons." Disparaged in 16th century liter-
ature
as a source oflaziness and disonder, the corunons were essentia.l to the reproduction
ofnrany
snull farmers or cottan who survived onlv because they had access to meadows in
which
to keep cows, or woods in which ro gather tirrrber, wild berries and herbs, or quar-
nes'6sh-ponds,
and open spaces in which to meet.Beside encouraging collective decision-
nuhng
and work cooperation, the cornnons were the material foundation upon which
peasant
solidariry
and iocialiry could rhrive. All the festivals, games, and gatherinF of the
pcasant
tornnruniw
were held on the commoru,2gThe social function ofthe colunorx was
esPecrally
rrnpo.t"nt
for wonren, who, having less title to land and les social power, were
''utedependent
on rhem for rherr subsistence, autonony, and sociality. Parephnsing A-tice
Latk\
staternenr
.rbout the importance ofmarkes for women in pre-capitalist Europe, we
*rt
say
that
the conulons too were for wornen the center of social life, the place where
they convened, exchanged news, took advice, and where a women's viewpoint on
munal events, autonomous ftom that ofmen, could form (Clark 1968:51).
This web ofcooDerative relations, which R. DTawney has referred to as the
itive cornmunism" ofthe feudal village, crumbled when the open-field system was
ished and the communal lands were fenced of (Tawney 1967). Not only did
tion in agricultunl labor die when land was privatized and individual labor
replaced collective ones; economic differences emong the nrirl population
the number ofpoor squatters increased who had nothing left but a cot and a coq
no choice but to go with "bended knee and cap in hand" to beg for a job
1992). Social cohesion broke down;30 families disintegrated, the youth left the
join the increasing number of r,egabonds or itinerrnt worken - soon to become
social problem ofthe age - while the elderly were left behind to fend for
Panicularly disadvantaged were older women who, no longer supported by their
dren, fell onto the poor rolls or survived by borrowing, petty theft' and delayed
The outcome was a peasantry polarized not only by the deepening economrc
ities. but bv a web ofhatred and resentrnents that is well-documented in the
the witch-hunt, which show that quarrels relating to requests for help, the
animals, or unpaid rents were in the backgtound ofmany accusations.3l
The enclosures a.lso undermined the economic situation of the anisaru. In
same way in which multinational corporations take advantage ofthe peasans
ated from their lands by the World Bank to construct "free export zones" wherE
modities are
prcduced at the lowest cost, so, in thc 16th and 17th centuries,
capitalists took adrantage ofthe cheap labor-force that had been made aveilable in
rural areas to break the power of the urban guilds and destroy the artisans' i
ence.This was especidly the case in the textile industry that was reorganized as a
conage industry, and on the basis of the "putting out" system, the ancestol of
"informal economy," also built on the labor ofwomen and children.32 But textile
ers were not the only ones whose labor was cheapened. As soon as they lost
land, all worken were plunged into a dependence unknown in medieval tines, as
landless condition gave employen the power to cut their pay and lengthen the
day. In Protestant areas this hepPened under the guise of religrous reform, which
bled the work-year by eliminating the sains' days.
Not surprisingly, with land expropriation came a change in the worken'
towalds dre wage.While in the Middle Ages wages could be viewed as an
fteedom (in contrast to the compulsion ofthe labol services), as soon as acces to land
to an end wages began to be viewed as instrumens ofenslavement (Hill 1975:
Such was the hatred that worken felt for waqed labor that Gerrerd
the leader of the Diggen, declared that it that it did not make any difference
one lived under the enemy or underone's brcther,ifone worked for a wage.This
the
growth, in the wake ofthe enclosures (using the term in a broad sense to i
forms ofland privatization), ofthe number of"vagbonds" and "masterless" men'
preferred to take to the road and to risk enslavement or death - as prescribed bl
:'bloody"
legislation passed against them -rather than to work for a wage.9 It
explains the strenuous strug;gle which peasants made to deGnd their land fiom
priation, no matter how meager its size.
72
73
ln England, anti-enclosure struggles began in the late l5th century and continued
,rroughouc
the 16d and l7th, when levelling the enclosing hedges becarne "the most
if,rn
non
rp..l.t
"ftocid
prctest" and the symbol ofclass conflict (Manning 1988:311).
-lnti-enciosu.e
riots often rurned into mass uprisinS. The most notorious wes Kettls
f.56llion.
named after ics leader, Robert Kett, that took place in Norfolk in 1549.This
*,,
n"
"tott
nocrurnal alfair. At its peak, the rebels numbered 16,000, had an anillery
.Lfa"r.d
, gou..ruttant army of l2'000'and even captured Norwich, at the tirne the sec-
ind
latg.rt
crty in England
Js
They also drafted a program that, if realized, would have
.hecked
che advance of agrarran capitalism and eliminated all vestiges of feudal power
in the
country
It consisted oftwenty-nine demands that Kett, a farmer and tanner, pre-
sented
to the Lord Protector.The first was that "from henceforth no man shdl enclose
.!rv
more."
Other articles demanded that rents shou.ld be reduced to the rrtes that had
ppvailed sixty-five years before, that "all freeholden and copy holden may take the prof-
is of all commotu," xnd that "all bond-men may be made free, for god made all free with
his
precious blood sheddying" (Fletcher 1973: 142-44). These demands were pur into
o1actice.Throughout
Norfolk, enclosing hedges were uprooted, and only when another
government
arrny attacked them were the rebels stopped.Thirry-five hundred were slain
in the massacre that followed. Hundreds more were wounded. Ken and his brother
William were hanged outside Norwich's walls.
Anti-enclosure struggles continued, however, through theJacobean period with a
noticeable increase in the presence of women.36 During the rcign ofJames I, about ten
perccnt of enclosure rios included women arnong the rebels. Some were dl Gmale
protests. In 1607, for instance, thirry-seven women,led by a "Captain Dorothy," attacked
cod miners working on what women claimed to be the village conrnons in Thorpe
Moor (Yorkshire). Forry women went to "cast down the Gnces and hedges" ofan enclo-
sure in
'Waddingham
(Lincolnshire) in 1608; and in 1609, on a manor of Dunchurch
(Warwickshire) "fifteen women, including wives, widows, spinsters, unmarried daugh-
ters, and servants, took it upon themselves to assemble at night to dig up the hedges and
level the ditcheJ' (i!rd.: 97). Again, atYork in May 1624, women destroyed an enclosure
end went to prison for it - they were said to have "enjoyed tobacco and ale after their
terC'(Fraser
1984:22126\.Then, in 1641, a crowd that broke into an enclosed fen at
Buckden
consisted mainly of women aided by boys (ibid.). And these were just
a Gw
nstances
ofa confronation in which women holding pitchfork and scythes resisted the
fencing
ofthe land or the draining ofthe Gns when their livelihood was threatened.
,
This strong Gmale presence hx been attributed to the beliefthat women were above
qre
law.
being "covercd"
legally by rheir husbands, Even men, we are told, dresed like
women
to pull up che fences. But this explanation should not be taken too far, For the
gov-ernment
soon ehmiruted this privilege, and started arresting and inrprisorung women
'rvorved In and-enclosure do6,37 Moreover, we should not asume tbat women had no
"eke
oftheir
own in the resistance to land exproprietion.The opposite was the case.
,,-
As with
the corunutation, women were those who suffered most when the land
"rslo^st and
the village communiry Gll apan. Part ofthe reason is that it was far more dif-
*"rr
tor
thenr
to beconre vagabonds or migrent workers, for a nomadic life exposed them
h-
4c vrolence,
especially at a time when misogyny was escalating, Women were also
'- uruDrle
on account ofpregnancres and the caring of children, a fact overlooked by
rchole$ who consider the flight from servitudc (through migntion and other
nomadism) the pandigrnatic forms of strugle, Nor could women become soldien
pay, though some joined armies as cook, washers, prostitutes, and wives;38 but by dtc
century this option too vanished, as armies were furthet regirnented and the
women that used to follow them were expelled from the batdeGelds (Kricdte 1983;
'Women
were dso morc negatively impacted by the enclosures becausc as
land was privatized and monetary relations begrn to dorninate economic life, they
it more dilhcult than men to support themselves, being increasingly confned to
ductive labor at the very time when this work was being completely delalued.
will see, this phenomenon, which has accompanicd the shift fiom a subsistence
money-economy, in every phase of capitalist development, can be anributed to
facton. It is clear. however. that the commercialization of economic liG providcd
mate rial conditions for it.
With the demise of the subsistence cconomy that had prevailed in
Europe, the unity ofproduction and rcproduction which has been
rypicd
ofall
based on
production-for-use carne to an end,as these activities became the carrien of,
ferent socid relations and were sexually differentiated. In the new monetary regime'
Entitlrd "wo en nnd Kmves," this piaute lry Hats Sebald Behan (, 1
shous thc train of uonen thr.l *ed to
Jollow
the amries euctr to tlrc
wnu, iwluilinX tttues ond pmstitutes, t.f,,k carc oJ irc reproduaion of thc
ili.rs. Notire thr uo tan wedtitrX t mtzzling dedet
.roduction-for-market
was de6ned as a value-creating activity, whereas the reproduction
lldl,
workcr began to be coruidercd as rzlueless lion an economic viewpoint and even
)l.ased
ro be considered as work. Reproductive work continued to be paid - though at
It
"
lo*"t,
ra,", - when perfornred for the master class or ouside the home- But the
Lononric
importance ofthe reproduction oflabor-power carried out in the home, and
i. fun.rion
in the accuntulation of capita.l became invisible, being mystfied as a natural
,ocadon
and labelled "womeni labor." In addition, women werc excluded liom many
*Bgrd
occupations
and, when they wor*ed for a wage, they earned a pittance comparcd
to
the
averege
nrale wage.
These historic changes - that peaked in the 19th century with the creation ofthe
full-dme
housewife - rcdefined women's position in society and in relation to nen.The
gxual division
oflabor that emerged from it not or y 6xed women to reproductive work,
but
increased
theirdependence on men,enabling the state and employen to use the ma.le
*?ge
as a means to command woment labor. In this way, the separetion of commodiry
ooduction
6onr the reproduction of labor-power also made possible the development
ofa
specificdly
capitalist use ofthe wage and ofthe markets as means for the accumu-
htion
ofunPaid labor.
Most importandy, the separation ofproduction from reproduction created a clas
ofproleorian
women who were as dispossessed as men but, unlike their male relatives,
in a society that was becoming incrcasingly monetarized, had alnost no access to wages,
thus bcing forced into a condition ofchronic poverry economic dependence, and invis-
ibility as workers.
As we will see, the devaluation and feminization of reproductive labor rras a dis-
aster also for male workers, for the derzluation ofreproductive labor inevitably devalued
it product: labor-power. But there is no doubt that in the "tmnsirion from feudalism to
capitalism" wonren sufered a uniquc proces ofsocid degndation *ut was fundamen-
d to the accumulation of capital and has remained so ever since.
A.lso in view ofthese developments, we cannot say, then, that the separation ofthe
worker ftom the land and the advent ofa money-economy realized the struggle which
the medieval serfs had fought to free themselves Iiom bondage. It was not the worken
-
male ot female - who were liberated by land priretizationlWhar
was "[bented"
was
capital,
as the land was now "free" to fun.tion
". "
-a"n,
of
"ccumu.larion
and exploita-
qon,rrther
than as a mearu ofsubsistence. Libented were the landlorrds, who now could
utdoad
onto the workers most ofthe cost oftheir reproduction, giving them access to
sorne
means
ofsubsistence only when directly employed,When work would not be avail-
able
ot would
not be sufiiciently profitable, as in times ofcommercial or agricultural cri-
t[r,
workers,
instead, could be laii offand left to starve.
--
The separation
ofworken from their means ofsubsistence and their new depend-
cnce
on
nonetary
relations also meant that the real wage could now be cut and woment
qoor
could
be funher devalued with respect to men's through monetary manipulation.
4 rs
not
a coincidence,
then, that as soon as land began to Le privatized, the prices of
'vo(tstuffs,
wluch
for rwo centuries had sugnated. began to rise.Jq
73
The Prlce Rsvolrrtiorr and the Pauperizatiorr of th
European \^y'orking Cla69
This "in{ationary" phenomenon, which due to is derasating social
been named the Price Revolution (Ramsey 1971), was anributed by contemporarica
later economists (e.g., Adam Srnith) to the arrival ofgold and silver ftom Ametica,
ing into Europe
[through
Spain] in a mammoth smam"
ftIamilton
1965: vii). But it
been noted that prices had been rising before these metals started citculating throug[
European markets.40 Moreover, id themselves, gold and silver ate not capital, and
have been put to other uses, e.g., to make
jewelry or golden cupolas or to
clothes. Ifthey functioned as price-regulating devices, capable ofturning even wheat
a precious commodity, this was because they were planted into a developing
world, in which a growing percentage ofthe population - one-tlird in England
I 97 1 : 53) - had no access to land and had to buy the food that they had once
and because the ruling clas had learned to use the magicd power ofmoney to cut
cosB. [n other wonds, prices rose because ofthe development ofa nationd and
tional market-system encouraging the export-import of agricultural prcduc8,
because merchans hoalded goods to sell them later at a higher
Price.In
September
in Antwerp, "while the poor were literdly starving in the streer;' a warehouse
under the weight ofthe grain packed in it (Hackett Fischer 1996: 88).
tt was under these circumstances that the arrival of the American trasurc
eered a massive redistribution ofwealth and a new proletarianization process.4!
prices ruined the smdl farmers, who had to give up their land to buy grain or
when the harvess could not feed their families, and created a class of capialist
preneun, who accumulated fomrnes by investing in agriculture and
a time when having money was for many people a matter of life or death.42
The Price Revolution also triggered a historic collapse in the rcal wage
nble to that which has occurred in our time throughoutAftica,Asia, and Latin
in the countries "structurally adjusted" by the World Bank and the
Monetary Fund. By 1600, real wages in Spain had lost thirty
Percent
oftheir
ing power with respect to what they had been in 1511 (Hamilton 1965:280)'
collapse was just as sharp in other countries While the price of food went uP
times, wages increased only by threc times (Hackett Fischer 1996:74).This was
work of the invisible hand of the market, but the product of a state poliry thet
vented laborers from organizing, while giving merchans the maximurn freedon
regard to the pricing and movement of goods. Predictably, within a few
real wage lost two-thirds ofits purchasing power, as shown by the changes that
vened in the daily wages of an English carPenter, expressed in kilograms of
between the 14th and 18th century (SlicherVan Bath 1963:327):
YEARS
1351- 1400
1401- 1450
1451- 1500
121.8
155. 1
143.5
KIoGRAMS oF CRAIN
76
1500-1550
1551-1600
1601-1650
, 1651- 1700
1701-1750
1751-1800
It took centuries for wages in Europe to return to the level they had reached in
.r,e late
Middle
Ages Things deteriorated to the point that, in England, by 1550, male
]-..iran,
h"d to *o.k forry weeks to earn the same income that, at the beginning ofthe
l.ntu.y,
th"y had been able to obtain in fifteen weeks. In France,
[see
graph' next page]
lnges
dropped
by sixty
Percent
between 1470 and 1570 (Hackett Fischer 1996:78).43
1t1-6
wage collapse was especially disastrous for wornen- In the 14th century, they had
pceived halfthe pay ofa man for the same task; but by the mid-16th century they were
receiving
only one-third ofthe reduced male wage,and could no longer support them-
selves
by wage-work, neither in agriculture nor in manufacturing, a fact undoubtedly
responsible
for the massive spread ofprostitution in this period.aaWhat followed was
the absolute
impoverishment ofthe European working class, a phenomenon so wide-
spread
and genenl that, by 1550 and long after, workers in Europe were referred to as
simply "the
Poor."
Evidence for this dramatic impoverishment is the change that occurred in the
workers'dies. Meat disappeared from their tables, except for a few scnps oflard, and so
did beer and wine, salt and olive oil (Bnudel 1973:127ff;Le P.oy Ladurie 1974). From
the 16th to the 18th centuries, the workers'diets corxisted esentially ofbread, the main
cxpense in their budget.This was a historic setback (whatever we may think ofdietary
norms) compared to the abundance ofmeat dnt had typfied the late lVliddleAges. Peter
Kriedte writes that at that time, the "annual meat consumption had reached the 6gure
of100 kilos per person, an incredible quantity even by todayt standards. Up to the 19th
century this figure declined to less than twenty kilos" (K.riedte 1983: 52). Breudel too
speaks ofthe end of''carnivorous Europe," summoning as a witness the Swabian Heinrich
Muller who, in 1550, commented thac,
...in the past they ate difercody at the peasant! house. Then, there
was meat and food in profusion every day; tables at village fein and
Gasts sank under their load.Today, everything has truly changed. For
some yean, in fact, what a calamitous tine, what high prices! And the
food ofthe most comfortably offpeasans is almost wone than that of
day-labourers
and ralets previoudy"
@nudel
1973:130).
** \:t
"trly
did meat disappear, but food sholtages became common, agrarated in
-'rcs
ot haryest
failure, when the scanty grain reserves sent the price ofgnin sky-high,
sndemning
crry dwellen ro starrzrion (Braudel 1966,Vo1. I:328).This is what occurred
11*t
t*;.
yean of the 1540s and 1550s, and again in the decades of the 1580s and
.."s'which
were some ofthe worst in the history ofthe European proletariat, coincid-
tn8
with
widesoread
unrest and a recond number of witch-trials. But malnutrition was
122.4
83.0
48.3
7 4. 1
94.6
79.6
I\ie Rewlution dnd the Fall of the Real Wage, 148O-t640.The hi.e Re1'olutio6
lcrcd
'1
histoli( .ollapsc it1 the ledl tuUc.Within d.few deaules, the rcal uage lost t11ts-
thids oJits purrhasing pou,e.Tlrc rcal u\7ge .!id not rctwn to the level it lnd rc\chql
t he | 5t h. ent
ryht i l
l he 19t h emt ury (Phel ps-Broun and Hopki ns, 1981).
120
l(X,
t0
@
4
20
t00
t0
60
r|{)
20
t20
100
t0
@
q
20
0
0
Soriltcm Eoglrnd
Ab|cc
Frracs
7A
l.ll0 1,160 l4t0 1500 1520 15,10 1560 1580 !600 1620 164{l
1500
-
O.rna4/.rd Adrir
79
The social consequerca oJ the Mcc Ret'olution uc n'eded Iry these rhdrts, uhich indiate,
ftspe.tivell, the ise in te pdce o_f4nin h EnlLlll.d bctu,t.n 1490 ind 1650, thc @n-
aotlitant iy in pli.es and property oines in Esscx (England) bcfiu:ut 1566 and 1602,
od the populttior decline mcasurcd in nillions in Cert iny, Austtit, Iktlf ind Spain
bet'tee l500 and 1750 (Hi.keu Fis et,1996).
rsrddFn ofFil
(l atc99l0OI .or!d
r{n !lr/t3nldt.'trr.
qx'
800
7@
@0
.tr
,oo
d
,o0
3(x)
200
100
0
t
e
t
0
I t
l 6
l 4
! t
t0
t
6
4
0
1450 1475
1566 l57l
r5t6 l59l lt96 t6ol
t ' *--"**"' "
I
rempant a.lso in nolmal times, so that food acquircd a high symbolic value as a
rank. The desire for it among the poor reached epic propotions, inspiring dtea6g
Pantagruelian orgres, like those described by Rabelais in his Catgantua and
(1552),and ca:usingighnnarish obsessions, such as the conviction (spread among
eastern ltalian farnlers) that witches roamed the countryside at night to feed upon
catde
(Maz
zali 1988:73).
lndeed, the Europe that was preparing to become a Promethean
presumably taking humankind to new technological and cultural heighs, was a
where people never had enough to eat. Food became an object ofsuch intense
thar i r was bel i eved thar the poor sol d thei r soul s to the devi l to get i hei r hands
on
Europe was also a place where, in times ofbad harvess, country-folk fed upon
wild roos, or the barks oftrees, and multitudes roved the countryside weeping and
ing,"so hungry that they would devour the beans in the fields" (Le Roy Ladurie 1
or they invaded the cities to benefit from
l;rain
distributions or to attack the houses
granaries ofthe rich who, in turn, rushed to get arms and shut the ciry gtes to keep
starvi ng out (Hel l er 1986:56-63).
That the transition to capitalism inaugurated a long period ofstar!"tion for
ers in Europe - which plausibly ended because ofthe economic expansron
by colonization - is also demonstrated by the fact that, while in the 14rh and 15th
turies, the proletarian struggle had centered around the demand for "liberty" and
work, by the 16th and 17th, it was mostly spurred by hunger, taking the form of
on bakeries and gnnaries, and ofrios against the export oflocal crops.a5 The
ries described those who participated in these attacks as "good for nothing" or "poor"
"humble people," but most were craftsmen, living, by this time, from hand to mouth.
lt was the women who usually initiated and led the food revolts. Six ofthe
one food rios in 17th-century France studied by Ives-Marie Berc6 were made up
sively ofwomen. In the others the female presence was so consPicuous that Berc6
them"woment riots."46 Conrmenting on this
Phenomenon,with
reference to 1
tury England, Sheila Rowbotham concluded that women were prominent in tlis
ofprotest because of their role as their farnilies'caretakers. But women were also
most ruined by high prices for, having less access to money and emplo;T nent dran
they were more dependent on cheap food for survival.This is why, despite their
dinate status, they took quickly to the streets when food prices went up, or when
sptead that the grain supplies were being removed ftom town.This is what
the time of the Conioba uprising of 1652, which started"early in the morning. .
a poo! wonun went weeping through the streets ofthe poor quarter, holding thc
oi h". ,on who had di ed of hunger" (Kamen 1971: 364). The same occurred
Montpellier in 1645, when women took to the streets "to
Protect
their childrn
starvation" (r'lid.: 356). In France, women besieged the bakeries when they became
vinced that grain was to be embezzled, or found out that the rich had bought the
bread and the remaining was lighter or more expensive. Crowds ofpoor women
then
fiither
at the bakers'stalls, demanding bread and charging the baken with
their supplies. Riots brcke out also in the squares where grain markets were hel4
along the routes taken by the carts with the corn to be exported, and "at the river
where...boatmen coul d be seen l oadi ng the sacks." On these occasi ous the
ao
--hushed
the carts.. with pitcMorks and sticks. .. the men carrying away the sacks, the
'.'^-.n earhering
as much grain as rhey could in their skirts"
@erc6
1990:171J3)'
t""-
Ti"
strug;de for food was fought dso by other means, such as poaching, steding
r-^,n one!
neighbors' 6elds or homes, and assaults on the houses of the rich ln Troyes
ii-iz:,
rr."r n"a it thar the poor had put the houses ofthe rich on fire, preparing to
ll..i" ,6"t"
(g"tte. 19t16: 55-56).At Malines' in the Low Countries, the houses ofspec-
'1,^.^'.
*.r"
-".k"d
by angry peasants with blood (Hacken Fischer 1996:88) Not sur-
lj.t-"nl*
fo.a crimes" loonr large in the disciplinary procedures ofthe 16th and 17th
fiftuii.r.
r*"n,pt".y is the recurrence ofthe theme ofthe "diabolical banquet" in the
-itch-trials.
sugge.ung rhat feasting on roasted mutton, white bread. and wine was now
considered
a diabolic act in the case of the "common people." But the main weapons
,*rl"bla
,o,h" poo. in their struggle for survilel were their own famished bodies, as in
im.,
of f"r rrrn" hordes of vagabonds and beggars surrounded the beaer off' half-dead of
hunger
and disease, grabbing their arms, exposing their wounds to them and, forcing
ihem to live in a state ofconstant fear at the prospect ofboth contan nation and revolt.
.,you
cannot walk down a street or stop in a square - aVenetian man wrote in the mid-
l6rh century - without multitudes surrounding you to beg for chariry: you see hunger
Fanily oJ wptbonds.
Enlnviry by Lut,1. t\h
byden, 1520.
al
written on their feces, their eyes like gemless rings, the wrrtchednes oftheir bodie:
skins shaped only by bones" (i6id.: 88),A century later, in Florcnce, the scene was
the same."[I]t was impossible to hear Mass," one G. Balducci complained, in April
"so much was one importuned during the service by wretched people naked and
ered with sores"
(Brrudel
1966.Vo1. II:73,1-35).+z
The
gtate
Intervention in the Reproduction of Labor:
Relief, and the Crirrinalization of the working Class
The struggle for food was not the only front in thc battlc against the sprcad of
ist relations. Everywhere masses of people resisted the destruction of their formet
of existence, fighting ageinst land priretization, the abolition of ostornary righBl
imposition of new taxes, wage-dependence, and the continuous prcsence of
their neighborhoods, which was so hated that people rushed to close the gates o'f
towns to prevent soldiers from setding among them.
In France, one thousand
"emotions" (uprisings) occurred between the
and 1670s, many i nvol vi ng enti re provi nces and requi ti ng the i nterventi on of
(Goubert 1986:205). Engl and, Ital y, and Spai n prcsent a si mi l ar pi cture,4s
ing that the pre-capitalist world of the village, which Marx dismissed under
rubric of"rural idiocy,"could produce as high a level of struggle as any the
trial proletariat has waged.
In the Middle Ages, migmtion, vagabondage, and the rise of 'crimes aginst
erty" were part of the Esistance to impoverishmcnt and dispossession; these
now took on massive proponions. Everywhere - ifwe givc crcdit to dre complains
contemporary authorities - vegabonds werc swarming, changing cities, clocsing
sleeping in the haysacls or crcwding at the gates oftowrs - a last hurnanity i
a diasoore of is own. that for decades escaped the authorities' control. Six
vagabonds werc reported in Venice alone in 1545. "ln Spain \agrants clunered thc
stopping et every town"
@raudel,Vol.
II: 740).ae Stardng th England, always a
these matters, the state pased new, far hanher anti-vagabond laws prercribing
and capital punishment in cases ofrecidivi$n. But repression was not effective and thc
of 16tb and lTth-century Eurofre remained places of great (com)motion and
Through them pased heretics escaping persecution, dischargcd soldien,
other "humble folk" in search of employment, and then forcign artisans, evicted
ptostitutes, hucksten, petty thieves, proGssional begars. Abovc all, through the
Europe passed the ales, stories, and experiences ofa developing proletariat.
crime ntes also escdated, in such prcPortioru that we can assume that a masslc
tion and reappropriation ofthe solen communal wedth was underway.5o
Tirday, these aspecs of the tr?nsition to capitalism may seem (for Europc rt
things of tlre past or - as Marx put it in the Gunhisse (1973l-459
)
-'historical
ditions" of capialist development,to be overcome by more maturc forms of
the esential similarity between these phenomena and the social consequences ofthc
phase ofglobdization that we are witnessing tells us otherwise. Pauperization,
and the esca.lation of"crime"are structural elements ofcapitalist accumulation as
talism must strip the work-force from its means ofreproduction to impose its own
a2
83
Vdgant Lxing u'hippd throryh the snees.
That in the industrializing regions of Europe, by the 19th century, the most
cxtleme forms of proletarian misery and rebellion had disappeared is not a proof
.geinst this claim. Proletarian misery and rcbellions did not come to an end; they only
lcsened to the degree that the super-exploitation of workers had been exported,
through
the institutiondization of slavery, et first, and later through the continuing
cxpansion
of colonial domination.
As for the "trrnrition" period.
this remained in EuroDe a time of intense socid
conllict,
providing
th. ,trg. fo,
"
set of state initiatives rhat,judging fronr their effects,
hed three
nrarn objectives: (a) to crcate a morc disciplined work-force; (b) to diffuse social
ploteit;
and (c) to fix worken to thejobs forced upon them. Let us look at them in turn.
.
ln pursuit
of social discipline, an attack was launched against all fornts of collec-
ove
socialiry
and sexuahry including spors, games, dances, ale-wakes, festivals, and other
tloup-rituals
that had been a source ofbonding and soli&riry among worken. It was
srnctioned
by a deluge of bills: twenty-6ve, in England,just for the regtrlation of a.le-
"ouses,
in the years between 1601 and 1606 (Underdown 1985:47-4lt). Peter Burke
\r'ln),
in his work on the subjecr, has spoken ofit as a campaign against "popular cul-
'q-c tJut
we can see that what was at stake was the desocialization or decollectivization
;'.oe,reproducbon
ofthe work-force, as well as the attempt to impose a more produc-
-.
urc
oi leisure
time.This process, in England. reached is climax with the conring ro
r{wer
of
the
Puritans in rhe afternrath of the Civil War (1642-49), when the fear of
social indiscipline prmpted the banning ofdl prcletarian gatherings and
But the "moral rcformation" uras equdly intcnse in non-Protestant areas whcre,
same period, religious processions were replacing the dancing and singing that had
held in and out ofthe churches. Even the individud's relation with God was
in Protestant areas, with the institution ofa dircct relationship between the
and the diviniw: in the Catholic areas, with the introduction of individual
The church itself, as a community center, ceased to host any socid activity othcr
I
those addressed to the cult. As a rcsult, thc physical enclosure opented by land
zation and the hedging ofthe commons was ampliGed by a process ofsocial
the reproduction of worken shifting from the openfeld to the home, ftom the
munity to the family, from the public space (the common, the church) to thc
Secondlv in the decades between 1530 and 1560, a system ofpublic assisale
introduced in at least sixty European towns, both by initiative ofthe local
by dircct inten'ention of the centrd sate.s2 Is precise goals are still debated.Vhilc
of thc [terature on the topic sees the introduction of pubLic assistance as a rcspol[c
humanitarian crisis thatjeopandized socid concol, in his massive study ofcoerced
Frcnch Marxist scholar Yann Moulier Boutang insiss *nt is prirnary objective unr
Great Fixation" ofthe ptoletariat, dut is, the attempt to prvent the flight oflabor.5S
In any event, the introduction ofpublic asistance was a turning point in thc
relation between workers and capital and the defnition ofthe function ofthe
was the 6rst recognition of the unsustainabilitT ofa capitdist system ruling
by means ofhunger and terror. It was also the 6$t step in the reconstruction ofthc
as the guarantoi ofthe class relation and as the chiefsupervisor ofthe reproduction
disciplining of the work-force.
Antecedens for this function can be found in the l4d century' when faccd
rhe generalization ofthe anti-feudal strug6;le, the state had emerged as the only
capable ofconfronting a working class that was regionally uni6ed, armed, and no
con6ned in is demands to the political economy ofthe manor. [n 1351, with thc
ing of the Statute of Laborers in England, which 6xed the maximum wage, the
had formally taken charge of the regulation and repression of labor, which thc
lords were no longer capable ofp;uarrnteeing, But it was with the introduction of
lic assistance that the state began to claim "ownership" ofthe work-force, and e
ta.list "division of labor" was instituted within the ruling class' enabling
relinquish any responsibility for the reproduction ofworken, in the certainry
state would intervene, either with the carrot or with the stick, to address the
crises. With this innovation, a leap occurred also in the management of social
duction, resulting in the introduction of demogmphic recording (
reconding of mortaliry, natdiry, marriage ntes) and the application of
social relations. Exemplary is the work ofthe administreton ofthe Bureeu de
in Lyon (Frrnce), who by the end ofthe 16th century had learned to calculate thc
ber ofthe poor, assess the arnount offood needcd by each child or adult, and kecP
ofthe deceased, to make sure that nobody could claim assistance in the name ofa
person (Zemon Davis 19611: 24'l-46).
Along with this new "social science," an international debate also developed
administmtion ofpublic asistance anticipating the contemponry debate on welfare'
41,
--tv
those
unable to work, described as the "deserving
poor," be suPported, ot should "able-
ffis4"
laboren unable to 6nd a job also be giren help? And how much or how litde should
f.l be eiu"n,
to a-t not to bc discounged ftom looking for work? These questions were
lr'""f
n"- the viewpoint of socid discipline, as a key objective,of public. aid wx to tie
l-li"rt t" th.itl"Ut. But, on these matters a conseruus could mrcly be eeched'
"""-
wh.il. humanist reformers l.ike
Juan
Luis Vives5a and spokesmen for the wedthy
r.-,ohcn
recognized the economrc and disciplinary bene6s ofa more liberel and cen-
iJi"zed
disp"ns"tio"
ofcharity (not exceeding the disaibution ofbread, howevcr), part
lIJ.
.t.rgy
**nu"usly opposed the ban on individual donations But, acmss differcnces
li.*teurs
"rd
opinioru, assisunce was adrninistered with such stinginess that it generated
"'.
-u.h
.onflr.,
"t "pPersement.Those
assisted rcsented the humiLiating rituals imposed
ln
th.,n,
lrk wearing the "mark ofinfamy" (previoudy reserved for lepen andJews), or
i1 Fnnce)
paniclparing in the annual procesions ofthe poor,in which they had to pande
jngrng
hynrns and holding candles:and they vehemendy protested when the alms were
ooip-utp,.ly
gtuan or were inadequate to their needs. In .esPonse' in some French towns,
crbbets
*e.. erected at the time of food distributions or when the poor were esked to
iork in exchange for the food they received (Zenron Davis' 1968: 249) ln England, as
rhc l6rh century progressed, receipt ofpublic aid - also for ch.ildren and *re elderly -
was made conditiond on the ince.ceration ofthc recipiens in "work-houses," where they
became
the experinenta.l subjects for a lariery of work-schemes.55 Consequendy, the
.cack on workers, that had begun with the enclosures and the Price Revolution, in dre
space ofa century, led to tll,e oiminalization ol the unrking clus, that is, the formation of a
n* proletariat either incarcerated in the newly constructed work-houses and correction-
houses, or seeking is survivel ouside the law and Living in open antagonism to the state
- dways one step away ftom the whip and the noose.
From the viewpoint ofthe fornation ofa laborious work-force, this was a deci-
sive failurc, and the constant preoccupation with the question of social discipline in
16|h and 17th-century political circles indicates that the contemPorary statesmen and
cntrepreneurs werc keenly aware ofit. Moreover, the social crisis that this general state
ofrcbelliousness provoked was aggravatcd in the second halfofthe 16th century by a
lew
economic contraction, in great part caused by the dramatic population decline
that occurred in Spanish America after the Conquest, and the shrinking ofthe colo-
nial econornies.
Popul ati on
Decl i ne, Econol ni c Cri di d, and the
Di sci pl i ni nq
of Wornen
Within
less than centurv 6om the landins ofcolumbus on theAmerican continent, the
colonizen'
<lreerr of rn ln6r,it. ,rpply o-f lrbo. (echoing rhe exploren' estimate of an
rrurnite
nunrber
oftrces" in the foresa ofthe Anrericx) was dashed.
.- , .
-
Europcans
had broughr death to America. Estimates of the population collapse
w-tuch
aflected
the region in the weke ofthe colonial inruion rary. But scholan almost
unanimously
hken is"effects ro an "American Holocaust." Acconding ro David Sbnnard
(rv92)'
in
tlre
cerrrury after the Conquest, the population <leclined Ly 75 million across
mate of Andre Gunder Frenk who writes that "within litde more than a ccntury
Indian population declined by ninety percent and even ninety-five perccnt in Ml
South Amedca, rcpresenting 95% ofis inhabitants (1992: 268-305).This is dso th6
Peru, and some other regions" (1978: 43). ln Mexico, the population Gll
-ftom 1l
lion in 1519 to 6.5 million in 1565 to about 2.5 million in 1600" (Wallentein
1974:
By 1580 "disease... assisted by Spanish brutaliry had killed o6or driven away rnost
peoplc ofthe Antilles and the lowlands ofNew Spain, Peru and the Caribbean
(Crosby:1972:38), and it would soon wipe out many more in Bnzil.Thc clergy
ized this "holocaust" as God's punishment for the Indians' "bestial" behavror
1986: 138); but its economic consequences wcre not ignord. In addition, by thc
population began to dccline also in western Europe, and continued to do so into thc
century, reaching a peak in Gcrmany where one thirrd ofthc population was loct.s6
With the exception of the Black Death (134F1348), this was a populrtion
without precedens, and statistics, as awful as they are, tell only a part ofthe story.
struck at"the poor." It was not the rich,for the most part, who perished when the
or the smallpox swept the towns, but cnftsmen, day-laboren and vrgabonds
1972:32-33).They died in such numbers that their bodies paved the strcec,
authorities denounced the eistence ofa conspirary, instigating the population to
for the malefactors. But the population decline was dso blamed on low naality
the reluctance ofthe poor to reprduce themselves.To what extent this charye nnl
ti6ed is diffcult to tell, since demogrephic recording, beforc the 17th century llrs
uneven.But we know that by the end ofthe 16th century thc age ofmarriage res
ing in all social classes, and that, in the same period, the number ofabandoned
- a new phenomenon - started to grow.We also have the complains ofministcn
ftom the pulpit charged that the youth did not marry and procreate, in order not to
more mouths into the world than they could feed.
The peak ofthe demographic and economic crisis werc the decades ofthc
and t630s. ln Europe, as in the colonies, markets shrank, trade stopped,
became widesprcad, and for a while therc llzs the possibiliry that the developing
tdist economy might crash. For the intcgration between the colonial and
economies had reached a point where the reciprocd impact ofthe crisis npidly
erated iB course.This was the 6rst international economic crisis.It was a"Genenl
as historians have called it (Kamen 1972:3O1ff.;Hrckctt Fischer 1996:91).
It is in this context that the question ofthe relation between labor,
the accumulation of wealdr came to the forcground of pol.itical debate and
produce the fint elements ofa population poliry and a "bio-power" regime,sT Thc
nesr ofthe concepts applied, often confusing "populousness" with "population,"
brutality ofthe means by which the state began to punish any behavior obsmrcting
ulation growth, should not deceive us in this respect. It is my contention that it
population crisis ofthe 16th and tTth centuries, not the cnd offamine in Europc
l$th (x5 loucault has argued) that turned reptoduction and population growth into
matte n, as well as primary objects ofintellectual discoulse.58l further argue that thc
sifcation ofthe persecution of"witches,"and thc new disciplinarv methods dut thc
adopted in this period to regulate procreation and break womenl control oier
duction, are also to be tnced to this crisis.The evidence for this areument is
a6
87
;,t and
ir shou.ld be rccognized that other facton contributed to increase the determi-
ijon
of the eutopean power-structune to control more stricdy woment reproductive
iif,"aion.
A-""g *.m, we must include t}re increasing privatization ofproperry and eco-
'-"^-i.
*lraio* tlut (wifiin the bourgeoisie) generated a new anxiery concerning the
'll^aon ofp.,.t"iry and the conduct ofwomen. Similarly,in the charge that witches sac-
l"r."a .nifa*n
," ,ttc devil - a key theme in the "great witch-hunt" ofthe 16th and 17th
]i"-ri", - *. .* rcad not only a preoccupation with population decline' but also dte
i,. .f O. propenied classes with rcgard to their subordinates, particularly low-class
'ri,}.n
*ho,* t.*tnts,beggars or heders, had many opponunities to enter their employ-
.-' t out"r
and cause them harnr. It cannot be a pure coincidence, however, that at the
i-- n,onrent
*hen population was declining, and an ideology was forming that stresed
Ue
..*nliry
"flab"r
in cconomic life, severe pendties werc introduced in the legal codes
ofEurope
ro punish wonren guilty ofreproductive crimes'
The concomitant develoPment of a population crisis, an expansionist population
thcory,
and the introduction of policies promoting population growth is well-docu-
mented.
By the mid-16th century the idea that the number of citizens determines a
nation!
wedth had become something ofa social axiom."ln my view," wrote the French
oottical
thinker and demonologistJean Bodin,"one should never be afraid ofhaving too
meny
subjecs o. too many citizens, for the strcngth of the commonwedth corsiss in
msn"
(Connotru'eahh, BookVI).The ttalian economist Ciovanni Botero (t533-1617) had
r morc sophisticated approach, recognising the need for a balance between the numbcr
ofpeople and the means ofsubsistence. Still, he declared that that"the greatness ofa city"
did not depend on its physical size or the circuit ofis ualls, but exclusively on the num-
bcr ofits residens. Henry IV's saying that "the strength and wealth ofa king lie in the
number aud opulence of his citizeru" sums up the demogrrphic thought ofthe age.
Concern with population growth is detectable dso in the program ofthe Potesant
Refornution. Dismissing the traditional Christian exaltation of chastiry, the Reformen
vrlorized martiage, sexuality, and even women because of their reproductive capacity.
Voman is "needed to bring about the increase of the human rece," Luther conceded,
rcflecting
that "whatever their weaknesses, women possess one virtue that cancels them
rll:they
have a womb and they can give birth" (King 1991: 115).
.
Support for population growth climaxed with the rise of Mercantilism which made
the prcsence
of a large population dre key to the prosperiry and power of a rution.
Mercantilism
has often been dismissed by mainstrcam economiss as a crude system of
thought
because of irs assumption that the wealth of natiors is proponional to the quan-
oty
of labore
n and monev available to them. The bruul mearu which the mercantiLiss
aPPlied
in order to forc. people to work, in their hunger for labor, have contributed to
rheir
disrepure.
as most economiss wish to maintain the illusion that capialism fosten free-
oorD
rrther
than coercion. [t was a nrercantilist clas that invented the work-houses, hunted
qown
vagabonds,
"tnnsported" criminab to the American colonies, and invested in the
tlrve
Frde.
all rhe while asserting the "utiliry ofpoverty" and declaring "idleness" a social
Pugue
Thus,
ir has not been recognrzcd tlut in the mercantilisc' theory and practice we
Dld
the
ntosr
direct e*p..o,on ofihe ,eqoiremens ofprimitive accumulation and the frrst
qPtblit,
Pul,.y exphcrtly addresing the problem ofthe reproduction ofthe work-force.
"s Policy, its we have seen, had an "intensive" side consisting in the imposition ofa total-
iarian regime using every means to extnrct the maximum ofwork ftom every
regardless ofage and condition. But it also had an "extensive one" consisting in the
to expand the size ofpopulation, and thereby the size ofthe army and the work
As Eli Hecksher noted,"an almost fanaticd desire to increase popu-lation
in all countries duting the period when mercantilism was at its height, in the later
of the 17th century" (Heckscher 1966: 158). Along widt it, a new concept of
beings also took hold, picturing them asjust raw materials, worken and breeden for
state (Spengler 1965: 8). But even prior to the heyday of mercantile theory, in
and England the state adopted a set ofpro-natalist measures that, combined with
Relief, formed the embryo ofa capitalist rcproductive policy. Laws were passed that
a premium on marriage and penalized celibacy, modeled on those adopted by thc
Roman Empire for this purpose.The family was given a new importance as the key
tution providing for the transmission of properry and the reproduction of the
force. Simultaneously, we have the beginning ofdemographic recording and the
vention ofthe state in the supervision ofsexualiry, procreetion' and family life.
But the main initiative that the state took to restore the desired population
was the launching of a true *ar appinst women clearly aimed at breaking the
they had exercised over their bodies and reproduction.As we will see later in tlis
ume, this war was waged primarily through the witch-hunt that literally demonized
form ofbirth-control and non-procreative sexualiry, while charging women with
ficine children to the devil. But it also relied on the lede6nition ofwhat
repmductive crime.Thus, starting in the mid-16th century while Portuguese ships
returning from Africa with their 6nt human cargoes, all the European
begen to impose the severest penalties against contreception, abortion and
This last rractice had been treated with some leniency in the Middle Ages' at
in the case ofpoor women; but now it was turned into a capital crime, and
more harsNy than the majoriry of male crimes.
In sixteenth century Nuremberg, the penalty for maternal infanticide
was drowning; in 1580, the year in which the severed heads of three
women convicted ofmaternal infanticide were nailed to the sca$old
for public contemplation,the pendty was changed to beheading (King
1991: 10) . oo
New forms ofsurveillance were also adopted to ensure that pregnant women
not terminate their pregnancies.In France, a royal edict of1556 required women to
ister every pregnancy, and sentenced to death those whose infans died beforc
after a concealed delivery whether or not ptoven guilty of any wrongdoing.
statutes were passed in England and Scotland in 1624 and 1690, A system of spics
also created to suweil unwed mothe$ and deprive them of any support. Even
an unmarried pregnant woman was made illegal, for fear that she might escape the
lic scrutinyi while those who befriended her were exposed to public criticrsm
1993: 51-52: Ozment 19fi 3: 43).
As a consequence women began to be prosecuted in large numben, and
were executed for infanticide in 16rh and l7th-century Europe than for any other
aa
--.,,t
for
witchcraft, a charge that dso centered on the killing of children and other
CP' r
fijrriottt
oftep-ductive norms.Significandy, in the case ofboth infanticide and witch-
[[,
rhe
,urute, limiting women\ lega.l responsibiliry were lifted.Thus, women walked,
l^Lt
"
6nt ti-",l"to the courtrooms ofEurope, in their own name as legal adults, under
l"5a1ge
ofbeing
wltches and child.murderers.Also the suspicion under which midwives
lrliin
*ur
p"rloa - leading to the.entrance ofthe mde doctor into the delivery room
] stemmed
more ftom the authorities' fean ofinfanticide than ftom any concern with
.hg midwives'
alleged medical incompetence
Wirh rhe marginalization of the midwife, the process began by which women lost
,he control
they had exercised over procreation, and were reduced to a passive role in
ihild
deluery,
*nit. male doctors came to be seen as the true "givers oflife" (as in the
2lchemical
drearns ofthe Renaissance rnagician$.With this shift, a new medical practice
jso prerailed,
one that in the case ofa medical emergency prioritized the life ofthe fetus
over
that ofthe mother This was in contrast to the customary birthing process which
women
had controlled; and indeed, for it to happen, the communiry ofwomen that had
gxthered around the bed ofthe future mother had to be fint expelled from the delivery
-room,
and midwives had to be placed under the surveillance ofthe doctor, or had to be
recruited
to
Police
women.
In France and Germany, rnidwives had to become spies for the state,ifthey wanted
to conrinue their practice. They were expected to report all new births, discover the
fathen of children born out ofwedlock, and examine the women suspected of having
secredy given birth. They also had to examine suspected local women for any sign of
lacretion when foundlinp were discovered on the Churcht steps
fiViesner
1933:52).
The same
rype
ofcollaboration was demanded ofrelatives and neighbors. In Protestant
countries and towns, neighbon were supposed to spy on women and report all rclevant
sexual details: ifa woman received a man when her husband was away, or ifshe entered
e house with a man and shut the door behind her (Ozment 1983:42-44), ln Germany,
the pro-natalist
crusade reached such a point that women were punished ifthey did not
nuke enough ofan effort during child-delivery or showed litde enthusiasm for their off-
spring (Rublack
1996: 92).
The outcome ofthese policies that lasted for rwo cenruries (women were still being
o<ecuted
in Europe for infanticide at the end ofthe 18rh century) was the enslavement
oI women
to procreation.While in the Middle Ages women had been able to use vari-
ous forms
of lontraceptives, and had exercised an"undisputed control over the birthing
ptocess,
from now on their wombs became public territory contrclled by men and the
state,
and procreation
was directly placed at the service ofcapitalist accumulation.
^
In this sense, the destiny ofWest European women, in the period of primitive
accumulation,
was similar to that of female slaves in the American colonial plantations
fho.especially
after rhe end ofthe slave-trade in 1807. were forced by their masrers ro
i ]' "m.
bt""de.r
of new workers. The compari son has obvi ousl y seri ous l i rni ts.
turoPean
women
were not openJy delivered to sexua.l assaults - though proletarian
*ohtn
^.oul,l
be rrped with impuniry and punished for it. Nor had the| to suffer the
^' *)
ol seci ng
thei r chi l dren taken away and sol d on the aucti on bl ock.The economi c
I."l
l":t":O
fronr rhe births imposed upon them was also far more concealed. In this
-'' rt
rs the condition of the enslaved woman that most exolicitlv reveals the truth
a9
Albrcdt
Diiftr,THtl
BIR'rlJ
(rI,'tHI)
VIR(;rx
(t 502-t toJ).
Child-bnrh
rhe lift oJd
u,hich
Jtnmlc
90
9l
'|1rc
n'tsatlini z ntion
d
mcditdl ptmie is pot-
tqd in thk F,l8lisll
d6iXn pictwin! an
dngel pushiag alamh
hafur aury
lron
thc
bed oJ a si& nan.Thc
bttnn{:. dmouwcs hcr
"n/
the
logic ofcapiralisr accumulation. But despite the diferences, in both cases' the
Z-da
body *". ,u.tted into an instrument for the reproduction oflabor and the expan-
jin ofthe
*o.k-fo..e, treated as a natural breeding-rnachine, fuDctioning according to
.hvlhnls
out$de ol women s control.
This aspecr of primitive accumulation is absent in Marxi analysis. Except for his
-nurk
in the Co,nmunisl Manileslo on the use ofwonleu within the bourgeois family -
,i'oadu.a.t
of heirs guaranteeing the transmission of femily properry - Marx never
Lkno*l.dgrd
th"t proctearion could become a aerrain of exploitation and by the same
ioken
a rerrain ofresistance. He never imagined that women could refuse to reprcduce,
or thar
such a refusal could beconre part ofclass strugde. ln the C/at dfi$e (1973: 100) he
dgued
rhat cirpiralist development proceeds irrcspective ofpopulation numben because,
6fvirrue
ofthe irrcreasing productiviry oflabor, the labor that capiuJ explois corutandy
diminishes
in relation to "corstant capita.l" (that is, the capital invested in machinery and
gjher poduction assets), with the consequent determination ofa "surplus population."
Bur
rhis dyrraIric, which Marx deGnes as the "law of population typical of the capitalist
nrode
ofproduction"
(Apital
lrlol,1:689tr.), could only prevail ifprocreation were a purely
biological
process,oran activiry respondingautomaticdly to economic change, and ifcap-
iol and the stete did not need to worry about "wonren going on strike agarnst ch.ild mek-
ing."This,
in fact, is what Marx assumed. He acknowledged that capitalist development
l1as been acconrpanied by an increase in population, ofwhich he occasionally discussed
the causes. But, like Adam Smith, he saw this increase as a "naturel effect" ofeconornic
development, and in Capltal, Vol.1 , he repeatedly contrasted the determination ofa "sur-
plus population" with the populationi "nanrral increase."Wlly procreation should be "a
frcr of nature" rather than a social, historically determined activiry, invested by divene
interests and power relations, is a question Marx did not ask. Nor did he imagine that rnen
and women nright have diferent interests with respect to child-making, an activiry which
he treated as a gender-neutral, undrfferenriated process.
In reality, so far are procreation and population changes from being automatic or
"netural"
thar, in all phases ofcapitalist development, the state has had to resort to reg-
ulation
and coercion to expand or reduce the work-force.This was especidly true at the
tirne ofthe capitalist uke-off, when the muscles and bones ofworkers were the primary
means
ofproduction, But even later - down to the present - the state has spared no
e$orts
in its attempt to wrench from woment hands the control over reproduction, and
to determine
which children should be born, where, when, or in what numbers.
Consequently,
women have often been forced to procreate against their will, and have
cxPerienced
an alienation from their bodies, rheir"labor," and even rheir children,deeper
tlnn
that
experienced by any other workers (Martin 19137:19-21). No one can describe
In
lact
the ruguish and desperation suffered by a wonran seeing her body turn agarnst
nerself,
as it nrust occur in the case ofan unwanted pregnancy. This is particularly true
ln
those
situations in which out-of-wedlock pregnancies are penalized, and when hav-
Itr8
a child
nrakes a woman vuluerrble to social ostracisnr or even death.
I
l rhe
Deval uati on of Wornen' g Labor
The crinrinalization of woment control over procreation is a phenomenon
importance cannot be overemphasized, both from the viewpoint ofits effects on
and is consequences for the capitalist organization of work. As is well
through the Middle Ages women had possessed many nreans of contraception,
consisting ofherbs which turned into potions and "pessaries" (suppositories)
werc
to quicken a wonrani period, prcvoke an abortion, or create a condition ofsterilig.
Ere's Hcrbs: A Hiskry oJ Contnrcptio in the West (1997), the American historian
Riddle has given us en extensive catalogue of the substances that were most uscd
the effecrs expected of them or most likely to occur.6l The criminalization of
ception expropriated wonren ftom this knowledge that had been transmitted frc,m
eration to generation, giving them some autonomy with respect to child-birth.It
that, in some cases, this knowledge was not lost but was only driven underground;
when birth control again rrrade its appearence on the social scene, contraceprive
ods were no longer ofthe
rype
that women could use, but were specifically creatcd
use by men.What denrograplric consequences followed from this shift is a question
for the monrent I will not punue, though I refet to Riddlei work for a discussion of
matter. Here I only want to stress that by denying wornen contml over theit bodies,
state deorived therrr of the most fun&mental condition for
physical and
integrity and degraded rrraterniry to the status of forced labor, in addition to
rvomen to reoroductive work in a wav unknown in
previous societies.
ing women to pocreate against their will or (as a fen nist song from the 1970s hrd
forcing thern to " produce children for the state,"62 only in part defined women's
tion in rhe new sexual division oflabor. A complenrentary aspect was the definition
wonlen as non-workers, a process much studied by Gminist historians, which by thc
ofthe 17th century was nearly completed.
By this tinre worrren were losing ground even with respect to jobs that had
theit preropptives, such as ale-brewing and midwifery, where their employment was
jected to new restrictions. Proletarian women in particular found it difficult to
anyjob other than those carrying the lowest status: as domestic servans (the
ofa third ofthe fenrale work-force), farm-hands, spinnen, knitters, embroideren,
ers, wet nurses. As Merry Wiesner (among others) rells us, the assunlpdon wes
gtound (in the lau in thc tax reconds,in the ordinances ofthe guilds) that women
not work ouside the home, and should engage in "production" only in order to
their husbands. It was even arsued that any work that women did at home was
work" and was wofthless even when done for the nrarket
flffiesnet
1993: ft3fi).
a woman sewed some clothes it was "domestic work" or "housekeeping," even
if
clothes were not for the fanrilv. whereas when a man did the sartre task it wes
ered "ptoductive." Such was the devaluation ofwonten's labor that city governrnentj
the guilds to ovcrlook the production that woDren (especially widow$ did in tl
honres. because it was not real work. and because the wouren nceded it not to llll
public relief. Wiesner adds that women accepted this fiction and even apologized
asking to work, pleading for it on account oftheir nc'ed to support tlremselves
92
Ilr lturuut''
n'd the.sol'
lit.
Ofdt 't
tPJottourt'
t Inottiluk
|c'Jot'
ed rc
fir,tttio
qf n uile
Jor
sol'
'litrr
,t d othtt Prcbt','iuts,
aashitrX
ud rookiry
Jot
tlrt
nxtr
slrt sr'n'ttl ir adrlitiotr
p
ltrot'ttlitg
:ctudl stn'ics
A ptostituk i vititry dit t.Tlt!
nuuber oJ prosrituns inot,tstrl
iuntatly itr tht ,rltttuth of
l,urd printization a tl thL ton-
tr(t iili:tttio of
4Eicultw(
llti&
txptlbtl nnury ptrutnt uoncn
I
93
8,1-85). Soon all fenrale work, ifdone in the home, was defined as "housekeeping,"
even when done outside the home it was paid less than men's work, and never
fot wonren to be able to live by it. Marriage was now seen as a woman's true capeq
women's inability to support themselves was taken so Druch for granted, that when
a
gle wornan tried to settle in a village, she was driven away even ifshe earned a
Combined with land dispossession, this loss ofpower with regard to wage
ment led to the rrrassi6cation ofprostitution. As Le Roy Ladurie reports, the
rhe number ofprostitutes in Fnnce was visible everywhere:
Fron Avignon to Natbonne to Barcelona "sporting wonren" (ferrmes /e
debaadre) stationed therruelves at the gates ofthe cities, in smes ofrcd-
light districs.. . and on the bridges. ..
[so
that] by 1594 the "shameful
tn.ffc" was flourishing as never before (Le Royladurie 1974l.112-13).
The situation was similar in England and Spain, where, everyday, in the cities,
women arriving from the countryside, and even the wives ofcraftsmen, rounded up
family income with this work. A proclamation issued by the political authoritic:
Madrid, in 1631,denounced the prcblem, complaining that nrany vagabond women
now wandering anrong the cityi streets, alleys, and taverns, enticing men to sin widr
(Vigil 19tt6: 1 14-5). But no sooner had prcstirution become the main form of
for a large fenrale population than the institutional attirude towards it changed.
in the late Middlc'Ages it had been o6cidly accepted as a necessary evil, and
had benefited fronr the high wage regime, in the 16th century, the situation was
In a clinratc of intensc misogyny, characterized by the advance of the
Refonrration and rvitch-hunting, prostitution was 6nt subjected to new restrictiou
then crirninalized. Everywhere, between 1530 and 1560, town brothels were cloccd
prosdrutes, especially street-walkers, were subjected to severe penalties: banishmenl
gpng, and other c.uel forms of chastisement. Anrong thenr was "the ducking stool'
aubussade-"e piece of grim theatre," as Nickie Roberts describes it - whereby
tims were tied up, sonretimes they were forced into a cage, aDd then were
i urmersed i n ri vers or ponds, ti l l they al most drowned (Roberts 1992: 1
Meanwhile, in 16th-century France, the raping ofa prostitute ceased to be a crime,o
Madrid,as well,it was decided that femde vagabonds and prostitutes should not be
ro stay and slec'p in the strees and under the porticos ofthe town, and if caught
be given a hundred lashes, and then should be banned from the ciry for six yean in I
tion to having their heads and eyebrows shaved.
What can account for this drastic attack on femde workers? And how
exclusion ofwonren frorl the sphere ofsocially recogrized work and monetary
relate to the inrpositon offorced maternity upon them, and the contemporary
cation of the witclr-hunt?
Looking at thesc phenorrrena fmm the vantage point ofthe present,after four
turics of capitalist disciplining of women, the answers nlay seem to impose
Though worncn'.s wlged work, housework, and (paid) sexual work are still studied
often in isolltion fronr eaclr othcr, we are now in a better position to see that thc
crirrrinarion drat wonrcn have suffered in the waged work-force has been direcdy
94
:- their
firnctron as unpaid laborers in the home. We can thus conncc! thc banning of
l-r.itution
and rhe expulsion of wonren fiom the o4pnizcd rvorkplacc widr tht' cre-
1;,-r,
ofthe
house*,f. and the reconstruction ofthe fanrily as the locus for thc produc-
1-^n of l"bor-po*...
However, frolrr a theoretical and a polirical vicwpoint' the funda-
i'-"n,"I
qu.tuon- it under what condirions such degradation was possible, and what social
69rc",
proutot"d
it ot were.conrplicitous with it'
'
The answer here i s t hat an i nrport ant f act or i n t he deval uat i on of woncn' s l abor
{,,as
rhc
carnpaign thar craft workers trlounted, starting in the late l5tl' century, to
exel udc
f enral e workers f ront t hei r work-shops, presuurabl y t o prot ect t hemsel ves
f rour
t he assaul rs of t he capt t ahst rt rcrchant s who were enrpl oyi ng wont en at cheaper
6j es.
Tht - craf t snreni ef f orrs hrvc l ef t an abundent t rei l of evi dence-61 Whet her i n
l ral y,
Frrrrce,
or Germany, j ourneynren pet i t i oned t he aut hori t i es not t o al l ow wonrer
btiry subiurd
sadc.,,Sht
uill
inpti'o',d
.lil
tiJ"."
Uke tfu "b'lttle Jot
tht
breechts," thc inage oJ
thc doninurinX uife
rh lcnging thc sex*
hierarhy and beating
her husband uns onc oJ
the
Jdroite
tiry(ts oJ
16th and 17th-tcntury
to compete with them, banned them from their ranks, went on strike when thc
was not observed. end even refused to work with men who worked with
l ppears t hat t he craf t smen were al so i nt eresred i n l i mi t i ng women t o domest rc
because, gi ven thei r economi c di l fi cuki es, "rhe ptudent househol d management
the paft of a wife" was becoming for them an indispensable condition for
bankruptcy and for keeping an independent shop. Sigrid Brauner (the author
above citation) speaks of the importance accorded py the German artisans to
social rule (Brauner 1995: 96-97).Women tried to lesist this onslaught, but -
with the intimidatins tactics male workers used against them - failed. Thosc
dared to work out ofthe home, in a public space and for the market, were
as sexually aggressive shrews or even as "whores" and "witches" (Howell 1
182-83).65 Indeed, there is evidence that the wave ofmisogyny that by the latc
century was mounting in the European cities - reflected in the male obsession
the "battle for the breeches" and with the character ofthe disobedient wife,
in the popular literature in the act of beating her husband or riding on his
emanated also from thh (self-defeating) attempt to drive wornen from rhe
and from the market.
On the other hand, it is clear that this attempt would not have succeedcd
authorities had not cooDerated with it, But thev obviouslv saw that it was in thcir
est to do so. For, in addition to paci$ing the rebelliousjournq.rnen, the
women from the crafs provided the necessary basis for their fixation in
labor and their utilization as low-waged workers in cottage industry.
96 97
'\l/orflen:
The Nsw Cornrnon6 and the Subgtitrrte
for the Lo6t Land
1. ,y35
from
rlus alliance between the crafts and the urban authorities, along with the con-
;lu;ng
privacization of land, thar a new sexual division oflabor or, better' e new "sexual
L,nrnct,"
in Carol Paternani words (l98ti), was forged. de6ning wonten in ternrs -
Jothers,
wives, daughters. widows - that hid their status a5 workers, while giving rnen
6"a
"...*
,o *o-.t's bodies, their labor, and the bodies and labor oftheir children-
According
ro tlus new social-sexual contract, proletarian women became for male
workers
the substitute for the land lost to the enclosures, their most basic means ofrepro-
ducrion,
and a comrrrunal good anyone could appropriate and use at will. Echoes ofthis
,,orinitive appropriation" can be heard in the concept of the"common woman" (Karras
ligg)
which in the 16th century qualified those who prostituted themselves. But in the
new
organization
of work erery unmafl (other than those privatized by bouryeois men) beume
t collttlutul lood,for
once wonreni activities were defined as non-work, women! labor
began
to appear as a natunl rcsouice, alailable to all. no less than the air we breathe or
dre water we ornua.
This was for women a historic defeat.With their expulsion from the crafts and the
deraluation
ofrcproductive labor poverty became feninized, and to enforce men! "pri-
mary appropriation" of women's labor, a new patriarchal order was constructed, reduc-
ing women to a double dependence: on employers and on men.The fact that unequal
power ielations between women and men existed even prior to the edvent of capital-
isrn, as did a discriminating sexual division oflaboq does not detract from this assess-
ment. For in pre-capiralist Europe womeni subordination to men had been tempered
by the fact thar they had access to the conmons and other communal assets, while in
the new capitalist regime wouen themselves betame the ommon; as their work was defined
as a natural resource,laying outside the sphere ofmarket relations.
I
I
The Patri archy oI the Wage
Signi6cant,
in this conrext, are the changes that took place within the family which, in
uus period,
begrn to separate from the public sphere and acquire its modern connota-
oons
as the main center for the reproduction ofthe work-force.
^.
The counterpart
ofthe market, the instruinent for the privatization ofsocial rela
lons
and.
above all, for the propagarron of capitalist discipline and patriarchal rule, the
tarnilY
emerges
in rhe p"rioj of p."i^itiue accumulation also as the urost important rnstr-
lutron
for
thc approprlrtron
"nj
.on."rl-ent of women\ labor.
i.^-
-,
W: t". tlus in parricular when we look at the working-clxs farrrily.This is a sub-
N-tnat
ha5 been undentudied. Previous discussions have privileged the family ofprop-
*'co
men. phusibly
because, at the trme to which we are referring, it was the dominant
J:l :l O:h"
rrrodel
for parenral and nrari tal rel ati ons.There has a.l so been more i nter-
"
ttrc
Ianuly
as a polrrical instirution than as a place of work.What has been empha-
of.-'"''n.
ls that in rhe new bourgeois farnily, the husband became the representative
"
rqe
state.
ch.rrged
wrth riscrphnilng and supervising the "subordinate
classes,' a cate-
I
t - '
1524),just to stave offhunger and feed their wives and children (Brauner 19951
Most barely had a roof ovei their heads, living in huts where other families and
gory that for 1 6th and 1 7th-century politica.l theoriss
flean
Bodin, for example)
the man's wife and his children (Schochet 1975).Thus, the identifcation of thc
as a nicro-state or a micro-church, and the demand by the authorities that single
ers live under the roofand rule ofa master.lt is also pointed out that within the
geois family the woman lost much ofher power, being genenlly excluded ftorn the
ilv business and confned to the supervision ofthe household.
But what is missing in this picture is a recognition that, while in the upper
was property that ggve the husband power over his wife and children, a similar powct
grrnted to working-class rnen over women by means of women's exclusionfom thc
Exemplary of this trend was the family ofthe cottage worken in the
system. Far from shunning marriage and family-making, male cottage worken
on it. for a wiG could "help" them with the work they would do for the
while caring for their physical needs, and providing them with children, who
early age could be employed at the loom or in some subsidiary occupation.Thus,
in times ofpopulation decline, cottage worken apparendy continued to multiply;
fanfies were so large that a contemporaly 17th-century Austrian, looking at thorc
ing in his village, described them as packed in their homes like sparrows on a teftei
stands out in this type ofarrangement is that though the wife worked side-by-sidc
her husband, she too producing for the market, it was the husband who now
her waee.This was true also for other female wotkers once they married.In
married man...was legally entitled to his wife's earnings" even when thejob she did
nursing or breast-feeding.Thus, when a parish employed women to do this kind
the records "fiequendy hid (their) presence as worken" registering the payment
in the men! names. "Whether the payment was made to the husband or to thc
depended on the whim ofthe clerk" (Mendelson and Crawford 1998:287).
This poliry, naking it impossible for women to have money of their own'
the materid conditions for their subjection to men and the appropriation oftheir
by male workers. It is in this sense that I speak of the pattiarchy oJ the wage.We atrot
rethink the concept of"wage slavery." If it is mre that male worken became only
mdly free under the new wage-labor regime, the group ofworkers who, in the
tion to capitalism, most approached the condition ofslaves was working-clas
At the same time - given the wretched conditions in which waged
Iived - the housework that women performed to reproduce their farnilies wx
essarily limited. Married or not, proletarian women needed to earn some
which they did by holding multiplejobs. Housework, moreover, requires somc
ductive capital: furniture, utensils, clothing, money for food. But waged workcn
poorly,"slaving away by day and nighC'(as an artisan from Nuremberg
mals also resided, and where hygiene (poorly observed even among the bettct
was totally lacking; their clothes were rags, theii diet at best consisted ofbread,
and some vegetables. Thus, we do not find in this period, among the working
the classic fieure of the full-time housewife. It was only in the 19th century
response to the first intense cycle ofstruggle against industrial work - that the
ern family" centered on the full-time housewife's unpaid reproductive labor wls
9a
99
.alized
in the working class, in England 6rst and later in the United States.
-
ls deuelopmenc (following the passage of Factory Acts limiting the employment of
,romen
and childrcn in the factories) reflected the 6rst long-term investrnent the capita.l-
* clas
nt"d. in dre reproduction of the work-force beyond its numerical expansion. [t
ias
rhe
rcsult ofa trade-off, fotged rnder the threat ofinsurrection' between the granting
^firiqh"r
*"g.t, ."p"ble ofsupporting a "non-working" wife' and a more intensive rate of
Lloitrtion.
M"o spoke of it as a shift ftom "absolute" to "relative surplus," that is, a shift
fm
a rype
ofexploitation based upon the lengthening ofthe working day to a maxmum
"16
rhe
reduction ofthe wage to r nrinimum, to a regirne where higher wages and shorter
hours
would be compensated with en increase in the productivity of work and the pace
ofproducdon.
Frcm the capirdist penpective, it was a socid revolution, overriding a long-
hcld
conuninnenr
to low wages. lt resulted liom a new deal between workers and employ-
s6,
again
founded on the exclusion of women ftom the wage - puning an end to their
*cruiunent
in the early phases ofthe Industrial Revolution.lt wx also the mark ofa new
capitalisr
afluence, the product of two centuries ofexploiadon ofslave labor, soon to be
boosted
by r new phase ofcolonial expansion
In dre 16th and 17ih centuries,by contrast,despite an obsesive concern with the size
ofpopulation
and the number of"working poor," the acnral invesnnent in the reproduc-
tion ofthe work-force w:s extremely low. Consequendy, the bulk ofthe reproductive labor
done by proletarian women was not for their famiLies, but for the families oftheir employ-
cn or for the market. One thinC of the female population, on average, in England, Spain,
Fnnce, and ltaly, worked as maids.Thus, in the proletariat, the tendency was towards the
postponment ofmarriage and the disintegration ofthe family (16tt'-century English vil-
hgcs experienced a yearly turnover offifty percent). Often the poor were even forbidden
to marry, when it was feared that their cbildren would fall on public relief, and when this
rcnrally happened, the children were taken away from them and farmed out to the parish
to work.lt is estimeted that one third or more ofthe population of rural Europe remained
single; in the towns the rates were even higher, especidly emong women; in Germany, forty
percent
were either "spinsters" or widows (Ozment 1983: 4142,.
Nevertheless - though t}re housework done by proletarian women was reduced
to a mrnimum, and proletarian women had always to work for the market - within the
working-class
community ofthe transition period we already see the emergence ofthe
sexual
division oflabor that was to become typical ofthe capitalist organization ofwork.
At tb center was an increasing differentiation between male and Gmale labor, as the tasks
pertormed
by women and men became more diversified and. above all. became the car-
tien
ofdifferent
social relations.
,
Impoverished
and disempowered as they may be, male waged worken could still
benefr
from
rheir wives'labor and wages, or they could buy the services ofprostirutes.
rtoughout
this 6nt phase of proletarianization, it was the prostitute who often per-
rotmed
for
nale workers the function ofa wife, cooking and washing for them in addi-
oonto
serving
rhem sexually. Moreover, the criminalization ofprostitution, which pun-
-.ed
the
woman
but handly touched her male customers, strengthened male power. Any
"'l1 could
now destroy a woman simply by declaring that she was a prostitute, or by
""uctzing thar she had given in ro his sexual desires.Wornen would have to plead with
''eo
"not
to take away rh-eir honor"lthe only property left to them) (Cavallo and Cerutti
1980:346fi), the assumption being that their lives were now in the hands ofmcn
0ike Gudd lords) could exercise over them a
power
oflife and death.
The Tarning of \A/ornn and the Redefirrition of
and Masculinity: wornrr the Sa\/ageg of Europe
It is not surprising, then, in view ofthis devaluation ofwoment labor and social
that the insubordination ofwomen and the methods by which they could be
were among the main themes in the literature and social policy of the
(Underdown 19tt5a: 116-36).70Women could not have been totally devalued as
en and deprived ofautonomy with respect to men without being subjected to an
process ofsocial degndation;and indeed, throughout the 16(h and 17rh centuries,
l osr ground i n every area ofsoci al l i fe.
A key area of change in this respect was the law, where in this pedod
we
observe a steady erosion ofwomen\ rights.Tl One ofthe urain righs that womcn
was the righi to conduct econonric activities alone, as./emne soles. ln Frence, they
the right to nrake contncts ot to represent thenNelves in court, being declarcd
"imbeciles." In ltaly, they began to appear less frequendy in the courts to denounce
perpetrated against therrt. In Cernrany, when a middle-class woman becarne a
became customary to appoint a tutor to manage her affairs. German women urcI!
forbidden to live alone or with other women and,in the case ofthe poor,even with
own families, since it was expected that they would not be properly controlled. In
together with econonric and social devaluation, women experienced a process
infantilization.
Wonren! loss ofsocial power was also expressed through a new sexual
ation of space. In the Mediterranean countries women weie expelled not only
many wagedjobs but also ftom the strees,where an unacconrpanied woman riskcd
subjected to ridicule or sexud assault (Davis 19911). In England, too, ( "a women's
dise" in the eyes ofsonre ltalian visitors), the presence ofwouren in public began
frowned upon. Enp;lish women were discounged from sining in fiont oftherr
staying near their windows;they were also instructed not to spend time with
friends (in this period the term "gossip" - fenrale friend - began to acquirc a
paraging connotation). It was even recommended that women should not visit their
ents too often after nrarriage.
How the new sexual division oflabor reshaped male-femde relations can tr
from the broad debate that was carried out in the learned and popular litera re oo
nature offenrde virtues and vices, one ofthe main avenues for the ideological
ofgcnder relations in the trf,nsition to caPitalisnr. Known ftonr an early phase as "la
dcs
.femmes,"
what tr:nspires ftom this debate is a new sense of curiosiry for the
indicating that old nonns were breaking down, and the public was beconring awaG
the basic elenrents ofsexual
politics were being reconstructed.Two trends within this
can be identiGed. On the ole hand, new cultural canons were constructed
diflerences between wonren and nren and creating morc fenrinine and more
protoqpes (Fortunati 19134). On the other hand, it was established that wonren werc
t oo
LOt
,1
stold
is p,tndcd throulh tht onunu'
niry
trl\tlit{
tfu "bidb,"
'ur
irot rorr'
6yi
wd to
Punilh
u'o,,{rt with d
shtt4,
tttt&ut.
Sry'ttili'n tly,d sit iltl
k2rirr'
u',ts ustrl lry Europttltl lhlt4lhtdttt
tu Alii.n
t.) sublw tlttit .trptivlj
'ltul
itry
lultt to thti rhiPs'
endy inferior to nren - excessively emotional and lusty, unable to govern thenrselves -
and had to be placed under nule control. As with the condennarion ofwitchcraft, con-
sen-sus on dris matter cut acros religious and intellectual lines. Fronr the pulpit or the writ-
ten page, hununiss, Protestant reformen, counter-reforrrration Carholics, all cooperated
in the vilification ofwonren, constandy and obsessively.
'Wonren
wcre accused ofbeing unreasonable, vain, wild,wasteful. Especially blamed
wes the felrrale tongue,seen as an instrument ofinsubordination. But the mairr fenrale vil-
hin was the disobedient wiG, who, rogether with the"scold,"the "witch,"and the"whore"
was the favorite target of dranratists, popular writers, and nroralists. In this sense,
Shekespeare's
The Thning oJ the Shrew (1593) was the rnanifesto of the age. The punish-
ment ofGnrale insubon:lination to patriarchal authoriry was called for and celebrated in
coundess
ttrisogynous plays and tncs. English lirenrure ofrhe Elizabethan andJacobean
pnod
feasted
on such thenres.Typica.l ofthis genre isJohn Fo rd's 'Ti! d Pity She\ aWltulc
(1633)
wluch ends wirh rhe didactic assasination, execution and nrurder ofthree ofthe
four
fenrale
characten. Other classic works concerned with the disciplining of women
rltJohn
Swctnarrr!
,4 rraignwent oJ Inoed, ldle, Forward, hrorsta, Wonrcr (1615); and Tle
varliamcu,'l'lli,rr,cn
(l
(r4tr),a
sarire primarily addressed ag-ainst middle class wonren,which
P"nrays
thcrn
as busy nraking laws in order to gain supremacy ovcr their husbands.T2
*ternwhtlc.
rtew laws and new fornrs of torture were introduced to contrcl wonren!
ochavior
trt arrd out of the horrre, confrming that the literary denigration of women
sxpresscd.r
prccise
political projeci aiming to strip thc.rrr ofany autononry and social
r"wer'
In thc
Europe of rhe Agr of Reason, the wonren accused of being scol<ls were
j:r::jed
lkc
,lor5 an,l pareded irr rhe strees; prostitutes were whipped, or caged and sub-
ot
*'"
t'tkc
drowrringp, while capiral punishtnent was cstlblished for wonren convicted
"
aoul tcry
(Undenl owl
l 9x5a: l i Trl ).
It is no exaggeration to sey rhat women were treaied with the same hostilitv
sense of estrrngement accorded "lndian savages" in the literature that developed qn
subject after the Conquest.The parallel is not casual. In both cases literary and
denigntion wa5 at the service of a prolect of expropriation. As we will see, the
nization ofthe American indigenous people served tojustis their enslavement
314
plunder oftheir resources. In Europe, the anack waged on women justifed
the
priation of their labor by men and the criminalization of their control over
tion. Always, the price of resistance was externrination. None of the tactics
against European women and colonial subjects would have succeeded, had they noi
sustained by !r campaign ofterror. In the case ofEuropean wolnen it was the wr
that played the main role in the construction oftheir new social function, and the
dation oftheir social identiw'
The dednition of women as denronic beinqs, and thc atrccious and
practices to which so many ofthenr were subjected left indelible nrarks in the
female psyche and in womeni sense of possibilities. From evc'ry viewpoint
-
econonrically, culturally, polirically - the witch-hunt was e turrung point in
lives; it was rhe equivalent ofthe historic defeat to which Engels alludes, in Tfre
the Fatnily, Priwte Prcpeny and t . Srt. (lltlt4), as the cause of rhe downfdl of the
THE
t6o
Parlirmentbf \Momeu.
With tf,c ncnh kvcr bv dcoacrlr
Fnr0cd. Tolilc ; oc fefcl
porc.
nili
rd rr'rotr*: [c r$<drlt n.t .ft
"fif.'f.r
d
Fi!td.-i or rh h..r.r. d.-q
Eot r b. a- t d- F( n{. . a
rE !-
FE
-r
,ri- &i .dr
dbrar-
Ftontirltik ofTHI:
PARUA!fl }:!
(r,
ttl)vri\
(1646), d u'ork rypical of rhc
tltrli-uornr'fi (rlift lhdt domi-
tnttd Enllith Litctdtu/e in tht
p*iod ofrfu CitilW,rr
t o2
l y,q;
l o3
'l
I
rt
I
t
--hal
world. For the witch-hunt destroyed a whole world offetrrirle practices, collective
'-'1rtiu,rr.
".d
ryr,.tto ofklrowledge that had beclr thc foundatron ofwontent powcr in
i6-arpi,"fi"
Europe. and the condition for their resistancc in the strr:lgle againsr feu-
dirstt
t
()ur ot ttus deleN! a rlew llrooer offemininiry errrcrged: the ided wonran and wife
-
r,:ssire,
obediettt, thrrfty, offew words, always busy at work, and chaste This change
i"sln
.lr rhe end ofthe lTth cenrury. after women had been sub.;ecred for rnore than two
1"1.r,.,,o
sta(e terrorrsrtl
()nce wotrten wert defeared' thc irtlage of ferninirriry colt-
l.-,,.,.4 rn ,tt.
"(ransitiott '
was drscarded as an unnecessary tool, aud a new tarned one
]).ir.,,,.
pt"... Wtttl" at thc urrre ofthe witch-hunt wotrten had been portrayed as savage
r,'"i,,rn,
,ir"n,"tly
*."t, urrsatirbly lusry, rebellious' ilrsubor<linare, incapable ofself-control'
i" Or.'
fsu' cenrury dte crnon ltas been reversed. Wonren were now depicted as passive,
]j .xu.rl b",n1s,utot,rbedi ent,rtl oretDoral thannren' capabl eofexerti ngaposi ti veInoral
flrl'ue'ce
o' therrr. Even rheir irrationality could now be ralorized, as t5e Dutch philoso-
oher
Prcrre Bayle rea.lizc'd tn his Drrtioaaire Historiquc u Ctiti,luc (1740),in which he praised
lhe
por*e, ofthe fcrnalc
"ntaternal rnstinct," arg.ring that that it should be vicwed es e truly
orovirlcnti:rl
device, ensuring that despite the disadvantages ofchildbirthing and childreis-
i ng.
r*o,tt.u d.r corrti l tnc ro n produce
I
I
col oni zati on, Gl obal i zati on' and wornen
While the response to the population crisis in Europe was the subjuPtiotl ofwonren to
rcproductron, in colonid Anrerica, where colonization destroyed ninety live perccnr of
the rboriginal population, the response was the slave trade which delivered to the
European ruling class an iltuttense quantiry oflabor-power'
As early as the 16rh ccntury, approximately onc nrillion African slaves and indige-
nous workers were producirrg surplus-value for Spain in colonial A.nrerica, at a rare of
exploitation far higher tlran that ofworkers iD Europc, and contributing to sectors oftbe
Eumpean
ecouomy that were developing in a capitalisr direction (Blaut 1992a:
'15-46).zl
By 1600, Brazil alone exportcd rwice the value in sugar of all the wool that England
exported
in dre sane year (ibirl.:42).The accuruulation rare was so high in the Brazilian
sugar
plantations
that every two years they doubled their capaciry Gold and silver too
pleyed
l key role in the solution to the capiralist crisis. Gold iruported fronr Brazil re-
'ctivated
conxnerce and industry in Europe (DeVries 1976:20). More rhan 17,000 tons
were
trnporred
by 1640, giving the capitalist class thcre an cxceprional advantage in access
to
wotkcrs,
corunrodities, and land (Blaut 1992a: 3lt-.10). But the true wealth was the
rebor
lccurlulated
through thc slave tnde, which ttt:rde' possiblc a mode ofproduction
qlat
could
not be imposcd in Europe.
^"
It ts rrorv esrabhshcd that rhe pl anteti oD systetl ftrel ed rhe Industri al Revol uti on,
'
rrgur:,1
bl Errc Wrl hanrs, who noted that hardl y a bri ck i n Li verpool al d Bri stol rvas
not
terl tcntcd
rvrrh Afrrcarr bl ood ( 1944:61-tr3). But capi tal i snr nray not evc' n have takcn
"{ wrthnut
Europe s
"al nc' x.rrrorr offuneri ca," and rhc "bl ood
and sweat" tl rl t for tl ro
centurrcs
tl orre.l i o Europc fror' the pl antati ons. Thi s nl ust be stressed, as i t hcl ps us
"drl z( l l o\
t' srenri l l sl .rvcry hr. been for the hi story of cl pi tal i srrt, and why, pcri odi -
cdly, but s)stematically, whenever the capitalist systcrn is thrcatencd by a
nomic crisis, the capitalist class has to launch a process of"primitive
is, a proces of large-scde coloniz:tion and enslayement, such as the one we
nessing at pEsent
@des
1999).
The plantation system was cmcid for capitalist development not oDly
ofthc imrnensc amount ofsurplus labor that !1"s accumulated ftorn it, but
set a model oflabor managemcnt, export-orientcd production, economic
and internationd division oflabor that havc since become paradigmatic for
ist class relations.
With is immerse concenmtion of workers and is captive labor forcc
ftom is homeland, unable to rely on locd support, thc plantation prefiguted
the factory but dso the later use ofimrnigmtion and globalization to cut the codr
In particular, thc plantation was a key step in the formation ofan internationd
oflabor that (through the production of"consumer goods") integnted the wort
slavcs into the reproduction of the European work-force, while keeping
waged worken geogrephicdly and socially divided.
The colonial production ofsugar, tea,tobacco,rum,and cotton -the
tant commodities, tqgether with bread, in the production oflabor-powet in
did not take offon a large scale until after thc 1650s. efter daverv had been
alized and weges in Europe had begun to (modesdy) rise (Rowling 1987:51,76,
must be mentioned here. however. because. when it did ake off. two
introduced that significandy restructurcd the rcproduction oflabor
one side, a global assembly line was cteated dut cut the cost ofthe commoditier
sary to produce labor-power in Europe, and linked enslaved and waged wortcn
that pre-figured capitalisml present use ofAsian, African, and Latin Amcricrn
as ptoviders of"cheap""consumer" goods (chcapcned by death squads and
lence) for the "advanced"capitalist countries.
On the other side, the metropolitan wage became thc vehiclc by which thc
produced by endavcd workcn went to the market, and the value of the
cnslavcd-labor was realized. In this way, as with fcmale domestic work, the
ofendaved labor into thc production and reproduction ofthe metropolitan
was further esablished, and the wage was further redefincd as an instrument of,
lation, that is, as a levcr for mobilizing not only the labor ofthe workers paid by
also for the labor of a multitude of worken hidden by it, because of the
ditions ofthcir work.
Did worken in Europe know that they were buying producs rcsulting
labor and, ifthey did, did they object to it? This is a question wc would like to
but it is one which I cannot answer. What is certain is that the history oftea,
tobacco, and conon is far more significant than we can deduce from the
which these commodities made, as rew matcrials or means of exchanqe in tbc
tradc, to the rise ofthe factory system. For what treveled with thcsc "cxpors"
only the blood ofthe slaves but the seeds ofa new science ofexploiation, ald
division ofthe working class by which waged-work, nther than providing an
tive to slavery, was made to depend on it for its existence, as a means (likc
lOtt
--r,eid
labor) for the expension of thc unpaid
pen ofthe waged working-&y'
u't-
so
"lor"ly
irr,"greted werc the lives ofthe enslaved laboren inAmerica end waged
bbo,"T.*
Eu-T.*:
-*:...!:'lT:-Y:3:
:::T*':,XT,'JT:'iT"::51:
I,J-itt"t
grounds") to cultivate for their own use' how much land was alloaed to
I
y'-
,
'
:,-
----L
;-- ..-.
-:.,-- '^
rt-- r^ rrrlriure it weried in orooortion to the
lh:ri,'na
r'J*
-".r'
o-..
y' o,"..'
:
ft
:1-:: :::::::l:f
'jt^T,:ff::::::::
ff..'.irt*t
on the world-matket
(Morrissey 1989: 51-59) - plausibly determined
t"-- ,,--:^
^f..,
-L-^',.rcae
rn.l *nrkerr'rmrople over reoroduction.
fi
o"
dv.*r*
or **',:'
:f.'-:1ly::i:l-'i#:'.""'::"*:.:::l:
It'would
be a mistake, howevet, to conclude dut the integration ofslave labor in
r- .roduction
of the European waged proleariat creatcd a communiry of intercsts
ffi""n
Eu-p.""
worken and the metropolitan capitalists, prcsumably cemented by
I;' common
desire for cheap imponed goods'
"'-
In ,c"lity, like the Conquest, the slave trade was an epochal misfortune for
rrmDean worke$.As we have seen, slavery (Iike the witch-hunt) was a rnajor gound of
li".i-.noalon
for methods of labor-control that were later imponed into Europe
iilu..v atro
"f.cted
the European workers'wages and legd status; for it cannot be a coin-
-aa.n."
,tt., only with thc end of slavery did wages in Europc decisively incrcase and
did
European
worken garn the right to organizc'
tt is
"lso
hand to inugine that worters in Europe profitcd fmm thc Conquest of
Amcrica,
at least in is initial phase. L.et us remembcr that it was the intensity ofthe anti-
fcudal struggle that instigated thc leset nobility and the merchans to seek colonid
oousion, and that the conquisadors came ftom the ranks ofthc most-hatcd enemies
ofthe European wo*ing class.It is also important to remember that the Conquest pro-
vidcd the European ruling clas with the silver and gold used to pay the mercenary armies
6at defeated the urban and rural revols; and that, in the same years when Anwats,
Aztecs, and lncas were being subjugated, worken in Europe were being drivcn ftom thcir
homes, branded like animals, and butnt as witches'
Ve should not assume, thcn, that dte European proleariat was dwals an accom-
plice to the plunder of the Americas, though individud prolctarians undoubtedly wee.
The nobility expected so little coopention fiom the "lower classes" that initially the
Spaniatds
allowed only a few to embark. Only 8,000 Spanianrls mignted legdly to the
Americas
in the entire 16th centurythe clergy making up 17% ofthe lot (Hamilton 1965:
299;Williams
1984:38-40). Even later, peoPle were forbidden ftom settling oveneas inde-
Pcrdendy, because it was fearcd that thcy miglrt collabonte with the locd population.
.
For most prolctarians, in the 17th and 18th centuries, access to the NewWorld was
thtough
indentured
servitu& and "transportation," the
Punishment
which the authori-
iic
rn
England
adopted to rid the country ofconvics, political and religious dissidens,
9-$.
u^t popul"tion of wrgabonds and beggan that was ptoduced by the enclosures.
'rs
Peter
Lrnebaugh and Marcus Rediker point out in The Many-Headed Hydn (2UN),
Inc
colonizen'
fear ofunrcstricted migration was wcll-founded, given the wretchcd liv-
u8
condidons
tlut prcvailed in Europe,and the appeal exercised by the repors that cir-
l*t!d
.bout
the Ncw World, which picturd it as a wonder land where people lived
qlc
from
toil
and
ryranny,
rnasters ani greed, and where "rnyne" and "thyne" had no
llrce'
all thinp
beine heli in .ommor,
[-irrebaugh
and Rediier 2000; Brendon 1986:
*/)
So
strons
w-as ie anraction exercised by the New World that the vision of a new
ro5
society it provided apparendy inlluenced the political thought of the
contributing to the emergence of a new concept of"libetty," taken to signi$
lessness, an idea previously unknown in European politicd theory
@nndon
2F28). Not surprisingly, some Europeans tried to"lose themselves"in this utopian
where, as Linebaugh and Rediker powerfully put it, they could reconstruct thc lost
rience ofthe corunoru (2000:24). Some lived for years with Indian tribes
restrictions placed on those who setded in the American colonies and thc heaw
to be paid ifcaught, since escapees were treated like traiton and put to death.Til
the fate of some young English setden in Virginia who, having run away to
jivc
the Indians, on being caught were condemned by the colony! councilmcn
"burned, broken on the wheel...
[and]
hanged or shot to death" (Koning 1
"Terror created boundaries," Linebaugh and Rediker comment (2000: 34).Yet. rs
1699, the English still had a great diffculty penuading the people whom the
caDtivated to leave their Indian manner oflivins.
No argument, no entreaties, no tean
[a
contempoErry reported]...
could penuade many ofthem to leave their Indian friends. On the other
hand, lndian children have been carcfi.ily educated among the English,
clothed and taught, yet there is not one instance that any ofthese would
remain, but returned to their own nations (Koning 1993: 60).
As for the European proletarians who signed themselves away into
servitude or arrived in the NewWorld in consequence ofa penal sentence, their
not too diferent, at first, fiom that ofthe African daves with whom they often
side by side.Their hostility to their maste$ was equally intense,so thet the planten
them a5 a dangerous lot and, by the second hdfofthe 17th century began to limit
use and introduced a legislation aimed at separating them from the Africans. But
the end ofthe 18th century were racial boun&ries irrevocably drawn (Moulicr
1998). Until then, the possibility ofdliances between whites, blacks,and aborigind
ples, and the fear ofsuch uniry in the European nrling class' imagination, at
on the plantations, was constandy present. Shakespeare gave voice to it in fie
(1612) where he pictured the conspiracy organized by Cdiban, the native rebcl,
a witch, and by Trinculo and Stepheno, the ocean-going European
gesting the possibiliry ofa fatal alliance among the oppressed, and providing a
countelpoint to Prcspero's magic healing ofthe discord among the rulers.
ln The Tempest the cor$piiecy ends ignominiously, with the European
ans demonstrating to be nothing better than petty thieves and drunkarcls, and
Caliban begging forgiveness from his colonial rraste..Thus, when the deGated
brought in front of Prospero and his former enemies Sebastian and Antonio
onciled with him), they are met with derision and thoughts ofownership and
SEBASTIAN.WIaI things are these, my lord Antonio?
Will monev buv them?
t o6
ro7
ANTONIO.VeT
like; one of them is a plain 6sh, and, no doubt, marchetable'
PROSPERO.
Mark but the badges of these rnen, my lords,
Then
say if they be tiue.This mis-shapen knave,
His mother
was a witch, and one so strong
That
could control the moon' make flows and ebbs,
And
deal in her command without her power'
These
three have robbed me; and this demi-devil-
For he! a bastard one - had plotted with them
To ake my life.Iwo of these fellows you
Must know and own.This thing ofdarknes I
Acknowledge
mine. (Shakespeare, Act! Scene 1,lines 26F276)
Offstage, however, the threat continued."Both on Bermu& and Barbados white
servants
were discovered plotting with African slaves, as thousands ofconvicts were being
56ipped
there in the 1650s fiom the British idands" (Rowling 1987:57).In Virginia the
ocak
rn rhe alliance between black and white servents was Bacon! Rebellion of 167F76,
when
African slaves and British indentured sewantsjoined together to conspire against
their
masten.
It is for this reason that, starting in the 1640s, the accumulation ofan enslaved pro-
letariat in the Southern American colonies and the Caribbean was accompanied by t}le
consrruction of r.cial hierarchies, thwarting the possibitty ofsuch combinatioru. Laws
werc passed deprivingAfricans ofpreviously granted civic rights, such as citizenship, the
right to bear arms, and the right to make depositions or seek redress in a tribunal for
injuries sufered.The turning point was when slavery was made an hereditary condition,
rnd the slave masters were given the right to beat and ki.ll their slaves. ln addition, rnar-
riages between "blacks" and "whites" were forbidden. Lateq after the American War of
Indcpendence, white indentured servitude, deemed a vestige ofBritish rule, was elimi-
nzted. As a result, by the late 1 8th century colonid America had moved from "a sociery
with slaves to a slave sociery" (Moulier Boutang 1998: 189), and the possibility of soli-
drrity
between Africans and whites had been severely undermined. "White," in the
colonies,
became notjust a badge ofsocial and economic privilege "serving to designate
lhose
who until 1650 hed been called 'Christians' and afterwards 'Endish' or'free rnen"'
(h/.:194),
but a moral atcibute, a means by which social hegemoiy was naturalized.
"Black"
or "A&ican,"
by contrast, became synonymous with slave, so much so tlat free
black
people
- sti.ll a sizeable presence in early l7tb-century America - were later
rotted
to prove that they were ftee.
I
I
Sex, Race and Cl ass i n the Col oni eg
-,
ex, Race, and Cl ass i n rhe Col oni es
.lould
Cd;b"trt
conspiracy have had a different outcome had its protagonists been
*ornen?
H.d rhe instigarors been not Caliban but his mother, Sycorax, the powertll
''terran
witch that Shakespeare hides in the playl background, and not Trinculo and
-'Ephano
but the sisten of the witches who, in the same yean of the Conquesr, wcrc
_ ,
In 1, Tituba, BIa& Witch oJ Salen (1992), Maryse Cond6 gives us an insighl
the kind ofsituation that could produce such bonding, by desciibing how Titube
her new mistress, the Puritan Samuel
parris'young
wiG, gave
"rah
otir"" r,,ppo"t
at
against his murderous contempt for women.
being burned in Europe at rhe stake?
This question is a rhetorical one, but it serves to question the nature of the
ual division oflabor in the colonies, and of the bonds tiat could be established
between European, indigenous, and African women by virtue ofa comrnon
of sexual discrirlrination.
An even more outstanding example comes from the Caribbean, where
English women "transported"
from Britain as convicts or indentured servants
a significant part of rhe labor-gang on the sugar estates.
.,Considered
un6t for
riage by propertied white males,and disqualified for domestic service," because
of
insolence and riotous disposition,
,,landless
white women were dismissed to
Iabor in plantations, public construction works, and the urban service sector. In
worlds they socialized intimately with the slave communiry, and with enslaved
men." They establ i shed househol ds and had chi l dren wi th them (Beckl es
1
131-32).They also cooperated as well as competed with female slaves in the ml
lated and enforced. Among the most revealing prohibitions we must agln count
marriage and sexual relations between blacks and whites were forbidden, white wo
who married black slaves were condemned, and the cbildren resulting fiom such
riages were enslaved for life. Passed in Maryland and Virg:nia rn the 1660s, thesc
prove that a segregated, racist society was instituted ftom above, and that rnEmate
tions between "blacks" and "whites" must have been very cornmon, indeed, if
enslavement was deemed necessary to terminate them.
ing ofproduce or stolen goods.
But with the institutionalization ofslavery, which was accompanied by a
ing ofthe burden for white workers, and a decrease in the number of worrren:
from Europe as wives for the planters, the situation changed dnstically. Regard
their social origrn, whire women were upgraded, or married offwittrin ihe ranks
white power structure, and whenever possible they became owners ofslaves
usually female ones, employed for domestic work (iril.).74
This, however, was not an automatic process. Like sexism, racism had to be
As iffollowing the script laid out by the witch-hunt, the new laws
relation between white women and black men.When they were passed
in the 1
witch-hunt in Europe was coming to an end, but in America all the taboos surr
the witch and the black devil were being revived, this time at the expense ofblack
"Divide
and rule"also became ofiicial policy in the Spanish colonies,aftera
when rhe numerical inGrroriry of the coloniss recommended a more libenl
towards inter-ethnic relations and alliances with the local chiefs through marriagc.
in the 1540s, as the increase in the number of mestrzo.r was undermining colonial
l
lege, "nce" was established as a key factor in the transmission ofproperty, and a
hierarchy was put in place to separate indigenous, m$t,zor, and
^uiatti,
from each
and ftom the white population (Nash 19tt0).75
prohibitions
relating to marriag!
Gmale sexualiry served here, too, to enforce social exclusion. But in Soanish Arnc
10a
109
tr.faualc
sLut bthX bru ed.
1p
br,nrliry
oJrwnen Iry rfu
dd'il
hnd
_frlurcd PtotttiflrntlY
in
It
Eutoptd
u,ilalt-lti s,
'ts
,1
5yubol
oJ toul subjugrtion But
in rc,tlity, tlt! tru( dfuils rwrc
fie tltirc
jnft
tn.!4t and
pldr,hltiott
outtts u'\rc (ikc the
nm tu this pieturt) did ttot fus-
iute to trc,t thc wouen tlrcy
sgtegation
along racial lines succeeded only in pan, checked by migration, population
decline,
indigenous revolt, and the formation of a white urban proletanat
wrth no
pospect
ofeconomic
advancement, and thereforc prone
ro identift with mestrzos and
mulaltos
Inore rhan with the white upper-class. Thus. while in the planution societies
ofthe
Caribbean
the differences berween European and Africans increased with time,
tothe
South
A,rnerican colonies a "re-composition"
became possible, especially among
row-class
European,
meJtrzd, and African women who, beside their precarious economrc
Postrion.5lx."6
rhe disadvantages deriving from the double standard built into the law,
wtuch
madr rhenr vulnerable t mde abuse.
u^-.
.
SiSns
ofthis "recomposrtion"
can be found in the records which the Inquisition
"cPt.h l Erh-ccnrury
Mexico ofthe investigations it conducted to eradicate magical and
i:cj"e__tt:
beLefs
@ehar 19137: 3,1-51).The task was hopeless, and soon the Inquisition lost
qcrest
in the project, convrnced rhar popular magic was no longer a threat to the polit-
,"L11.
U",
the testimonies ic collected r.u.J th.
"*ist..r.J
of multiple exchanges
.
"":;:
*:^.,,
i n matters rel ati ng ro magi cal cures and l ove renredi es, creari ng i n ti nre
in6ij_tuttutd
rcaliry drewn ftonr the encounter between rhe African, European and
*Esnou\
rrrgi cel
tndi ti ons. As Ruth Behar wri tes:
Indian women grve huruningbincls to Spanish healers for use in sex-
ud attraction, mulatta women told mestiza women how to tame their
husbands, a loba sorceEss introduced a coyota to the Devil.This
.,pop_
ular" sl,stem ofbcliefnn panllel to the system ofbeliefofthe Church.
and it sprcad as quickly as Christianiry did in the Ncw Wotld, so that
after a while it became impossiblc to distinguish in it what was
"Indian"or "Spanish" or " African" (ibid.)
-76
Assimilatcd in the eyes of the Inquisition as people "without reason," thir
gated Gmale world which Ruth Behar describcs is a telling example ofthe
across colonial and color lines, women could build, by vimre of their common
ence, and their interest in sharing the tnditional knowledges and practices
thern to control their teproduction and fight scxual discrimination.
Like discrim.ination on rhe basis of"rece," this was more than a cultural
which the colonizen brought Iiom Europe with their pikes and hones. No
the desnuction of communalism, it was a str.tegy dictated by spccifc economic
est and the need to cteate the preconditions for a capitdist economy,and as such
adjusted to the task at hand.
ln Mexico and Peru, where population decline recommended that
domestic labor in the home be incentivized, a new sexual hicrarchy was
by the Spanish authoritics that s&ipped indigenous women of their
gave their male kin morc power over them. Under the new laws, marricd
bccame men's property, and were forced (against the traditiona.l custom) to
husbands to their homes. A corrpadrazgo system was also crcated further limiting
righs, placing the authority over children in male hands. In addition, to
indigenous women reproduced the workers recruitcd to do nrfua wort in thc
the Spanish authorities legidated that no onc could separate husband from wife,
meant that women were forced to follow their husbands whether they
not, evcn to areas known to be death camps, due to the pollution crcated by
ing (Cook Nobte 1981:205-6).zz
The intervention of the French
Jesuis
in the disciplining and tnining
Montagnais-Naskapi, in nid-17dr century Canada, provides a rcveding cxamplc
gender di$ercnces wcrc accumulated.The story is told by the late anthropologist
Leacock in her M1rfu oJ Male Dominawe (1981), whcre she examines the diary
ofis protagoniss.This wer Father Paul LeJeunc, aJesuit rnirsionary who, in
nial fashion, hadjoined a French tnding post to Christianize the Indiaru, and
into citizens of"New Francc."The Monagnais-Naskapi werc a nomadic Indian
that had lived in great harmony, hunting and fishing in the eastcrn Labrador
But by the time of Le
Jeune's
arrival, their community was being undermined
presencc ofEuropeans and the spreed offur-trading, so that some men, cager to
commercial alliance with them, were amenable to lening dre Frcnch dicate
should govern themselves peacock
1981:39fi).
As often happened when Europeans ceme in contact with native
populations, the French were impressed by Montagnais-Naskapi
l l o
.,d5e
of cooperation and indiffercnce to status, but they werc scandalized by their
It"ck of momls;" they saw that the Naskapi had no conception ofprivate prcperty'
Jeuthoriry,
of mde superioriry, and they even rcfused to punish their childrcn
i.eacock
1981 : 3,F38).The
Jesuits
decided to change all that, setting out to teach the
)lai.nt
th. basic clements of civilization, convinccd that this was necessary to turn
.iem
inro
reliable trade partnen. [n this spirit, thcy 6nt taught them that "man is the
l.ster,"
that
"in France women do not rule their husbands," and that courring at
lieht,
di"orc.
at either partner! desire, and sexua.l freedom for both spouses, before
ol"rfter
-ar.i"ge,
had to be forbidden. Herc is a telling exchange Le
Jeune
had, on
jtis score.
with a NaskaPi man:
"l told him it was not hononble fot a woman to love anyone else
except her husband, and dut this evil being among them, he himself
was not sure that his son, who was present, was his son. He
replied,'Thou has no sensc.You French people love only your chil-
dren; but we love dl the children ofour tribe.'I began to laugh see-
ing that he philosophized in honc and mule fuhion" (ibid.:50).
Backed by the Govcrnor of Ncw Francc, thc
Jesuits
succeeded in convincing the
Naskapi to provide themselves with some chiefs, and bring "their" women to onder.
Typically, one weapon they used was to insinuate that women who were too indcpend-
cnt and did not obey their husban& wcre creatures ofthe devil. When, angered by the
ment attempts to subdue them, the Naskapi wonen ran away, the
Jesuits
penuaded the
mcn to chase after their spouses and tlueaten them with imprisonment:
"Such acs ofjustice"- leJeune proudly cornmented in one paftcu-
lar case -"cause no surprise in Fnnce, because it is usud drere to pro-
ceed in drat manner But among these peoplc. . . where everyone consid-
en himselffrom birth as frce as dre wild animals dut roam in their great
forcsts. . . it is a mawcl, or rather a minclc, to see a peremptory comrnand
obelcd, or any act ofseverity orjustice performed" (i6il.: 54).
. ..
The
Jesuis'
greatest victory. however, was persuading the Naskapi to beat their
ch{drcn,
believing that the "savages' "
excessivc fondnes for their oftpring was the major
ottstacle
to their Christianization. Lc lcune's diarv records the first insrance in which a
Fd was publicly
beate n, wh.ile one ofter rclrtives gave a chilling lecture to the bystanden
on
the
historic
signifcance ofche evens"This is the 6rst punishment by beating (he said)
we
i nl l i ct
on anyone ofour Nati on..." (i b i d.:54-55).
..
-
The
Montagnais-Naskapi men owed their tnining in male supremacy to the facr
ort
the
French
n.lnt.d to instill in them the "instinct" for private prcperty, to induce
Qcrh
to become
reliable partners in the fur tnde.Very diferent was the situation on the
Phnbtions.
where
rhe sexual division oflabor was immediately dictated by the planten'
'c9u|rcrnsn1,
for labor-powcr, and by the price of commodities producei by the slaves
"q
sc
internadond
-;k.t. Until
the abolition ofthe slave trede, as Barbara Bush and Marietta Morrissey have
I I I
documcnt d, bodr women end men were subjecred to thc same dcgec ofexplc
plante.s found it morc prodable to work
-di..o^u_.ll-d[-,;fr;
;; .o
their reprcduction. Neither the sexual division ofubo. ,ro. *.iJ-f"L-fiJ*..
Or*
1::::f : T:1 T-.-'}d
no say conceming.*.
a.,ti"y
"i,r,"i,-eJJlo*"_o* kin; as for women. far 6om being given special coruidcration,
they *".
";T#;1
in the 6elds like
'nen,.rp..i"[y
*-h.n ,,rg",
".a
,.U""." _.rJl,i iij,
j.rr""o,
_O
werc subject to the same cruel punishmens,
even when prcgnan,
fS;rh is;0, +z--aa)l
..,,,_,*::*r^*l-n :..11.,*-,91,1,^.11.v
*oi"n.,..r,i.*l-,,
"
-"gh
"o*
with the men of their class (Momsen
1993). Bu, ,fr.i" ,r""*."i *r" ileie"r.rh'J
Wonen wcre given less to eati ut ike men, they were vulnenblc to thli. mast n,
assaults; and more cruel punishmcnt
were inflicted on thern, fo.l"
"aai,lo"
a ,fra pl
1.1:ty_::-:r
td to bear the sexual humitirtion
alwal,s
"*"iJ,"
.r,.r"."a
damage done, when prcgnant,
to the Gtuses they carried.
--
sr!'r
'..a
."^
^1,::*
O"O,lorcove r, opened after t807,when
the slave tnde was abolishcd
the,Caribbean
and Amcrican planten adopted
"
.tt"u.
b...Ang,l
OrU*
^"
Beckles points out, in relation to the island ofbarbados, planati.,
"i,"1"
fr"a
",,
to control the reproductive patterns offemale slaves sinc" th" t Zo ."ntury,
..[.n"o,
::Tn:Tj:lT
tlwer or more children in any given span of tt_.,,11"p*aing
oo
much 6eld labor u.as needed. But only when theiupply'ofAfr".rlf"*Ia"rrisi"T
the regulation ofwoment sexual relations
"rrd
.eproiuctiv. p"n.r^ U."l-.
-ora
tematic and intcnse
@eckJes l9g9:92).
. .
In Europe, forcing women to procreate
had led to the irnposition
ofcapial
ishment.fot
lontnception.
In the plantations,
where slaves were becoming a pn
commodity.
the shift to a breeding poricy made women morc vurnerabre to sexua.l i
Inougn rt led to some "ameliorations"ofwomen,s
work conditioru:a reducton
of
houn, the. building of lying-in-houses,
the ptovislon of miaJues Jro.L *. a.l
i:ffp:Ti":"f
r:.id righs (c.g..
of tnvel and assembty)@eckles:
tses:'cg_too;
1990: 135). Bw these changes could not reduce the d;;ft;;;;r";;:;
field-labor,
nor the bitterness women experienced
because oftheirlack offteedom.V
the exception ofBarbados, the Dlanters, anempt to expand th" *"rt_io-" ,fr-"gf,
unl reproduction"
failed, and ihe birth rates on ,t
"
pf"noior,,
."_in.a
-"Urro.
low" (Bush 136-37; Beckles 19g9, i&ir'.).Whethe"
thi, ph"no_*or,
,rt
-a
,.sutt of
right resistance to the pcrpetuation
of slavery, o.
"
.orrr.qr.nl" .irfr"
irryr.A
a.
tation produced by the hanh conditions to which cnstaved _orrr.r, *"L *U1"*
still a matter of debate (Bush 1990: 143II). But, as Bush p"in" ori, rf,...
"r,
good
sons to believe that the main cause of the failr* ** ,h. *fu;;;;;;r;;
;;
for as soon as slavcry was eradicated, cven when thcir economic conditions in
respect deterioreted,
the comrnunities offreed slaves bcgan to g-* (Bu;
ff9q.r,
Woment refusals of victimization
also reshapedihe
,.iud ail.lrion of UUor,
occurrcd in Caribbean islands where enslaved women turned Uar aua,,nro ,
111:::-:,::9 "l,he
products they cultivated in the.,provtrirrr
;"rd"- 0,
'polinks'), grven by the planters to the sl"u., ,o th.t thiy .o"fJ,i,rpi""
,fr..
The planters
adopted this measure to s:rve on ,t. .ou oi..p-tu"iffilor.
eur
to the "provision
grcunds', turned out to be advantageous
i. ,r*-Ji"* * *"u, i
tt2
u3
6crn
morc mobility, and thc posribitity to use the time a.llotted for theit cultirztion for
eiher
activities. Being able to producc small crops that could be erten or sold boosted
66ir
independencc. Those most devoted to the success ofthe provision gtounds were
women,
who marketed the crops, re-appropriating and reproducing within the planta-
don
system
what had bccn one of their main occupatiors in Africa. As a rcsult, by the
nid-18rh
century enslaved women in the Caribbean had carved out for themselves a
gpce
in the plantation cconomy, confiibuting to the expansion, ifnot the creation, of
6e
island!
food market.They did so both as producen ofmuch ofthc food consumed
by
the
slaves and the white population, and also as hucksten and market vcndon ofthe
crops
they cultivated, supplemented with goods taten from the master's shop, or
cxchanged
with odrer slaves, or givcn to them for sale by their masters.
It was in this capaciry that femalc daves dso came into contact with white prole-
tarian
women, often former indcnturcd servans, even after the lattcr had been removed
6om
gang-labor and emancipated.Their relationship at times could be hostile: proletar-
irn
European women, who also survived mosdy through the growing and matketing of
food
crops, stole at times the producs that slave women brought to the rurket, or
.ttempted
to impede their sdcs, But both groups of women dso collabonted in build-
ing e vast network ofbufng and selling relations which evaded the laws passed by the
colonial authorities, who periodically worried that these activities may place the slaves
beyond their control.
Despite the legislation introduced to prcvent them from selling or limiting thc
pleces in which they could do so, enslaved women continued to expand their market-
ing activities and the cultivation of thcir provision plots, which they came ro view as
their own so that, by the late 18tb century, they wete forming a ptoto-peasantry with
pnctically a monopoly ofisland ma*es.Thus, according to some historians, even beforc
emancipation, slavery in the Caribbeen had pnctically ended. Female slaves - against
all odds - werc a key force in this proccss, the ones who, with thcir determination,
shaped the development of dre slavc community and of the islands' economics, despite
dtc authorities'many atternps to limit their power.
Enslaved Caribbean womcn had a.lso a decisive impact on the cu.lture of the white
popularion,
especidly that of white womcn, through thet activitics as healen, seers,
cxperts
in magical practices, and their "domination" of the kitcheru, and bedrooms, of
their
maiters
@ush
1990).
.
Not surprisingly, thcy werc seen as the heart ofthe slave community.Visiton wcrc
unpresed
by their singing, thcir head-kerchieG and drcsses, and their cxtnwagant man-
ncr
ofspeaking
which are now understood as a means ofsatirizing theit mastcn.A.&ican
rnd
Creole
women influenced the customs ofpoor female whiter, *hom a corncmpo-
nrY
portnyed
as behaving like Africers, ualking with their children stnpped on their
tups,
while balancing tnys with goods on their heads
@eckles 1989:81). But their main
actuevemenr
was the development of a politics of self-reliancc, grcunded in survivrl
lttittegies
and femdc nerworks.These pnctices and the values attached to them, which
\osalynTerborg
Penn has idenrified as thc esential tenets ofcontemporary African fem-
rnam,
rede6ned
the A6ican communiry ofthe diupon (pp. F7).They created not only
qre
loundadons
for a new fcmale African identity, but also the foun&tions for a new
Aborc: A
.ftnily
of slaves (detail).
Enslaver! twutn strugqler! to on-
tinue thc dtivitiu they had arrietl
on in AJtitd, suth ds tn*etin! the
prodwe they
Xtat,
u,hkh cmblcd
tho to bettu suryo/t thci
Idmi-
liu anil nthiew sone autonony.
(Fron Bd dta Bush, 1990.)
&low: A.fcstiw
ltthuikg
on d
ll'est Indidn pl,utation. Wonen
uue th. hed
ef
sudt
l|'thetitlfl
ds thcy ut|e the hed ofthe
.hslnwd cofltflutlity, and thc
staunthut deftnrlus o;f tht oltun
Itrought
.fron
Afrita.
@ciery
cornmitted - against the capitdist anempt to impose scarcity and dependence
:. srrucrural
conditions ofLfe - to rhe re-appropriation and concentration in woment
i3nds
ofthe fundamental means ofsubsistence, starting from the land, the production of
1o96,
rnd rhe inter-generational transrnission ofknowledge and cooperatton.
I
Capitalisrn and tlle ser.ual Diwidon of Labor
,q5
rhis
briefhistory ofwomen and primitive accumulation has shown, the construcnon
ofa
new
patriarchal ordeq makiog ofwomen the selvants ofthe male work-force, was
x major
aspect of capitalist development.
On its basis a new sexual division oflabor could be enforced that differentiated not
only
the tasks that women and men should perfonrr, but their experiences, their lives,
their
relation to capital and to other sectors ofthe working class.Thus, no less than the
inrernational
division oflabor, the sexual division oflabor was above all a power-relarion,
a division
within the work-force, while being an immerue boost to capital accumulation.
This point must be emphasized, given the tendency to anribute the leap capiral-
ism brought about in the productivity oflabor only to the specialization ofwork-tasks.
In reality, the advantages which the capitalist class derived from the diFerentiation
berween agriculturel and industrial labor and within industrial labor itself- celebrated
in Adam Srnirht ode ro pin-making - pale when compared to those it derived from
the degradation of women's work and social position.
As I have argued, the power-diference between women and men and the con-
cealrnent ofwomen\ unpaid-labor under the cover of naturel inferioriry, have enabled
capitalism to irrunensely expand the "unpaid part ofthe working day,"and use the (mate)
wege to accumulate womeni labor; in many cases, they have also served to deflect class
rntagoniuD into an antagonism between men and women,Thus, primitive accumula-
uon has been above all an accumulation ofdilferences, inequalities, hierarchies, divisions,
which have alienated workers from each other and even fionr themselves.
As we have seen, male workers have often been complicitous with tlus process, as
they
have tried to meintain their power with ..rp".t to."piarl by devaluing and disci-
purung
women, children, and the populations the capitalist class has colonized. But the
power
that men have imposed on women by virtue oftheir access to wage-labor and their
rccoflxrzed
contribution to capitalist accumulation has been paid at the price ofsellalien-
aton,and
the "primitive
disaccumulation" oftheir own individual and collective powers.
,,. .[n,h"
next chapters I further examine this disaccumulation process by discussing
l:nee
key aspecs oftransirion from feudalism to capitalism: the constitution ofthe pro-
rchrian
body
rnto a work-machine, the persecution ofwomen as witches, and the cre-
al l on
of' ravages"
and "canni bel s"
both i n Europe and the New Worl d.
u5
|
"r."t
ot""
l . Peter Blickle objects to the concept ofa "peasant wat" because ofthe social
position ofthis revolution, which included many artisaru, miners, and
among its renls. The Peasant War combined ideological sophistication,
in the twelve "articles" which the rebels put forward, and a por-erfirt
-ilit"ty ization. The twelve "anicles" included: the refusal of bondage, a reductiou
tithes, a reped ofthe poaching laws, an affirmation ofthe righs to gather
lesening of labor sewices. a reduction ofrens, an affrmation of the righr
the cornmon, and an abolition ofdeath taxes (Bickle 1985: 195-201).Thc
tional rnilitary prowess demonstrated by the rebels depended in part on
ticipation ofprofesional soldien in the revolt, including the Iandsknechte
famous Swizz soldien who, at the tine, were the elite mercenery troops in
The Landsknechte headed the peasant armies, puning their military
their service and, in various occasions. rsfused to move against the rebelr.
case, they motivated their refusal by atguing that they too came 6om the
and drat they depended on the peasans for their sustenance in times ofpeacc.
it was clear that they could not be trusted, the German princes mobilizcd the
of the Swabian League, drewn 6om more remote regions, to break the
resistance. On the history ofthe Iandsknechte and their panicipation in the
War. see Reinharrd BaumarLa.I Lanzichenecthi
(1994:237
-256\.
The Anabaptists, politicdly, represented a fusion of"'the late medieval socid
ments and the new anti-clerical movement sparked ofby the Reformatiod
the medierel heretics. thev condemned economic individualism and
supported a form ofChristian communalism.Their take-over ofMunster
in the wake ofthe PeasantVar, when untest and utban insurrections
Frankfurt to Coloene and other towns ofNorthern Germany. In 1531. thc
took control of the city of Muruter, renamed it New
Jeruu.lem,
and
inlluence of immignnt Dutch Anabaptists, insalled in it a communal
based upon the sharing of goods. As Po-Chia Hsia writes, the records
Jerusdem
were destroyed and its story has been told only by is enernies.
should not
presume
that events unfolded as narrated. According to thc
records, women had at 6nt enjoyed a high degree of freedom in the
irxtance."thev could divorce their unbelievine husbands and cnter into
riages."Things changed with the decision by the reformed government to
duce polygamy in 1534, which provoked an "acrive resistance" among
presumably repressed with imprisonment and even execurions
1988a: 58-59).Why this decision was aken is not clear But the episode
more investigation, given the divisive lole that the crafts played in the
with regard to women.We know, in fact, that the cnft campaigned in seved
tries to exclude women from the waged work-place, and nothing i
they opposed the penecution ofthe witches.
3. For the rise of the red wage and the fall of prices in England, see
116
Thomas (1973: 74). For Florentine wages, see Carlo M. Cipolla (1994:
tt7
the
fall in the value ofoutput in England see R. H. Britnel (1993: 156-171). On
the stagnarion ofagricultunl production in a number ofEuropean countries, see
B.H.
SlicherVan Bath (1963: 160-170). Rodney Hi.lton argtres that this period saw
"a contracuon
of the rurrl and industrial economies...probably felt in the fint
olace
by the ruling class.... Seigneurial revenues and industrial and cornmercial
pofs began to fdl.. ,, Revolc in the towns disorganized industrid production and
revolt in the countryside strengtlened peasant resistance to the payment ofrent.
Rent
and profits thus dropped even funher" (Hilton 1985:240-241).
On Maurice Dobb and the debate on the transition to capitalism, see Harvey
J.
Kaye,
The British Marrisr Hristoriaru. NewYork: St. Martin's Press, (1984),23-69.
Critics ofMarxt concept of'primitive accumulation"include: SamirAmin (1974)
and Maria Mies (1986).While SamirAmin focusses on Marxt Eurccentrism, Mies
streses
Marxt blindness to the exploitation ofwomen.A different critique is found
inYann
Moulier Boutang (1998) who fauls Marx for generating the impression
that the objective ofthe ruling class in Europe was to free itselffrom an unwanted
work-force.
Moulier Boutang underlines thet the opposite was the case: land
expropriation aimed to fix worken to their jobs, not to encourage mobiliry.
Capitalism - as Moulier Boutang stresses - has always been prinarily concerned
with preventing the flight oflabor (pp. 16-27).
As Michael Perelman points out, the term "primitive accumulation" was actually
coined by Adam Smid and rejected by Marx, because ofis ahistorical character
in Smith! usage."To undencore his distance ftom Smidr,Marx prefixed the pelo-
rative 'so-called' to the tide ofthe 6nal part ofthe 6nt volume of Capital, wliclt
he devoted to the study of primitive accumulation. Marx, in esence, dismissed
Smith! mythical 'previous' accumulation in order to call attention to the actual
historical experience" (Perlman 19a5: 25-26).
On the relation between the historical and the logical dimension of"primitive
accumulation" and its implications for political movemens today see: Massimo
De Angelis, "Man and Prinitive Accumulation. The Continuous Character of
Capital 'Enclosures'." \n The Commoner: www. co[lmoner. org. uk; Fredy Perlman,
The ContinuingAppeal oJ Nationalism.Detroit: Black and Red, 1985; and Mitchel
Cohen,"Fredy Perlman: Out in Front ofa Dozen Dead Ocears" (Unpublished
manuscript,
1998).
For a description of the systems of tbe encomienda, mita, and catequil see (among
others)
Andr6 Gunder Fnnk (1978),45;SteveJ. Stern (1982);and Inga Clendinnen
(191t7).
As described by Gunder Frank, the entomiettla, w:s"a system under which
rtghs
to the labor ofthe Indian comrnunities were granted to Spanish landown-
en " But in 1548, the Spaniards "began to replace th e euomienda de sewicio by the
tEa
imiekto (called cate4lil in Mexico and mira in Peru), which required the Indian
conrmunityl
chiefs to supply the Spaish juez rcpanidor (distributingjudge) with
a certain
number of days oflabor per month....The Spanish oficial in turn dis-
tributed
this supply oflabor to qualfied enterprising labor contracton who were
su-pposed
to pay the laborers a certain rninimum wage"(1978:45). On the efforts
ol
the Spaniards to bind labor in Mexico and Peru in the course of the various
stages of colonization, and the impact on it of the catastrophic collapse of
indigenous population, see again Gundet Frank (ibid.:43-49\,
9. For a discussion of the "second serftlom" see Imrnanuel Wallentein (1974)
Henry Kamen (1971).It is irnporant here to stress rhat the newly enserGd
ants u/ere now producing for the international grain market. In other
despite the seeming backward charecter ofthe work-relation imposed upon
under the new regime, they were an integnl part ofa developing capitalist
omv and internationd caoitalist division oflabor.
10. I am echoing here Marx's statement in Capital,Yol.l:"Force... is in itself an
nomic power"(l909: 824). Far less convincing is Marx's accompanying
tion,according to which:"Force is the midwife ofevery old society pregnant
a new one" (ibid.). First, midwives bring life into the world, not destruction.
methaphor also suggests that capitalism "evolved" out of forces gestating in
bosom of the Gudal world - an assumDtion which Marx himself refutes in
discussion of primitive accumulation. Comparing force to the generative
ofa midwife also casts a benign veil over the process ofcapital accumulation,
gesting necessiry, inevitability, and ultimately, progress.
11. Slavery had neverbeen abolished in Europe, surviving in pockes,mosdy as
domestic slavery. But by the end ofthe 15th century slaves began to be i
again, by the Portuguese, from Africa. Attempts to impose davery continued
England through the 1 6th century, resulting (after the inuoduction ofpublic
in the corutruction of work-houses and correction houses, which England
neered in Eurooe.
12, See, on this point, SamirAmin (1974).To stress the existence ofEutopean
in the 16th and 17th centuries (and after) is also important because this fact
been often "forgotten" by European historians.According to Sahatorc Bono,
self-induced oblivion was a product of the "Scramble for Africa," which was
tified as a rnission aimed to terminate slavery on the A6ican continent.
argues that Europe's elites could not admit to having employed slaves in
the dleged cradle ofdemocracy.
13. Immanuel Wallentein (1974),90-95; Peter Kriedte (19781,69-70.
14. PaoloThea (1998) has powerfirlly rcconstructed the history ofthe German
who sided with the peasants.
"During the Protestant Reformation some among the best 1
German artists abandoned their laboratories to join the peasants in smrggle.
They dnfted documents inspired by the principles ofevangelic poverty, the
mon sharing ofgoods, and the redistribution ofwedth. Sometimes... they
arms in suppot ofthe cause.The endless list ofthose who, after the military
of May-June 1525, met the rigon ofthe penal code, mercilessly applied by
winnen against the vanquished, includes famous names, Among them ale
Ratget quartered in Pforzheim (Stuttgar$,
[Philipp]
Dietrnan beheaded,
[Tilman]
Riemenschneider mutilated - both in Wurzburg -
Grune*ald chased from the court of Maeonza where he worked, Holbern
Young was so troubled by the evens that he fled ftorn Basel, a city that was
apart by religlous confict."
[My
translationl
l l a
16.
Also in Switzerland,Austria, and theTyrol artists participated in the PeasantWaq
including famous ones like Lucas Cranach (Cranach the old) as well as m1'riad
lesser painters and engreven (rbil.:7).Thea points out that the deeply Glt partic-
ipation ofthe artists to the cause ofthe peasants is also demonstnted by the relel-
uation ofrunl themes depicting peasant life - dancing peasans' aninals, and flore
-in
contemporary 16th-century German an (ibid.:12-15;73,79' 80)."The coun-
tryside had become animated ..
[it]
had acquired in the uprising a personality
worth ofbeing represented"
(ibid ; 155).
[My
translation].
15.
It was thrcugh the prism ofthe Peasant War and Anabaptisrn that the EuroPean
governrnents, thtough ths t $th 1d I /th sqnturies, interpreted and rePressed every
form of social protest. The echoes of the Anebaptist revolution were felt in
Elizabethan England and in France, inspiring utmost vigilance and severity with
regard to any cballenge to the conttituted autholity."Anabaptist" becarne a cursed
word, a sign ofopprobrium and criminal intent, as "communist" was in the United
States in the 1950s. and "terrorist" is today.
Ea y l7,haentury Cennan engnving reviling the Anfiqtkts' bcliefin the
comnrnistic sharing oJ goods.
Village authority and privileges were maintained in the hinterland of some city-
states. In a number of territorial states, the peasants "continued to refuse dues,
taxes, and labor servico";"drey let me yell and give me nothing," complained the
abbot ofschussenried, referring to those working on his land
@lickle
1985: 172).
In Upper Swabia, though serftlom was not abolished, some of the main peasant
grieyaDces relating to inheritance and marriagc rights were eccepted with
Trcary of Memrningen of 1526,..On the Uppit Ririne, too, some ateas rca(
setdemens that were positive for the peasa ntr" (ibid.:172_li.4).ln
Switzedand,
Bern and Zurich, serfdom was abolished. Improvemens in the lot ofthe..cor
rlon m:n" were negotiated in Tyrol and Salzburg (iiil.: 176_179). But..rhe
child ofthe revolution" was the territotial assembly, instituted aftei tSZS in U
Swabia, providing the foundation for a system ofself-government
that
in place till the 19th century New territorial assembLies emerged after 1525..
izingl in a weakened form one ofthe demands of 1525: that thc common
oug;ht to be part ofthe territorial estates alonpide the nobles, rhe clergy, and
towns." Blickle concludes that "Wherever this cause won out, we can;r say
there the lords crowned their miliary conquest with politicat victory
[asl
prince was still bound to the corxent ofthe common man. Only later, during
17.
formation ofthe absolute state, did the ptince succeed in freeinghimselfftom
consent"i/iDid.: ltlt-182).
ReGrring to the growing pauperization brought about across the world by crp!
talist development, the French anthropologist Claude Meillassoux
, in Maidan,
Meal and Money (19f11), has argued thar this contradicrion spells a futurc crisis
capitalism: "In the end imperialism
- aJ a means of reproducing cheap lebor
power - is leading capitalism to a nujor crisis, for even ifthere are still milliou
18.
ofpeople in the world...not directly involved in capitalist employment... how
many are still capable owing to the social disruption, famine and wars it bringr
about,ofproducing their own subsistence and feeding their childrcn?" (19g1:140j.
The extent ofthe demographic caastrophe caused by
.,the
Columbian Exchange'
is still debated. Estimatcs ofthe population dccline in South and Central Americr,
in the first post-Columbian
cenrury range widely, but contemporary scholady
opinion is dmost unanimous in likening is efects to an American Holoc.ula
Andr Gunder Frank writes that: "Within little morc than a ccnrury. the Indi2a
population declined by ninery percent and even nincry-five p....n, in M"*i"o,
Peru, and some other regions" (1978:43).
Simitarly, Noble David Cook argucr
that:"Perhaps 9 million people rcsided within the limis delineated by
peru!
coo.
temporary boundaries.The number ofinhabitants remaining a cenrury after con
tact rn"s
rougltly a tenth ofthose that were therc whcn the Euopeans invaded thc
Andean worl d" (Cook l 98l : 1 16).
19.
20.
On the changes in the nature of *ar in eady modern Europe see, Cunninglum
and Grell (2000), 9F102; Kattner (1998). Cunningham and Grell write thar,.tn
the 1490s e large army would have consisted of20,000 men, by the 1550s it would
have becn twice that, while towards the end ofrhe Thirty
years
War the leading
European sates would have 6cld arrnies ofclose to 150,00O men" (2000:95).
Albrecht Dtireri engraving was nor the only representation
of the -iour
Horsemen."We have also one by Lucas Cnnach (1522) and by Mattheus Merian
(1630). Representatioru of battlefields, portraying slaughtcrs oisoldien and civit-
ians, villages in flames, rows of hanging bodies,are too numerous to mention. wlt
is posibly the main theme of l6th and l7rh-cenrury painting, Ieaking into every
representatron, even those ostensibly devoted to sacred subiects.
r20 ' | t l
2t .
I
Manhcus Merian, Fot./r{ HoRsTnrtN
()ri
lx, ANx,AL,fl'sE (1630),
This outcome reveals the two souls ofthe Reformation: a popular one and elitist
one, which very soon split along opposite lines.While the conservative side ofthe
Refotmation stressed the virtues of work and wealth accumulation, the popular
side dcmanded a society run by "godly love" equaliry and communal solidariry.
On the class dimensioru of the Reformation see Henry Heller (1986) and Po-
Chia Hsia (1gtlti).
Hoskins (1976),121-123. In England the pre-Reformation Church had owned
twenty-five to thirty per cent ofthe country's real prcperty. Of rhis land, Henry
Vlll sold sixry per cent (Hoskins 1976:121-1231.'lhose who most gained ftom
the con8scation and more eagerly enclosed the newly acquired lands were not the
old nobility, nor those who depended on the corrunons for their keep, but the
gentry and the "new men," cspecially the lawyers and the merchants, who were
the face of greed in the peasants' imagination (Cornwall
1977: 22-28).lz was
against these "new men" that the peasants were prone to vent their anger. A 6ne
snapshot of the winnen and losen in the great transfer ofland produced by the
English Reformation is Tlble 15 in Kriedte (19t13: 60), showing that twcnry to
twenty-five pe. cent ofthe land lost to dte Church became the gcntry's properry.
Followins are the most relevant columns.
DrsrRIEunoN oF LAND By socrAl cRoups lN ENGI.AND AND WAI.ES:
Grcat owncn
Gcntry
Yeomcn/fteeholders
Church and Crown
1l&*
t5-20
25
20
25-55
l5g)
15-20
45-50
25-33
5-10
[*excl.Vhlal
On thc consequences ofthe Rdormation in Englend for land tcnure,
Christopher Hill who writcs:
"We necd not idealize the abbeys es lcnicnt landlords to rdmit somc
contemponry allegations that the new purchascrs shortened leascs,
and evictcd tenents.... 'Do ye not know; said
John
Palmcr to e group
holden he was cvicting,'that thc kingt grace hath put down dl houses
frian, and nuns, thercforc now is thc time comc tlut we gcndemen will
the houses ofsuch poor knaves as yct bc?"'(Hill 1958: 41).
23. See Midnight Notcs (1990); see also Thc Er'ologkt (1993)iand the ongoing
drc "cnclosures" and thc "commors" in The Commora, especially n 2,
2001), and n.3., (fanuary 2N2).
24. Primarily, "cncloiurc" meant "surrounding a piece of land with hcdgcs,
othet berrien to the frec passage ofmen and animals, the hedge being
ofcxclusive ownership and land occrrpation. Hence, by enclosurc,
use, usudly accompanied by some degrce ofcomrnund land ownenhip,
abolished, supenedcd by individud ownenhip and separate occupation"
1968: 1-2).Thcre werc a vtiety ways to abolish collective lend use in thc
16th centuries. Thc lcgal patts were (a) the purchase by onc person of
mcns and their appuftenant common righs;" (b) the isuing by the King
cid licerue to enclose, or the passage ofan enclosurc act by the
agrccment between the hndlord and tenants, embodied in e Chancery
the making ofpartial enclosurcs ofwaste by the lords, under thc
Statutes of Merton (1235) andVestrninister (1285). Roger Manning
ever, that these "legd methods.., frequendy conceded the use offorce,
intimi&tion against the tenants" (Manning 1998: 25). E. D. Fryde, too, wd
"[p]rolonged haresment of tenants combined with drtees of evictionl
dightest legd oppornrnity" and physicd violence werc used to bring
evictions "panicularly during the disotdcr years 1450-85
[i.c.,
the ft
Roscsl" (Fryde 1996: 186). Thomas Morc's Ulopia (1516) exprcssed thc
and desolation tlut these mass cxpulsions produced when he spoke of
had become so great dcvouren and so wild that "they eat up and svdlow
men themselves." "sheep"- he added - that "consume and destroy end
whole fields, houscs and cities."
25-ln The Inveaion oJ Capitalism (2000), Michael Perclman has emphasized thc
t22
tancc of "customary rights" (e.g., hunting) noting how they werc oftcn of
2E.
29.
30.
31.
32.
nifcance,
rrating tbc dif,crcncc bctwcen survivrl and totel dcstitution (pp' 38ff')'
Garrcc
Haldin! cssay on thc "mgcdy of the commons" (1968) wes one of the
mainsteys
in thc ideological campeign in support ofland privatization in the I 97Os'
Thc
"tragsdyj' in Herrdin's venion, is the inevitabiliry of Hobbesian egoism as a
d"t"rmitt-t
of human behavior' In his view, in a hypothcticd common, each
herd$n
n wants to maximize his gain rcgaidless of thc implications of his action
for the other hetdsmen, so that "ruin is the destination to which all men rush, each
ounuing
his best intcrest" (In Baden and Noonan, eds.' 1998: 8-9)'
ihe "modemizrtion"
dcfense ofthe enclosutes has a long history but it has received
new energy fiom neo-libcnlisrn. Is mein advocate has bccn the Wodd Bank' which
has often demanded tlut govemmens in Africa, Asia' Latin Amcrica and Oceania
privatize commund lands as a condition for teceiving loaru (Wodd Benk 1989)'A
classic defense ofthe productiviry gaix derircd ftom enclosurc is found in Hariett
Bndley
(1968, origindly published in 1918).The morc rccent academic litenture
has taken a more even-handed "costs/giru" approach' e;<cmpli6ed by thc wod<s of
c.E. Mingy
(1997) and Robert S. Duplesis (1997:6F70).The batde conceming
the enclosurcs has now crosed the disciplinary boundaries and is being dcbated also
among literary scholan.An examplc ofdisciplinary border-crossing is Richard Burt
andJohn Michael Archer, e&., Erclossrc Actt. S'exualitf
Wy
and Cultut in Early
Moden Engtond (1994) - especially the esals byJames R. Siemon,"Iandlord Not
King: Agrarian Changc and Interarticulation;" and William C. Carroll, "'The
Nunery ofBeggrry': Endosure,Vagrrncy, and Scdition in thc Tirdor-Stuart Pcriod."
William C. Carroll has found dnt thcrc was e lively defense ofenclosures and cri-
tiquc of the commons in thc Tirdot period carried out by the spokesmen of the
enclosing class.According to this discourse, the enclosures encounged privrtc enter-
prise, which in tum incrcascd agricultunl productivity, while the corunons werc
the "nurseries and reccpacles ofthicves, rogucs and began" (Carroll 1994:37-38).
DeVries (1976),42-43; Hoskins (197 6),1l-12.
The commoru werc the sites ofpopular festivals and other collcctive activities,like
sports, games, and meetinp.When they were fenccd off, the sociality that had char-
rcterized the village conrmunity wei severely undermined.Among the rituals that
catne to an end wes "Rogationtide perambulation," a yearly prccession among the
6elds meant to bless the firturc crcps, that was prevented by thc hcdging of thc
6elds (Underdown 1985: 81).
On the breaking down ofsocid cohesion see (among othen) David Underdown,
Revel, Riot ow! Rebellion: Popular Polilcs awl Cuhurc in England, 160T1660 (1985),
especially
Chapter 3, which also describes the effors made by the older nobility
to distinguish iselfftom the nouveau* riches.
Kdedte (1983), 55; Briggs (1998), 28F316.
Cottage
industry was an cxteruion ofthe manorial, runl industry, rcorgnized by
the
capitalist merchants to take advantage of the large
Pool
oflabor libented by
the enclosurcs.With
tlis move the merchants aimed to circumvcnt the high wagcs
and power
ofthe urban guilds.This ir how the putting-out system wes born - a
system
by which the capitdist merchants disnibuted among runl families wool or
cotton
to spin or weave, and often also thc insmrmens of work, and thcn
Picked
33.
up the fnishcd product.The irnporancc ofthe put_out
systcm end cottage in(
try for thc development ofBritidr industry canic dcduced from *re Aci*ut
cntite textile industry, the most important scctor in the 6rst phase of ca1
developmcnt, was organized in this fohion. The cottage indus'try had two
advrnages for employers: it prcvented thc danger ofcombinations':
and it
encd the cost of labor, sincc is home-based organization provided the r
with fee domestic services and the cooperation oftheir childrcn and wivcs.
were mated as he$cn and paid low.,auxiliary" wagcs.
Wage labor was so identiGed with davery that the Levellen excluded ragcd
,
en ftom thc vote, not considcring them suffciently independent
irom
employcn to be ablc to cast a vote,
,.Why
should a &ee penon meke onesd
davc?" asked The Fox, a character in Edmund Spenser's Molia Hubbon!'s Ta
fl591).
In turn GernndWinstanley,
the leader ofthe Diggen, declared thar rt
not make any difference whether onc lived under one's cnemy or under o
34.
J) .
Herzog (1989), 45-52.The litenture on vrgabondr is vast.Among the mot impc
tant on this topic arc A. Beier (1974) and B. Gercmek's fur,rrry A Histoty (1gg4r,
Flctcher (1973), 64-77; Cornrall (1977), 137-241; Be",
1tSAZ1,tZ_ilS. tt
beginning ofthe 1 6rh century many enclosurc riots involved the leser gentry r
used the popular bamd for cnclosures, engtosmcnts, and emplkmeis to
their feu& with their betten. But, after 1549,..thc gentryir teadenhip in enc
disputes diminished and srnall-holden or artisans and cottagen were mor
to take theirutiarive in heading agrarian protess', (Manning-198g:312).
Me
describes the typical vicrim of an enclosure dot rs..the outsider."
attempting to buy their wey into thc lendcd gentry werc panicularly vulnenuc
to enclosure riots, as were farmen of leases. New ownels and farmen werc thc
brother if one worked for a wage (HiU 1975).
victims of enclosurc riots in 24 of the 75 Sat Chamber cases. A
category consiss ofsix ab'sentee gcndemen" (Menning 19g8; 50).
JO.
37.
Menning (1988), 9G97, 114-116,2a\Mendelron
and Cnwford
0998).
The incrcasing presence of women in anti-enclosurc rios was influcnced bv
popular belief that women werc
,.lawless"
and could level hedees with
(Mendelson
end Cnwford 1998: 386-387). But the Coun ofte Star
went out ofis way to disebusc people ofthis belicf.In 1605, one year
after lamcr
I's witchcnft law, it ruled that.,if women ofcnd in trespass, riot oi other*is-e, and
an action is brought against thcm and their husbands, they
[the
husbandsl shall pey
the 6ncs and damages, notwithsanding the trcspass or the offcnse is committcd
without the privity ofthe husbands" (Manning 1988: 98).
On this subject see, among others, Mari. Mies (1986).
By 1600, real wages in Spain had lost thirty percent of their purchasing powcr
with respect to what they had bcen in 1511 (Hanilton 1965:2-80).
On ;e
pdcc
Revolution, scc in particular EarlJ. Hamiltont now classic wo *, AmoicanTreasutc
and the hke Rewlution in Spoin, I50I-1650 (1965l,which
studies the impacr of
the America bullion on it; David Hackcn Fischet The CrcatWove: pice
Rewlutio,s
and the Rhythms of Hisrory (1996),which srudies price hikes ftom the Middlc Agcs
38.
39.
12.+
40.
41.
to the prescnt
-
in p.rtic-uLr Cbrpter 2 (pp.66-113); and Petcr Ramsey's edited
volome, The hicc Ramlxtion i Sitcteeflrh Century England (1971).
Bnudel
(1966),Vol. l, 517-524.
As Peter Kriedtc (1983) sums up the economic developments of this period:
"The crisis sharpened the difcrcntials in income and prcperty. Pauperization
and prolctetianization werc pardleled by an incrcased accumulation of wedth....
Work on Chippenham in Cambridgsshire has shown that the bad harvess of[thc
late 16th and errly 17th ccnurierl resultcd in a decisire shift. Betwcen 1544 end
1712 the mcdium-sizcd farms dl but disappeared. At thc same time the propor-
tion ofpropertics of90 acres or morc rose &om 3% to 14%; households without
land incrcased ftom 32%.o 63%"
Kiedte
1983: 54-55).
Wdlentein (1974), 83; Le Roy Ladurie (1928-19291.The growing intercst of
capitalist entrcpreneurs for money-lending was pcrhaps the motivation behind
the cxpulsion of the
Jews
from most cides and counnies of Europe in the 15th
and 16th centuries - Parma (1488), M.ilan (1489), Gcneva (1490), Spain (1492),
and Austria (1496). Expulsioru and pogroms continued for a century. Until the
tide was turned by Rudolph lI in 1577, it was illegal forJews to live in most of
Westcrn Europe. As soon as rnoney-lending became a lucrativc busines, this
activity, previously declarcd unworthy ofa Christian, was rchabfitated, as shown
by this dialogue between a pcasant and a wealthy burgher, written anonymoudy
in Germany around 1521:
Peasant:What brings me to you?Why,l would like to sec how you spend your
tune.
Burgher: How should I spend my time? I sit herc counting my money, c.n't
you scc?
Peasanetll mc, burghet, who gave you so much moncy that you spend dl your
time counting it?
Burgher:You want to know who gave me my money? I shdl tell you.A peas-
ant comes knocking at my door and asls me to lend him tcn or twenty gulden. I
inquirc of hin whether he owns a plot of good pasture land or a nicc field for
plowing. He sayr: 'Yes, burgher, I have a good meadow and a 6ne field, wonh a
hundred gulden the two of them.'I rcply: 'Excellent! Pledge your meadow and
your 6eld as collatenl,and ifyou will undertrke to pay one gulden a year as inter-
cst, you can have your loan oftwenty guldcn.' Happy to heat the good news, the
peasant replies:'l gladly give you my pledge."But I must tell you,' l rcjoin,that if
ever you fail to pay your interest on timc, I will takc posession of your land and
makc it my property.'And this does not worry the peasant, hc
Proceeds
to assign
his pasnrrc and 6eld to me as his pledge. I lend him the money and he pays inter-
st punctually for one year or two; then comes a bad harvest and soon he is behind
in his payment. I confscate his land, evict him and meadow rnd 6eld ate mrne.
And I do this not only with peasans but with artisaru as well. Ifa tredesman owru
a good house I lcnd him a sum ofmoney on it, and beforc long the house belonp
to me. In this way I acquire much property and wedth, which is why I spend all
my timc counting my money.
42.
r25
_.Pc.sant:And
I thought only the
Jews
pncticcd
usury! Now t hear
Christians do it. too.
Burghcr: Usury? Who is talking rbout usury? Nobody here practiccs
'What
the dcbtor pays is intercst (G. Streuss: l1G-1 l l).
43, With rcGrence to Germeny, Petcr Kricdtc writes tlrat:
"Rccent rcscarch has shown thet a building wortcr in Augsbutg
[in
was ablc adequately to maintain his wifc end two children fiom his annual
during the 6nt thrce decades ofthe 16tb ccntury.Thencefonh his living s
began to fall. Berween 1 566 aod 1 575 and ftom 1 585 to the outbrcak ofJrc
Yean War his wages could no longer pay for the sutrsistence minimum ofhrs
ily" (Kriedte 1983;51-52). On the fuapoverishment ofthe Europen worting
due to the cnclosures and the Price Rerolution sec alrc C. Lis & H. Solv
(l!
72-79. As they write, in England "between 1500 and l600 gnin pri".s'-r"
fold, while weges rosc threcfold. Not surprisingly, worten rnd cota.s w...
'housc beggars'for Fnncis Bacon," In thc samc pcriod, in France,the
power ofcotgrs and uraged worken fell by forty 6ve percent.,.ln New
wage labour and povcrty were considered synonymous.', (idid.:72-4).
On the growth ofprostitution in the 16dr ccnory scc, Nickie Roberts, lt4rorcr
Hittory: hottitution htWetbt Soci.ty (1992).
Menning (1988); Flctcher (1973); Cornwall (1977); Beer (1982); Berc6
Lombardini (1983).
Kamen (1971),8erc6 (1990), 16F179;Undcrdown (1985).As
David
notes:
"The prominent rolc played by femdc
[food]
rioten has oftcn been
Southampton in 1608 a group of women refused to wait while the
44.
debated what to do about a ship being loaded with gnin for London; thcylo
it and scized the catgo.Women wcrc thought to be the likely rioten in the
dent in Weymouth in 1622, whilc at Dorchcster in 1631 a group (some of
inrnates ofthe workhous) stoppcd a cart in the misa&en belicfthat it cont
whcat; one ofthem complained ofr local merchant who..did scnd aw:v the
fruic of the land, as butter, chcese, wheat, etc., ovcr the seas" (t9g5: i t2.
women's prescnce in food rioc, sec also San Mendelson and
patricir
(1998), who write thet "womcn playcd a promincnt rolc in grain rios
Englandl." For iruancc,"[alt Mddon in 1629 a crowd ofover a hundred wo,
and childrcn boarded the ships to prcvent gnin fiom being shipped
wcrc led by a "Captain Ann Cartcr, later cicd and henged" for hci lcrding rolc
the prctest (irid.: 38H6).
47. In a similar vcin wcrc thc commens ofa physician in the ltalian city
during the frmine of 1630:
"The loathing and tcrror engendercd by a meddcned crcwd ofhalfdead
ple who importune all comen in the str,eets, in piazzas, in the churches. at
doon, so that life is intolenble, and in addition the foul stench rising from
as,well as thc consant spectale ofthe dying...this cannot be bcliev; by
who. has not experienccd it" (quotcd by Carlo M. Cipolla 1993: 129) .
On 16th and lTrh-century prctcst in Europc, see Henry Kanen, The Ircn
126
49.
50.
(1972), in
Particular
Chaptcr 10, "Popular Rcbellion. 1550-1660" (pp. 331-385).
As Kamcn write!,'Thc crisis of 1595-7 wzs oprative duoughout Europe, with
rcpercussions in England, France, Austria, Finland, Hungary, Lithuenia, rnd
Uknine. Probably never bdotc in European history had so meny popular rcbel-
lions coincided in time"(p.336).Therc were rcbellioru in Naples in 1595, 1620,
1647 (ibid.:334-35,350,361-63). In Spain,tbellions eruptedin 16,f0 in Catalonia,
in Grenada in 16,t8, in Cordon end Seville in 1652. For riots and rcbcllioru in 16th
and l7rh-century Englan4 sec Cornwall (1977); Undcndown (1985), and Menning
(1988). On revolt in Spain and laly, see dso Bnudel (1976,Vo1. ll),738-739.
On vagrancy in Eurcpe, beside Beier and Gercmek, see Bnudel (1976),Vol. II,
7 39-7 43: l(.trrrcn (1972),390-394.
On thc risc ofprcperty crimes in the wake ofthe Pricc Revolution see the Chancr
on p.141 in this volumc. See RichardJ. Evans (1996),35;Kemen (1972),397
-403;
and Lis and Soly (1984). Lis end Soly writc that "[t]hc anilablc evidence suggcsts
that the ovcnll crimc ntc did indced risc markedly in Eliz:bethln and early Stuart
England, especidly between 1590 rnd 1620" (p.218).
In Enghnd, among the momens ofsocidiry and collective reproduction drat werc
terminatcd due to thc loss of thc open 6clds end tlte commons there were thc
processions tbat wcrc held in the spring to bless the 6elds - which could no
longer ake place once the 6elds wcre Gnced off- and the danccs that wcrc held
around thc Maypole on Mey Fint (Jndcrdown 1985).
Lis and Soly (1979),92. Qn the institution of Public Assisance, see Geremck!
Povetty A History (1994), Chapter 4: "The Reform ofCharity" (pp.laz-fl7r.
Yann Mouficr Boutang,De L.lesclavage ar sala at (1998),291-293. I only partially
agrce with Moulier Bouang when he claims dut Poor Rclief was not rc much
1 lcsponsc to thc miscry produced by land expropriation and price infation, but
a measute intended to p!vent drc flight of worten and thereby crcatc e locd
labor markct (1998).As drcady mentioned, Moulier Bouang overemphasizes the
degree of mobility available to the disposesed proleariat as hc does not con-
sider thc diffcrent situation ofwomen. Futhermorc, he underplays dre degree to
which assistance wrs dre rcsult ofa struggle - a strugglc that canaot be rcduced
to the 0ight of labor, but included assaula, the invasion of towns by masses of
starving rural people (a consant feature, in mid-l6tLcentury Fnncc) and other
forms of attack. It is not coincidcnce, in dris contcxt, that Norwich, the ccnter
ofthe Kett Rebcllion becamc, shordy after its defeat, the center and the model
of Poor Relief reforms.
The Sprni:h humenist
Juan
Luis Vivc, who was knowledgeable about thc poor
rclief systems ofthe Flanden and Spain, wrs onc ofthc mein supponcn ofpub-
lic charity. fn his De Subve*ion fuuperm (1526) he aryued that "secular author-
ity nther thrn the Church drould be resporsible for the aid to the poor" (Geremek
1994: 187). He also strcsed that authorities should 6nd wort for the able-bodied,
irxisting that "dre dissolute, the crooked, dre thieving and the idle should be given
the hadest work, and the most badly peid, in otder that thcir cxamplc might servc
es a deterrcnt to othen" (i6id.).
The main work on the rise ofwork-house and correction houscs is Dario Melosi
) t .
54.
r27
and Massimo hrredn4 Thc kison a*l thc Foalory: Od1jn olthc
pclit4ntia.l
i
(1981).Thc authors point out thar dre main purpo:c ofincarcention was to
thc sense of identity and soli&rity ofthe poor. Sec also Geremck (1994;,
229, On t\e schemcs concoctcd by English proprictors to incarceratc thc
JT.
in their parishes, sce Marx, CapiralVol. 1 (1909:793). For Fnncc. see
Madrcss ond Civilizarior (1965), espccidly Chaptcr 2i.,The Grelr
(pp.38-64).
Whilc Hacken Fischer connecs the 17th century decline ofpoulation in
to thc socid effccts of the Price Revolution (pp. 9l-92),
peter
Kriedre
a morc complex picturc, erguing that demogrephic dccline was a combirution
both Malthusian and socio-economic facton. The decline was, in his view.
response to both the population increasc of thc early 166 century on one
and on thc other to thc hndlords'appmpriation ofthe largcr portion ofthc
cultunl income (p. 63).
An interesting obsenztion which suppors my arguments concerning the
ncction betwen demognphic decline and pro-natalist state policies is ollcrcd
Roben S. Duplessis (1997) who writes that the recovery after the population
sis of the 17th century lr"i far swiftcr thrn that after the Black Death. It toot
ccntury for the population to start growing again a6er the epidcmic of134g,
in the 17tb century the growth process was rcactivrted within less than halfa
tury
0.
143).This estimates would indicate the prcsence in l7th-centurv Eu
ofa far higher nataliry nte, posibly to be attributed to the 6crce attacl oo
form of contnception.
"Bio-powei'is the conccpt Foucault use d, inhia History of Sexuality :An
(1978) to describc the shift from an authoriarian form of govcrnmcnt to
morc dccentralized, centcred on the "fostering
ofthe power oflife"in 1
tury Europe. "Bio-power" exprcstes the growing concern, at thc state level, for
sanitary sexud, and penal control ofindividual bodies, as wcll as populetion
and population movements and thcir insenion into the economic
Acconding to this pandigm, the risc of bio-power wnt hand in hand with
rise of libenlism and marked the end of the juridicd
and monarchic stlte.
I make this distinction with the Canadirn sociologist Bruce Cunis'discussion
the Foucauldian concept of"population" and "bio-power" in mind. Cunis
trasts the concept of"populousness," wh.ich was current in thc 16rh and 17th
turies, with the notion of"population" that became the basis of the modcrn
encc of demography in the 19th century. He poins out that
..populousness"
an organic and hierarchical concept.When the mcrcantfists used it they werc
cerned with the part of thc social body that creetes wedth, i.e., actual or
tial laborcn.The later concept of"population" is an atomistic one,
consiss ofso many undiffercntiated atoms distributed through abstnct spacc
tirne" - Cunis writes -
"with is own hws and structurcs.', I argue,
that therc is a continuity bctween these two notions, as in both the
and libenl capitalist period, the notion ofpopulation has been functional to
reproduction of labor-po$r,
59. The hey&y of Mercantilism was in the sccond half of the 17th centurv. is
t2a
inance
in cconomic li6 bciag associetcd
with the namcs of Williem Pctty
(1623-1687, end
Jcen
Baptiste Colbert, the finrnce ninister of Louis XIV'
However,
the lrte 176-century mercantiliss only slstematizcd or applied theories
that had bcen developing since the 16th centuty.
Jean
Bodin in Fnnce and
Giovanni
Botcto in laly arc considercd ptoto-mercantilist economiss. One ofthe
6rst systqnetic formulations ofmercantilist economic dreory is found in Thomas
Mln\
England's Teasure by FonaignTiade (1622).
60. For a discusion ofthe ncw legislation against infanticide see (among othen)
John
Riddle
(1997), 163-166; Mcrry Wiesner (1993), 52-53; lnd Mendelson and
Cnwforrd 0998),
who write dut "[tlhe crime of infanticidc was one drat single
women werc more likely to commit than any other goup in society. A study of
infanticide
in the cady seventeenth century showed that ofsixty mothen, 6fty three
wcre single, six wete widows"(p. 149). Statistics alro show that infanticidc was pun-
ished even morc ftequendy than witchcnft. Margart King writes that Nuremberg
"executed
fourteen womcn for that crime between 1578 md 1615, but only one
witch.The Padiament ofRouen from 158G to 1606 prosecutcd about rs meny
cases ofinfanticide as witchcrrft, but punished infrnticide morc sevcrely. Cdvinist
Gencr"e shows a much higher nte ofexccution for infanticide dut witchcnft; ftom
1590 to 1630, ninc womcn ofeleven charged were e)@cuted for infanticide, com-
pared to only one ofthirty suspccs for witchcraft (p.lO).Thesc cstimetes are con-
6rmed by Merry Wiesner, who writes that "in Gencva, for cxamplc, 25 women
out of31 charged with infanticide during the period 159F1712 were executed,
as comparcd with 19 out of122 chargcd with witchcnft (1993:52).Women were
e:<ecuted for infanticide in Europe as lete as the 18th century
61. An interesting article on this topic is Robert Fletchcr! "The Witches
Pharmakopeia" (1896).
The reference is to an Italian feminist song ftom 1971 tided "Aborto di Sato"
(State Abortion).
Margaret L. King, lTomen otthe Renaissanre (1991),78. For the closing ofbroth-
els in Germany see Merry Wiesner, Workittg Women ix Renoissance Ceruany
(r 986), 194-209.
An extensive crtdogue of the places and years in which women werc expelled
from the cnfu is found in David Herlihy, Women, Fomily and Society in Mediewl
Europe: Historkal Essays. Providencc: Berghahan, 197&-1991. See dso Merry
Wiesner (1986), 17,1-185.
Martha Howell (1986), Chapter 8, 17,1-183. Howcll writes:
"Comedics
and satircs of the period, for example, often portreyed market
women and tndes women as shrcws, with charectcrizations that not only ridiculed
or scolded them for taking on roles in tnarket production but frcquendy even
chatged
them with sexud aggression"(p.182).
In a thorough critiquc of l7th-century socid contract theory, as formulatcd by
Thomas
Hobbes and
John
Locke, Carol Pateman (1988) argues that the "social
contrect"
was basd on I more firndamental "sexud contract," which recognized
meni right to approprirte women3 bodies and women! labor.
Ruth
Mazo Karns (1996) wdtes that "'Common woman'meant a women avail-
63.
65.
L29
61.
69.
rblc to dl men; unlitc
.conrmon
rrrarl'which
dcaotcd rcmeonc of humbte
gins and could be used in eithcr e dcrogatory
ot a leu&tory rense, it did not
vcy arry mcaning either of non_cendle
b.n""io,
oior
j"rJ,;;;%.
;38).
I::1""1*U^* l:lod
ofle
..tn:td;;J;;;;;#il,,I
rii,,r,
"
Andr6 Burguiirc and Fnngois Lebrun,..pri*o, pri""e
;iffiffitilri;;
:: ,l :::!,
t
,y.Famity:rhc
rmpatt ol Modq,ity
e:.d) .v;*i," i*? nun
on thc charecter of I 76{cnturv DarrirEh"lr""
"re,
i; p;*;;.'
:;;..0.
f::'::11
pj:.:li.':.,1
.ont"""t th.ory,,..
";;
p;;;;ii,iJrl,
",
Eisensrein,
The Rodical Future of Liberal i,"rrr",i
Oraf l
lrarri"r*r*l
t.T1jy":
fj1 :l
d subiation : A|itudes rb w";; ; ;; E";;";;;;i,llli
r,,
Disc'sing thc changes contract theory bro"gh, .b;;,; ;;d_;;tdl;
and philosophical
aaitude towa.ds womcn, Sommerville
atgu*;"',-,h.
;""
tarians supported thc subordimtion
of women,"
-.;;";;;';;:;.*
.Pjj:L::l'S.o
it on difcre.nt grounds.n.i"g
".
il.",io;;yio,nn
io"a
the principlc
of 'nrtunl equality," and,.gorc.,,-;
ty.;;;;;,fiiJr'*
.a_
::ffff 1t1}r.:11:1",0
*" 6*y,ly"Ten,s..natunl
inferioi.r;;
"."",u,t,g
which women would consent to th"i" h"rb"ndr,;;;;;i.oi.ft;;
and voting righs upon rcalizing their i"trinsi. weJcrcss anj;;;;
ence on mcn.
On womenl loss of rights in 16.h affl 176_centu.y
d-p.,;
d"ng orher)
Merry Wiesner (1993),
who writcs tlut:
"The sptead ofRoman law had a la4eJy negative effect on women! civil tcgrt
status in thc carly modern pcriod both beca'L of the
"i.*r.i*.-*
*ml
juriss
chose to adopt from it and the snicte.
"nfor..-.o,
of.*irJ.gi"*r,"
*,ri"l
it gave dse" (p. 33).
Adding to the drrmas rnd tracts a.lso the court records of thc period,
Undcrdown
concludcs that,.bctween
f SOO *a f OlO... ,..r, _"rJ, lr*"*
:1.',:::Tf,:::!1T:.*,h 13men.who
a1
l
visiblc threat to tr," p.t,i.,_
3.:::Y:::n
scording and brawli"s *ith thci;;;;sil;;,',*"
rcfusing to enter service, wivis domine*r.g
* u."r.g ii".l.-irrl";t,;:::;
71.
70.
l:-.,tid:*"yr
(t985a),
-The Taming of the Scold; The Enforcemenr
3:*:,^:*:.:?.in
yrly.
M*:m E,,qraldi, i" A;.;n;;r,.,
""0
rr,"
Stevenson (1985),
I 1C-136; Mcndetson anj Cnwforditlii;;;:;;.
to surface morc frequently than in thc period rmmediaicly
b.r". ."
"n..*.ar.
It will not go unnnoticed
that this is arso thc period *rr." *ii*l.i--**-
ti ons rcach a peak" (1985a:
119).
James-Blaut
(1992a)poins
out thrt within a few decades after 1492.,the rare
33H,T*F:f.spe-cded
up dnmati"uy
-a
ru-p. .,,i...1
"
p*rJ .r.pia
developmcnt."
He writes:
"Colonia.l enterprise in thc 16dr century produced capital in a number ofways.
one was gold ands silver minins. A scco"a w* pf.."ti,
"g;;*.,
o.rcroruy
in Bnzil.A third was rnde with-Asia in spice, d;th aJ;r;h
_l*,i'["*
"*
ment was.the prc6t returned to Eurcpean houscs ftom a vadej
"ioJ".o*
_a
comrnercid enterpriscs in thc Amcricas. . ..A 6fth was slaving.
A..r'rnifl i.rr n"_
these sources was massive (p. 3g).
130
74- E:<cmplery is the casc ofBermuda, cited by Elainc Fonrun Cnne (199O). Cnne
wlitcr that scvcrrl whitc womcn in Bermu& werc ownes of slaves - usudly
other womcn -
tlranks to whose labor they werc able to maintain a ccrain dcgree
of economic autono my (pp. 231-258).
75. June
Nash (1980) writes dt4 "A signifent chenge came in 1549 whcn ncid ori-
gin bccame a factor, dong with lcgally sanctioned marial unions, in &6ning riShs
ofsuccesion.The new law sated thet no mulatto (o6pring ofe black uun rnd an
Indian women), mestizo, person born out ofwedlock was dlowed to have Indiaru
in encomiendr. ... Mestizo and illegitimate became dmost synonymous" (p. 1,10).
76.
A colo& wes a part-mestiza and pat-Indian woman. Ruth Behar (1987),45.
77 . Thc moct deadly oncs were the mercury mincs, likc that in Huancavelica, in which
thousands ofwortcrs died ofdow poisoning amidst horrible sufferings.As David
Noble Cook writes:
"laboren in the Huancavelicr mine faced both immediate and long term dan-
gen. Cave-iru, floods, and frlls as a rcsult of dipping shafu posed daily threats.
Intermediatc hedth hazends werc presented by a poor diet, inadequetc vcntilation
in the underground chmben, md e sharp temperantrc diffcrence between the
mine intcdors and the nrc6edAndean atrnosphere....Workcn who remained for
long pcriods in the mincs pcrheps sufcrcd thc wont fate ofdl. Dust and 6ne par-
ticles werc rcleased into the eir by the stiking ofthe tools used to breal the ore
loosc. Indians inlded the dust, which contained four dangerous substrnces: mer-
cury vapon, arsenic, asenic anhydride, and cinnabar. Long exposure... rcsulted in
dcath. Known ls nal dc la mina,ot mine ickncss, it w:s incurable when advrnced.
In less scvcrc cases the gums were ulccntcd and caten away,..@p.205-6).
78. Barban Bush (1990) poins out dut, if they wented to abort, drve women ccr-
ainly knew how to, having had availablc to them the knowledge brought fiom
Africa (p.141).
l 3l
@
The
Great
Calibrn
I
The Struggle
Asainsr
the Rebel
Body
I
LiG is but a motion of limbs.... For what is the hean, but a
spri ng; and the nerves, but so many stri ngs;
and tfr..;oi rrt.
but so nrany wheel s, gi vi ng
moti on to the whol e U"ay.
--"
(Hobbes,
kviat han, 7 650)
Yet I will be a rnore noble creature,
and at the very time
*l :n
l y
natural necessi ti es
debase
nre rnto the condi ti on
o.fthe Beast, my Spitit shall rise and soar and n; u;,;;#
the ernpl oyntent
ofthe al eel s.
(Coi ton
Mathet, Di ary, t 680_1708)
...takr sonre
piry
on me... for my Friends is very
poor,
and my
Mother is very sick, and I am to die r
T l.l"t.'."
*,ri' i" l,
-*"i'
;:#:y;t;n*fi
'ljffii
T i6-tl of Morrey to p"y fo,
"
Co6n
"nd "
Sr."a, f". ,. ,rt"
fr body.a, way 6onr the Tree in that I enr to die on... and donr bl
tarnt Hearted...
so I hope you wi l l take rt rnto Consrderati on
of
my.poor Body. consedar if ir was your own Cace. you would be
willing
to have your Body saved from the Surgeons.
(Letter
of Ri chard Tobi n. conderrrned
ro
death i n London
i n 1739)
Title page oJ Andrcas V,nlius' Dt: HutrL4Nt
C(rRrtoivs FABRK)4 (!txlu,,,
1,5$|nr
dunph of the t c, rnm.llrsr,
patnanhal
o cr tltrough rtu,ton-
stitution of the nar dnntonicdl
theauc oukl not be morc @trryh,t(.
(l-thl
unttnn.dissnd
and d,,liutred to tht publk pze, rht nurhor tcll: u, tlt,tt,,rt
lut,ol,benr hau!,,1
hh, l
hdd dedarcd
hc*elf pftrtunt,,,
l)ut ,tItr t it ntr JB@t
ercd utttt sh( tur\ not, sht uw hunX..Ihc
Jcnate
jjurc
in ttrc br,k
,y,r!r4,,,r
pnstitu,te or d , iiuifO h,u,n her zy,s, possibly
,ult,trttcd in-fron1 oi rlu. ,,l,sra.
itl oJthe s/j3n( nnd it! in irir viokwe.
*ff'1.1$1ir:,,ffi*",,'.d}ff *";., *mi:l*:r
$i:,:}ii:
H:, :l'; if; :::,:":
conceived'na','.ai"i.i,"-.i
or.,r.-
rog*:**+l;r*r*";nng*x*::l,ll*..*,l;:
133
l5!h tututry uaadu
'-nt
dutit,r t$\tu.lt o th iyiig
t,tr,tl
tr n tt4l t tlttt p0\1dA
nll
lk,
lt'tdi(nl | ])o
pulir trtdi tion.
"
(F'(x,t AI
^o
M. di Nol,t,
1987. )
ofthe llre
'linpest
(1612),,,vho cornbines the celestial spiritualiry ofAric'l;urd the brutish
materiality of Caliban.Yet he bctrays an anxiety over the equilibrium achievecl that rules
out any pridc for "Man\" unique position in the Great Chain ofBeing.l ln defelring
Caliban, Prospero nrust admit that "this thing ofdarkeness is rnine," rhus renrirding his
audience that our human partaking ofthe angel and the beast is problenratic ndeed.
ln the 17th century, rvhat in Prospero rcmains a sublirninal forcbodrng rs fornr.J-
ized as the con{lict beflvecn Reason and the Passions ofthe Body, whic}r rcr.,n.eptu,rl
izcs classicJudeo-Chdstian thenres to produce a new anthropologic:rl paradignr.The out-
conre i s reni ni scent of t he medi eval ski rrni shes bet ween ansel s and dcrrl ' f . rr t hc
possession of the departing sor.rl. But the conflict is no',v stagcd within thc persoll \lho
is reconstructcd as a battlcficld, where opposite elenrents clash for donrinirtioo.
C)n the
one side, tlrere :rre the "forces ofRerson": parsimony, prudence, sense ofrcspolsibiliry
self control. On the other, the "low instincts ofthe Body": lewdness, idletress, svstenrltrc
dissipation of onc! vital cncrgics. Thc banle is fought on orany fronts becausr
Rexson
nrust be vilihnt a6pinst the attacks of the carnal sell and prevent "the wlsdonr
of the
llesh" (in Lurher's words) frorn corrupring the porvers ofthe mind.ln thc extrcrrrr'cltse'
thc pcrson beconrcs a tcrrain for a lvar ofall against all:
Let me be not hi ng, i f wi t hi r t he conrpass of my scl f l do not 6rd
drc battail ofLepxnto: Passions against Reason, Reasou against
Faith, Faith against thc Devil, and nry Conscience against all.
(Thomas Browne 192ti: 76)
ll,i
[ n
t he course of t hi s proccss a change ocr' ur. i n t he nrcr' Lf horrcal 6el d' as t t rc phi l o-
r , . , 1 . . or "' ", , , r , , t n. f i r l . l r r r Juel
p. y, hol ogl I ' or t ow' r r l r ' r gr ' t l r or r r t l r e hoJr - 1' ol i t i "
LP,fl" ir,"l
a,".r",' ng a h'd't.rp.' r,r halited bf "rulers" and "rebc-llious subjccts"' '!'ul
{
t' -l ' -.:
r"a sedrti on\,
' chai rr:".rnd "i nrperi ous cortrnral rds" and (wi r}r Thomas
llin.l
""""
the cxeeuri.'ner (rl'iJ : 72)
2
As we shall
'rec'
this conflict between llt'asoIt
DYli.
i"au. a."..iUe<lby
the plrrlosophcrs as a riotous confrontition betwcen the
"bet
f1,i-iu.1'to*..
sorts! iJr)not bc ascribed only to the baroclue taste for the figura-
"t
i l l ]-' ' ^
""
nursed i r) f.r' ,or of .r
"r.ore
nrascul i ne" l anguagc
l
The batde whi ch tl te
rive. rd"' ' '
l )Li .o*ty
a*.,.sc
orr the
ferron
i magi ncs unfol di ng i n thc nri crocosl rr ofthe i l di -
tl ,l
i ,.
"r*rrttl v,
foundarrort rn thc real i ty ofthe ti urc l t i s an aspecr oftl r;rt broader
l J.l r,
"f
*.ta ."L,.,,t^ti o,' . rrl rt' rcby, i D the "Agc of Reason"' the ri si ng bourgcoi si e
ln"a-p,"a,o
renrold thc rubordrrrate classes ilt confornriry rvith the needs ofthc devel
*tt
;:*1,'i;:'Xl"'i,'if,
,o a.,''
"
,'."u
rype
of ilrdividual tnat the bourlteoisie enlralled
i,, dut
battle agPlnst rhe ho.ly tlut hastecoile its historic rlrark According to MaxWeber'
ire refo.m
ofthe boa; is at the corc ofthc borrrgeois ethic because capitalisnl nakes acqui
iJorr,,th"
ultl-"," purpose oflifc," instead of treatirrg it as a urcans ftrr the satisfactiorl of
our needs;
thus, it requires that we forfeit all spontaneous c'njoylrtent oflife (lvc'bcr 19511:
i3), C"pitrlit"t
also altenrpts to u\elcome our "traturrl satc," by breaking the b'rrricrs of
natu.e ind by lerrgthenrng the working day beyond the Lirits sct by the sun' the se$onal
rycles,
and the body itself, as constitutc'd in pre ittdustrial socicq
Marx, too, sees the alienation fronr the body as a distiltguishing trait ofthe capi-
talist work-relation. By rraltsfor ung labor into a coltuuodity, capitalislrr causcs workers
to subrnit their activity to an extcrnal order over which they h:rvc no control and u'ith
which they cannot identify.Thus, the labor process beconres a ground ofself-cstrange
ment: the worker"only fccls hinxelfourside his work, altd io his work fcels outsidc hrm
self. He is at home when he is not working alld u'hen he is rvorldltg is nor tt honre"
(Man< 1961: 72). Furt herrt rore, wi t h t hc devel oprneot of a capi t al i st ecol t ot ny' t he worker
becomes (though only fornrally) the "frcc owner" of"his" labor-power, rvhich (ur ikc
the slave) he can place at the disposal of the buyer for a liurited period of time This
irnplies that "[h]e nrust constantly look upon his labour-porver" (his cnergies, his facul
ties) "as his own property, his owlr conurodity" (Marx 1906,Vr1. l: 1l|6) 'tThis too leads
to a sense of dissociarion fronr the bodv u'hich bccornes reificd, recluccd to :rIr objcct
with
which the person ceases to be inutrcdiarely idettti6ed.
.
The image ofr lvorker freely alienatirtg his labot, or confrorrtirrg his body as cap
rbl
to be delivered to the highest biddcr, refers to a workillg class already rnolded by the
crPitalist
work-rliscrpJr nc. BLr t on l1 r n the secortd halfofthe 19tlr ccntury cJn lve glirtrpsc
ht
9pe of worker t cnrf eri t c. prudcnr, responsi bl e, proucl t o possess a wrt ch
! rhompson 196-l ), ; rnt l . . rpabl c . -, f l ooki ng upon t he i rrposed condi t i ons of t he capi t ; rl
l8t
mode
of production
as "self-evident laws of naturc" (Marx 1909,Vol. I: 809) - that
Petsonifies
the crpitalisr utopia and is rhe poirtt of refirclcc for Marx.
i L-
The
st t uat , on *as . rJr. al l y drt Tcrent i n t he peri od of pri nri t i vc' accut t rul at i on whcn
*rc
emerglng
boursc'iste drseovered that thc "libcrltioll oflabor-porver" thil is' the
$mpriarion
of chc
pc;s.rntrv tiom the collrnron lalds was not sufficient to force
t|rc
dispossessed
p.,rl.tr i.rn. ,,,
".."p,
*'"g. labor- Ultlike Milton! Adanr,
"vho,
upott
Mman sellin!
'ags
and vagabond.
r ne exprop
^ted
peasahB
\nd
a''i_
sant did not peateJully qlree
U
14
Jot
a uta4e. Morc ojen iey
be@n
-
beggfi s, figaborril s or cri.,titlals.
Design by Louis-Uopold
4i11"
(1751-1845).
being expelled [qm
1tre 621dsn o,fEden,
set forth cheerfully for a life dedicated to work,S
the expropriated peasnts
and arcisans
did not peacefully agree to work for a wage. Motc
often they becang
6eggars, ragal>onds
or criminds.A long process would be required to
produce a disciplined
work-force.
In the 16th and 17th centuies, the hatred for wage-
labor was so intqn5g
that many prolearians
pteferred to risk the gallows, rather than sub-
mit to the new
conditions
of work
(Hll 1975:21\3\.e
This war thg 6rst caoitalist
crisis, one far more serious than all the comrnercid
crises that threatsns4
the foundarions
ofthe capitalist system in the first phase ofits devel-
opment.TAs is well-known,
the resporrse ofthe bourgeoisie was the institution ofa tn:e
regirne ofterrot, implemented *rrough
the intensfication ofpenalties (particularly those
punishing the crimes
against property), the introduction of "bloody laws" aginst
ragabonds, intended
,. ii"J *o.t."
a thejobs imposed on them, as once the ser6 had
been bound to the 1."a,
""J
,fr. rnultiplicadon ofexecutions. In England a1or.e,72,0N
people were hung
by H*"y ,i.
vul iiuring the thirty-eight y."r, ofhi, reigu and
thc
massacre continuq6
lnto th; bte
l6th century In the 1570s,300 to 4O0 "rogues"
wcrc
"devoured by the gallows in o11e
place or another every year" (Hoskins 1977:9)'
ln
Devon alone. sevspsy-four
Deople
were hangedjust in 1598 (ibid.).
But the violence
of ihs'rrrling
class was not confined to the repression
of trane
gressors.It also
6qlaAat
"
oai."f
tra-nsformation ofthe penon, intended to eradrcarc
It
the prcletariat any
form ofbehawior
not conducive to the irnposition ofa srricter
worf,-
discipline.The {6"n
ions ofthis
attack are apparent in the social legislation thar.
DyLr"-
middle ofthe 16tt'
.ennrry, was ;ntroduced
in England and France. Games were
lorur-_
den, particularly
ga4es
of chance
that, besides being useless, undermined the
tno'Ji.
ual's sense of resionsibility
and "work
ethic." Taverns were closed, along with
puo""
t36
It
was in the course oftlfs l'rst process ofsocial engineering that a new concept
lody
-a
"
new policy toward it began to be shaped The novelty was that the
was penalized, as were many other "unproductive"
forms of sexualiry
It was forbidden to drink. swear. curse.8
attacked
as the source ofall evils, and yet it was,studied with the same passlon
I the
sane
yea$, anirnated the investigation ofcelestid motion
Vhy
was the body so central to state politics and intellectual discourse? One. is
to answer that this obsession with the body reflecs the fear that the proletariat
in the ruling class.g It was the fear felt by the bourgeois or the nobleman alike
they went, in the streets or on their travels, were besieged by a threaten-
I,begging
them or preparing to rob them. lt was also the fear felt by those who
over the administration of the sate, whose consolidation was continuously
- but also determined - by the threat ofriots and social disorders.
there was more.We must not forget that dle beggarly and riotous proletariat
forced the rich to travel by carriage to escape its assaults, or to go to bed with
under the pillow - was the sarne social subject who increasingly appeared as
of all wealth, It was the same of whom the mercantfists, the first economists
society, never tired of repeating (though not without second thoughts) drat
the better," often deploring that so many bodies were wasted on the gallows
l0
decader were to Dass before the concept of the lalue oflabor entered dre
ofeconomic tltought. But that work ("industry"), more than land or any other
wealth," is the primary source of accumulation was a truth well understood at
when the low level of tecbnological development made human being the most
productive resource. As Thomas Mun (the son of a London merchant and
for the rnercantilist position) put it:
...we know that our own natural wares do not yield us so much
prcfit as our industry.... For lron in the Mines is of no great worth,
when it is compared with the employment and advanage it
felds
being digged, tried, trarxported, bought, sold, cast into Ordnance,
Muskets..,wrought into Anchors, bolts, spikes, nails and the like, for
the use ofShips, Houses, Carts, Coaches, Ploughs, and other instru-
ments for Tillage.
(Abbott 1946: 2)
,8ven
Shakespeare! Prospero insists on this crucial economic fact in a l.itde speech
rrdue oflabor, which he delivers to Miranda after she manifests her utter disgust
But, as 'tis
Wc cannot rniss hirn. He does make our 6re
Fetch in our wood, and serves in office
That profit us.
(The Tempest, Act l,Scene 2)
body, then, came to the foreground ofsocial policies because it appeared not
e beast inert to the stimuli ofwork, but also as the container of labor-powel, a
t37
means ofproduction, the prirnary work-machine.This is why, in the str"ategres
by the state towalds it, we 6nd much violence, but also much inte.est; and the .tujul
bodily motions and properies becomes the starting point for most of the theoai{
speculation ofthe age - whether aiming, with Descartes, to assert the i-tno.t"t;:
the soul, or to investigate, with Hobbes, the premises of social governabiliry
Indeed, one of the central concerns of the new Mechanical Ph.ilosophy
'y6
,;,-
mechanks of the body, whose constitutive elements - from the circulation of the
ble6l
to the dynamics ofspeech, from the efects ofsensations to voluntary and involuntei.'
motions - were taken apart and classified in dl their components and possibiltiJ
Descattes'Tieatise of Man (published in 1664)ll is a mue anatomical handbook.
thouJ
the anatomy it performs is as much psychological as physical. A basic ask of Descr.tli
enterprise is to institute an ontological divide between a purely mental and a pundv
physical domain. Every manner, anitude, and sensation is thus de6ned; thei. tmc
a"
marked, their posibilities weighed with such a thoroughness that one has the impns
sion that the "book of human natute" has been opened for the first tine or, morq likely
that a new land has been discovered and the conquistadon are setting out to chan
ig
paths, compile the list of is naturd resources, assess its advanages and disadrantagcs.
In this, Hobbes and Descartes were representatives oftheir time.The care they
dis
pley in exploring the details of corporeal and psychological reality reappears in thc
Purian analysis of irrlizatiorr and individu al talents,l2 which was the beginning ofa bour-
geois psychology, explicidy studying, in this case, all human faculties from the viewpoint
oftheir potential for work and conttibution to discipline.A further sign ofa new crrioc-
ity about the body and"ofa change in manners and customs &om former times wherc\
Tlrc a dtonry lesson dt the
UniftRity oJ Padow,
me dnatot ry thedt/e disalos,il
to the p bli. eye d disen(hanl'l'
desedated body. Irl Dtt FAscI&u
pp
MeotcrN't. Venezi,t
(t494'
l 3a 139
can be opened" (in the words ofa 176-century
physician) r'rzs a.lso the devel-
of anaaomy as
^
scieftific discipline, following is long relegation to the intellec-
in the Middle Ages (Wightrtan 1972:9O-92; Galzigna 1978).
while the body emerged as the main prtagonist in the ph.ilosophical and
scenes,
a striking feature ofthese investigations is the degraded conception they
ofit,The
anatomy "theatre"l3 discloses to the pubLic eye a disenchanted, dese-
body,
which only in ptinciple can be conceived as the site of the soul, but actu-
as a separate rcality (Calzigna 1978 16H4).1a'Ib the eye of the anatomist
is a 6ctory as shown by the tide that ArdreasVesalius gave to his epocha.l work
ing industry": De &n mani corporisJabtia (1543). In Mechanical Pbilosophy,
is described by andogy with the uachine, often with emphasis on its ir,?rria.
is conceived as brute matter, wholly divorced from any rational qudities: it
lnow, does not want, does not feel. The body is a pure "collection of mem-
claims in his 1634 Discourse or Method (1973,Yol.l,152). He is echoed
Malebranche who, in the Dialogues on Metaphysics and ox Religion (1688),
cmcial question "Can a body thinl<?" to prompdy answer,"No,beyond a doubt,
modi6cations ofsuch an cxtension consist only in certain relations ofdistance;
drat such relations are not perceptions, reasonings, pleasures, desires. Gel-
word, thoughts" (Popkin 1966:280). For Hobbes, as well, the body is a con-
ofmechanical motioru that, lacking autonomous power, operates on the basis
causation, in a play ofattrections and aversions where everything is regu-
an uttomzan (Leviattal Part I, Chaptervl).
It is true, however, of Mechanical Philosophy what Michel Foucault mainrains
to the 17th and l8th-century social disciplines (Foucault 1977:137). Here,
a dif,ercnt perspective &om dnt ofmedieval asceticism, where the degnda-
body had a purcly negative function, seeking to esablish the temponl and illu-
ofcanhly pleasures and consequendy the need to renounce the body itself.
In Mechanicd Ph.ilosophy we perceive a new bourgeois spirit that calculares,
makes distinctions, and degrades the body only in order to rationalize its fac-
not just
at intensifying its subjection but at maximizing its social utiliry
Far fron renouncing the body, mechanicd theorists seek to conceptual-
tbat make its operations intelligible and controllable.Thus the sense ofpride
comrniseration) with which Descartes iruists that "this machine" (as he per-
elfs the body in the Tieatke ol Man) is just an automaton, end its death is no
lx rnourned than the breakine ofa tool.l5
Certainly, neither Hobbes nor Descartes spent many words on economic mat-
vould be atsund to read into dreir philosophies the everyday concerns ofthe
Dutch merchants.Yet, we cannot fail to see the imDortant contribution which
on human nature gave to the emerging capitalist science ofwork.To
tndy
as mechanical manet, void ofany intrinsic teleology - the "occult virtues"
to it by both Natural Magic and the popular superstitions ofthe time - was
the possibility ofsubordinating it to a work proces that increasingly
trniform
and oredicuble forms ofbehavior.
its devices were decorutructed and it was itselfreduced to a tool. the bodv
opened
to an infinite manipulation ofits powers and possibiliries. One could
irucstigate the vices and limis ofimagination, the virtues ofhabit, the uses of fear,1.*
certain passions can be avoided or neutrdized, and how they can be more rarionallr,,.]
lized.ln this sense, M echanical Philosophy contributed to increasing the ruling-clas56i)
trol over the natural world, conrrol over human nature being the 6nt, most ;nd;tp"n.^"
ble step.Just as lt4rrle, reduced to a "Great Machine," could be conquered and (in
51.o]i
words) "penetrated in all her secrets," likewise the 6ody, emptied ofis occuJt forces,6qu;
be "caught in a system ofsubjection," whereby its behavior could be calculated.
ory.n-
ized, technically thought and invested ofpower relations" (Foucadt 1977:26\.
ln Descertes, body and nature are identified, for both are made ofthe same
prni-
cles and act in obedience to uniform phlsical laws set in motion by Codt will.Thgs,6,
only is the Cartesian body pauperized and expropriated from any nagical virrue:
in
th.
great ontological divide which Descartes irxtitutes between the essence ofhumanigy
an4
is accidental conditions, the body is divorced frorn the penon, it is literally dehurnan-
ized. "I am not this body," Descartes insists throughout his Meditations (1641).
And
indeed,in his philosophy the bodyjoins a continuum ofclock-like manerthat the u4i1-
tered will can now contemplate as the object ofits domination.
As we will see, Descartes and Hobbes express two different projects with re5ps6
to corpored reality. In Descartes, the reduction ofthe body to mechanical matter allqws
for the development ofmechanisms of self-management that make the body the subjcct
ofthe will.In Hobbes,by contrast, the mechanization ofthe bodyjustifies the total sub-
mission of the individual to the power of the sate. In both, howevei, the outcorne is r
redefinition of bodily attributes that makes the body, ideally, at least, suited for the reg-
ularity and automatism demanded by the capitalist work-discipline.
16
I emphasize "i&-
dly" because, in the years in which Descartes and Hobbes were writing their treatiscq
the ruling class had to confront a corporedity that was far different from that appearing
in their prefi gurations.
It is diffcult. in fact. to reconcile the insubordinate bodies that haunt the socid
liteiature ofthe "lron Century" with the clock-like images by which the body is repre-
sented in Descartes'and Hobbes' works.Yet, though seemingly rcmoved from the daily
affairs ofthe class struggle, it is in the speculations ofthe two philosophen that we find
6rst conceptualized the development ofthe body into a work-machine, one ofthe mun
trk of p.iooitiue accumulation.When, for example, Hobbes declares that "the heart
(ts)
but a spring... and the joins so many wheels," we perceive in his words a bourg9orj
spirit, whereby ,,ot only is woir. the ionditiott and mitive oJ existente of the body,b*
t)rc
need is felt to transform dl bodily powers into work powers.
This project is a clue to understanding why so much ofthe philosophicd
and
rtli-
gious specuiation ofthe 16th and 1?th centuries consists ofa true vivkeaion olthe
hutun
body, whereby it was decided which of its prcperties could live and which, insteao'
t'-
to die. It was a soria I alchemy ttat did not turrrbase metals into gold, but bodily
powr6
into work-powers. For the same relation that capitalism introduced U"*".n
i'na,tnd
work was also beginning to command the relation between the body and labor'
Whl?
labor was beginning to appeer as e dynamic force infinitely capable of development'.Sc
body was seen as inert, sterile matter that only the will could mou", in a .o.tiition{
ilar to that which Newton's physics esablished between mass
"td
-o,ion,
*t'"t'
th;
uar t() urdr
Puys(s
csuuurrcu
mess tends to ine.tia unles a force is applied to it. Like the land, the body had
to be
'-
l,trO
t4L
Tlrc onception oJthe body
as a rcceptatle oJmagiarl
powts largely duived
Jron
the belieJ in a orespon-
denee tteiueen lhe mioo-
osn oJ the individual and
the doo.os'.t oJ the eles-
tial uoid, as illustnted in
this l4h-tmtury inage oJ
the "zodiatal nnn."
;^.-"q
<-----_
fint ofall broken up, so that it could relinquish is hidden treasures. For while
is the condition oJ the existewe oJ labor-po*et, it is also ics limit, a5 the main ele-
rcsistance to its exDenditure. It was not suffcient, then. to decide that ir irselfthe
no vdue.The body had to die so that labor-power could live.
died was the concept ofthe body as a receptacle ofmagical powers that had
in tlrc medieval world, In realiry it was destroyed. For in the background ofthe
we 6nd a vast initiative by rhe state, whereby what rhe philosophers clas-
"irrational"
was branded as crime.This state intervention was the necessary"sub-
Philosophy."Knowledge" can only become "power"ifit can enforce
This means that the mechanical bodv. the body-machine. could not have
a nodel of social behavior without the destruction by the state of a vast rangc
belie6, practices, and socid subjecs whose existence contradicted the
ion of corporeal behavior ptomised by Mechanical Philosophy. This is why,
ofthe "Age of Reason" - the age ofscepticism and methodicd doubt -
a ferccious atteck on the body, well-supported by many who subscribed to the
is how we must read the attack against witchcrali and against that magical
thc world which. desDite the efforts ofthe Church, had continued to
prevail
on
level through the Middle Ages. At the basis of magic was an animistic con-
of nature that did not admit to any separation between matter and spirit, and
the cosmos u t living organism, populated by occult forces, where every
Ftontispiee to thejrst
edtion
nt
Chris topha Malou,e's
Dor,i,-
Paysrus
1t604), pfluring
t6::
ntagitian conjuring lhe Devillinn
ne pr.toktud space oJ his ftagi.a!
and bioGedback practices
that are increasingly applied even by mainsrream med-
revival of magica.l belie6 is possible today because it no longer represents a
The mechanization ofthe body is so constitutive ofthe individual that, at
indusnialized
countries, giving space to the beliefin occult forces does notjeop-
regularity ofsocia.l behavior. Astrology too can be allowed to return, with the
that even dre most devoted corsumer of astral charts will automatically con-
wrtch before going to work.
this was not an option for the 17th-century ru.Ling class which, in this
xperimental
phase ofcapitalist development, had not yet achieved the social
necessary
to neutra-lize ttre practice ofmagic, nor could they functiondly inte-
into t}le organization ofsocial life. From their viewpoint it hardlv mattered
the powen that people claimed to have, or aspired to have, were real or not, for
existence of magical belie6 was a source ofsocial insubordination.
for cxample, the widespread beliefin the posibiliry offinding hidden mas-
help ofmagicd charms (Thomas 1977:23417).This was certainly an imped-
the irxtitution ofa rigorous and spontaneously accepted work-discipline. Equally
*as the use that the lower classes made of propheeies,wlich,particularly dur-
CivilWar (as already in the Ivliddle Age$, served to formulate a program
@lton
1972:742fl,Prophecies are not simply the expression ofa fatalistic res-
Historically they have been a means by which the "poor" have extemalized their
given legitirnary to their plans, and have been spurred to action. Hobbes rccos-
when he warned that "There is nothing that... so well directs men in their
as the foresight of the sequels of their actions; prophecy being many times
cause of the events foretold" (Hobbes, "B ehernotj' Works W: 399\ .
legardless ofthe dangers which magic posed, the bourgeoisie had to combat
because it undermined the principle ofindividual responsibility, as magic placed
ofsocial action in the rea.lm ofthe stars, out oftheir reach and control.
element was in "sympatletic" rclation with the rest. In this penpective, where nature
rt
viewed as a universe of signs and signatures, marking invisible afiiniries that had to bt-
deciphered (Foucaulc 1970:26-27), every element - herbs, plants, metals, and most of
all the human body - hid virtues and powen peculiar to it.Thus, a variety ofpnctic6
were designed to appropriate the secrets of nature and bend its powers to the humen
will. From palmistry to divination,6om t}te use ofcharms to qnnpathetic healing,magic
opened a vast number of possibilities. There was magic designed to win card games, to
play unknown instruments, to become invisible, to win somebody's love, to gain immu_
ruty in war, to make children sleep (Thomas 1971; Wilson 2000).
Eradicating these practices was a necesury condition for rhe capitalist r:tionaliza-
tion ofwork, since magic appeared as an illicit fotm ofpower and an instrument to orf4it,
what one wanted *ithout unrh, that is, a refirsal of work in action.
..Masic
kills industvj,
lamenred Francis Bacon. admining tlat nothing repelled him so much"as rhe assumption
dnt one could obtain resuls with a few idle expedients. rather than with the sweat ofonc!
brow (Bacon
1870:381).
Magic, moreover, rested upon a qualitative conception ofspace and time that pn-
cluded a regularization ofthe labor process. How could the new entrepreneurs impos!
regular work patterns on a proletariar anchoted in the belief that there a.e lucky
end
unlucky da1s, that is, days on which one can travel and othen on which one should
not
move fron home, days on which to marry and others on which every enterprise
shou.ld
be cautiously avoided? Equally incompatible with the capitalist work-discipline
rw.r
conception ofthe cosmos that attributed special powers to the individual: the magtletr
look, the power to make oneselfinvisible, to leave onet body, to chdn the will
ofoth'
ers by magical incanradons.
It would not be fruitfiI to investigate whether these powers werc real or ir4i9-
nary. It can be said that all precapitalist societies have believed in them and, in
recel,l
times, we have witnessed a relaluation ofpractices that, et the time we refer ro,
w@
have been condemned as witchcraft. Let us mention the growing inteles t h
parapsy-
whos ad ntage, om a capitalist viewpoint, is that here the future can be antrc-
insofar as the regulariry and immutabfiry of the system is assumed; that rs,
as it is assumed that the future will be like the past, and no major change,
In, will upset the coordinates of individual decision-making. Similarly, the
had to conbat the assumption that it is possible to be in two places at the
for the
Jixation
oJ the body in space and time. that is, the indi,idnal\ spatiotempo-
is an essential condition for the regularity ofthe work-process.l7
mcompatibility ofmagic with the capitalist work-discipline and the require-
locia.l control is one ofthe reasons why a campaign ofterror was launched against
state
- a terror applauded without leservations by many who are presently
aurong the founders of scientific rationalism:
Jean
Bodin, Mersenne, the
ph.ilosopher
rnd member of the Royal Socie
ry
Richand Boyle, and Newtont
the rationalization ofspace and time that characterized the ph.ilosophical spec-
fthe 16th and 17th centuries, prophecy was replaced with the ra tculition ofptob-
Isaac
Barrow.ls Even the rnaterialist Hobbes, while keeping his distance, gave
rvd.
"As for witches," he wrote, "l think not that their witchcraft is any real
tn.)t
that they are jusdy punished, for the false belief they have that they can
mrschief,joined
with *reir purpose to do it if they can" (Leviathan 1963: 67\.
t42
Hc addecl that if thesc' superstitiom were clinrinated. "men rvould be much rrrorc fined
than thcy are for civil obcdience" (ilid.). Hobbcs rvas rvell advised The stakcs on rvhich
witches and other practitioncrs of nagic died, and the charnbers irr which thcir rortures
were executcd, were a leboratory in rvhich nuch social drscipline lvas sedirnenrcd. :rnd
much knorvledge about the body was gained. Here thosc irrationllities rverc tLnrrn rted
that stood in the lvirv ofthe trAllsforll)ation ofthe individual and social bodv i to a \et
ofprcdictable arxl controllable nrech.nisnN.And it was here tgain that the s,-icno6c
u'c
of t oi t l rrc was born. f or bl ood ai rd t ort ure were nccessary t o "brccd an anrrrrl l
c' ' P' hl c
of regular, honogcneous, arld unifortn behavior, indclibly rnarked with the ruerlror,v
oI
t hc nerv rul es (Ni et zsche 1965: 1l l 9 90).
A signifrcant elcrttcnt in this coDtext lvas the co[delnnation as fittl(!idunt
ol
'lbot-
t i dl and cont racept i on, rvhi ch consi gned t he f c' t nal e body - t hc ur. rr' r rcdt ri rJ
t o
J
nrachi ne f or t hc reprocl uct i orr of l abor - i nt o t he hands of t he st at c and t he rrt df
l r
profession. I rvill rcturn later to this point, in the chapter on the rvitch hunt
rvhere
'
argue th:rt thc persecution ofthe witches was the cliiDax ofthe statc intervention
;rgJlllsr
thc proletrri:ur bocly in the rlroclt'rn era.
Here let us stress that clespite the violc'lce deployed by the state, thc dis'i|Lirrillg
of t he prol ct rri at procccdcd sl owl y t hroughout t he 17t l ' cent ury and i nt o t hc l i j t b
r: en-
tu.y iri rh" face ofa strong resistalce thxt trot even the fetr of execution aoulti
olt,t.
c(n1e. An el )rbl cmat rc exanrpl c oI t hi s resi st ance i s anal yzed by Pet er Li neb. rugl r
rn
f hf
Tyburr Ri ot s Agal nst t he Surgeons. " Li rcbaugh report s t hat i n earl v 18rh-' t ' I rt rrr)
l1rlr
Tfu ntrtun dnnbtr 1809 tngnwiry Iry llntt itt
lt'stlh
1111',tlLt,
l/Is-1(rRtis r)r,.s /.\et
'ls1-1/a),\'.s
RJiL/(;lIirAlis l)'llAL l, 1)' Esl',4C\:11
] : I l r: P()Rt 1(; A1, .
r
^ndon,
ar thc tlllle of Jl (xc.ulrun,
a bittlc rvas fought by the' friellcls :rntl reletivcs of
f . i ond. , rt u"a
t o prcvenr t hc t \ \ r\ t rt rt s of t he st t rgcol rs f rom sci zi ng drt ' corpse f or usc
l f ' -l , , orpr. rl
t , . , dt . t (Lj r)cbJt rgh 1975). Thi s bat t l e was f i ercc' because rl re f crr of bei l rg
tj.L*O
*.t tru lcss th.rrr rh.' le.rr of .leath. Dissection elirninatcd rhc possibility th:rt thc
Hl"mn"d
t.rglr, t"r r r e .rfccr .r poorly execute d h;rnging, as ofte n occ-'urrcd in I fJ'l' ce Ir-
i l l y
f ngl rnd. (, l , i , t
, l i
: -ol ) I
rrr' rgr' al conccpt i orr of t hc body was sprcad r111o' g t 1e
l,--pt"
,..or.t
"g
to rrhich thc ho.ly continued to livc aftc'r death.:rncl by cieath wes
l ni i i f t . a
*, , Jt nes porven. l r u. r" bel i eved t hat t he dead posscsscd t he power t o "corrt t '
i f f
rgrn
' rna
"*r. t
t ht rr l ast reverrgc upon t he l i vi [ l i l t was al so bel i eved t hat a corpse
f rra
f r"rl rrg
vrl t t l cs, \ o t h. rt . cro\ ' , Js of si ck peopl e get hered arourrd t he gal l ows, cxpcct -
Jg
fronr
the lintbt of the dead cilcers as rniraculous as those attributed to the to (:h of
i h;
ki ng
(t ' i d : l o9 l 0)'
Dissectiotr
thus rpPeJ.cd a\ .r turther i fanrli a seconcl end greater de:rth,:uld the
condemned
spe[t thcir last days making sure that their body should not be rbxnrloned
ifto
the hands ofsurgcons.This battlc, signiicanrly occurring at the foot ofthc gallorvs,
denonstrates
both the violence that presidcd over the scientific rttioD. izAtiol) ofthe
worl d,
and t he cl ash of t wo oPposi t e concept s of t he body, t rvo opposi t e i nresnnenr' i n
it. On one side, we h:rve a concept ofthe body that sees it endowcd uith polvers everl
1fter
death; the corpse does ttot inspire repulsion, and is not trelted as solllething rortclr
or irreducibly
alien.
()n
the other, thc body is sccn as dead everr rvhen still alive, insoflr
as it is conceived as a nleclulrical dc'vicc, to be caken rpartjust like any machine. "At the
ga.llows, standing at the conjunction oftheTybur:r and Edgtare roads," Peter Linebaugh
writes,"we find that thc llstory ofthe Loudon poor attd thc history ofEnglish science
intenect." This was not a coincidence; nor."vas it a coinciderlac' that chc progrcss of
anatomy depended ol the ability ofthe surgeons to snatch the bodies ofthc hangcd at
Tyburn. 19 The course of sci ent i f i c rat i onal i zat i on *as i nt i nrat el y corrl cct ccl t o t hc
attempt by the state to inlpose its control ovcr an unrvilling torkforce.
This attenpt was even rnore inrportant, as r detcn)liirant ofnew attitudes towards
the body, than the developnrent oftechnology.As David Dicksor ar!$es, connecring the
new scientific worldvierv to thc incrcasing rlechanization ofproductiorr cln only holcl as
I metaphor (Dicksorr 1979: 2,1). Certainly, thc clock and the autorluted devices that so
much intrigued Descartes and his coDtenrporaries (e'.g. hydraulically rn,oved sr:rtues), pro
vided
models for the ncw scicnce, lnd for the speculatiorrs of Mechanical Philosoph-rr on
tle_movements
ofthe body. It is also true that srarring tionl rhe 17th ce[tury, anaron)ical
'rulogles
were drawn from the workshoos ofthc nranufac rers:the arnrs were vieu,ed as
l even,
t he herrt d\ r
l \ rnl \ .
l hc hrrrg . r. bel L, , *' . rh( (. y(. J, l crr. t . . rl r, 6. r . r. . r l r, rrrurrcr
(Mlmford
tyo2: 12).
Bur rhc'c rnt'ch;rnic:rl rnetaphors rcflect rrot rhe influcnr:c oftcch-
trology
per sq but the flrct that the Dfidinc Mts b(ot]tit{ tht' nroltl Ltf sotial btlmtLtr.
-
The
insprratronJl forcc (,f rhc need for soci:rl control is evidcnt even nr the field
ot
uttottonty.
A cla\si! ex.ul)plc ,\ fh.rr of Edlnord Halley (thc sccrc'tary ofthc Royel
Jot i t t y).
*ho, i n a, rrrcon t nrt rc \ \ l t h t hc rppcarance rn 1(r95 of t he corrret l i t er nan)cd
&t
him'
o.filur".l
.lubr .rll ovcr Englancl in ordcr to denrorrstrate the predicrabrlity of
Qhol
ph"*nr"nr,
. n. l ro LL\ pcl t h. : popul ar bel i c' f rhat cor)ret s announcc' d soci l l di s-
"&n. That rhe parh rrf . e rr-nri c , rrr. r, r, rl i r. rt i , rn i , rcc. sect ed rvi t h t hc' t l i sci pl i ni ng of t hc'
-"rl al
body
rs everl Drr, r( crrdeoc rrr t he soci al sci cnces. We can see, i n f act , t hat rhei r
r45
A t lit!{ t:tdtry)lt of tht, ,tat,
,Rhdfii(nl tutla?tirt of tl,i.l)atl\, .,
I ti s 1 6tt -(fl t uty Cu,,nu
n,,tr,,,,
-
i
!
ih,(.ft t1n p&t\,nt i\ h])n\o|td
n! n|lllttt?{ tll)r( llltl n t etlt\
of
produxiorr, uitlL ltis body attttp,11,.1
cn trtly of dgr ir uhwll it npl4na,6.
devel opnrel t \ \ ' as prenri sed on t he hon)ogcni zat ron of soci al bchavi or. l ncl drc con_
struction of a prototypical irxlividual to whoil all rvould be expectc'cl to conforllr. Ir
Marx'.s ternrs, this is an
"abstract individual," constructed iD :t ulliforln wly. ai I soclill
avcrage, and subj ect t o t rudi cal dcchxracreri zi l t i on, so t hat al l of i t s f i cul t i cs can hc
graspcd onl y i n t hei r rnost st anda(l i zed aspect s. The const ruct i on of t hi s I rc' rv i l l di vrcl -
ual was the basis for the developntent of what wrllian Petty rvould hter call (usittg
Hobbes' terrrrirrology) Politiral Arithnetiti a ncw science that was to strlcl) cvcrv
tbrnr
of social behavior ilt terlus of N r,rcrt Wei,qhts, and M?dstrlsr. Petty\ project \\'rs
rnu-
ized with thc
.
devekrprnent of
-{ldli-rli.,{
and demognphy
fiVilson
19(16; Qullsl
l(//r/
rvhi ch perf orrn on t he soci al bocl y t he sat ne operat i ons t hat arl at o ry pcrf ornl s
ol r
l he
individual bod,v,:rs they disscct the population and stttdy its nlovenlents - frotu
Itrtd-
i t y t o rrrort al i ry rat es, f ronr gene' rat i onal t o occupat i ort al st ruct ures - i n t hci r l l l osr
l ru5-
si f i cd and regul rr aspcct s. Al so f rorl t he poi nt of vi ew of t he abst ract i on proce' ss
t hrrt
t hc
i n<l i vi dual ui rderwent i n t he t nnsi t i on t o ct pi t al i sn), wc' cai r see t hat t he . l cr cl of n' f l t t
of t he "hunran nrachi ne" rvas t he rn: l i l l t cchnol ogi cal l eap, t he t nai n st ep i n t h' '
de\ ' ' -
opl rrent of t he product i vc f orccs t hat rook pl ace i n t hc pc' ri ocl of
Pri ni t r' , c
r' . '
t t t rl "' , ,
tion. l+b a111 stt', in othct u,Ltnls, thil thr huntuttt body anrl tot lh. ll(dn enlittL, tttl
tt
"
'
tfu tlotk, u'as tfu
jrst nnrhine dewloped by upitalisn.
t 46
J
C. ur, Co, rr| t , rDt t t V A\ . At (), \
(: t \ r (1690/ .
h tontrtst to tht "nLrhdntcal u,ut" is thts i,"Nt \)l th \,q4 lr't|tt,"
h whkh tlt lioL,l rl.sxls,n,rllrr ,r. rrli{s
,{r,rrliriq
oti of tht: I]u',t.r't botly.
r 47
ii
But ifthe body is a machine, one prcblem imrnediately ernerges: how to
nra[^ ..
work? Two diferent models ofbody-governrnent derive 6om the theories of Mechan;ll
Philosophy. On one side, we have rhe Cartesian model that, starting frorn the
assuil
tion of a purely mechanical body, posrulates the possibiliry of developing in the
in.li
vidual mechanisms of self-discipline, self-management, and self-regulation
"tlo*ine
i.
voluntary work-relations and government based on consent. On the othet side,
the"ll
the Hobbesian model that, denying the posibiliry ofa body-free Reason
the functions of cornmand, consigning them to the absolute au,n".i y orlt*,ti.I1t*
The development ofa self-marugement theory starting from the mechaniza6.l
^1
the body, is dre focus ofthe ph.ilosophy ofDescartes, who (let us remember ir) comphtj
his intellecnral formation not in dle Frence ofmonarchical ab'solutisrn but in the
bour-
geois Holland so congenial to his spirit drat he elected it as his abode. Descenes'de661no
have a double aim: to deny dnt human behavior can be influenced by external facton
(such
as the stars, or celestial intelligences), and to free the soul ftom any bodily conditioning,
thus making it capable ofexercising an unlimited sovereignty over the body.
Descartes believed that he could accomplish both tasks by demonstrating
the
mechanical nature ofanimal behavior. Nothing, he claimed in his Iz Monde (1633),causes
so many errors as the belief that animals have a soul like oun.Thus, in preparatioq
fsl
his Tleatke of Mdn,he devoted rnany months to studying the anatomy of animal organ5;
every morning he went to the butcher to observe the quartering ofthe beasts.20 He even
performed many vivisections,likely comforted by his beliefthat, being mere brutes"des
titute ofReason,"the animals he dissected could not feel any pain (Rosenneld1968:8).21
To be able to demonstrate the brutality of animals was essentid for Descartes,
because he was convinced that here he could find the answer to his questions concem-
ing the location, nature, and extent ofthe power controlling human conduct. He believed
that in the dissected animal he would find proofthat the body is only capable ofmechan-
ical, and involuntary actions; that, coruequently, it is not constitutive of the person; and
that the human essence, therefore, rcsides in purely immaterial faculties.The hurnan body,
too,is an automaton for Descartes, but what diferentiates "man" from the beast and con-
fen upon"him"mastery over the surrounding world is the presence ofthought Thus.thc
soul, which Descartes displaces fron the cosmos and the sphere ofcorporealiry returns
at
the center of his philosophy endowed with infnite power under the guise ofindividud
reason and will.
Placed in a soulles world and in a body-machine, the Cartesian man,like Prospeo
could then break his magrc wand, becoming not only responsible for his own actions'
but
seemingly the center ofall powen.In beinl d.ivorced from its body, the mtional
selfcer-
tainly lost its solidariry with is corporeal realiry and with ruturc. Is soli de, howevr'
was to be that ofa king in the Cartesian model ofthe person, there is no egalitarian
dud-
ism between the thinking head and the body-rnachine, only a master/slave relation'
sin&
the primary task ofthe will is to dominate th; body and the natunl world.ln the Cartesli
rnodel ofthe person, then, we see the sarne centralization ofthe functions of colur,ano
that in the same period was occurring at the level ofthe state:as the task ofthe
stare
M
to govern the social body, so the mind became sovereign in the new personr.liry
,.rlv
Descartes concedes that the suprenacy of the mind over the body is not
easul
achieved, as Reason must confront its inner contradictions. Thus, in The Passi)
t
nl
t""
t4a
he introduces us to the prospect ofa constant batde between the lower and
faculties
ofthe soul which he describes in almost military terms,appeding to our
to
be brave, and to gain the pmper anrx to resist the attacks of our passiorx. We
b
prepated to suller temporary defeas, for our wi.ll might not always be capable
or arresting irs passions. lr can, however, neutralize thenl by diverting its
to some other thing, or it can restrain the movements to which they dispose
It can, in other words, prevent the p4.rsionr from becoming d,li,rr.r (Descartes
I:35' +-55).
With the institution ofa hierarchical relation between mind and body, Descartes
the theoretical premises for the work-discipline required by the developirrg
economy.
For the mind's supremacy over the body implies that the will can (in
cont ol the needs, reactions, reflexes ofthe body; it can impose a regular order
vial functions, and force the body to work according to external specifications,
ofits desires.
Moct importandy, the supremacy of the wi.ll allows for the interiorization of the
of power. Thus, the counterpart of the mechanization of the body is the
of Reason in its role as judge, inquisitor, manager, administrator We find
origirx ofbourgeois subjectivity as sellmanagement, self-ownership,law, respon-
with is corollaries of memory and identiry Here we also 6nd the origin of that
of"micro-powers" that Michel Foucault has described in his critique ofthc
discunive model of Power (Foucault 1977),'lhe Cartesian model shows, how-
Power can be decentered and diffused thrcugh the social body only to the extent
is recentered in the person, which is thus reconstituted as a nicm-state. In other
in being dif,used, Power does not lose is vector - that is, its content and its arms
rimply acquires the collaboration ofthe Selfin their promotion.
Consider, in this context, the thesis proposed by Brian Easlea, acconding ro which
benefit that Canesian dualism ofered to the caoitelist clas was the Christian
ofdre immortality ofthe soul, and the possibiliry ofdeGating the atheism implicit
Magic, which was loaded with subvenive irnplications
@aslea
1980: 132fl.
ergues, in support of this view, that the defense ofreligion w,rs a centnl theme rn
which, particularly in its English version, never forgot that "No Spirit, No
No Bishop, No K)ng" (ibid.:202). Easlea! argument is attractivei yet ils insisrence
"reactionary"
elemens in Descartest thought makes it impossible for Easlea to
e question
that he himself raises.Why was the hold ofCartesianism in Eur<rpc s<.r
6at, even a:fter Newtonian physics dispelled the belief in a natunl world void of
povcn,
and even after the advent of religious tolerance, Cartesianism continued
the dominant worldview? I sugest that the populariry of Cartesianism anrorrg
and upper class was direcdy related to the p rcgrerlr. of self-nastery that Descar.tes'
promoted. In its social implications, this program was as irnportant to
elite contemporirries as the hegemonic relation between humans and nature
t,tcgitirnized
by Cartesian dualism.
.The
development of self-management (i.e., self-government, self-development)
an essential requirernent in a capitalist socio-economic system in which self-
P
is assum3d to be the fundamental social relation,and discipline no longer relies
on
external coercion.The social significance ofCartesian philosophy lies in pan
l/19
in the fact that it provides an intellectualjustification for it. In this way, Desca(es'61q.-
of self-management deJeats brt also rcctperdtes the active side of Naturel Magic.
Fot
i'.
replaces the unpredictable power of the magician (built on t}te subde manipulation
qf
astral influences and correspondences) with a power far more prcfitable
- a power
60,
which no soul has to be forfeited - generated or y through the administntion
and dorn-
ination of one's body and, by extension, the administration and domination ofthe
bo4-
ies ofother Gllow beings. We cannot say, then, as Easlea does (repeating a criticism
raiss4
by Leibniz), that Cartesianism failed to translate is tenes into a set of practical
!egu6-
tions, that is, that it failed to demonstrate to the philosophers - and above all to the rnql-
chans and manufacturcrs - how they would benefit &om it in tltet attempt to contbl
the matter of t}le world (ibid.:1'57).
IfCartesianism failed to give a technological trarxlation ofits precep6,ir nonethe-
less provided precious information with regard to the development of"human technol-
ogy." Its insights into the dynamics of self-conrol would lead to tlte constluction
oft
new model ofthe penon, wherein the individual would function at once as both mas-
ter and slave.It is because it interpreted so well the requiremens ofthe capitalist wotk-
discipline that Descartes' doctrine, by the end ofthe 17th century had spread through-
out Europe and survived even the advent of vitalistic biology as well as the increasing
obsolescence of the mechanistic paradigm.
The reasoru for Descartes' triumph are clearest when we comPare his account of
the person with that of his English rival, Thomas Hobbes Hobbes' biological monisn
rejects the posnrlate ofan imrnaterial mind or soul that is *re basis of Descartes' concepl
ofthe penon, and with it the Canesian assumption drat the human will can ftee iselffiom
corporeal and irstinctual determinism.22 For Hobbes, human behavior is a conglomente
ofreflex actions that follow precise natural laws, and compel the individual to incesandy
stiive for power and domination over othets (Itiathan:141ff1.Thts the war of all agaiDit
all (in a hypothetical state of nature), and the necessiry for an absolute power guarantee-
ing, through fear and punishment, the survival ofthe individual in society.
For the laws ofnature, as justice, equity, modesry mercy, and, in sum,
doing to others as we would be done to, of themselves, without dre
terror of some powei to cause them to be observed, are conffary to
our natural
Passions,
that carry us to partiality, pride, revenge and the
like (ibid.:173).
As is well known, Hobbes'political doctrine caused a scandal among his corltelrl.
poraries, who coruidered it dangerous and subversive, so much so thatialthoueh
h;
ffi;J;;ff;;;;u* *"t-"i"..
"a"u""d
to the Rolal societv (Bowle 1e52:163)
,
---^r,
.a^"' -- ,^"-r' t^. t" .*r"rsed
th
Agairst Hobbes, it was tJle Cartesian model tlat prerailed, for it exPrer..
.-.
already active tendency to democrrtize the mechanisms ofsocial discipline byamiburinf
arauy 4ruvc rcuscu!) !u uvurwLrdl er u -t
. . . L(r
to the individual will that function of command which, in the Hobbesian model'
rs
rq
to tne lnolvlouiu wur ulat runcuorr ol
^c
solely in the hands ofthe state.As many critics ofHobbes maintained, the foundations "'
public discipline must be rooted in the hearts of rnen, for in tlre absence .f
"
illtlii
PurruL
u5LrPrrc --
-^,
rrn
iegislation men are inevitably led to revolution (quoted in Bowle 1951:
n7-un].,
",
Hobbes," complained Henry Moore, "there is no fteedom of will and consequendY
to
150
as "otherness" fiom the body, and in perennial anagonism witl it.
I t r t
powerfi.rl.
. . therc is no judge
so severe, no torturer so cruel as an accusing con-
6"
(quoted in Bowle 1952:167).
ofcorscience or reason, but only what pleases the one with the longest sword"
in Eadea 1 980: 1 59) . More explicit was Alexander Ross, who observed that "it is
ofconscience dut restrains men from rebellion, there is no outwald law or force
fhe
contemporaneous critique of Hobbes' atheism and materialism was clearly
purely by religious concerrs. His view of the individual as a machine
only by its appetites and aversioru was rejected not because it eliminated the con-
the human crearure rurde in the image of God, but because it eliminated the
ofa form ofsocial control not depending wholly on the iron ru.le ofthe state.
argue,
is the main dillerence berween Hobbes'philosophy and Cartesianism.This,
cannot be seen ifwe insist on stressing the feudal elemens in Descanes'phi-
, and in particular is defense of the existence of God with all that this entailed,
ofthe power ofthe state.If we do privilege the feudal Descartes we miss the
the elimination of the rcligious element in Hobbes (i.e., the beliefin the exrs-
of,iocorporeal
substances) was actually a response to the defiooatization ifltplhit itl
model oJ selJ-mwtery which Hobbes undoubtedly distrusted. As rhe activism
secs dutiog the English CivilWar had demonstrated, self-mastery could
into a subversive proposition. For t}le Puritans' appeal to return the manage-
one's behavior to the individual conscience, and to make of onet conscience
judge oftruth, had become radicalized in the hands of the secaries into an
rcfirsal ofestablished authority.23 The example of the Diggen and Ranrec, and
reores ofmechanic preachers who, in the name ofthe "light of conscience," had
state legislarion as well as private prcperty, must have convinced Hobbes that
to "Reason" was a dangerously double-edged weapon.24
con{lict between Cartesian "tleism" and Hobbesian "matedalism" was to bc
in tirne in their reciprocal assimilation, in the sense that (as always in the his-
cepitalism) t}le decentralization ofthe mechanisms of command, through their
in the individual, was finally obained only to the extent that a centnlization
in the power ofthe state.To put dris resolution in the terms in which the debate
in the course of the English CivilWar:"neither the Diggers nor Absolutism,"
mixture ofboth, whereby the democratization ofcommand would
the shoulders ofa sate always ready,like the Newtonian God, to reimpose order
rouls who proceeded too far in the ways of self-determination. The crux ofthe
,nas lucidly expressed byJoseph Glanvil, a Cartesian member ofthe Rolal Sociery
a polemic agairxt Hobbes, argued that the crucial issue was the control of the
the body.This, however, did not simply imply the connol ofthe nrling class
par excellentel over the body-proleariat, but, equally imporant, the develop-
the capacity for self-control within the person.
Foucault
has demorxtrated, the mechanization ofthe bodv did not or
y
involve
ofdesircs. emotions. or forms ofbehavior that werc to be endicated. lt also
the developent ofnew faculties in the individual that would appear as otfter with
the body iself, and become the agens ofits transformation.The product ofthis
&om the body, in other worrds, was the development ofindividuei identitf, coa-
ill
u
The emergence of rhis altet ego, and the dctermination of a historic confli*
between mind and body, rcpresent the birth ofthe individual in capitalist sociery. I t wo, i)
become a typicd chancteristic ofthe individud molded by the capitalist work-discipfi
to conftont one's body as an alien reality to be assessed, developed
""d
k pt
"t
bay,
1i
order to obain ftom it the desired rcsults,
As we pointcd out, among the "lower classes" the development of self-managel4r*
as sclCdiscipline remained, for a long time, an object ofspeculation. How litde selFdisci-
pline was expected ftom the "common people" can be judged from the fact that,
ridn
into thc 18th century, 160 crimes in England were punishable by death (Linebaugh
19i21'
and every year thousands of"common people" were transported to dre colonies
or con_
demncd to the gdleys. Moreover, when the populace appealed to reason, ir was to voicc
anti-authoriarian demands, since self-mastery at the popular level meant the rejection
s6
the esablished authority, nther than the interiorization ofsocial rule.
Indeed, through the 17th century, self-management remained a bourgeois
pte-
rogative.As Easlea points out, when the philosophers spoke of"man" as a ntional being
drey madc exclusive refercnce to a small elite made of white, upper-class, adult mal6.
"The great multitude of men;' wrote Henry Powe r, an English follower of Descartsq
"resembles nther Descartes' autornata, as they lack any reasoning power, aod only u a
meaphor can be called rncn" (Easlea1980: 140),25The 'befter sors" agreed that the pro-
leariat was of a diferent race, ln their eyes, made suspicious by fear, the proleariet
appeared as a "great beast," a "rnany-hcaded monster," wild, vociferous, given to arry
excess (Hill 1975: 181ft Linebaugh and Rediker 2000). On an individual level as u/ell,r
ritual vocabulary identifed the masses as purely instinctual beings. Thus, in thc
Elizabethan literature, the beggar is dways "lusty," and 'tturdy;' "rude," "hot-heade4'
"disorderly" are the ever-recurrent ternu in any discusion ofthe lowe! class.
In this process, not only did the body lose all naturalistic connoations, but a toy'l'
furctiotbegan
to eirlLerge, in the sensc that the body became a purely relational term' no
longer signi$ing any specific realiry but idcntiSing instead any impediment to dre dom-
ination of Reason. This mears that while the proleariat became a "body," the bodl
became "the poletariat;'and in particu.lar the weak, irrational female (the "woman m
us," as Harnlet was to say) or the "wild"African, being purcly defined drrough ia lirnit-
ing function, that is through is "otherncs" ftom Reason, and trcated as an agent ofinter-
nd subversion.
Yet, the sm.rggle against this "great beast" was not solely directed against the "lowr
sort ofpeople." It wras alio interiorized by the dominant classes in the battle they rva/
"g.instlheir
own "rratural state."As we have seen, no les than Prospero, the bourggoisic
too had to recognize that "[tlhis thing ofdarknes is mine," that is, that Caliban
was P'r
of itself
@rowntl88;
Tyllard 1961:3,F35).This awarenes perndes tlre literary
produl
tion ofthe 16th and 17th centuries.The terminology is evealing. Even those
wbo
s-
not follow Descartes saw the body as a beast that had to bc kept incesantly under
con-
trol. Its instincs were compared to "subjects" to be "governed," the senses were
seen
rr
a prison for the reasoning soul.
O who shall, 6om this Dungeon, reise
A Soul inslav d so many wayes?
nt among the "middle sorr" cenrered around the body/mind con0ict, posing
9u1ti9n
ofwhgther human beings arc voluntary or involuntary agents.
ut the &6nition ofa new relation with the body did not remain at a p"urelv
ide_
lcvel. Many pnctices began to appear in daily life to signal the deep transforrna-
g,rn this domain: the use ofcutlery *re development ofshame with respect
the advent
:f
"yT:"" that attempted to regulate how one laughed,
cezed, how one should behave at the table, and to *Lt e*terrt on. could"rrr,g,
@lias
1978: 1291i).While the individual was increasingly disociated from the
lener becane an object ofconstant obserr"rtion, as ifit riere an enemy.The body
irspirc fear and repugnance.,,The
body ofman is full of6lth,,,declaredJoruthan
whose anitude is typical of the
pudtan
experience, where the subjulation of
was a daily practice (Gteven
1977:67).ptticutady
repugnant *..eih"ose Uoa_
tions that directly conGonted
,.men"
with their.animafif.,,Witnes
the lase of
Mather whq in his Diary, confesed how humiliated he felt one day *h.r, ,r.,_
Andrew Marvell, in his "Dialogue
Between the Soul and the Body.',
With bols of Bones, that fener'd stands
In Feet; and manacled in Hands,
Here blinded with an Eye; and there
Deaf with the drumming of an Ear.
A Soul hung up, as t'werc, in Chain
Of Nerves, and Arteries, and Veiru
(quoted by Hill 1964b:345).
conllict between appetitcs and reason was a key theme in Elizabethan liter_
1961:75), wbile among the Pu.itans rhe idea began to tale hold that the
iJ in every man. Meanwhile, debates on educetion and on the,,nature of
a rzll, he saw a dog doing the same:
-
Thought I'what vile and meanThings are the Children ofMen
in this mortal Sate. How much do our nattrrrl Necesities abase us,
rnd plarce us in some regard on the same level with the very Dogs,...
Accotdingly
I resolved that it should be my ooaUry lo"ti..,
-Lo-
wer I step to answer the one or the other Necessity of Nature, to make
it an Oppomrniry of shaping in my Mind some holy, noble, divine
Thought (rbrd).
great
medical passion of the tirne, the aralpis of ercqemen s
_
from which
dcdlctions
were drawn on the psychologiial
tJndencies
"f,fr.
i"airjara
(Hunt
1970: 143_46) - is also to be traced back to this conception of
as a receptacle offilth and hidden dangen, Clearly, this obsession with human
tellected
in part the disgust that the middle class was beginni"g;;;i;,
aspecs of the body - a disgust ineviably
accentuated ln an urban
whre excrements posed a logistic problem, in addition to appeating as
But in this obsession we can also read the bourgeois
n..a ,o .lg"l"a;;na
153
cl c: rnsc t hc bodv-r)l rchi rre f ronl arry cl erl rent t h: rt (1)ul d i nt errupr i t s i l ct i vi r, v, aD(l (. r", .
' ' t l c: rd
t i rrrc"i rr rhe cxpcrrcl i t t rre oi l abor. Excrenl ent s wcre ! o nruch
"""t y2. . t . , , , . 1, t "h. u] j
bt -ceusc t hcv $ ere rhe srrnbol of t he "i l l hunrors" t h] r \ \ . crc bct i et cd r" d", . l l , n rl , .
b, . , i , l
t o rvhi ch cvcry pervcrsc t err(l f i rcy i n l rurrr: l l r bci ngs was i rt t ri but ed. For t l l e 1, u. , , . , , , , , t , 111
bec. rrnc t hc vi ri bl t ' si grr ol _t l rc corrupt i oi r ()f hurrrar) rrat urc, a sort of orrgl ". , t , , , , , 1, . , ,
i , ri
t o be cot nbat t cd. \ ubj rrget ecl . exorci serl . Hencc t hc rrse of prrrgcs. . t n"t i cr. . , n. l
. ne, , , , . .
t hat rvere l dnri ni st ered t o chi l drcrr or t he "f osscssed"
t o nt ekc t hc. rt r expel t l r", ,
. t "u, t r, ",
(Thorndi ke l u5l l : 553f }).
I n t hi s obsessi ve . rt t enl f t t o cor)qucr t hc hody i n i t s n)ost i r)t i n)at c rc( cs\ c\ . ! \ . e
\ i . .
rc' f l cct ed t hc si l Dc passi ol t vi t h t vhi ch, i o t l l ese senrc ycl l ri . t hc boLrrgc' oi si c nrc. t
r. , , . , , r-
(l uer - wc coul d s. ry "col ori ze ' -
t hl t al i t n. cl rngcrorr, unprocl rrct i vc b! ' rrrg rl r. rr
r'
r; s
c, ves was t he prol ct i t ri i rt . For t he prol (' t l t ri l rr rvt s t hc grert Cl i l l i bal ) of t he t i rDc' . ' I l t c p16_
l ct ari rn w: rs t het "nrat eri el bci ng by i t sel f rerv end rrrrdi gcsrecl ' t har Pcrry rcr orrrri j l drd
bc consi $rcd t o t hc hands of t hc st at e, r, vhi ch, i rr i t s
f rucl encc' , "rnrrst
b(' t cer i t . nr. rrrg(
rr.
i f d shap(' i t t () i t s ucl vart agc" (Furni ss 11)57 11t r1.
Li kc Cal i b: r , t hc pf t )l et ari : rt pcrsoni 6e, . l rhc "rl l hunrors" t har hi d i D rhc soci i
body, . begi nni ng \ \ ' rt h t hc di sgr. rst i ng rl onst crs of i dl cne\ \ and drurrkcnness. l n t he c, ves
of l ri s rrrast ers. i t s l i f e' was purc i n(' rt i a. but i l t t hc saDrc' t i rne wi rs uncont rol l ed pas\ i on
and
unbri cl l erl f ar: t l s1i r' ver rei dy t o cxpl ode i r) ri ot ous . onl nl ot i ons. Above al l , i r u. rs i ncl i s-
ci pl i ne, l eck of pnrduct i vi n' , i ncont i nencc, l ust f or i rnrnedi at e physi c srci sf : rct i on;
16
ut opi a bci ng not a l i f e of l : rbor, but t he l al t d of Cockai gne (l l t l rkc 1978: C; ri rus 1987), t 6
wherc houses rverc rrucl c ()f sug. rr, ri vcrs ()f mi l k, and shere not onl y coul d orrc obt ri n
\ \ ' hat onc \ \ ' i shcd $ i t hout cf f ort . but one was pai d t o eat and dri nk:
To sl cep one hour
of dccp sl eep
without rvaking
()
c cilrns six fr.lircs;
rnd t o dri nk wel l
one c: l rns r pi st ol ;
rhi s count ry i s j ol l l :
()ne
carns ten francs a clay
t o ri ke l ove (Burke: 190).
Thc' i dea of t ransf orrl i ng t hi s hzy bei ng, rvho drcant t of l i G t s : r l o' rg
(
l rt rl ri \ ' : '
into tn ilrlefitigalrle lvorkcr, nrtrst hlrve sc'cnrccl a cicsperate cnterprisc. It tllcalrt Iir.r'lllr
t o
"t urn t he worl d upsi cl e dorvn, " buc i n t rct . l l y c. pi t di i t f ashi on, rvherc i rrcrri . r t o corrr-
l nar)d \ \ ()ul cl l t e t rrnsf i rrrnccl i nt o l at k of desi re' ancl aut ononrot t s wi l l , wl )cl c I i ' i l (' rrJ
ur o l l b( , of i ct ' i ! l L, r vdr i r , , r , andwhcr eneedwoul dbc' cxp( ' r i cn. cdonl yasl ack, t br t i
cr r c(
ancl ct ernrl i rdi gcrcc' .
Hencr' t hi s bat dc agri nst t he body. rvhi ch . hi ract cri zcd t he ei rl y phl sc of ' Jf r-
t al i st cl cvcl opruerl t , anci rvhi ch i r: rs conri i ued, i n di f f err' nt w: rys, t o our d: l )1 Hct l cc
t l t t '
nre. hl ni zi t i or) of t he bod1, shi ch \ \ ' i s t hc. proj cct of t hc ncw Nat ur: rl Phi l osol h)
' rr' "
t he f t rcal
Poi I l t
f or t he f i rst exPeri rnent s i I t t he organi zt t i on of t hc' st at c. I f rve nrot e
i i "rr'
t hc wi t ch hunt ro t he spccul ari ons of Mccheni cal Phi krsophy, end t hc P, , ri , . t t r' ut "u' -
"t-t' 1::.T:::l :1.:1.1' ]:l :,j ,,'
tal crrts,
r' e st' c rhat a si rrr.l !, thrcad rrc,; tt,c sccr)nr)sj ,
d*tq",
pl ,l ;.:,,1:ct.tl l cgr.l .rti hn,
n.hgrorrs rcfi rrrr, enci thc sci crrri fi c r.ui oo.rl i z:rti oD
o
,h".
"r"-",fj tl :.::L:l 1l :.:""?' t,
ro r:rti ori i i i zc hu,,,,,, ,,"ru,",,.1,,,s.
1,,' ^"..
h".t t,, b,
Fchannel l cd,rnd
sl l boRl l r)rtrJ
r(' thc devel oprrrent rr)cl fi rrrrr:rti on
ofi ,rl ,o,
pot,cr.
As we hrvc \ccn. rl l c b,,tl y rr.rs i ncrel srngl y pol i ri ci zcd
i rr thi s p.o."rr:
,, ,ua, ,1",,,,t_
ural i zed
and rede6l red,as drc "othcr,"
the.<,ute,r l i ' ri t
"f.,,.i ,,1
.ti r.i i ,;;:.
;rrus, r1c bi rrl )
ofthe
body
nr rhe 17tl ) century urso ru.rrkcd rrr cnJ..rs rrr., .,,,,*pl
.i a* b,,dy
.,r,oul .l
dcase
to de6ne a spcci t' i c orgr' i c rcal cr
Jrd. hc. uDr( ,,,,,..,.t .,
' ..ri l ;;
,,;rrfi er
ofcl :rss
rclatiorx,arrd
ofrhe shiliirrg, r..ntirruorr.l1,
rcJrar'rr
'uu'.i.rrrc\
\\:hrch rhcs;cti*ro's
pro
6fuce
i n the rnap ofhunran cxpl oi tati orr.
j t t , o' , ot ".
'
iH;:iiiil:}il;,il'fl::,;,"il:it::f
::ill: :::il:'lt,,:tl,[:r::,::::
active life in his nativc kingdor
from the govern,ncr,,
"rr;;."bj'.'.:;::;',,i:,:*lT:,i:"ilT:,H:,r:.,1,,JT:"::.,I
ities prefigrrre a nerv worlcl ord
but through the cnsr..errent
-:: -t-:ntt"ilt:*
tt
itoc
geitlcd tlrr.uglr
a rrt:tgic rvarrrl
exploitativc nranagc'r,r.rrt
ofc.r?l
nlrny oalib;rns
in llr disr;rnt colol)les'
I)rospe()li
tcr, who will spare no rorru(, ,ll1'ilf-:"n*t'
j""
rolc of rltc ftrrure pi:tncrciorr
rras-
2. "[E]very ."r t, rrt"*rl "*.",l ot
tornrcnt
r. forcc hi s subi ccts
to rvork'
Thomas'Brownc
*.,,*. rr"lrit'"t,
c'Denl): rrd rs ir rverc.. hir o*.rr exrcrrlioner,..
war in nun tr"^"""" ."lr,r,rll,l,'oo'
ln the 1)r'r'vi
'
dcclarcs
thar: "Therc
is i'tcrrrrl
:n::: falri
ili:,;,;.;,,il:J[:il'.::],::i
ll:,ii:,il,,lfi
::ii: ;:,:l:il,iif Mt hout
st ri f i . . . . Thus
hc i s ahv
4r2, 130)' ij';,r," ;;;.;.;:rii:::: :l:l:td
rFrimr'
',nrr opp'rrcd
to rri':nscrr (11,r.irr,
[Xl,;,1;.;.,.,.1;']
.;,'i..;'il"i:;llili:::',1,',;;:;::,,:,Til::::::1.
:::.Hl
l;L:;
c.
The refornr.rti orr
ufl .rrrgu.rl l e _
ftorr
Bacon
," f,;;:
;:: ;.a
j i ev
thenrc i Ir l 6rh i rr)d 1 7rh ccrrtury phi l osophy.
o!.Dogut,ui zi ,t.4
1t
r,rr,;1,
"rr",
o.o.l i t"t"
tttl l cerrr
ofJoscpl t (
i l rtn' i l
* h' r i n hi s I i ;ri ry'
aovocatc's
a la'guagc
fir ,; d"::'::i:11*
ll
tul)crcrrcc'
b tirc crrtcsi;rn
world *rcw.
y"i -"r").A,
s. i l .;:,,,;:,,;;rl ;:"""
cl car i nd di sti rrct
cnri ri cs /(i i anvrl
1e70.
f t to descnbc
,r.;;;#' ;;i ' l
i rr hi s i rtrroducrron
ro cl envi l \
$ork,.r i angu.rgc
*o.d'
ors...,,
s:.;,.;,;r;:.i:i-::l:
i,lud
sirtrilrrritics
to rrrathentetics,
r'ill leve
jng
co it. iog,.j
,,;r.;;;: .;'; ,,1':f'
\\1ll,pr!'\('Irt
:r picttrre
.f chc uni'ersc
accorcl-
uti**,'
' .fi..r,r"
,il' :' ;,:::11;"""f' sir,shrrpl;'
bets c' ert r' irrd
a' d nr.r*er,
rncr
..d
a"r..,u,ug,
r".,,,;;j;il:' ,:it^.]:ill.
rvoid t' etrtphor
as r rv:ry of k' o*i' g
-
;::fflllll.lil
rilil:'fi
::':TJ';i',:'.1'i:::'i,:'iill;:[::,:i:::,*
l i fn
do.' .
u,n u' ,,' ,rs' ur\h
hc' ,,(.i r
ull:,::,,
.ri;;j;:.i
;;:ii',1',*,,,..,1"l"'H1.::',:;1
il,'i1,il
:il::::l: -' rc rn t hc
. 1. . , i rr1, 11. , 11
of rhrr
P1occ5
. \ vl l i l c
. . 6cct i , ,
f i rrrrr , i ; : , , . ; ; ; ; , : , , , , r.
*. , , , , . , ,
r 55
till
l
li
5.
6.
werc not channeled onto the path ofthe wafie-labor market.
,,Y"t 3f :;l"l'J.:1i.%H.:'i,*:*11:i*:*T: l*l.".":#fi J-
1i
blessed garden (Patadise l-ast, verses 1054-56,
P.
579).
As Christopher Hill points out, until the 15th century, wage-labor could
hav.
appeared as a conquered freedom, because people still had access to the comqo*
and had land of their own, thus they were not solely dependent on a wage.
But
by the 16th century, those who worked for a wage had been expropriated;
66..
over, the employers claimed that wages were only cornplementary, and kept
thenr
at their lowest level.Thus, working for a wage rneant to fall to the bottom
ofrhe
social ladder, and people struggled desperately to avoid this lot (Hill,
1975:
220-22).By the 17th century wage-labor was still considered a form ofslavery,s6
nuch so that the Levelers excluded wage wolkers from the franchise, as they
4i6
not consider them independent enough to be able to freely choose their reprs-
sentatives (Macpherson 1962: 107-59)
When in 1622 Thomas Mun was asked byjames I to investigate the causes ofthe eco-
nomic crisis that had struck the country, he concluded his report by blaning the pmb-
lems ofthe nation on the idleness ofthe English workers. He referred in particular
16
"the genenl leprosy of our piping, poning, feasting, factions and misspending of our
time in idleness and pleasure" which, in his vieq placed England at a disadvantage in
its commercial competition with the industrious Dutch (Hitl' 1975: 125)
(Wright 1960: 80-83; Thomas 7977; Yar' Ussel 1971: 25-92; Rilev 1973: 19tr,
lJnderdown 79a5:7J2).
The fear the lower classes (the "base," "meaner sorts," in the
jargon of the time)
inspired in the ruling class can be measured by this tale narrated in Social England
Itlistated fi903it.ln 1580. Francis Hitchcock, in a pamptrlet tided "New Year! Gift
to England," forwarded the proposal to draft the poor ofthe country into the Navy'
arguing:"the poore. sot ofpeople are. . . apt to assist rebellion or tojoin with whom-
,o""u.rL.. to it u"de this noble island... then they are meet guides to bring soldien
or men of war to the rich men! wealth. For they can point with their 6nger'there
it is','yonder it is'and'He hath it', and so procure marryrdom with murder to many
*.rlthy p..sorr, fo, their wealth. . .." Hitchcock's proposal, however, was defeated;
it
was objected that if the poor ofEngland w"r. draft.ii,tto the naly they would
steel
the ships or become pintes (Social England lllustated L903:85-86)'
Eli F Heckscher writes that..In his mo-;t important theoretical work ATieatbe
oJ-fa*t
,rd Cottttibutions
(1662)
[Sn
Winiam Petty] suggested the substitution
of compul-
sory labour for all penalties,'which will l.'.L"rii"bou'
""d
pubLt *tt1t1."
" "WhI
[he
inquired] should not insolvent Thieves be rather punished with slavery
thd
7.
il;i;;il;;-t1."*
they ,oay be forced to
",
,nuth l"bou',
"t'd
as cheeo
fare'
a5
u( r r r E JcY\ r u' \ /
r . L
nature will endu.e, and thereby become as two men added to th" Cot*nnt""""'
^
l | . pf (
and not as one taken away from it" (Heckscher 1962,II:297) In Firnce
t or4
ano not as olrc Lali' srr dway uuur rL
\rN!aJ!u!!
-1.
exhorted the Court ofJustice to condemn as many convicts as possible to^tne
8".
i;::XhH;:';;ii"liii'
..*'-tch is necessarv to the state" (irirr':2e8-ee)'
.-
"l$l
11.
reys rrr urusr .'
^frr
'fhe
Tieatise on Man (Tiaiti rle I'Homme)' which was
Published
twelve
years
-';
l
I
10.
;::.-J"* ;" ;;;* ;' ;,' ;:;;;'i*'ii,,'
ri*^\.,i"*b",."',"i
"'"uun
:'Here, applying Galileoi physics ro an investigation ofthe attributes ofthe
Lody,
D","a.t.,
"tt"-pted
to explain all physiological functions as rnatter in motion
dl
dcrire
you to consider" (Descartes wrote at the end of the ?eatlse) ". . .that all the
functions
that I have attributed to this machine... follow naturally..
-
from the dis
'osition
ofthe organs - no rnore no less than do the movements ofa clock or other
intomaton,
from the arrangemenr ofits counterweighs and wheels" (?iearise: 113).
It wrs
a Puritan tenet that Cod has given "man" special gifts fittiog him for a par-
66flar
Calling; hence the need for a meticulous self-exarnination to resolve the
Cd[ng
for which we have been designed (Morgn1966:72-73; Weber1958: 47ft).
ls
Giovanna
Fenari has shown, one ofthe main innovations introduced by the study
ofanatomy
in 16tb-century Europe was the "anatorny theater,"where d.issection was
organized
as a public ceremony, subject to regulations similar to those that governed
. thcatrical Performances:
.
Bodr in ltaly and abroad, public anatony lessons had developed in
modern times into ritualized ceremonies that were held in places spe-
,
cidly set aside for them. Their sirnilarity to theatrical performances is
immediately apparent if one bears in rnind certain oftheir features: the
division of the lessons into diIFelent phases. ..the irutitution of a paid
entrance ticket and the performance ofmusic to entertain the audience,
the nrles introduced to regulate the behaviour ofthose etteoding and
dre care aken over the "production."WS. Heckscher even argues that
many generel theater techniques were origioally designed with the per-
formance ofpublic anatomy lessoru in mind (Ferrari 19117:82*83).
According to Mario Calzigna, the epistemological revolution operated by aDatomy
in the 16th century is the birthplace ofthe mechanistic paradigm. It is the anatom-
ical coupute that breals the bond between rnicrocosm and macrocosm, and posits
the body both as a separate realiry and as a place ofproduction, in Vesalius'words:
t ficrory (fabria).
liso tn The Pwsions oJ rlle Sor.ri (ArticleVl), Descartes minimizes "the diference that
cxists between a living body and a dead body":
...we may judge that the body ofa living man difers from that ofa
dead man just as does a watch or other automaton (i.e. a rnachine that
moves of itself), when it is wound up and contains in itself the cor-
poreal principle ofthose movements...fion the sarne watch ot other
machine when it is broken and when the orinciole ofits movement
-
ceases to act (Descartes 1973,Yol.l,ibid.).
kticularly
important in this context was the attack on the "imagination" (',/n ifiag-
tutiva')
whtch in 16th and 17rh-century Natural Magic was considered a powerful
force
by which the magician could affect the surrounding world and bring about
"healttr
or sickness, noionJy in rts proper body, but also in other bodies" (Easlea
1980:
94fi).
Hobbes devoted a chapier ofthe lzuiathan to demonstrating that rhe
itnagination
is only a "decaying
,.nr"," ,-ro difercnt from memory, only"gradually
\&atened
by the removal ofthe objecr: ofour perceprion (Parr
I. Chaprer 2): a cn-
of irnagination is also found in Sir Thomas Browne! Re/rgio Me dici (1642) .
r57
17.
I 8.
I
(.).
Wri t es Hobbcsr"N, r I rt aI r t heref ort ' cet t concci vc any t hi l )t l bt l t hc nrust coDcci vr
i t i n sorrrc phcc. . . rrot t hat rnvt hl nq rs al l i n t hi s pl acc
' rl l d
: rl l i rt : t not hc' r
p1u. "
.
t hc l i nrc ri nrcl t t or t l t et t so or rrr()rc t hi l r! 5 cl n be i n ot l c I t l d t l l c rem.
pl r. a
-'
61cc' " (l _r' r, i , rt l r, rrr: 72).
il::1,i::,':1,,'illi:ili::':,:*lli:"'.:$,,:,11T;:ll'.ll;:i;i;';'"'l:::Jill
corl t emporari c\
"posscssecl a cht t gerous sl t vot rr of skept i ci srrl " ((i ossc
19()5r
2i 1
' I homas
Brorvrrc crrnt ri but ed
persol rrrl l y t () t hc dei t b o1' t rvo rvol t ret t accuscd
of
bei l 11"* i t cht ' s" rvho. brt t f or hi s i l t t crvcnt i on. *' oul d h: rvc l t ccrl r. l ved l ronr
dl g
*a1-
l orvs, so absrrrd l cre t hc charges ag. ri rl st t hcl n ((i osse 19o5: 117-' l (l ) Foradet i i l cd
arul ysi s of rhi s t ri : rl scc Gi l bert Gei s ent l I vrrn Bunn (1997)
l rr cvet y courrrry rvhet c anat ont y f l ot l ri shcd' i l r 16t h-cent t l r)' Et t rope" st 111s.
rr' . ' , .
passed by thc .trrthorities allorviltg thc bodies of those cxcctttccl to be trscd
for
anat orni . , rl st rrdi cs. l I l Engl and "t hc Ool l egc of Physi ci l r)s erl t (' rcd t l l e aD' l t rn)l i cd
f i el d rn 15(, 5 rvhcrr El i zl bet h I grt nred t henl t he ri ght of cl ri nri ng t l t e bodi cs 6f 61. -
scct ed f el ons" (t )' Ml l l c, v 196' l ). OD t hc col l aborat i on be! \ \ ' ccn t he aut horrt r<\
' urd
I raronri st s i n 1(nh rrt d 17t h-cel l t ur) l l ol ogra. see Gi ovannrr Fcrr' rri (pp 59 6{1, 61,
| 17-l l )' rr' }ro poi rl t s out t l rat not onl , v t hosr: execut ed but t l ro t hc. . I l t cl rt est . . of t l r<xt '
rvho died at the lro.ilrit:rl
.w'erc
set lsidc fbr dtc anatontists. In
()nc c.lse. ] sentcncc to
l i f ewasconr l t t t r t cdi nt <r adet t l r sc' l r l er l cct os: r t i sf yt hec. l cl l t l l r r cl of dr eschohr s.
2(). Accordi rt g t o I )cscart cs' f i rst bi ogrl pl rcr. Mot t si eur Adri en l l l i l l t t ' i rr prepant i on f or
hi s ?eat i sr' , rf , \ ' / , r4, i I ) 1a)29' Dcscrrt cs. whi l c i n Ant st erdal u' chi l y vi si rccl t he sl i rugh-
t erl t ous. s of t l t . ' t owl l . and
Pef ornl ccl
t l i sscct i ons on vt ri ot l s pl rl of rni nr; rl s:
. . . he scr ; rbout t hc' execut i oD of hi s dcsi gr by st uLl f i ng i l n: rt (' rr\ " t o
' rvhi ch hc r' l evot ed t he whol c of t he wi nt er t h' t ! hc sf ent rI )
Ansrerchrn' I i r Fet her Merscnnt ' hc t est i f i ed t hi t hi \ cl l l crne\ s l or
knorvleclgc' oftltis subject hrd tletlc hirl visrt' alrnost rltill; I butcher-s'
t o rvi nrcss t hc shught er: at t d t l ut hc I t l d caused t o bc [ ' rorrgl t t t hcncc
t o hi s t l *' cl l i l l g rvhi chever of t hc i l l i Dl al s' orgrns he dcsi rcd ro di ' sccr
"r
ga"rt . ' a l "t . ur" Hc of t cn cl i cl t l l c s: l nl e t hi ng i l l ot l t cr pl accs wherc
h.' .rt.rve.l .rite, th.rt' flndrng nothing pcrsonall; sherDct'irl' or tlnRorth|
hi s posi t i on i l l I prect i ce t l ): rt wi rs i nnocent i rr i t scl f rrrl cl t hat coul d
p.o.1r',." ,1,'it" useful results Thtrs, hc lllade fuD of c!'rtlill nlrllcfic!-tlt
art al et t t r, rt t a p"aso, t ruho. hl cl t ri cd t o ruake hi l t r or' l t l l crl l l l l l l rl al l l l
ht d i t cct rsct l hi l l r of "goi ng t hrot t gh t hc vi l l age' s t o sec t hc
1)i g\
ki l l c' ci ". . . .
I l
I
l c
cl i d not negl cct t o l ook at rvhat Vcsal us at rd t ] re nt osr
experi rl l ac: cl of ot hcr aut hors hed *ri t t en about : l l l l l (nl l )' l ] l l t he
t , rt rgl rt hrl t scl f i n a nt uch sLrrcr uey by penonal l y cl l sscct i ng i ni l l r: l l s
of dilii'rcrrt spccies (Descartt's I
{)72:
xiii-xr\r-
','
,';:,::'::;'.:.:';'"
,,;;;.;.;'"';;"',:1:"',.,-"Jn'i'"
"'"i'''e
n'rrrt lcs rite
s.'l"hrc^
13.
| l l J l ct r r r r .
'
r r r ( r \ ( u . . , , . , , , t . t t r
. t t t i t t t . l ux l t , , t t r
cxpl r , l Lt er en ql l ot
( ' r l l \ l \ l cl l l l t t t l r gt t t r t t ' r r l l t t t l el ) l "l N '
. , : , ' r r '
ar DnDaux [ ' ( ) r r r . . , i r r r ' l -
Vol . l V: 245) . Al so i I ) a l et t er of Jel t t t r r r , v 20 hc r ef er s i I l cl t t i t i l i o exPer l t r l el r t \ - t ", , r
. t Vol . l v: 255) . Al so l I ) a l eat er or Jl l l Lr r r Y
| . . i i r
r ' t
sect i ol l :
' Apr cs i l voi r ouver t c h poi t r i nc cl ' t t n l api n vi vi l l r t - cn t l t t "
- 9t t t
' . ' .
' , , , u, ul
sect i ol l :
' APrcs i l voi r ouvert c h
Poi t rl nc
d t l n l apl n vrvi l l rt - cn t t t t t t 1' ' '
. . , , , u, u, I
l c . oc. rr. l . i I ' rort c' sc voyc' t f aci l crrt ent . Poursui vant l ' r di ssect i on
cl e r' ' j , ; "i r, r.
21.
f i nal l y, i nJurrc
16. l 0, i rr rcsPorrsc r() Mcrscnne, who
ha. l uskcd I urD sl ry rDi l rt . rl s f i ' cl
. "rn
i f t l t c)
l t are t ro rort l , l ), t . . t rt cs reassured hi l l r t h. rt t hcl do not : f or
l l ur
! ' xr\ t s
l . l u r vr t l t t , ' r . l . r ' r r t t . l i r r g r r l r , l r r ' . r l ) . c1t r r r l ) r t r r ( \ {l {"\ ( r r l i ( l J l ' r r ' h x)
"' - ' Thi r . , r *, , , l r "n, . &r . r r r t l r . l t scr r r i t l zednr ; r I r l
of l ) csct r t cs sci el t i i c' l l l r I r r i l l dcd
cont erl Port ri es
l o t he pai rr i Df l i ct cd orr ani rDal s b, v vi vi sct ri on Thi s i s ho$' Ni ch' rl ' r'
i ont ai ' c
ci escri bcd t he : rt nro\ l l hcrc crcared et Porr l {oyl l by t hc. bel i ct ' i rr. rl ri rnl l
a, rronr. rt i t , , , :
' Tl rerc' l r. rs
_l r. rr. l l r'
. l
-, , r/ rt . l i r' a'
wl x) di drrt rl l k of aut onnt a f hcy
l 6rrri [ i r, "r". l
h. . , , , n95 t u i J. , 6^' rrrt l r pcrf cct i cl i t ' I t rcrt cc l t rd I Dade f Lrr of t h' x' rvl rrr
l i ri ad, h"
. . ". , , ut "t . r. Lf rhel l r' rJ t i l r pai l Ther' : i ri t l t l t . l t . rrri nral s \ cr! ' cl ock\ i l hrr
l , a
a. , ".
, h"u
"uu, , . d
u hcrt . t rt rck rr cre onl v dl c norsc oi . r l i ct l c spri ng rl l ri t h l l ' rt l
been
t ouchcd,
but t hrt t hc \ \ ' l )ol c bodv $ as $ i t hour f i ' cl rl rg. f hel Jui l cl i
l oor
rrnr
mal s
orr bol rds by t hci r f our
Prl \ \ ' s
t o vi vi sect t hcl rt : rrl r. 1 sce chc crrcul : rt i t rrr t t l t l rt '
bl ood
whi ch u' as a grcat subj cct of conversari on" (l {oscnl i cl d l 96l t : 5-l )
Descart cs'
doct ri ne cot rccrni l t g t hc rncchani cl l nl cure of l ul i nrl l s reprcscl )t cd ; l t {)t ; l l
i nversi on
wi t h respect t o t h! ' cot rcept i orr of amnul s t l t . rt l t ad prcvarl ed i n dt c Mi t i t l l c
Ages
and unt i l dre 16t h ccnt ur! ' . rvbi ch vi ewcd t hcrrr as i nt cl l i ge' rt t , rcl xrnsrbl c bci ng' : .
wi t h a parri cul arl y devel opcd i t l ugi l ut i oI r arl d cven t he . rbi l i r; t o spc: rk. As E. l rverd
' West errrrarck,
and nrorc rc' act l t l ) Est hcr CoheI t , hl vc sl rt xl n. i n several aou t l ! ri cs of
Europe, anitttals w'erc triecl lltd lt rittrcs pubhcly cxt'ctrtcci firr crirncs drct hld coIIt
mi t t ed. They
were assi grecl a Lrrvycr al t d t he ent i rc proccdt rre t ri al , scl l t cl l c c, exc
cut ron - was conduct ed rvi t h . rl l f ornral l egal i t i es. I rt I 5(, 5, t hc ci t i zcns of Arl cs. f i l r
exampl e, asked f or t hc expul si orl of t he grasshoppers f nrl rr cl t ei r t ol vl . arl ci i rl r , l i 1]
f erent casc t he worrns t hat i Df cst cd t l t e pari sh wcre cxcorrl rrl uni cat c' d. Thc l rrst t ri l l
of an ani nral * as hel d i n Frl ncc i n I t i . l 5. Ani rrt al s rt t rc : rl so l ccept ed i n cot rrt . rs rvrt -
nesses for thc anryurlatit. A nr.rn rvho had beert conclclnned for nrurdcr lppc.trccl
i n cgurt wi t h hi s cat end hi s c()ck rnd m t hei r presert cc ! $orc t har hc \ \ ' i t 5 i I )rt occt l t
and was rclcascd. (lVesternurck I 92.1: 25.lfl.; CoheIr l9t3(r).
I t has been argucd t hat Hobbcs t rch-t ncchani st i c pcrspect i ve act ual l y conccci cd
more powcrs and dynanri snr t o t hc body t han dre
(l : rrt csi rn
t ccoul )t . Hobbcs R' Jcct s
Descart es dual i st i c ont ol ogy, errd i n part i cul ar t hc nori on of t he DI i rl d As ! rr l rl l rl l . r
t edal , i ncorporeal subst rncc' . Vi crvi ng body and rt t i rrcl i \ l t nroni sri c col l t i r)t rrrl t ). he
account s f or rnent al opcrat i on\ on t hc basi s of phl ' si c. rl rnd physi ol ogi crl pri nci pl c' s.
However,
no l css t han Descl rt es, hc di senl po\ \ ' crs t hc hunun orgEat t i snr, l s hc cl cni cs
sel f -modon
t o i t , : Lnd re' ci uccs brrdi l y ch. rnges t o i l cl i orl -rexct i on i rech. t l t i srt t s. Scrt sc
percePt i on,
f or i nsr: urce, i s f or Hobbcs t he prodrrct of i rrr . rct i on-rel cri ort , duc t o t hc
resistance
opposcd by thc scr)sc org.rrr to the :Ltornit- in4rulscs colning fronl rl)c cxt! r
nal obj ect ;
i nr, rgi nrri on i q J d( r, ryrrg \ errse. Rcason t rxr i s but a conl put i rrg t rl i l cl l l rrc.
No l ess t hrrr i n Descart es, i r H. bhes t he opcri l i ons of rhc bodv are undcrrt ood i l
t ert l x
of a rnechani cal ceusel i t l : and i rc subj c' at cd ! o t hL' \ i t rrrc' uni vcrsal l egi sl . rri on
lhat
regulatcs
the rvorld of irrlnirrr;rtc nlJtter.
A's
Hobbes
larncntcd in lJchtntoth.
[ A] f t er t he Bi bl e was t r. l nsht cd i rrt o ErI gl i sh, r: vcrl I rren. nayi cvc' ry boy
and
wcnch, t hat coul d rcrrd Engl i sh, t hought t hcv spoke rvi t h
(i ot l
Al uri ght y
rnd undersrood rvher hc si ri d whcr) by ; r ccrrl i n nunrber of
chapt ers
a dav t be-v h. rd rc. rt l t l rc Scri pt urcs ot rcc or ! rvi cr: . The rt ' r' cr
22.
l 5a
l c cocur dc I i rorrc sc voycn acrrcl enr '
. ."1:l :.l .l -::::..,*:.j
),i ,i .r", ,_,r,.,a,t.
.,i r' ",,,1" l ui a,tup" .ette parti r' dtl coctrr
(1tl ' on nonl nre sl poi rl tc" (rbrri Vol
'
159
24.
ence and obedience due to the Reformed Church here, and to the
bishops and pastors therein was cast off, and every man became ajudge
ofreligion and an interpreter ofthe Scriptures to himself." (p. 190).
He added that "numbers ofmen used to go forth oftheir own parishes and
to,*
on working-days, leaving their calling"in order to hear rnechanical preachers
(p.
1 94i
Exemplary is Gerrard Winstanleyi "New Law of Righteousness" (1649),
in
whicl
the most notorious Digger asks:
Did the light of Reason make the earth for some men to ingrosse up
into bags and barns, that others might be opprest with poverty? Did
the light ofReason make this law, that if one man did not have such
an abundance ofthe earth as to give to others he borrowed of; that he
that did lend should imprison the other, and starve his body in a close
room? Did the light of Reason make this law, that some part of
mankinde should kill and hang another part ofmankinde, that would
not walk in their steps? (Winstanley 1941:797).
It is tempting to suggest that this suspicion concerning the humanity ofthe "lower
classes" maybe the reason why, among the first critics ofCartesian rnechanism,
fsw
objected to Descartes' mechanical view of the human body. As L.C. Rosenfeld
points out: "this is one of the strange things about the whole quatrel, none of the
ardent defenders ofthe anirnd soul in this first period took up the cudgel to prc-
serve the human body ftom the taint ofmechanism" (Rosenield 1968:25)
F. Gnus
(1967) states that "The name'Cockaigne'first occurred in the 13th cenhrry
(Cucaniensis comes presumably from Krcler), and seems to have been used in par-
ody." since the 6nt context in which it is found is a satire ofan English monastery
in the tine ofEdward II (Graus1967: 9). Graus discusses the di.Ference between the
medieval concept of 'W'onderland" and the modern concept ofUtopia,arguingthat:
In modern times the basic idea of the constructability of the ideal
world means that Utopia must be populated with ideal beings who
have rid themselves of their faults. The inhabitants of
(Jtopia
are
marked by theirjustice and intelligence....The utopian visions ofthe
Middle
Ages on the other hand start liom man as he is and seek to
fulfill
his present desires (i6il.: a).
h Cockaigne
(Schlarufenlanfi, for instance, there is food and drinl in abun-
doce,
there is no desire to "nourish oneself" sensibly, but only to gluttonize,just as
had longed to do in everyday Iife.
In this Cockaigne. . .there is also dre fountain of youth, which men and
women step into on one side to energe at the other side as bandsome
putlr and girllThen *re story proceeds with its "WishingTable" attitude,
which so well reilecs the simple view ofan ideal liG (Graus 1967:7-8).
In other words, the ideal ofCockaigne does not embody any rational scheme
or notion of"progless," but is much more "concrete,""lean[ing] heavily on the vil-
setting," and "depics a state ofperfection which in modern nmes knows no
advance (Graus i6id.).
25.
26.
160
Pieter B egel, L4ND oF CocruIct'E (1567). l. @s Ctdnirh. THE FoUNTAIN otyourH.
I
Jon
Ln*"o.lln o"*tion oJAnne Hendrick
Ju
vithoaJt in Amstetdattr ir 1 57 1
Great WitcLt-Hunt
in Etnop
e
Une bte imparfaicte,
sans foy, sans cninte, sans costance.
(French
17th_century
saying about women)
Down from the waiste they are Centaurs,
Though Women all above,
But to the girdle do the gods inherit,
Beneath is all the 6ends;
There is hell, there is darkness,
There is the suJphurous pit,
Burning, scalding, stench, consumptron.
(Sha-kespeare,
Kiag Izar)
You are the true Hyenas,that
allure us with the fairness ofyour skins
and when folly has brought us within your reach. you l.r;;;";;;.
You are che traiton of Wisdom, the impediraent
;" i;;:; .. ;;
clogs. to Vinue and rhe goads that drive us to
"ff "i."r,lrr;l*
""a
ruin.You are the Fool!
paradise,
the wisem""l
plrg""
;;l ;;;;;;
Error of Nature (Walter
Charleton,
Ep hesian Mairon,1659).
I nt r oduct i o! r
I those
who have studied the witch_hunt (in the past almost exclusively
men)
worthy
hein of the 16th-century demo""f"girtr.V/hil.i"p;;;;"'.;._
163
nination of the witches, many have insisted on portraying them as wrctched
fbot"
afflicted by hallucinations, so that their persecution could be explained as, pro.",,
^i,
"social therapy," serving to reinforce neighborly cohesion (Midelfort 1972: 3; or 66uij
be described in medical terms as a "panic," a "craze," an "epidemic," all characterizatiofi
that exculpate the witch hunter and depoliticize their crimes.
Examples ofthe misogyny that has inspired the scholarly approach to the
wi1ql-
hunt abound.As Mary Daly pointed out as late as 1978, much ofthe litenturc
on th;"
topic has been wriften from "a woman-execuring viewpoint" that discredits the victiifr
ofthe penecution by portnying them as social failurcs (women "dishonorcd"
or ftus_
trated in love), or even as pe.verts who enjoyed teasing their male inquisitors with
thcir
sexud fantasies. Daly cites the example ofF G.Alexandert and S.T. Selesnickt The
Hirron,
of Psychiatry wherc we read that:
...accused witches oftentimes played into the hands of the persecu-
tors. A witch relieved her guilt by confesing her sexud fantasies in
open court; at the same time, she achieved some erotic gtatification
by dwelling on all the details before her male accusers.These severely
emotionally disturbed women were particularly susceptible to the
suggestion that they harbored demon and devils and would conGss to
cohabiting with evil spiris, much as disturbed individuals today, influ-
enced by newspaper headlines,fantasy themselves as sought-after mur-
deren (Daly 19?8:213).
There have been exceptions to this tendenry to blame the victims, both among
the 6nt and second genention of witch-hunt scholan. Among the latter we should
remember Alan Macfarlane (1970), E. W Monter (1969, 1976, 1977), and Alfred Somu
(1992). But it was only in the r+'ake of the feminist movement that the witch-hunt
emerged from the underground to which it had been con6ned, thanks to the feminiss'
identification with the witches, who were soon adopted as a symbol of fernale rerolt
@ovenschen
1978:83ft).2 Feminiss were quick to recognize that hundreds ofthousrnds
of women could not have been massacred and subjected to the cruelest tortures
unles
they posed a challenge to the power structure.They also realized that such a war agarrsr
women, carried out ovet a period ofat least two centuries, w?s a turning point in thc
history ofwomen in Europe, the "origind sin" in the process ofsocial degndarion-d{
women suffeted with the advent of capitalism, and a phenomenon, therefore, to whrc[
we must continually return if we are to understand the misogyny that still characterlzd
institutional practice and male-femde relations.
Marxist historians, by contrast, even when studying the "ransidon
to
calts
talism," with very few exceptions, have consigned th.
-itch--hurrt
to oblivion,
as
ifil
were irrelevant to the history ofthe class struggle.Yet, the dimensions ofrhe mlssacf
should have raised sone suspicions,as hundreds ofthousandS of-o-.n *"t" butnt"'
hanged, and tortured in less than two centuries.3 It should also have seemed
siStlD-
cant that the witch-hunt occurred simultaneously with the colonization and
effr'
mination ofthe populations ofthe NewWorld, the English enclosures, the be8indnj
ofthe slave trade, the enactment of"bloody laws" against vagabonds and begFt5 "''
t6/,
in that interregnum
between the end offeudalism and the capitalist "take
when
the peasantry in Europe reached the peak of its power but, in time, also
its historic defeat. So far, however, this aspect of primitive accurnula-
h2s
truly remained a secret.4
I
l Wt t ch- bur ni ng
t i r nes and t he St at e I ni t i ar i we
has not been recognized is that the witch-hunt was one of the most important
in the development of capielist society and the formation ofthe modern prole-
For the unleashing of a campaign of terror against women, unmatched by any
prrsecution, weakened the resistance of the European peasantry to the assault
aginst it by the gentry and the state, at a time when the peasant cotrununity
jready disintegrating under the combined impact ofland privatization, increased
and the extension of state control over every aspect of social life. The witch_
dccpened the divisions between women and men, teaching men to Gar thc power
and destroyed a universe ofpractices, belie6, and social subiects whose exrs_
wrs incornpatible with the capitalist work discipline, thus redefining the main ele_
ofsocid reproduction.Io this sense,like the contemporirry attack on..popular cul_
f' end the "Great Confnement" of paupen and vagabonds in work-houses and
houses, the witch-hunt was an essential aspect ofprimitive accumulation and
" to capitdism,
I:ter, we wi.ll see what fears the witch-hunt dispelled for the European ruling class
hat were is efects for the position ofwomen in Europe. Here I want to stress that,
to dre view ptopagated by the Enlightcnment, the witch-hunt was not the last
ofa dying feudal world. It is well established that the
,,supentitious,,Middle
Ages
pelsecute any witches; the very concept of,.witchcraft" did not take shape until
Middle Ages, and never, in the "Dark Ages," were there mass trials andexecu_
dcspite dre fact that magic permeated daily liG and, since the late Roman Empire,
becn Gated by the mling class as a tool ofirxubordination among the slaves.5
In the 7th and 8th centuries, the critne of malejtium was introduced in rhe codes
conquest that, apparcndy, infamed the hears ofthe slaves in Europe with the
offreedom,
inspiring them to take arms agarnst their ownen.6 Thus, this leral
rn uray have been a reaction to the fear generated among the elites by the
oftlte "saracens" who were, reputedly, great experts in the magical arts (Cirelne
11$-32).
But, at this time, undei the narme of ialejeilrz, only i.nagical practices
Puoished that inflicted damage to persons and thinp, and the church criticizea
who
believed
in maeical deeds.T
Thc.
situation changed by the mid the 15rh century.It was in this age ofpopular
I' cpidemics,
and incipient feudal crisis that we have the first wiich tiials
1in
new Teutonic kingdoms, as it had been in the Roman code.This was the time of
France,
Germany, Switzerland, Italy), the first descriptions ofthe Sabbat,
ri
end
ofthe doctrine ofwitchcraft, by which sorcery was declared a form of
and
the highest crime agarrut Cod, Nature, and the State (Monter
1976: l t-I7).
1435
and 1487, twenty-eight treatises on wirchcraft w.re *.itter, (Monr..
r65
1976: 19) culminating, on the eve ofColumbus'voyege, with the publication in 1486
q,
the infamous Malleus Malejarum (The Hamner oJWithes) that, following a new
prDrl
Bull on the subject,lnnocentvlllt Srnmk Desiderantes (14841, indicated that the
Churri
coruidered witchcraft a new threat. However, the intellectua.l climate that prevailed
d;
ing the Renaissance, especially in ltaly, was still characterized by skepticism towa6d5
.nu-
thing relating to the supernatural. Italian intellectuals, from Ludovico Ariosto,
to
Giordano Bruno, and Nicol6 Machiavelli looked with irony at the clerical tales
con-
cerning t}le deeds ofthe devil, stresing, by contrast (especidly in the case ofBruno),thc
nefarious power ofgold and money. "Non ircanti fid contdrti" ("not charnrs but coins"\
is the motto ofa character in one ofBruno's comedies, summing up the peBpecdve
o;
the intellectual elite and the aristocratic circles ofthe tirne (Parineao 1998:29--99).
It was after the mid-16th centuryin the very decades in which the Spanish
con-
quistadors were subjugating the American populations, that the number ofwomen
tried
as witches escdated, and the initiative for the persecution passed from the Inquisition
1q
the secular cours (Monter 1976:26), Witch-hunting reached is peak between 1580
and
1630, in a period, that is, when feudd relations were already giving way to the economic
and political institutions typical of mercantile capitalism. It was in this long "lron
Century" that, almost by a tacit agreement, in countries often at wat agairut each od191,
the sakes multiplied and the state started denouncing the existence ofwitches and sft-
ing the initiative ofthe persecution.
It was the Carolina - the Impedal legd code enacted by the Catholic CharlesV
in 1532 - that established that witchcnft be punished by death. [n Protestant England,
the persecution was legalized by three Acts ofPadiament passed in 1542' 1563 and 1604,
this last introducing the death penalty even in the absence ofany &mage inflicted upon
penons and things.After 155O,laws and ondinances making witchcraft a capitrl crirne and
inciting the population to denounce suspected witches, were also passed in Scodaad,
Switzerland, France, and the Spanish Netherlands. These were re-issued in subsequent
yean to expand the number ofthose who could be executed Nnd' ag,in,'r-ieke tt'itchdd
as srcfr, rather than the damages presumably provoked by it, the major crime'
The mechanisms ofthe penecution confirm that the witch-hunt was not a spon-
taneous process, "a movement 6om below to which the ruling and administraove
clescs
*.r. obtlg.d to rcspond"(I-arner 1983: l).As Christina Iarner has shown in the case of
Scotland, a witch-hunt required much oficial otganization and administration
g
Beforc
neighbor accused neighbor, or entire communities were seized by a "panic," a seady indoc-
trirition took place, with the authorities publicly expressing arxiety about the spreadi4
ofwitches, andiravelling from village to village in order to teach people how to recogruz'
them, in some cases carrying with them tists with the names of suspected witches
and
thea;ening to punish thos" *ho hid tt.m or came to their assistance (Larner 1983:2)'
ln S"cotland, with the Synod ofAberdeen (1603), the ministers ofthe Presblaenf
Church were onlercd to ask their parishionen' under oadt, if they suspected
anyone "'
being a witch. Boxes were placed in the churches to allow the informers to remain
anorJl
moui; then,
"fte.
a *oman had fallen under suspicion, the minister exhorted
lhe jlt];
from the pulpit to testift against her and forbid anyone to give her help (Black I e / I :
' "f
ln the other countries too, denunciations were solicited. In Germany, this was the
tasr
"'
the "visito.s" appointed by fie Lutheran Church with the consent ofthe German
princd
166
W|TCHE' SABaAtH.ntis uns theJbst and nostJano*s oJa saies
oJ engodnls the Cen dn aiist HluN Baldrn! Cien yoduced,
surtinl ift | 510, pomogftiphially rrtploititl.6 theJe ale boily under
the gdse o.f denunriation.
'7..
167
(Strauss 1975: 54). In Northern Itdy, it was the ministers and the authorities who
ft.6a
suspicions, and made sure that they would result in denunciations; they also made
5ui
that the accused would be totally isolated, forcing them, among other thin5, to carry
s19r.
on their dresses so that people would keep away fiom them (Mazzali 1988: ll2l.
The witch-hunt wes also the 6nt penecution in Eurcpe dtat made use ofa r61i-
media propagal& to generate a mass psychosis among the population.Alerting the pub_
lic to the dangen posed by the witches, through pamphlets publicizing the most f1'nqus
trials and the details oftheir atrocious deeds, was one ofthe first tasks ofthe printing
p6o
(Mandrou 1968:136).Artists were recruited to the ask, among them the German
11"*
Baldung, to whom we owe ttre most damning portraits ofwitches. But it was the juds6.
the magistrates, and the demonologiss, often embodied by the sarne person. who pso
contributed to the penecution. They were the ones who systematized the argurnenb,
arxwered the critics and perfected a legal machine that, by fie end of*te 16th century g*
a standardized, almost bureaucratic forrnat to the trials, accounting for the similarities
of
the confesions acros national boundaries' In tleir work, the men ofthe law could s6qft
on the cooperetion of the most reputed intellecnrals of the iime, including philosophsrs
and scientists who are still praised as the fathen ofmodern rrtionalism.Among them wu
the English politicd theorist Thomas Hobbes, who despite his skepticism concerning the
reality ofwitchcraft, approved tlre persecution as a means ofsocial control'A 6erce enemy
of witches - obsessive in his hatred for them and in his calls for bloodshed - wasJean
Bodin, t}le famous French lawyer and political tleorist, whom historian Trevor Roper calls
the Aristotle and Montesquieu ofthe 16th century. Bodin, who is credited with audroring
the fi$t treatise on inflation, participated in many trials, wlote a volume of "proo6"
(Deuomania,1580), in which he insisted tlnt witches should be burned alive instead of
being "mercifirlly" strangled before being thrown to the flames, that tley should be cru-
terized so tlut their flesh should rot before death, and that children too be burned'
Bodin was not an isolated case. In this "centuly ofgeniuses" - Bacon' Kepler'
Galileo, Shakespeare, Pascal, Descaltes - a century that saw the triumph of the
Copernican Revolution, the birth of modern science' and the develoPment,ot
phiiosophical and scientific rationalism, witchcraft became one ofthe favorite sub-
j".,,
oi d.b"t" fot the European intellectual elites.
Judges,
lawyers' statesmen'
-philoroph".r,
scientists, theologians all became p,"otittpi"d with the
"problem"'
*"ot" p"-phl.t,
"nd
demonologies, agreed that this was the most nefarious
crrme'
and called for its punishment.lo
There can be no doubt, then, that the witch-hunt was z maiot politial iritifiw'
To shess this point is not to minimize the role that the Church played in the
persfl;
;:,i:H::il,#;:#i""ii"iJp-"u.a
the metaphvsical and ideologicjscdold
4l uvuL vus! ! r. yrv
of the witch-hunt and instigated the penecution of witcles as it had previoudy
ins['
gated the persecution of the h.reti.r.*ithout the Inquisition, the-many
gapal:1]::5
t";;; rfi;;;rii*. ,o ,""t o*
""d
punish "wiiches" and, above all, withoutrcn-
;'""::ffi ;r,'.;ffi ;il;;;il;";;;;;fi
'*it't'-t'u"'l*o'rdnf
l tufles oI ule Lnurcns rrusogylruus LduPd
have been possible. But, contrrry to the stereotype, the witch-hunt was notJust
a,
t';,
have been posslDte. but, contrrry t() Luc sLcrcw'yPc' urE
"'" '"'r-
'--.k.
uct of popish fanaticism or ofthe machinations ofthe Romen Inquisition
At its P:";
uc[ oI
Pop$n
ranau . : ; do
the s"..,1". cou.t conducted most ofthe trials, while in the are"t
-1t91g
thq Inqursw
tlre secuar cour6 conoucfcu llrurr u! Lus "'-,
.' . Ahet
operated (Italy and Spain) the number of executions remained comparatively
low
'-
L6a
Reformation, which undermined the Catholic Church's poweq the
even began to restrain the zeal ofthe authorities against witches, while inten-
io
persecution ofJews (Miano 1963:287-9).11 Moreover, the Inquisition always
on the cooperation of the state to carry out the executions, as the clergy
to be spared the embarrassment ofshedding blood.The collaboration between
rnd state was even closer in the areas of the Reformation, where the State had
the Church
(as in England) or the Church had become the State (as in Geneva,
a lesscr
extent, Scodand). Here one branch ofpower legislated and executed, and
ideology
openly revealed its political connotations.
The
politicd nature of the witch-hunt is further demoruffated by the fact that
and Protestant natiorx, at war against each other in every other respect,
arrns and shared arguments to persecure witches.Thus. it is no exaggeration to
tlt uitch-hunt was thej$t unifuiflg teftdin ifi the politics oJ the new Eurcpeatr nation-
jrst examplc, afu the schism brought aboxt by the ReJofindtiotr, of a Eutopean unfi-
For, crossing all boundaries, the witch-hunt spread fiom France and Italy to
Switzerland, England, Scodand, and Sweden.
fears irxtigated such concerted policy of genocide? Why was so much vio-
And why were its primary targets women?
Dewi l Bel i ef s and Chanqes i n t he Mode of Pr oduct i on
be immediately stated that, to this day, there are no sure answers to these ques-
major obsacle in the way of an explanation has been the fact that the charges
the witches are so grotesque and unbelievable as to be incommensurable witl any
or crime.12 How to account for the fact that for more than two centuries. in
European countries , hundreds oJ thousands of women were tried, totured, burned
hanged, accused ofhaving sold body and soul to tlre devil and, by magical rneans,
scores ofcbildren, sucked their blood, made
potiors
with their flesh. caused the
their neighbors, destroyed catde and crops, raised storms, and pedormed many
(However, even today, some historians ask us to believe that the
was quite reasonable in che context ofthe conremporary beliefstrucrure!)
added problem is that we do not have the viewpoint ofthe victims, for all that
of tleir voices are the confessions styled by the inquisiton, usually obtained
and no matter how well we listen - as Carlo Ginzburg (1991) has done
transpires of traditional folklore frorn between the cracks in the recorrded
we have no way of establishing their authenticity. Further, one cannot
for the extermination of the witches as simply a product ofgreed, as no reward
to the riches ofthe Americas could be obtained from the execution and thc
ofthe goods ofwomen who in the majority were very poor.l3
is for these teasons that some historians,like Brian Leleck. absta.in ftom
presenr-
cxplamtory
theory. contenring rhemselves with identi$,ing the preconditions for
- for insance, the shift in legal procedule from a pri te to a public accu-
tlrat occurred in the late Middle Ages, the centnlization ofstate-power, the
drc Reformation and Counter-Reformation on social life
(Levack
1987).
t69
There is no need, however, fot such agaocticisrn, nor do we have to decide
the witch hunters truly believed in the charges which they levclcd aginst their
victi,fr
or cynically used them as insmrmens of social repression. Ifwe corsider the
hi5so.i{
context in which the witch-hunt occurred, the gender and class ofthe accused,4rd
,f
effecs ofthe penecution, then we must conclude that witch-hunting in Europe
w4
|
attack on women's resistence to the sprcad of capitalist relations and the power
tfri
women had gained by virtue oftheir scxualiry tleir conftol ovel reproduction,
and
15"1i
ability to hcal.
Witch hunting was also instrumenal to the construction ofa new patriarchal
ordct
where women's bodies, their labor, their sexual and reproductive powels were placcd
under the control oftie state and trrnsformed into economic resources.This mear6 g5a1
the witch hunters were less interested in the punishment of any specific transgrcisioat
than in the elimination of generalized forms of female 6ehavior which they no longjl
toler.ated and had to be made abominable in dre eyes ofthe population.That the charg6
in the trials often referred to events that had occurrcd decades earlier, that witchcnft
nq3
rnade a crircn ecaptufi, lhzt is, a crime to be investigted by special means, torqr.
included, and it was punishable even in the absence ofany proven damage to penons.od
thinp - all these facton indicate that the target ofthe witch-hunt - (as it is often q16
with political teprcssion in times ofintense socid change and conllict) - were not socially
recognDed crimes, but previoudy acccpted practices and goups of individuds that hed
to be eradicated ftom the community, through terrot and crimindization. ln this sensq
the charye of witchcraft performed a function similar to that
Performed
by "high ttea-
son" (which, signficantly, was inroduced into the English legd code in the same yean)'
and the charge of"terrorism" in our tirnes.The very regueness ofthe charge - the 6c
that it was impossible to prove it, while at dre same time it evokcd the maximum ofhot-
ror - meant that it could be used to punish any form ofprotest and to generate suspi-
cion even towands the most oldinary aspecs ofdaily life.
A 6nt iruight into the meaning ofthe European witch-hunt can be found in dtc
thesis proposed by Michael'fiussig,in his classic work ll'fie Deuil and Commodity Fetishisn
ir Soith )uetiu i1980;,
wher. the author maintains that devil-belie6 arise in those hir
torical periods when one mode ofprcduction is being supplanted by another' ln such
petiodnot only are the material conditions oflifc redically trrnsformed, but so are thc
-etaphy.i.al
und".pinning of thc social order - for instance, the conception
ofho*
valu. is-created, what generates life and gowth, what is "natural" and what is antago-
nistic to the established custorns and soci"al relatiors (Thusig 1980: 17ft)'Tausig
devcl-
oped his theory by studying the belie6 of Colombian agicultural laboren and Bolivi4
tin miners at a time when, in both countries, moneary rclatiorx were taking
rool
{
in peoples' eycs seemed deadly and even diabolical, compaled with the older
and
ss!-
surviving forms of subsistence-oriented production.Thus, in the casesTaussig
studew
was th. poor *ho suspected the bener-offof &vil worship. Still, his associarion
berwc"
the devil and thc comrnodiry form teminds us that also in the background ofthe
witf
hunt therc was the expansion of rural capitalism, which involved the abolition
ofcf
tomary rights, and the 6rst inllationary wave in modern Europe These
Phenomeffi.
only led tI the growth ofPoverty, hunger' and social dislocation (Lc Roy Ladurte,,r;;
208), they also trensferred power into dre hands ofa new clas of"todtrrutett
"
t70
her yeast, whereupon his brewing stand dtied up, She was struck
t7L
fear and tepubion
at the communal forms oflife that had been typicd of
Europe.It was by the initiative ofthis proto-capitdist class that the witch-
6f,, both as "a platform
on which a wide range ofpopular beliel! and pnc-
could
be punued"
lNormand and Robers 20O0: 65), and a weapon by which
to socid and cconomic restructuring could be defeated.
is lignif,cant
that, in England, most ofthe witch tdals occurred in Essex, where
6th ccntury the bulk ofthe land had been enclosed,l4 while in those regions of
Ides where land priratization had neither occurred nor was on the agenda
no rccond ofwitch-hunting.The most outsanding examples in this context are
rnd
the SconishVestern Highlands, where no trece can be found ofthe pcnc-
because a collective land-tenure system and kinship ties still prevailed in
dret prccluded the communal divisiors and the qpe of compliciry with the
snde a witch-hunt possible. Thus - while in the Anglicized and privatized
Lowlands, where the subsistence economy was vanishing under the irnpact of
Reformation, the witch-hunt claimed at least 4,000 victims, the equiv-
;rcrcent
ofthe female population
- in the Highlands and in Ireland, women
during the witch-burning tirnes.
the spread ofrunl capitalism, with all its conrequences (land expropriation,
ofsocial distances, the breakdown ofcollective relatiorx) was a decisive fac-
backgound ofthe witch-hunt is also poven by the fact that the majority of
wcrc poor peasant women - cottans, wage laboren - while those who
thern were wealthy and prcstigious memben of the cornrnuniry often their
n or landlords, that is, individuals who were part of the locd power structurs
brd close ties with the central statc. Only a.s the persecution progressed, and the
(as well as the feat ofbeing accused ofwitchcnft, or of..subvenive asso-
wzs sowed among the population, did accusations also come 6om neighbon.In
the witches were usually old women on public assisunce or worn.n-*ho ,.r"-
going 6om house to house begging for bits offood or a pot ofwine or milk;
erc srrrried, their husbands were day laboren, but morc often they were wid_
hted alone.Their poverty stands out in the confessions. [t was in times ofneed
Devil appeated to them, to assure them that from now on they',should ltcvcr
the money he would give them on such occasions would soon turn to
Cctril perhaps related to the experience of superinllation cornmon at the nme
1983: 95; Mandrou 1968: 77).As for the diabolical crimes ofthe witches. thev
) ur as nodring morc than the class struggle played out at the village level: the
ithe crrne ofthe beggar to whom an alm has been refused, the de-fault on the
ofrent,
the demand for pubLic assisance (Macfartane 1970: 97: Thomas 1971:
1929: 163) .'lhe narry ways in which the class struggle contributed to the
an English witch are shown by the charges against Margaret Harkett, and old
si:tty-five
hanged at Tyburn in 1585:
Shc had picked a basket ofpean in the neighbor! 6eld without per-
to return them she flung them down in angcr; since then
ao pean would grow in rhe 6eld. Lsrer Williarn Coodwin! senenr
il
hcr
rw: l : | crI Lr. \ h.
rl r' ' pLrrl hl rc. rl
onc l l url cr. r, vho dcrri erl l rcr l
l )i c. e
ot l ' rerr (i l i l . :
119). W('
l rt )! l I \ l l n rl rr
l rJt r(rrL rr | \ r, ; t l . rnt l , $i crc rl rc . l c. u\ cd \ \ erc . rl \ o p()or ( ()t r. l t \ ,
st ri l
hol &ng
orr t . ' I pt ri c, , , , f I rrrt l , , l
cl rci r orvrr, brrr brrr. l r' survi r i rrg urrt l rt t crr l rrusrrrq t i rr,
hosci l i ry
ot t l rcl r I rcl gl rh, \ r\ t rr) . r(r! , l l nr of hNi rrg pt I \ I rr, i l cl rerr c. rrt l c, t {r gr. l i l (. ()l l rhcrl
hnd,
or i ot hl vi l rg p. rrl t hc rcrrt (t -urrrer l {)l l -}).
I
I 1^/ i t ch
Hunt i ng and Cl ass Revol t
As
we can scc f rorn t hc' sr' cesc' s. t hc rvi t cl t hurr! qrcw
i rr l r soci : rl cD\ . i r()Dl r)cnt
\ ! l t crc
t he
"bert er
sort s" wcrc l i vi rrg i r corrrrant f i ' ar of t l rc "l orver
cl l rscs. ' , *. 1r. corr, : r ccr
ai nl y
be expcct ccl ro hrrbor cvi l rrrought s bcc. rrrsc i rr t hi s pr: rrot r ri r. \ . \ \ . crc l ()5r)g
veryt hi ng
t heY l )rd.
Thac rhi s t ' ci rr expresscd i t , cl f . rs l n . rt uc. k on popul . rr
l t . rgi c i \ nor surf r i si nq. Thc
bade
agai nsr nl i gi c hl t s el u. rvs . i r' corrp. rDi cri
t hc dcrcl o| rrcDt
of c. r| rrl l srn.
t o t hi r rerr
dey, Magic is prcr risccl on rl)c bclief tl):rt tlrc *..rld is rr r ir r,rt,.,.l. ur r pre.'ct"t f" .,,,.f ,ir,,
t here i s a f orce i rr Jl ri t i ng; : t r. . rrcr, t rcc-s, subst . rnccs,
*rrrds. . . . . (Wrl sorr-JOl j o:
\ \ . t i ) s()
dgt every c' vcnt rs rnccrprcrcd . l s rhc cxprc\ l i on
of e occul t
l )o\ \ ar l ht t rDu\ t be l l ect -
phered rnd bent t o orrc\ rvi l l . Wi r. rc t l ri s i rrrpl i cd i n cvcrycl . ry i i t i . i , . , r, 1. i t . , ". t . pr, , t , l rt , t y
wi t h sonre cx: l gger. l t i o' . i n t bc I ct t er. f I (; c. , , , . , u
, , , , , ri rt ". , ", , t . , t i ". . ,
p. , rrrrr. , t , , r, r t , ,
a village in 159.1:
I
I
- l
, 1 , / , r i i r i r r r , 4q, ' oI r l r r ' l hyl t . h l i r , l t : ol i , t t cnl ' t t , : t r r , ' t n, l md I ' v h' r
' unnal ' ' n' l
ho intlil\, nrr!
)\t
,t,tl,tt,ti,rry d ltfiatr po..run
I - TM' \ t r 1) \ t t . Rt I L l ) l sai ( n I Rl l l s 1, l t t l l l l l l ( : H( : l r ' 11 1\
1, . \ / 11( ; t l r ! 1\ l J PHl Ll l l ' F1t ) t | l R\ , 1619
b1 . r bei l l i f rri o h. rd cl rt rght l t er t : l ki l l g rvoot l f rorn t hc nt l sl cr\
grot l l rd:
t l )e bt i l l i f wcrl t I rr: rd. A nci gt rbor rcf used hcr a horsc; el l hi s horscs cl i cd
Anot l rcr pri t i hcr l css t ' i rr . r pri r of sl xres t h. rn she hrd rsked: l ' rt r' r hc
ci i ccl . A gc' nt l cnr. t l t l ol l l i s \ crvl l rt t o rcf t rsc l t cr bt t t t crl l ul k: af t cr rvhi r' l r
t hcy wcre url rl bl c ro nl l ke l rl t rt r: r or cl rccsc (Tl xrl rus l 97l : 556)
Onr: f i nt l s t hc st l t rc pat t crl l l ) t hc casc of t l rc l vol l t e' l l wl t o rvcrc prcscl rt t t l -t rr
. ourr xt
(l hcl nr\ f brl l , Wi rt rl sor rrnd
()svt h
Mot her' Warcrhot t sc. h' rngecl i t
(i l rcl n] ' t i rrel t t r
I 56(r. rves. r"vcrv pool n' ort r. rn. " desc rj bcd es bcggrl l t f or sol l t c cakc or I t ot t cr i l l l t l
t Jl l i r)! ' l
out " wi t h I )nr))' ; f het l ci ghbor! (l l oscrr 1t )69: 7(r-l l 2)' El i zebet l r St i l c' Mot hcr
l )ot t t '
Morl t cr M. rrg: rrct arrcl Mot hc-r I )t t t t on. cxccrrt ccl t t Wi ndsor i r' 157t 1. 11g1g 1l r1t pot x
Ni J_
, r. * s: Mot hc' r Mergl rcl l i vcd i rr t he i l t )rshousc' . l i ke t l t ei r ; rl l egcd l el der Mot h' r Sc' l cr'
Jrr"
: rl l of t heru wcnt : rrot l ncl begt t ng. rl l d
l rcsrl l ))abl v
t aki ng rcvengc *hcn t l crri ' ' ' l '
(i f i ' i
l J3-91).
()n
bci rg rcf ust ' rl . , rt , t e , t l . l , . ' . t rt ' El i zl bct h Frl nci s. one of t h"
(l hchrrsl orL'
rvi t chcs. cursed l rrci ghbor rvho l l t er
' rl cvcl opccl
. 1 gre: l t pai n i n hcr hc r' ' l Nl "t h' r
St aurrcon suspi c t ot t sl v rt rrt rnrrt rr' ci .
goi l l g l l . r1. * hcrt t l cni ed vel st b1' rt nc rqhL' "r'
Lrl ' dr)
l f i i c)r t l : c nci ghbor' s chi l t l f cl l vel l crnerrrl v si ck (i 6i rl : 96) Ursul a Kenrp' hrrruL' i
t r r
": ,
i nl 5l J2, r r r , r dcl one( l r accLr nt r . ' l t f t r : r bci l r i l dcl t i e. l xr r nechecse; shcal socal r \ i l
r ' \ \ "r "' i
i n t hc bot t orn , rf Agrrcs I , . ' t hert l l l c' s cl t i l t i l f t cr t hc l . t ct e' r deni crl l t cr sorne r'
"t t r
t t t I
""
, , ,
Al i cc Ncrvrnun
Pl . rgt red
-l ohl )\ on,
t hc-
(l ol l c' t
ror f ()r t he po()r. t o t l eat h rf i cr hc
r' t rrt "
172
Thc use of i rrcal t : rt i or)\
i s so u. i t l esprcacl
rh. rt t hc, rc i s rro rr. rrr or
worni l n l )ere u4ro begi rrs or cl ocs arr1, t hl rg. . . \ \ i rl l ()ur t i rst t l ki ng
recout sc t o n)I l l e si gn, i rrcart t l t t i oD.
nt . rgi c or pag. rrt nt crns. I i rr cr. . rrrr
pl e duri rrg l abor pei ns. rvhen pi cki l g u1) or put ri r)g d()\ \ , r) t l re cl ri l d. . .
whc' D t l ki ng t he bc. rst s t i r rhc 6ch. . . , u. l r", , t h"y i rr"" l . *, -", r-"q". ,
l i l i Tl : : l 1, , , ]
, , i hsr r r s r hc *i nt t or , , , , r r
r r ght . uhcn l or r cor ( . ! r cr \
l l t or d ! , , \ \ , hr . l t . l \ 1, \
r t ) . l \ r
sayer ro .rsk *'o .,bbc,1 ,,,:.',',T:,:;ll,il.;;:,1;1:i::i]:;,':,ji:
::.:ii;
amul e' t . l he
chi l l . exPcr i cr r r c , , f r l r cr c
pcop[ . , t , , , r , , t t r . . ", , r . i f ; "r , ,
ro t hc usc of srrpcrsri ri ons. . . .
Everyorre l r*" , , , f . . , p". , i , , -r, , j r". . ri , i n, , , ,
pract rces,
rvi t i r *. orri s. rr. rl rres. rhrrt rcs. rrsi t rg t i t e rr. rrno, oi (j , , . i . , rt
t hc
Hol y Tri rrrt y, of rl rc Vi rgi , Murr, ; of rhe t rr", i . . " Ap, , r, l "r. . . . f l ,
"r. :
, r, , . . . t , ,
arc urt et ecl
bot l r opcnl l . . rrrrl rrr surrct ; rl rel . rrc r! rrt t crr ol r l \ cc(. \ {)I
Pr Pcr . \ ! \ . r l l o\ 1. 1. , . r r r i ( r l
J
noiscs
rn,r gesrrrrc:.
Ar.r ,',:,, ll:l:i]..,1 i: ,i;,1' lL, :i:ll;: li:l:.
and che bri rncl rcs of -r ccrt : ri rr t . . ": t i r"1 h"r" , f r. , i . p. , . , i . ri . , . , l i . , r. . , r. f
pl acc
f br l i l t bese t l ri rgp (Srrruss I , l / . )i l l )
*^- ,
As St cpl r cr r
Wr l v, r )
F( , r r r r \ r , u! i r
-rcq
rh^-
-
;;jl::::.""r,wcre
,rosrry
r,,,,. i.il;,1'iill:l':.l,lillilll];lll::;iil]li:,ft
h[ n"o"l t q. r. . r
l , , , t , rt rrl rrng rl rcrul l , n, . . ro pl . rc. rt c, c. rl ol c, : rnt l
cvcn rnl rri pul . r! c
rl t cse, con
of t *l - ", . . 1_
r , , r ccl \ , r \ \ . r yl r . r r r Der r r l cvi l . l
t l r o pr ocl r r c
r l l c qoo( l
\ \ l l r ch ( r ) n\ i \ r cd
- "' r ! T
wei l - hcr r r g.
hc r l r r r , r r r r r r r r i - ( ' . xr . i i i ) . I l r r t i r , ' ""y", . r f r l r ", , "*. : u' r t ur r st c1uss.
t73
t{
t hi s an: rrcl ri c. rrrol ct . ul i rr cot )(. el )t i on of rhc di f l t rsi on of
l )o\ \ ' er
i n t hc worl d w. t s al )i l t h-
ci )e. Ai r)i Dg a! coI )t r()l l i nq rrrt t ure. t hc cxpi t l l i st orgrt )i zrt i on
of . 1Tk r)t rst
: (. f use
t he
urrp. e. l i . t . rbi l i t y'
rnt pl i ci t i rr t l )c pri t ct i cc of rl rrgi c ancl t he possi bi l i t l of cst t bl i sl ri rrg
"
p. i vrl eg. . l . cl "t i , r, , . vrt h rh. r, , r' . rnt l
' ' l crrrent s. l s
rvel l as t hc l rcl i cf i rt drc exi st cncc of pnt u-
i r. ,
"u"i ] . , l rl .
o, rl " u,
| . rrri ct rl . rr
rrrdi vi dt rel s. and t hrrs not crl si l y gcnr: ri l l i zed i I )(l cxf l oi t i rbl c.
t l nt a . *a.
"l so
an , rbst , , cl " t o rl t e rat i onal i zai on of t ht \ \ ' ork proccss' anci : t t hrci t
t o
t l )(
cst i l i shrl cnt
of t l rc pri nci pl c of i ncl i vi dr' r' rl
responsi bi l i t y Abovc : rl l ' l l t agi c \ ccrrl cd
I f i )rrrl
ofrefusal ofrvork, ofinsuborclination,lnd
air il)strtlnlcDt ot gr:lssft)()ts resrstill)cc to po!vL'r.
The sorl t l had t o bc "di scnchl nt et l " i n ordcr t o be dol rri rt at e<l
By the 16th ccntur\'. the at!'lck xg:rilrs! trr:tgic rv;ts rvell uncier \\':l\' :llld \\'ol))cn
rvcre i t s nrost l i kcl y t arget s Even when t hc' y rverc not cxpert sorccrers/ I rl i l grcrxDs dl c' /
Ncrc t hc
(nes rT ho r"ere ci rl l ed t o l rl ' l rk
' ni l l l l l s
whcn t hcv f cl l si ck' he' l l t l l ei r rl crgh-
i . ". t i . l n t heur 6t rd l ost or st ol crt obj cct s' gi vc- t hel )r rnrul cl s or. l ovc
l ' "t roo' 11"1n
, 6"t " i ". ' . ' . "t , t he f ut ure T5. ugh t hc wi t ch-hunt t i rrgct ed: r l nud vrri t ' t y of l crt rrl s
! rrec! 1c! -s, l !
\ ! Js l bovc al l rrr t hi s cl peci q - l s sorcercrs-' he ers. perf ort rl crs of t ncrn-
1. , , r ", ' . ' . r , ' . i a' r t ", , ' , , t ) \
- i l l r t t t t "t ' t "t t "' "1' cr ' cct l t ( ' l
' f nr
t l r ' r r cl r r l r r t o r r l r gr ' 11
t , l *".
, , t , i ""t """a t he power of t l rc aut hori t i es and t he st l t c' gi vi rrg conf i cl ert cc t o
t he ooor i l l t hei r. rbi l i q t o t nal upt l l rt t c' t hc'
nl t ural l | cl soci el cl rvi ronDrcDt : rl l d
l )o\ si -
l'rlv strbvc.t the col)stitutccl order'
"' , ""i , i .
a"Ji n, r. on rhc orher h: r)d, t hdt rhe magi ci l art s t hi ! woi ' e hrd pr. ct rced
fir, g"u.'a"tiorr, \\()illd hivc been rttlgnifiecl into a tlclrlonit_ cotlspirr(\' hld thcl not
;.i;;:"i :;;i;" I backgror'rn<l
of r' intcnsc social cri\is a'd sttrggle. Thc coi.'rrlcrrce
b. , *""u 5o. i "l -"a, , r1onl i c
ari si s al l d wi t ch-hul l t i ng
hrs been not e' d bv Hcnry Krrrrl cn'
who hrs observcd th.t it \\'ns "pr!'cisel,v in the periocl t"lt"tt- t]t"t:Y: thc rlrarr)
|trce
i r' k.
i i ", *. "", t , . . n. l
of t l t c l t ' ' h
' cnnrry
ant l t he 6rst h: rl f of t he-17^t h) {t h' rt l
d}t rc $erc
, i r i ' **, , . . t
"t t t t *, .
of ' l r ' ' r ge'
' r - r r ' l
pcr scct r t i . r l t "{Kar t r t r t , l ' ) 71: 2Jql l
,
Even nrot c si gni f i crrl t rs t hc coi nci dence bet rvccn t he i nt cl l si f i ci t i {)I )
of t l l c l l t r
sccut i oD l l l l cl l hc cxpl osi t )n
t ' f ut b' ut a"d rt l rl l revoks These were t he f L"r\ rl l t
\ \ ' rri -
, *t t . , f ", t i p. t *, t t et i on,
i rrcl ut l i ng t he upri si t t gl agt i l st t he
"et rc-l osurcs" i n El rgl l rrd
(t n
1 5. 19. 1607. 162u. 1(rl t ; . t t t t "" f "t nt l ": i t t ' f n' "t ' ' t uout ""
""t l
cl t i l cl ren' l rl rt ccl
* i dr pi t ch-
i"at,
".A
,p",r.'s, set ilb()tl! desti()yillg the fcnces crccted :tround thc' cornnlrtls
pro-
cl ai mi t t g t hat "f rorrr I t n"u t ' u *"
"t ' "t i ' i
*ork l ny nt ort "" l n Frrrncc' i t r 1593-1595'
drl t t
\\'as th(' rcvolt of th!- Clroqtllnts alitillst the titht's' excessive taxation
'nd
dre risil)g frlcc
of brel cl , a phel onl cnon t l ul ! c: ruscd I nass st l rvat i oi r i n l argc' ercl s of Europc
I )uri ng t hese rc' v()l t s. l t wi l s of t en $' ol l ren who i ni t i et cd ancl l ed t he
r(t l ol r
Exenrpl.tr,v
$erc lhe re\olt tn^t
"ttlt"ta
lt Montpcllic'r
in 1(r'l5 rvhich was sr'r'tfd
D-r
wonrcn u'ho rvcre seckilg to protc:ct thc'ir childrel) frorn stitvltion' llltl thc' rcr'olt
lt
Cordobr in l(r52 tltat likclvrsc rvls initiatc'd try wonte'n lt wes women nroteor'cr'
rr'llt'
1"i".',i,.'
,.''ar' *"," t""lt"'t
"iti''"'"it
t'':'i t",o.i::l:':l.1:::ltl::l[T:il]i:ll:
i"t*-i,i'ii !lll[iii;,:]llllll,
i :;'li'i,'.Ti
iii:.
"liri'i1'.:1,''i.l,l.
i'".."'*"n'
cncl of t he' Pel srrrl t War' Wrrt rng t ""' t t t
"t t ' J"t t '
et i k Mi dcl f ort has excl uded
t l 1'
c$)-
t e' ce . f : r col rncct i on t t "t t t t "" t ""' "' t t *t ' '
1i f t f ' ' . , nt """
(Mi dcl f ort 1972: 6t l )
*' i : i l l ;
l rc has not askcd i f t here' rvere f i rrl i l y or col t t rDuni t y rcl at i ol l s' st l ch as
: "' : "* I
t ' t ' ,
, l 1
Laduri c f ouncl i I r t he
(l cvc' nnes' 17 bct *eerr
drc t hot rsencl s of P! ' i l sant s
who t ro' l l
r'
1505 t 0 t 0 r I l i , or ) l t J t O Jr J ,
50
Thi
.{rnth,
iul'n i
.{
tht rlymnio rtl rhL u,ittlt t ttl! bdtutut I505 n tl
1650, nfLys sttiljcally n th drut rtl lidt,nr tul I ttrrdnr n lidua, bur ir t:
rtpn:utdtn't ol rlt pu:tanLu n orlnr I)rnlxrut ttxntrit:. DtryrhLrL, rhr
kty & idt ntn rlnsL.fro rht I 5 5 0!
^'
lk l 6.)0:, u,lnn rln, pria. of'.liot
{a
' ud.
( Fwn I t ur y K| , nt , 197) . )
17
/r
il
1525, continuously rose up in arm5 against Gudal power and werc so brutdly defeal.q
and the scores of women who,less than two decades later, in the same region and y1
lages, were brought to the stake.Yet, we can well imagine that the ferocious ra,q*.,
repression which the German printes conducted, and the hundreds and thousan6
^c
peasants crucified, decapitated, burned alive, sedimented unquenchable hatreds,
secrtt
plars of revenge, above all among older women, who had seen and remembered,
an;
were likely to make their hostfiry known in nurnerous ways to the locd elites.
The persecution of witches grcw on this terrein. It was class war carried
oug
bv
other means. In this context, we cannot fail to see a connection between the Gar ofupr6-
ing and the prosecutors' insistence on the Witches Sabbat, or Synagogue,l8 the flqou,
nocturnd reunion where thousands ofpeople presumably congtegated, travelling
often
from far distant places.'Wlether or not, by evoking the horron ofthe Sabbat, the authot-
ities targeted actual forms of organization, cannot be esablished. But there is no doubt
that, through thejudges'obsession with these devilish gatherings, besides the echo ofthc
pelsecution of the
Jews,
we hear the echo of the secret meetings the peasants held
a1
night, on lonesome hills and in t}le forests, to plot their revolts.lg The ltalian historian
Luisa Murarc has written on this matter, io Ia Sigxota del Gioco (The lady of th
Came)(1977), t sttdy of witch trids drat took place in the ltalian Alps at the beginning
of the 16th century:
During the trials inVal di Fiemme one ofthe accused spontaneously
told the
judges that one night, while she was in the mountains with
her mother in law, she saw a great 6re in the distance."Run away, run
away," her grand-mother had cried, "this is the 6re of the Iady of the
game."'Game'@iocd in many dialecs of Nonhern ltaly is the oldest
name for the Sabbat (in the trids ofVal di Fiemme there is still men-
tion ofa Gmale 6gure who directed the game)..,.In the same region
in 1525 there was a vast peasant uprising.They demanded dre elimi-
rution oftithes and tributes, the frcedom to hunt,less convents, hos-
tels for the poor, the right of each village to elcct is
Priett....They
burned casdes, convents and the clergy's houses. But they were
deGated, massacred, and those who survived for yean were hunted by
the revenge ofthe authorines.
Muraro concludes:
The 6re of the lady of the game fades in thc distance' wh.ile in the
foreground therc are the fires ofthe rcvolt and the
Pyres
ofthe repres-
sion.... But to us there seems to be a connection between the peas-
ant revolt that was being prepared and the talcs ofmysterious nighdy
gatherings.... We can only assume that the peasants at night sectedy
met around a firc to warrn up and to communicate with each other"'
and that those who knew guarded the secret ofthese fotbidden meet-
ings, by appeding to thc old legend.... lf the witches had secres this
may have been one (Munrc 1977:46-47)
'
t76
revolt, together
with sexua.l tr.nsgression, was a central element in thc
ofthe Sabbat, which *"t po.trayad both r" a monstrous sexual orgy and as
poirttcal gathering,
culminating with an account of the crimes which thc
had cornmined, and with the devil insmrcting the witches to rebel against
It is also signifcanr rhat the pact berween the witch and the Deui was
the pacs often made by daves and wotken in struggle
@ockes
19g2:
andlevy 1977:136), and that in the eyes ofthe prosecutors,
the Devil rep_
a promise oflove, power, and riches for whose sake a penon was willing to sell
his) soul, that is, to infringe every natunl and social law
dyeat ofcannibalism, a central tleme in the morphology ofthe Sabbat, also
rrding to Hcnry Kamen, the morphology of the revolc, as rebel worken ar
owcd their contempt for those who sold thcir blood by threatenine to eat
Kumen
-mentiorx
what happened in the town of Romans (Dauphin6,
irance;
,
'of 1580, when the pcasants in revolt against th. dth*, p-d;.t;;;;
days Cluistian flesh will be sold" and, then, during the Carnirel,,,the ;be;;
sed in a bear skin, ate delicacies which passed fo. Ct.isti"r, non"
6"rrr."
Ic Roy Ladutie.1981: 189, 216). Agin, in Naples, in 1SAS, durtng a .iot
high cost of bread, the rebels mutilated th" Uoay
"f
*. _"girtra,. ,.'rpo^i_
price rise and offered pieces ofhis flesh for sale (Kemen
f siz, fSSl. {;."
that eating human llesh symbolized
a total inversion of ,o"i"l
"d;.r,;;;ir_ the iruge.ofthe witch as the penonifcation
ofmoral pe*J;
;;;;;""_
meny ofthe rituals attributed to the practice ofwitchcrali:the
mass celefrated
, the countcr-clockwise
dances. (Clark 19g0; Kamen f fZZl. fnaeJ, tfre wircfr
11q
yi::J
it'"" .wodd
rurned upside down,', a ."*.r.", i-"g.';,h"'t
r_
the Mrddle Ages. ried to mi.llenarian aspirations of subvenion lf the social
tc subvcnive,
utopian dimension of the witches, sabbat is also stressed, from a
rnglg by Luciano Parinetto who, in St eg, e e
potue
(1998),hasi^lr..j
""
,f,"
f1 " ld*i :"*:preation
of this gathering, reading ia nerxg-rJr" f*,".,
'uewpornr-of
the developing capitdist discipline ofwork.
patinetto
points out
dimension of the Sabbat was a violation ofthe .or,,"-prre.y
l"pl
ofwor!;tirne,
yd
1
challenge to pri te prop..ty .nd .exu.l o.tho_
c night shadows blurred the distinctions between th; sexes ;dl.r*.*;_i""
:,31len".
":.
argucs tiat the
IMt,
the travel, ur vnportant
"f"-"",
1" ,f,.
the witches, should be interpreted as an attack on the mobiliry ofimmi_
ant worken, a new phenomenon,
reflected in the fear ofvagai"nar,it
",
lccupied
the_authorirics
in rhis period,
parinetto
concludes tha,,"ui.*.J in ,,,
:"".fl"l :f
nocrurnal Sabbat appears as, a demonizarion
of the utopia
rn the rcbcllion agairut thc masten ind th" br.rk-do*;;i;-.A
-f*,li'j
lsnts
a use ofspace and tirne contrary to the new capitalist wo"t_Ar.lpti.,",
.his
sense, there is a c""rittrrty u.*."ri,t. ;iJ;#ffi;""::#':I.._
the
heretics-which
also punisied specific fo.-, ofro.i"t
*iu"rrir".rlt"",rr"
ng religious ortodory. Significantly, the witch_hunt
d.uelopea fi.rt in
the persecution
ofthe heretics had been most irrt n.e
15outt e.r, fonc.,
177
Waldasfun heretis as rcpresenteil in
Johannes
Tineto s, TMcTAT\ts coi\n RJ
sECrLtM VAIDENSIUM. Tlrc witch'httt deteloped
i,5t
in the 4leas ulrcrc tht l't{'
cutiofi of the heletirJ hdd been most ifitense ln lhe eaiy peiod itr so e d/eds
ol
Switzetlnnd, witthes uete oJten rcJened to as "unudois
"
17a
179
Northern ltaly). In sorne regions of Switzerland, in an early phase, witches
sdled
Herege ("heretic")
ot Wardois ("Waldenses") (Monter 1976: 22; Russell
34fi).21
Further, the heretics too were burned at the stake as traitors to the true
and they were accused of crimes that entered the deca.logue of witchcraft:
infanticide,
animal worship. In part, these were ritual charges that the Church
moved against rival religions. But, as we have seen, a sexual revolution had
4 essential
ingredient ofthe heretic movement, from the Cathars to theAdamites.
Cathars,
in particular, had chalJenged the Church's degraded view ofwomen and
the rejection ofmarriage and even ofprocreation, which they considered a
of entrepment
for the soul.They had also ernbraced a Manichean religion that,
to some historians, was responsible for the increased preoccupation of the
in the late Middle Ages with the presence of the Devil in the world and the
view of witchcraft as a counter-church. Thus, the continuitv between
end witchcraft, ar least in rhe 6nt phase ofthe witch-hunt, cannot be doubted.
witch-hunt occurred in a different historical context. one that had been dra-
transformed, first by the traumas and dislocations producedby
the Black Death
ryatershed
in European history - and late!, in the 15rh and 16th centuries, by the
change in class relations brought about by the capitalist reorganization ofeco-
rnd social life. Inevitably, then, even the apparent elements ofcontinuity (e.g. the
prorniscuous banquet) had a different rneaning than their anticipations in the
struggle against the heretics.
Wi i ch- Hrrnti ng' , 1A/ol rran - l l urrti n9| ,
and t he Accr r r nul at i on of Labor
moot impoitant difference between heresy and witchcralt is that witchcraft was
a Gmale crirne. This was especially true at the peak of the persecution, rn
between 1550 and 1650. In an earlier phase, nren had represented up to forry
of the accused, and a smaller number continued to be prosecuted later, mostly
ftom the nnls ofthe vagabonds, beggars, itinerant laborers, as well as the g)p-
lower-class ptiests. By the 16rh century, moreover, the charge ofdevil worship
a comnon theme in political and religious struggle; there was hardly a
or a politician
who,in the heat ofthe moment, was not accused ofbeine a witch.
accused Catholics. especia.lly the pope, ofserving the devil; Luther himself
of rnagic, and so wereJohn Knox in Scodand,Jean Bodin in France, and
othe$.Jeur's
too were ritually accused ofworshipping the devil, often being por-
with
horns and claws. But the outsanding fact is that more than eighty pcrcent
who were tried and executed in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries for the
ofwitchcraft
were women. In fact, morc women were persecuted
for witchcralt
peri od
than for rny other cri me, excepr. si gnrGcandy, i nfanti ci de.
rhat
the wirch was a womrn was also stressed by the demonologists, who rejoiced
had spared men fron such a scourge.As Sigrid Brauner (1995) has noted, the
used to justify
this phenomenon changed.Wbile the authors of the Malleus
explained that women were lnore prone to witchcraft because oftheir"insa-
tiable lust," Martin Luther and humanist writen sEessed women's moral and mqnql
weakness as the origin ofthis perversion. But dl singled out women as evil being.
A further difference between the petsecutions of the he.etics and that of q6
witches is that in the latter the charges of sexual pcrvenion and infanticide had a ce1_
tral role, being accompanied by the virtual demonization ofcontiacePtive practices,
The association between contraception, abortion, and witchcraft 6rst appearcd
in
the Bull oflnnocentvlll (1484) which complained that
by their incanatiors, spells, conjuratioru and other accuned supenti-
tions and horrid charms, enormities and offenses, (witches) destoy the
oftpring ofwomen. . . .They hindcr men fiom genereting and women
ftom conceiving; whence neithcr husbands with their wives nor wives
with thcir husbands can perform thcir sexual acs (Kors and Peters
1972: 10748) .
From then on, reproductive crimes featurcd prominendy in the trials. By the 176
century witches werc accused ofconspiring to destroy the generative power ofhuml5
and animals, ofprocuring abortions, and ofbelonging to an inlanticidal sect devoted to
killing childrcn or offering them to the devil. In the popular imagination as well, thc
witch came to be associated with a lccherous old woman, hostile to new life, who fcd
upon infant flesh or used childrenl bodies to make her magical potioru - a steteotypc
later popularized by children! books.
Why swh a chatge in tfu tajeaory
from
hetsy to wit!fur{r? Wy' itt other u'o/ds, in tht
course of a cettury did the heaetk becone a wma4 and why wos rcligious and suial transgrcsshn
rcJocused os ptedominantly a rcptoduttiw aime?
-
In the 1920s the English anthropologist Margaret Murrey it The With-Cdt in
Weslem Eurcpe (1921) proposed an explanation that has recendy been revived by eco-
feminiss ani practitionen of "Wicca." Murray argued that witchcraft wes an ancient
mattifocal re[;ion to which the Inquisition turned its attention after t]re defeat ofhercsl
sputred by a new Gar ofdoctrinal deviation. In other words, the women whom demo-
,rologirt p-."*t"d as witches were (according to this theory) practitionen of ancient
fe.tlti"ty cds Aming to pmpitiate binh and reproduction - cults that had existed in thc
Mediterranean arcas for thousands ofyean,but which the Church opposed as pagan ritcs
and a challenge to its power.22 The prcsence of midwives among the accused, the rolc
th"t *o-"r, piy"d in the MiddleAg; as community healen, the fact that until the
16d
century child-birth was considered a female "m)stery," all ofthese facton have been
citcd
in support ofthis view, But this hlpothesis cannot cxplain the timing ofthe witch-hunq
nor tell
us why these fertility cults became so abominable in the eyes ofthe authoriti6
as to call for the extermination ofthe women
Practicing
the old reLigion'
A different explanation is that the prominence of reproductive crimes
in
thc
witch-trials *",
" "oor"q,t"n".
ofthe high infant mortality rates that were rypicd
f
the 16th and 17rh centuries due to the giowth of poverty and malnurition.Vitchd;
it is argued, were blamed for the fact th"i ro rn"ny ihild..,, died, died so suddenly'
dteo
shortli after birth, or were vtrlnerable to a broai array of ailmens But this explad;
tion too does not go far enough.It does not account for the fatt that
-o-en
lao'"-
l ao
cs were also accused ofpreventing conception, and it fails to place the witch-
the context of16th-centuty economic and institutional policy.Thus, it misses
I, it seems plausible that the witch-hunt was, at lcast in part, an attempt to
bith control and place the female body, the uterus, at the service ofpopu-
Mttha cookin2 thildm. From Fnnesro Maria
Guazzo! CettpENDnJM MArxFrerNJM. 1 608.
and the production and accumulation oflabor-power.
connection between the attack on witches and the development of a
among European statists and economists, with the question of repto-
zlrd population sizc, the rubric under which the question of the size of the
was discussed at the time. As we have seen earlier. the labor ouestion
! capecidly
urgent in the 17rh century when population in Europe began again
f$
oi"i"g the spectre of e demographic collapse similar to tirat which had
in thc American colonies in the decades after the Conquest. Against this
tts is a hyprothesis; what is certain is that dre witch-hunt was promoted by a polit-
dut
was prcoccupied with population decline and motilated by th. .orrui-ction
population
is the wealth of the nation. The fact that the 1 6th and 1 7th cerr-
the heyday of Mercantiiism, and saw the beginning ofdemographic recond-
deatlu and marriages), of census-taking, and the formalization of demog-
raphy itselfas the 6rst "state-science " is a clear proofofthe strategic importance that
con-
trolling population movements was acquirini in the political circles that instigated
ge
witch-hunt
(Cullen
1975: 6ft)23.
'We
also know that many witches were midwives or "wise wonen," traditioql,
Tlrc rlrand oJinJant norulihy is uell-captured by this inage
Jrotr
Hans Holbein theYounger's "'fhe Dante oJ Dedth," tt
series oJJofty-one desigttsitst p ntcd in Ftdnrein1538'
ta2
143
depository
ofwomeni reproductive knowledge and control (Midelfort 1'972:172).
Malless
dedicated an entire chapter to them, arguing that they were worse than any
woman, since they helped the mother destroy the fruit ofher womb, a conspiracy
easier, tley charged, by the exclusion ofmen fronl the rcotrs where women pgve
24 Observinq that there was not a hut that did not board a rnidwife, the authors
that no wonun should be allowed to
practice this art, unless she first
to have been a"good Catholic."This recommendation did not go unheard.
we have seen, midwives were either recruited to police women - to check, for
that they did not hide their pregnancies or deliver children out of wedlock -
were
marginalized.
Both in France and England, starting from the end ofthe 16'h cen-
few women were allowed to practice obstetrics, an activity that, until that time, had
their inviolable mystery.Then, by the beginning of the 17th century, the 6rst male
began ro appear and, wirhin a century, obstetrics has come almost entirely
Witches ofcl.hild/en to the Dcuil.A tnodutJrot| d tlnct on the t
oJAgnes Saupson,1591.
It
under state control. According to Alice Clark:
The continuous process by which women were supplanted by men iq
the proGssion is one example ofthe way in which they were excluded
from all branches of professiona.l work, through being denied the
opportunity of obtaining an adequate professional tnining (Clark
1968: 265).
But interpreting tlte social decline ofthe midwife as a case of Grnale de_profes^
sionalization misses its signficance.Therc is convincing evidence, in fact, that midwiy6,
were mirgindized because they were not mrsted, and because their exclusion
Gom
dl;
profession undermined women's control over reprcduction.25
Just
a the Erclosutes exprcptiated the peasa lry
Jron
the comnunal land
, so the with-fia11g
exproptiaud unmenfom their bodies, uhkh wue thus "libuated"frou any impediment ppy241ino
them tofunttion ds nachines
Jor
the production oJ labor. Fot the thteat oJ the stake uected norc
fi.
midable bariers around women\ bodies than *'erc a'et etected by theJewing of oJ the common5.
We can,in fact, imagine what eFect it had on women to see their neighbon,ftiendr
and relatives being burned at the sake, and rcalize that any contraceptive initiative
on
their side might be construed as the product of a demonic perversion.26 Seekiog
to
undelstand what the women hunted as witches and the other women in their commu-
nity must have thought, Glt, and concluded 6om this horendous attack waged upon
them - looking, in other wohds, at the persecution "{iom within," as Anne L. Barstow
has done in her Witchuaze (1994) - also enables us to avoid speculating on the inten-
tions ofthe penecutors, and concentrate instead on the efecs ofthe witch-hunt on drc
social position ofwomen. From this point ofview, there can be no doubt that the witch-
hunt destroyed the methods that women had used to conuol procreation, by indicting
them as diabolical devices, and institutiondized the state's control over the fena.le body,
the precondition for its subordination to the reproduction oflabor-power.
But the witch was not only the midwife, the woman who avoided materrury'
or
the beggar who eked out a living by stealing some wood or buner ftom her neighbors'
She was also the loose, promiscuous woman - the prostitute or adulteress, and gener-
dly, the woman who exercised her sexudity ouside the bonds ofmarriage and
Procr-
ation.Thus, in the witchcraft trials,"ill repute" was evidence of guilt.The witch was alto
the rebel woman who alked back, arguei, swore, and did not cry under torture
"Rebel"
here refen not necesarily to any specific subvenive activiry in which women might
b
involved. Rather, it d esctibes the
Jeuale
petsowlity rhat had developed, especidly
amonS
the peasantry, in the course ofthe strugle against feuda.l power, when women
had
becD
in the forefront ofthe heretical movemens, often organizing in femde associations, Pr
ing a growing challenge to male authority and the Church. Descriptions of witch6
remind us of women as they were represented in the medie!"l monlity plays
and
thc
fabliaux;
ready to take initiatives, as aggressive and lusty as men, wearing ma.le clothes'
or
proudly riding on their husbands' backs, holding a whip.
Certainly, among those indicted there were women suspected ofspecific
critnF
one was accused ofpoisoning her husband, another ofcausing the death oiher
emPlorl
another again of having prcstituted her daughter (Le Roy Ladurie 1974 2C'344)
D"'
la1!
In the fldl*et of Cuemsey, England, threc unmen arc bu t alfuc.
Anoaymous eryftttin& 16h entury
not only the deviant woman, but the woman as such, paticularly the woman oJ the
that wos put ot rrrl1, a wornan who generated so much fear that in her case
between education and punishment was turned upside down. "We must,"
declarcd, "spread terror among some by punishing many." And indeed, in
few were spared.
the sexual sadism displayed by the tonures to which the accused were sub-
tlrrcals
a misogyny that has no parallel in history, and cannot be accounted for on
of aay specific crime. According to the standard procedure, the accused were
Dtcd and completely shaved (it was argued that the devil hid among their harr.1;
Ef were pricked wirh long needles a.ll over their bodies, including their vagrnas, rn
tor the mark with which the devil prcsumably bnnded his creatures (ust as the
in England did with runaway slavei;. Often they were nped; it was investigated
ot not they were virgins - a sign ofinnocence; and ifthey did not confess, they
oEutted
to even more atrocious ondeals: their limbs were torn. thev were seated
clnin
under which 6res were lit; their bones were crushed.And when they were
trurnt,
care was aken so that the lesson to be drewn 6om their end would nor
The execution was an important public event, which all the memben of
had to attend, including the children of the witches, especially their
l as
daughters who, in some cases, woutd be whipped in ftont of the t*" ot1 which
thor
could see their mother burning alive.
The witch-hunt, then, was a \,!er agalnst women; it was a concerted atlstt,
,^
degnde them, dernonize them, and desttoy their social power.At the sarne tune.
it
wqs
f,
the tornrre chamben and on the stakes on which the witches perished that the bourgo]
ideals ofwomanhood and domesticiry were forged'
In tb.is case, too, the witch-hunt ampliied contemponry social trends.There
is.
in
fact, an unmistakable continuiry between the practices targeted by the witch-hunt
a14
those banned by the new legislation that in the same yean was introduced to
rcgqfta
fanily life, gender and prcperty relations.Across western Europe, as the witch-hunt
rv4
p.ogresirrg, la*s were passed that punished the adulteress with death (in England
q6
ScJand by the stake, as in the case of High Treason) At the same time prostitution
w.
outlawed and so was birth out ofwedlock, while infanticide was made a capital crime,lt
Simultaneously,
Gmale Aiendships became an object of suspicion' denounced ftom
tl'o
pulpit as subversive ofthe alliance between husband and wife,just as wornen-to-wo6qo
..l"iiorr, *"r" demonized by the prosecutors of the witches rrvho forced them
3q
denounce each other as accomplices in crime' It was also in this period that the wod
"gossip," which in the Middle Ages had meant "ftiend"' changed its meaning' acquirioS
"",1"-gtory
connotation, a further sign of the degree to which the power of womcn
and communal ties were undermined'
Also at the ideological level, there is a close corespondence between t}te degndcd
image of women fo.geJ by the demonologiss and the image of Gmininity constructld
Uy ,'tt" .orrr"-pooty debates on the "nature ofthe sexes"'28 which canonized a steto-
ryli.A
*o-"rr, *""t in body and mind and biologically
prcne to evil' tlat effectively
,e*.d to
losti$
m"le concol over women and the new patriarchal oder-
. wi t ch-
Hunt i nq and MaI e Sr r pr er nacy:
The Tarni ng of Wornen
The sexual politics ofthe witch-hunt is revealed by the relation between the witch
"rrd
,h. d"uil, *hi"h is one ofthe novelties introduced by the 16th and 17th-century
trials.The GreatWitch-Hunt
-.,t.d
"
th"t'g" in the image of the devil comp-arcd
wi th that to be found i n the medi eval l i ves of the sai nts or i n the DooKr
"'
Renaissance magicians. In the fo,mer' tht devil was portrayed as an evil being'
but
one who had little power - a sprrnkling of holy waier and a few holy *tq.f,i
usually su{ficient to defeat his schemes' His image was that of an unsuccessrur "'
doer who, far from inspiring horro'' *a' crediteJ *ith some virtues'Tht
Tli:;
devil was a logician, competent in leg"l matters, sometimes-represented
In trrc
^'
deGnding his case i., f.ont of" cout-t'oilaw
(Seligman 1948: 151-58)-2e
He
was
dJ
a skillful
-worker
who could be used to dig mines or build city walls' althougn-n' -;
routincly cheated when the timc came for his recompense' Also' the
":::ilt
;'"il :ijffi ,ff:'lii"::ff:',:T,i:lf'xi'i:Jlil::
::H*:fi
I'"i;;'
.,
o"f"''n"*?,'iffi
IlI"jj'J;;"1-.'relationbetweenth.deuila"dthewitch'lt
ra6
Tlrc dedl 6nies awry the soul oJa ummn uln seneil hitr,
Woodut
Jron
OIus Magnus, H$toRtA DE cl:t tTrBUs
SEPTNT ruoNruaus (Rofle, 1 5 5 5
).
woman now who was the serlent, the slave, the srrrabas in bodv and soul. whi.le
functioned as her owner and rnaster, pimp and husband at once. It was the
instance, who "approached the intended witch. She rarely coniured him up',
1983: 148).After revealing himself to her, he would ask her to become his ser-
what would follow then would be a classic example of a masrer/slave. hus-
telation. He stamped her with his rnark, had sexua.l intercourse with her and,
irutances, he even changed her name (Larner 1983: 148). Moreovel in a clear
andTeutonic regions.
iltion of women! matrimonial destiny, the witch-hunt introduced one single
the place ofthe multitude ofdevils to be found in the medieval and Renaissance
lfi a, maculine Devil dt /rrat, in contr"ast with the female figures (Diana, Hera,../a
dcl zogo"),whose culs were spread among women in the Middle Ages, in both
llow
preoccupied were the witch hunters with the afirmation ofmale suorcmacv
recn
from the fact that,even when in revolt agarnst humau rnd diuine law, women
be portrayed
as subservient to a man, and the culnination oftheir rebellion -
pact with the devil - had to be represented as a perverted marriage con-
matital analogy was carried so far that the witches would confess that they,,did
ra7
I
not darc to disobey the devil," ot, more curiously'
that they did n91 fi1d anv
lleasun
6
th"i" .opul"tions
*ith him - a contradiction
with respect to the ideology ofthe
rvii"lt-
f,uni *ii.ft a""it"a witchcraft ftom women! insatiable lust'
"'"-
N"i.ttfy djd the witch-hunt sancti$ male supremacy' it also instigated
6to
"
e* *.-"",
"ia
even to look at them as the destroyers of the male sex,Wlmen'
qrc
;;;; ;;" Malleus Malefcoum
preached' are lovely to look at but contaminating
oo
il;;;
ilt ;;..t
-"'i,
bttt oJv to undermine them; thev do evervthing to plqalc
lrr.-, i"i ,rt" pr."t"re they give is more bitter than death' for their vices cost men
thc
ilr';;Jt.[ -
",'a
ptitt"po their sexual orgars
(Kon and Peters 1972:114-115;'
A witch. oresumably,
could castrate men or make them impotent' either by freezing
thsir
il#;:';;;;'causing
their penis to come out and draw back as she wished:o
il;;;i";;; o"nises,
w-hich they hid in great numben in bitd ness or boxes' until'
"ti"t
l"*", irt"t *.re forced to return them to their owners'31
"'^--';;;;;;
;"re these witches who castrated sren or made-them impotenll
P"."",;i;;
;;man ln a village or small town of a few thousald people' whcre
n
il;;;&
il;,ch-hunt
dozens-of
women werc burned in the space of a few
vean
or even a few weeks, no rnan could tbel safe and be sure that he did not live with a witch'
WomenJly on their brcoms ro rhe Saltbat aier applyi'g **-" t:
::::,',:0,':
I tt <zuury kewh fin fmntThomas
hastul\ DulocuEs
lo|cHll
I P
r"o{,orR Dtrs soRc[)Rns
(1570)
taa
grust havc been terrified upon hearing drat at night some women left dre mar-
bcd
to travel to the Sabbat, fooling their deeping husbands by putting a stick next
9r hearing that wornen had the power to rnake their penises disappear,like the
mentioned
in the Malleas, who had stoted dozens in a tree.
That
this propagnda successfirlly divided women ftom men is suggested by the
dcspite
individud attempts by sons, husbands, or fathers to save their Gmale rel-
6,om
the stake, with one exception, we have no record ofany male orgenizations
the
persecution. The exception is the case of the fishermen of the Basque
wherc
the French Inquisitor Pierre Lancre was conducting mass trials that led to
ofperhaps as many as six hundred women. Mark Kurlansky reports that the
had been been absent, engaged in the annual cod season. But.
[when
the men] ofthe St.-Jean-de-Luz cod fleet, one of the largest
[&om
Basque country] heard rumors of dteir wives, mothen, and
daughten
peing] striPped, stabbed, and many dready executed, t}re
1609 cod campaign was ended two months early. The fishermen
rcturned, clubs in hands, and libented a convoy ofwitches being taken
to the burning place,This one popular resistance was all it took to stop
dre trids... (Kudansky 2001: 102)
Thc intervention ofthe Basque fishermen ageinst the persecution oftheir Gmale
was a unique event. No other group or organization rose up in defense ofthe
Ve know, instead, that some men made a business of denouncing women,
themselves as "witch finden," tnvelling from village to vilJage threatening to
women unless they paid up. Other men took advanage ofthe climate ofsuspi-
women to free themselves from unwanted wives and loven, or to blunt
of women thev had reoed or seduced. Undoubtedlv. men's failure to acr
the atrocities to which women werc subiected was often motivated bv the Gar
inplicated in the charges, as the majority of the men tried for this crime were
of suspected ot convicted witches. But there is no doubt that yean of propa-
terror sowed among men the seeds of a deep psychologicd alienacion from
that broke class solidariry and undermined their own collective power.We can
Marvin Harris that,
The witch-hunt... scattered and fragmented all the latent energies of
ptotest.
[It]
has nude everlone Gel irnpotent and dependent upon the
dominant social groups, and has furthermore given them a local out-
let for their fiustntions. By this it has prevented the poor, more than
any other social group, ftom confronting ecclesiastica.l authority and
the secular ordeq and making their claims within the redistribution of
wedth and the levelins ofsocial status
(Hartis
197 4:239-240\.
as today, by represing women, the ruling clases more effectively repressed the
They instigated men who had been exprcpriated, pauperized, and
to blarne their penonal misfornrnes on the castreting witch, and to view
149
the power that women had won against the authorities as a power women would
ue
against them.All the deep-seated Gars that men harbored with regard to women
1qo"ri
because ofthe Church's misogynous propaganda) were mobilized in thlr.on,"",.
Nll
or y were women accused of rnaking nen impotent; even their sexualiry was
turh;
into an object ofGar, a dangerous, demonic force, as men were aught that a witch
cojl
enslave them and chain tlem to her will (Kors and Peten 7972:130-32).
A recurrent charge in the witch trials wes drat witches engaged in degenerate
sqxuel
practices, centering on copulation with the devil and participation in the orgies tlpl
o[
sunably took place at the Sabbat. But witches were also accused ofgenerating an ex.qssilh
erotic passion in men, so that it was an euy step for men caught in an illicit affair to qlei;
they had been bewitched, or, for a family wanting to terminate a son's relation with a wo421
ofwhom they did not approve, to accuse the latter ofbeing a witch.Wrote the Mallea3l
there are,..seven methods by which
[witches]
infect ... the venereal
act and the conception ofthe womb: Fint, by inclining the rninds of
fie Devil seduees a rwman
into m.tking d patl with him,
From Uich Molitot, Dr
I-AMrEs (1489)
men
to inotdinate passion; Second, by obstructing their generitive
force;
Third, by removing the member accomodated to that act;
Fourth,
by changing men into beasts by their magic art; Fifth, by
destroying
the generative force in women; Sixth, by procuring abor-
{on;
Seventh, by ofering children to t}re devtl.., (1971 47),
witches were accused simultaneously ofrendering men impotent and arous-
sexual passion in them is only apparendy a contradiction. In the new
code drat was developing in concomitance with the witch-hunt, physical
was the counterpart ofmoral impotence; it was the physical manifestation of
ofmale authority over women, since "functionally"
there would be no dil:
a man who was cas[ated and one who was helolesslv in love.The demo-
looked with suspicion at both states, clearly convinced that it would be impos-
rcalize the
rype
of family the contemporary bourgeois wisdom demanded -
on the state, with the husband as the king, and the wife subordinate to his will,
devoted to the management of the household (Schochet 1975) - if women
ghmour andlove filters could exercise so much power as to make men the str-
desires.
passion undermined not or y male authority over women - as Montaigne
man can preserve his deat in everything except in the sexual act (Eadea 1 980:
it also undermined a mant capacity for self-government, causing him to lose
head wherein Cartesian philosophy was to locate the source ofReason.A
ive woman, then, was a public danger, a threat to the social onder as she sub-
mant sense ofresponsibility, and his capacity for work and self-control. Ifwomen
to ruin men morally - or more important, financially - female sexuality had
This was accomplished by means oftorture, death by 6re, as well as the
inteEogatiols to which witches were subjected, which were a mixture of
and psychological rape,32
then, the 16th and 17th cennrries did inaugurate an age ofsexual repres-
sorship and prohibition did come to define their relatiorxhip with sexuality.With
bucault in mind, we must also insist dut it was rot the Cat-holic Dastoral. nor the
that best demorstrate how "Power," at the dawn of the modern era, rrurde rt
for people to speak ofsex (Foucault 1978: 1 16).The "discunive explosion" on
detected in this time, was in no place more poweri ly exhibited than in
chambers ofthe witch-hunt. But it had nothinq in conunon with the mutual
that Foucault imagines flowing between the womal and her conGsor. Far out-
my village priest, the inquisitors forced the witches to reveal their sexual adven-
detail, undeterred by the fact that they were often old women and their sex-
dated back many decades. ln an almost rinral manner, they forced ttte alleged
explain how in their youth they weie 6rst taken by the devil, what they had felt
the impure thoughts they had harbored. But the stage upon which this
on sex unfolded was the torture chamber, and the questions
were asked
of the shappado,to wornen driven mad by pain, and by no stretch of
can we presume that the orgy ofwords *re women thus loftured were forced
their pleasure or re-oriented, by linguistic sublimation, thei desire. In the
r9l
case ofthe witch-hunt - u/hich Foucault surprisingly ignores in his Hislory oJ Sexuali,y
(Vol. 1, 1978) - the "interminable discoune on sex" was not deployed as an altetnative
to, but in the service of repression, censonhip, denial Certainly we can-say that the
tan-
guage ofthe witch-hunt
"produced" theWoman as a difetent species, a bein-g surs
Sexa'r;.,
ir-role ."rn"l
"nd
petverted by nature. We can also say that the production of the "fsmel.
Dervert' .wasastepi nthetransformati onofthefemal edsercti .l i t\tovi sl a| }onti v| -that
'is,
afl$t step in rhe tnnsJormation oJlemale sexualiy into u'otk Bot we should appreciatq
dr.
d.si.,ctiue ch"n.te" of this process, which also demorxtrates the limits of a general
"bis-
tow of sexuality" of the qpe Foucault has proposed, which treas sexudity from the pe1-
.oective ofan undifferentiated,
gender-neutral subject, and as an activity presuma\
cq-
rying
the same corsequences
for men and women'
The wi t ch- l l r r nt
and t he Capi t al i st
R at i o nal . i z at i on of SexuaI i t Y
The witch-hunt did not result in new sexual capacities or sublimated pleasures
fot
*om"rr, I.rrt""d, it *"s the first step in the long march towards "clean sex between clean
,rr".o4rra ,n" ,ra"sformation
of female sexual activity into work, a service to men, and
p-.r""aiorr. C"ntrd to this process was the banning' as anti-social and virtually demonic'
of all non-productive,
non-procreative
forms of female sexualiry'
-
fi" repulsion thai non-procreative
sexuality was beginning to-inspire is v/ell
captured bv the'myth ofthe old witch flying on her broom' which'like the anirnals she
;;;;" ;n;;
G;"ts,
mares, dogs)' was the projection of an extended penis' svmbol of
""
t"U.ia.i f"*fhi, i-"g"ry b"toy'
"
new sexual discipline that denied the "old and
rJ; *"-"",
"t
anger fe-rtile, the right to a sexual liG' In the creation
of this stereo-
ir?i ,rr"l"-"""f
"gisis
.onfotrntd to t"he moral sersibiliry of their time' as illustrated by
tire *ord, oft*o illustlious contemporaries
ofthe witch-hunt:
To see an old lecher, what more odious? What can be more absurd?
And yet so common. " '
Wone it is in women than in men Whilst
she is an old crone, a beldam, she can neither see nor hear' a mere car-
cass, she caterwauls and must have a stallion (Burton 1977156)'
Yet it is even more fun to see the old women who can scarcely carry
Jeir weight of years and look like corpses that seem to havc rtsen
fiom the Lad.They still go around saying "liG is good"' sill in heat'
looking for a mate.
"they
are forever smearing their faces with make
up
"nJ
t"kirrg tweezers to their pubic hair' exposing theit saggrng'
withered breasts and trying to rouse failing desire with their-quavery
whining voices, while theyirink' dance among girls and scribble their
love letten @tasmus
!947:42)'
This was a far cry from the world ofChaucer'where
the Wife ofB'th'
aft"t
bu1|
ing five husbands, couta ,ti[ opt"ri!"tU"tliW"ttornt
the sixth
"
I don't mean
ro
Do
t92
A dispute betu.Yen a witch and dn
Inqukitot Hans Buthtn.tb (beJote
1514) .
Marry unner aaused ard ttiedJot
wixhoaJt ueft old and poot O.ften
they depewled on publt thatity
Jor
their suflinl WitchclaJt - ue
ale told - is the uteapon oJ the
powelets. But okl wonen were
ako those in the ommunity ttrost
likely to rcsist the destwetion oJ
conmunal relations taused by the
spread oJ apitalist relations. They
wde the ones ulrc embodied the
eom wily's knouledge and flrcn-
ory The wit.hlunt turncd the
inage oJ the ol.l tuott.ur upsiile
doun: tnditionally onsideted a
wise rnman, she lteeame a symbol
oJ sterility dnd hostility to
W.
t93
ch: rst c at rl l cost . Wl l f t ) . l \ l x)use of l )i l t c i s gonc' . ; rnot her Chri st i an nran . l t . rl l
t , rkc
^, -
or" (Cl ri rrccr l t )77: 217). l t t he rvorl d of Ch: rucer, rhe scxl al vrt rl i t y of r hc
"l , l
, u, , , , . . , "
rves en l f ] i rnrari ot r of l i l e l gai rrst . l cat h; i n t hc i cot rogr: rph, v of t he l . i t ch-l rrrnr,
, , 1. 1
, . u
pret l udcs i l wor)ren t hc posvbi l i t y of l scxu. rl l i f e, cont : Lrrri nat cs i t , t urns
i nt a a t . ol of dcrt h r: rrher t hi rn a r' eans of rcgener: rt i on.
\ cxual
i l ct i vi t )
Rcgl rdl css of l gc (nt not cl ass) i rt rhe rvi t ch t ri : rl s. t l rere i s x col st err! rrl (n(l i (. ru^, ,
benvcco fc'rnalc sexuirlit) ru)d besri. it;. This u.rs suggcste.d bv copularion u rrh tlr.
go"t,
gotl (one of thc representati()irs of rhe cicvil), dre irrfarnorrs kiss rrrl, rarl,t, .,,J th. , l,aro"
t har t hc wi t chc\ kept i t vari ct , v of l ri nral s - "i rnps"
or "i urri l i xrs" - t hl t h. l pc. l rl , . ' r
l i
tht'ir crirrrcs and with whonl they cntertainccl I particuhrly intil)late rchtion.Thcsc
rve.,.
cars, dog;, h;rres. i-rop5. thirt thc witch care(l for, presunubly' suckling rhenr frorrr ,pe. r.rl rq"6
Ot hcr ani nral s. t oo. pl ayccl I rol e i n t he wi t chl s l i l e as i nst rurl cnt s of t hc
devt l .
gont s. ancl (ni ght )nrl rcs f l c' s her ro t hc' Srbt rer. t oi rds provi dcd her *i t h poi son
f i rr
l sl
col l coct i ol l s. Such wi s t he
f reseDce
of i rt ri nul s i n t he wt t ches' w()rl d t hi t ()r)e
n[ l sr
Drc-
surl c t her t hel t oo rvcrc bci g put ol l t ri al . -11
Tbc rnarnagc bctrve.en thc' witch ind her "fiuliliars" was pcrhaps r refi'rclce
to the
"bcstial" practiccs th.lt chamcterized the sexuel life ofpeaslnts in Europc, rvhicb rcnr.inqd
a crpi t al of l Fnse l ong l f i er rhc encl of t hc wi t ch-l rul l t . I rr an cn t hat was begi rrl i ng
ro
*orshi p rcason l nd t o di ssoci at c drc' hr. rrrran f ronr t he corporeal , ani nt rl s. r, ' , r. \ \ crr rub-
jecte'd to a drastic dcvlluarion rcduced to rlere btutes, the ultirrratc "Othc.r"
-
ferel-
nial synrbol ofdre rvorst h!rllan inrtinct\. No crirne, then, rvould inspirc nrorc horror than
copulation with a bc'ist, a true attick on the ontological ftrundrtio[s ofa hurnan ature
increlsingly idt'ntifecl rvith its nrost irrtrnateriel aspccts. llut the surplus of llilul pres-
eDccs in the witches'lives dso strggcsts that wornen wcre tt a (shppery) crossn>rd bctween
rnen ancl anirn;rls, and that not only ferndc scxualit;,, but femirrinity ls such. \\'as .rkin !o
aninrdiry To scal this equltion, witchcs wen' oftc\r acctrsed of shifting thcir shupc and
nrorphi
la
into rul|r s, while th(' nlost conllllonly cited ftrrrililr rvls the told. $ hich as
a syrnbol ofthe vaginr synthesizcd sexu:rliry, bcstialiry, fenrininity, anrl evil.
Thc *itch-hunt concicnrrrccl fenr c sexuality :rs thc source ofcvcry cvil, but it was
also the rruin vehicle firr a broad rcstructurirrg ofscxual lifc that, confornring u ith thc new
clpicalisr rvork-discipli e, crirllindized lny sexrril :rctiviry that tlrreatened proi rc'.rn,.rr,
rhc
tr:l snission ofpropc'rry rvithin the fanrily, or took tirrle rnd energres away fn)u s,'rk
Thc rvirch trills provide ln instructivc list of thc fo.m. of r"r.u"litl tlt.,t rtat"
bal rred l s "no: r-prodt rct i vc": horrrosext r: rl i t y. sc' x bet $, eer) youl g and ol d, : 11 sex l )rt we! ' l l
peopl e of di f f erent chsses, rnal . oi t us, coi t us f ronr behi rrd (reput edl y l ei l i r{ t , ,
' r(-rrl c
rel:rrions). nuciity. and clancrs.Also proscribecl rvas thc prrblic, collcctivc sextrelin
rh,rt
ltno
prcviilecl iu thc Midclle Agt's, as ir thc Sprirrg festivrls ofprg;an origins thrt. iIr drc
l6tn-
centur],, \r'cre srill celcbratcti all ovcr Europe. Conrpere, ir) rhis coDtext, the rvlv lrr t'hid
P St t rbbcs, i n, ! rral o y. l ' Abui ' . (l . t 8. 1), dcscri bcdt l re cel cbrat i on of M; ry D. r1 i n Errgl rnu'
rvith the stanchrd accounts ofthc S:rbblt *fiich chlrged that the rvirchc's llrvls
thttceu
at t hc' sc
l l rt heri rrgF, j unl pi r)l l
up i l r)cl down at t he sound of pi p. .
"rd
f l ut "r,
"t , d
i t ' ' 1t ' l gt '
i n nruch col l ect i ve st ' x and nrerrvnraki ng.
191t
r 95
7l k d&u, o t ) f t l i Cl kl n, l i nl nt r , . l u. s i t t 1589. . 1<, , ut t ) r t nr i u. , ont ol .
tl riliuts,
^
llJrtt ,ith
htr
linili,n
Towl r<Js
May. . . r' vcry prri sh, t own i rrd vi l l age gct s t ogcrher, bot h rrrcrr,
wonl en
and chrl dren, ol d and young. . . rhcy rrrn ! o rhe bt rshes l rrcl
woods, hills and rnounrails, rvherc, tlrey spe,nd lll thc nighr in ple:rs_
ant past nnes,
arrrl i n t hc t rrorni ng rhc, y rct urn bri ngi ng honrc t ri rch
bows and brrnchcs of t rces. . . (T)he chi ei i , st j ervel
rh. r. i . i ug h. , , , , c i ,
t nel r nuyp()l c, rvl rrch t hey bri ng horne rvi t h grcat vot erat i on. . . t l l ci r
t hey f al l t o banquct ancl f east . co l crp al )(l dar)cc aborrt i t . rs hel rhen
peopl c
di d rr t hc dcdi c. rri on of rhci r i dol s. . . (l , urt ri cl gc:
I l l ).
So , -' ",
ani uugous
i oI l t p. rrr\ ol l ( rn bc t rri dc bcrwcen t hc cl escri pt i orrs of rhe Sl bbat at rcl
f d; : : : , p: o, t t
\ \ l )i rl r \ (r, rrr\ h l )resbl , re, ri arr l udrori ri cs l udc of
f i l gri nri rgcs
(t o hol Y
$ and
orhcr
hol y l ,
' . -al i nc. ).
rr l rrcl r t he Crrhof i c. Church hr. l
"ni , , ur, rgc. t ,
but *hi cl r
the Piesblterians opposed as congregations ofthe devil and occasions for lewd ag1i.r.^
a general tendenry, throughout dris period, any potentially trarsgressive meconq
-
,,^"-
ants' gatherings, rebel camps, festivals, and dances - was descriUed by the authoritiell]
virtual Sabbat.3s
It is also sigrfficant that, in some areas ofNorhern Italy, going to the Sabbat
_^_
called "going to the dance" or "going to the gtme', (al zogo)
,
p""C."t".ly
*h.n on.
"oi-* siders the campaign that Church and state were conducting
"gi"rt,".h
p"r,i.f,il
(Muraro 1977: 109S Hill 1964: 183ft).As Ginzburg points out,,,once we remove
[fiq'
the Sabbatl the m)ths and the fanastic tlappings, we discover a gathering
of
DeonL
accompanied by dances and sexual promiscuity" (Ginzburg tS06: tSe), and. we
{u,j
add, much eating and drinling, surcly a fantasy at a time when hunger was a co[unon
experience in Europe, (How revealing concerning the nature ofclass relations
at the
tiq6
ofthe witch-hunt, that dreams ofroasted mutton and ale could be frow.r"d upon
by
a
well-fed, beef-eating bourgeoisie aJ signs of a diabolical connirance!) Ginzburg,
how_
ever, following a well-trodden path,labels the otgies associated with the Sabbat
as,,hal-
lucinations ofpoor women, to whom they serve as a recompense for a squalid existence,,,
X: l
d .s"
)oi4nl iheme it morry tqtesentdtions oJthe Sabbat - d
jfltns! tt.0
re a eommot expuiette in E mpe. DetailJromJan Zalflko's
pldle|u
3LEAU DE L'rNCoNsrANCE
(1612)
Thus, ttre role that the witch_hunt has played in the development
of the bour_
wodd, and specGcally in the development
ofthe capitarist discipline ofsexuality,
:en enued from our memoryYeq we can tmce back to this process some oI the
aboos of our time. This is the case with ho-ose*u".lity,
*hi.i in several parts of
c n"s s'll fully accepted during the Renaissance, but was weeded out in the .ourse
witch-hunt. So fierce was the persecution
ofhomosexuals
that its memory is still
ed in our language. "Faggot',
reninds us that homosexuals
*"r.
"i
airiro ,t .
for the stakes upon which witches were burned, while the ltali
"nfunorai
6.n-
rs to the practice ofscattering
these aromatic vegetables on the ,iak s i., i.le.
the stench ofburning flesh.
Ofparticular significance is the relation the witch-hunt established between the
1e.14
d1
ytctr,
reflecting the p-rocess of devaluation which p-rA*jor,
l..rra.r_
in the capiralist reorganizarion
of sexual work. As ,h" *yrrg;.;;,;;"o-ru*,"
.Tl3,:-yj:h
when old," for both used sex onJy to a..ei,i"
"rd.o.r'up,
-..,,
a love that was only mercenary (StieGlm
"r,
tslzi +ttS.i"ii"i
,"iii[r^*r*
;:"_:::::::li"d.il
tr.u
io**:te
witch (who sold h.,,o,rio ,r," ,r*il)
;T,Tf.f
-i*: "f
rhe.prcstirute (who sold her body,o rn".,). E*,i,".
"*,
(o|q, wrtch and-the prostirute were symbols ofsterility, t}re very penonificaqon
ve sexuality.Thus,
while in the MiddleAge, tfre p.ortitut.
arra th" *ii.i
positive figures who performed
a social se"ui"" fo",t
"
.o-rnuJf *i,t
rnt both acquired the most negative conno,",i"",
""a
*"* ,"i";;;;:_
l"jl^Ti1lryr*n1
by death and socially by crim.inalization.io.
th. p-r- . I vr r r r c
Pr us-
X:,* "
r.e subJecr or y after having died a thousand times on the stake as a
L.t,
*ni.: rhe prosrirure
wou.ld be allowed to survive (she would even become
l*::qlf"
a clandestine fashion) only as long as th. *i
"h
*;;;; kii.a; ro,
::,Y
T.
-o*
:::t.ry
dangercus subject, the one who (in the eyes of the
lo.s)
was less conttollable; it was she who could give pain or ple",.*,
ie-J * ,r*rrr,
the
elements and chain the will of m
k . _-t^--t,,, n,
.,
.en; she could even cause damage solely by
a malocchio ("evil eye") that presumably could kill.
was the sexual nature of her crimes and her lower_class
status that distrn_
the
witch from the Renaissance magician, who was largely immr"" f."* ,rr.
lon.
High Mic and witchcraft shared
-"oy
.1.-"rrtr,"Th._.,
J""ir.i n rn
red
nagica.l tradition were introduced by the demonologists
into the Je6ni-
witchcraft.,Among
them was the belie{ of Neoplato"i.
i.igi", ,ir",'i.i,
^ "
fotce.
binding rhe universe thtough relations
"f
-ry-p"Ji;;
""J;;;"o." ; ure rD;lgrcran
to manipulate and imitate nature in his experirnents.A
similar
ri'as
a$ributed
to the witch, who reputedly could oire rtorrn, Uy _i_"ri."ffv
i
Ad ah
G
197
st r r r i r ) g: r
l ) u( l dl c.
or . ot l l d cxcr ci sc l r r
"i t ! t r i l ct i ( r l "
\ i r ) t i l r r t u t hc bor r t l i r r q, , f r r r ( t a[ , _
t hc al chcrri c t rl di t i on. (Yrrr. s 1(Xr, 1: l -l 5f I ;
(l oul i arro
l ()f t 7)- I l re i deol , rg, v , , f rl r,
t , ,
' ", j pj al so rct l cr. t L-d t hc bi bl i c. rl t cnct . corrl l ()t r t o borh rrr. rgrc. rnd . rl chert rr, . rh. t t . t i pLrl , rt crl
c()nncct i or) bct Nccl ]
-. rrrra/ i rf
. rnrl I ' rr, ' rr' I t r/ {t . Tl rc t l l csi \ t h. l t \ \ i t cl )cs . l
f o\ \ ' er\
b' c()pul . rt i ri l r
' , r
i t h t hc dc' i l cchoerl rhc el cher' i c bel i ef t l r. , t t 9ut t "d
t l ' "i ' ^
appropri : rred t hc sccret \ of chcrrri rrrv t r)' c. pul et i nq , , vi t h
rchel . , ", , , , r, , I t ' i i . t *] ] ' ] l
19-1l t : 76). Hruh Magrc. horvcvcr. rves not pcrsccut cd. t l t ough : rl cl t crt rv rvr
fr.rv.cd rrpor,.rs i t .rppc:rrr' rl :rr i dl c prr rsrri t end, us sur-' , u rv:rscc ,rr,,rrr" .l :r:i :.::l l ;l l ,:
Thc rrragi ci errs ucrc: rn cl i t c. r. "ho oi t cn ser' , . i ced pri rrccs l nrl ot hcr l : i gl rl v posrt i orrej
pr. ' opl c ((i oul i . roo 19137: l 5(rf -i ). . rnd t hc cl ernonol ogi st s cl ref ul l v di st i ugrri . hcd
I , ct *q1u
t hcnr unri t hc * i t chcs. bv rncl url : nu Hi gh Magi c (pi rt i cul . rrl \ ' . rst rol og] e1d . r\ 6onor)r\ . )
i r r t hc r er t qe of t l t e sci er r ces. 16
I
l The
vvi t ch- hunt and t he New Wor l d
Thc courrt erpl rt s of t h(' t uri cal Er. rropcarr rr' i t < h. drer). \ \ ' (' re , rot rhe l l crr. ri ssuncc
rr*Lai -
ci l rns. but t hc col ol ri zed nat i ve Arl cri ci rns i l nd t hc' errsl . rvccl Af ri cuns rvho. i n t hc pl : rnt l
ri ons of t l re " Nerv Wrrl t l .
'
shl rcd a dest i ny si nri l ar ro t hat of \ \ ' cl I r)cn i n f ' i rrnrpe. pror rr-l -
i ng f <rr cepi r: Ll t hc secnri r)gl y Lrrri t l css srrppl , v of l ebor neccssl rv f or eccurruht i orr.
So corrnecrccl \ \ ' crc t he cl cst i r)i c\ of \ \ ' ornen i n Eunrpe unt l t hosc of Arl crrncl nnr
arrd Af _ri cl ns i n rhc col ni cs t hut drci r i nl l uerccs \ \ ' crc rcci l )roci l l . Wi t ch-l runt i Dg i t nd
chargcs of dc' vi l -u' orshi ppi rrg *' e' re brought t o t he' Arrrcri cas t o l rrcuk t hc rcsi st . rrct of
t he l ocal popuht i orrs. j ust i f yi ng col <. )ni z: rt ro ard t l re shve t racl ' i r t hc el es oi t l rc rvorl d.
I rr t urn, rccordi ng t o Luci nno l )eri nct t o, i t rvas t ht ' A. rr reri c: rn cxpcri cncc t h. t t pcrsu. t cl ed
t he Errropcan aut hori t i cs t o bel i cl e i n t he cxi st cnce of ent i re poprr)at i ons of rvi t , l rcs, . urd
i nsri g. rrcd t hcrl t o rppl f i n Europc t hc $l nc t cchni ql re\ of ruass ext crnri rr, rt i ot t ci cvcl
oped i r) An)(' ri c. r (Prri nct t o l 99l i ).
I n Mcxi co. "l f -l rorrr 1536 t o 15, 13 t he l l i shop Zurt rarrrg. t corrl uct ccl l 9 t ri J' rrrrrrl v-
i rrg 75 I rrdrl rr heret i cs, rrrei nl y drrrvn f i onr t hc pol i t i c: rnd rcl i gi ous l c. t cl crs ot , crl t nl
Me' xi can corrrrl t rri t i cs, . r l t rrrbcr of r. , horn encl cd t hei r l i r, cs er t hc srl ke. l hc t i i . rr l )i ago
cl c L. rnda l ed i dol rt rl t ri . rl s i rt t heYuc: t t . ur t i uri rg t l t e I 560s. i rr rvhi ch t orrurc. \ \ hi f l i rr! 5'
encl ,rrro-r/c-/i figrrrecl prornincntly," (l)ehrr 1 9137: 51). Vitch hrr nts werc c(nr(lLr. r. , i .J*
'
irr
Pcrt r. t o dcst rov t hc' crrl t of t hc l ocul gods. corrsi cl cred cl cmol rs bv t he Ert n4t ct l t :
" Evervrvherc rhc Spurrirrds sru, *rc' ficc' ofthe dcvil: in the footls. . .
[in]
thc prir rltrr c r tcc'
of chcrnrl i : rns' . . . m rherr brrbari c hngu. rges (dcLeon 191t 5 I : 3-1 31). I nt l rc c( )11)rr rc\ '
t d' '
it r,vits rvorncrr u,ho rvc'rc nrore vulner.rble to bcing accuscd ofbcing u itchc.. ti'r. ltcitlll
hcld in slcci.rl contr'nlpt b) the Eur()pcllrs .n t r.:rk-rlindccl fcrr )des. thc\' \( x)r r bt.( ,lntc
lhc
st aunchcst
dcf enders of t hei r conrrruni t i es (Si l vcrbl at t 1r)8l t : 173. 1' 76 7()).
Thc corrrrrorr lrrtc of Errrolcls rvik-hcs lnd Errropcls colonirl sul)ic.t\
ls lilr(ln'r
dcnnnst rl t ccl
by t hc gnl vi nq exch. l ng. ' . i n l he course
()f t h(' l 7, h ccnt t rr). , bct . rccrl
rl l '
rt i er
'frvitchcr:rft
lncl thc r.rcist idcoltl4y- that clevclopcd on the soil of!hc
(lonqrriit
rrr"
'
' Thc I )c'r'il *.n portmlerl .rs u bllck rr:ur uncl bllck pr
'
,
' ' . , ht
t l r . r t r l er r l \ \ r ' ^l r | . r n( l r h. r L' , ' Lr . . r l r ot er vcr r ui ' r l \
l h, , . r r r l cl
l l r t "'
r . .
t "\
pect of t he nor Errro| carr soci ct i cs t hc sl avc t r: rders ct r(orrrrt ' r!
199
,,,1
. : 1.
I6rh<lnry nyrtiL utariot ,,1 C,nl,l,L,ut Itnti,ut: d: ltit: frLtr ililit: Cuvtt
Sn<t l hr t
l , on4t i Lr l ,
". l ci ) \ r r . \ / ) l \ 1 ( ) t j t
t t : \ t k l \ l ) / \ / l / i / t / \ / \ r ;
f r ) t r 4( r t t . \ ,
t r ( , r J/ | / ) / \ I ( : t l Rt ) \ t ) LI x; |
. . t L \ / t R/ / "
/ / r r o/ , r ' l i r l r / , r \ ( ; ( 0/ ( f
Snol l t r , 1; 66. )
r o| l c \ \ ' cr f I l I (
. a.
' , "
n
' t | | ' "l t '
@arker
1978:91)."Ftom Lapps to Samoyed, to tlre Hottentos and Indonesians.. . thq.e
w:"
no sociery" - Androny Barker writes - "which was not labeled by some Englisluql
_-
actively under diabolical inlluence" ( 1 978: 91) .Just as in Eutope, the trademark ofdiabol6l
was an abnormal lust and sexual potency.3T The Devil was often portrayed as possessih;
two penises, wbile tales ofbrutish sexud practices and inordinate fondness for music
anl
dancing became staples in the reports ofmissionaries and travelers to the "New World..i*
According to historian Brian Easlea, tlfs systematic exaggeration ofblack
sexual
potency betrays t}te anxiery drat white men ofproperry Glt towards their own
5s1qr1-
ity; presumably, white upper-clas males feared the competition of the people jl6y
enslaved, whom they saw as closer to nature, because they felt sexually inadequate
due
to excessive doses of self-control and prudentid reasoning (Easlea 1980: 249-50). gql
the oversexualization of women and black men - the witches and the devils
-
pprl
also be rooted in the position which they occupied in the international division oflabot
that was emerging on the basis of the colonization ofAmerica, the slave trade, and
thc
witch-hunt. For tlte defnition ofblackness and femaleness as marl<s ofbestiality and ir6-
tionality conformed with the exclusion of women in Europe and women and meir in
the colonies from the social contrrct implicit in the wage, ald the consequent natunll-
ization of their exploitation.
Tl r e wi t ch, t he I l eal et and t he Bi r t h of
Moder n Sci enc e
Other motives operated behind the penecution ofwitches. Charges ofwitchcraft often
served to punish the attack on property, primarily thefs, which increased dramatically
in the 16th and 17th centuries, following the increasing pri!"tizetion of land and rgri-
culture.As we have seen, in England, poot women who begged for or stole rnilk or wine
from the houses oftheir neighbors, or were on public assistarce, were likely to be sus-
pected ofpracticing evil arts.Alan Macfadane and Keith Thomas have shown that in this
period there was a marked deterioration in t}le condition of old women, followrng
rhe
ioss of the commoru and t}te reorganization of family life, which gave priority to child-
raising at the expense of the care previously provided to the elderly (Macfarlane
1970:205).rsThese elders wete now forced to rely on their ftiends o! neighbols for thell
survival, orjoined the Poor Rolls (at the very time when the new Protestant ethic
w25
beginning to finger alms-giving as a waste and an encouragement to sloth), and as thc
institutions that in the past had catered to the
Poor
were brefing down. Some
poor
women presumably useJ the fear that their reputation as witches inspired to obtain
wh2t
they needed. But it was notjust the "bad witch," who cursed and allegedly lamed
catdf'
ruined crops, or caused her employert children to die, that was condemned.The
"gooo
witch," who made sorcery her career, was also punished, often more sevedy.
Historically, the witch was the village midwiG, medic, sootblsayer ot sorceress'
whose privileged alea of competence (as Burckhadt wrote concerning the
ItJ{
wnose prrvrregeo alea oI comPctcrrcc
\aJ
DurLf,ldrlrl wrurc Luuccrlurr6 u''
J
witches), was amorous intiigue (Burckhardt 1927: 319-20). ttn urban embodrme
-"'
this qpe of witch was t}le Celestina, in the play by Fernando de lloiix
1fh,
C'lutitt
1499). Ofher it was said that:
200
She bad six trades, to wit:launderess, perfumer, a rraster hand at rnak-
ing cosrneiics and replacing damaged maidenheads, procuress, and
sometling
ofa witch.... Her first trade was a cover for the rest and
with this excuse many servant girls went to her house to do their
washing.
. . .You cant imagine the tra6c she carried on. She was a ba\
doctor;
she
Picked
up flax in one house and brought it to another, all
this as an excuse to get in everywhere. One would say:"Mother, come
here!" Or
"Here comes the mistress!" Everyone knew her.And yet in
spite ofher rnany duties she found time to go to Mass orVesper" (Rojas
1959:17-18)
'
'A
more typical heder, however, was Gostanza, a woman tried as a witch in San
smdl town ofloscana in 1594.After becoming a widow Gostanza had set her-
as a professional healer, soon becoming well-known in the region for her thera-
rcmedies and exorcisms. She lived with her niece and two other women, widows
A next-door neighbor, also a widow, gave her the spices for her drup. She received
in her home, but she also triveled wherever she was needed, to "mark" an aru-
a sick pecon, he$ people carry out a revenge or free themselves Iiom the efects
charms
(Carrdini 1989:51-58). Her tools were natural oils and powders, as
dvices apt to cure and protect by "syrnpathy" or " contact." It was not in her inter-
fear in her communiry as practicing her ars was her way ofmaking a liv-
was, in fact, very popular, everyone would go to her to be cured, to have his or
told, to 6nd missing objecs or to buy love potiorx. But she did not escape
A.fter the Council ofTrento (1545-1563), the Counter-Reformation took
position against popular healen, Garing their power and deep roots in the cul-
their communties. In England as well, the fate ofthe "good witches" was sealed
when a statute passed byJames I established the death penalty for anyone who
and magic. even ifthey caused no visible harm.se
the penecution of the folk healer, women were expropriated from a patri-
empirical knowledge, regarding herbs and heding rernedies, that they had accu-
and transmitted fiom generation to generation, its loss paving the way for a new
enclosure.This was the rise of
professional
medicine. which erected in front of
dasses" a wall ofunchallengeable scientific knowledge, unafordable and alien,
its curative pretenses (Ehrenreich and English 1973; Sarhawk 1997).
displacement of the folk-healer/witch by the doctor raises the question of
that the development ofmodern science and the scientific worldview played in
and fall ofthe witch-hunt. On this question we have two opposite viewpoints.
one side we have the theory descending from the Enlightenment, which cred-
of scientific rationalism as the key factor in the termination ofthe perse-
formulated by
Joseph
Klairs (1985), this theoty aigues that the new science
intellectual life, generating a new skepticism as "it revealed the un-iverse as
ism in which direct and constant divinc rnrervenuon wals unnec-
162). However, Klaits admis that the samejudges who by the 1650s were put-
20r
THEWTTqH'S HrtRBARy, e gaving
W
Hdns Weiditz (1532).
As the stany glok sugcsts, tlrc "vitue" oJ tlrc ha[s uNs
stftngthenad by lhe
Wpet
atl.al co junrtion.
ting a brcak on witch trials never questioncd the reality ofwitchcraft."Neither in Fnnc
nor any"where else did the seventeenth-centuryjudges who put an end ro witch-hunt-
ing profess that there were no witches, Like Newton and other scientists of the timc,
judges continued to eccept supernatural magic as theoretically plausible" (ilid.:163).
Indeed, there is no evidence that the new science had a libenting efect. Thc
mechanistic view ofNatute that came into existence with the rise ofmodern sciencc
"disenchanted
the world." But therc is no evidence that those who prcmoted ir cver
spoke in defense oftie women accused as witches. Descartes declared himself an agnos-
tic on this matter; other mechanica.l philosophers (ike
Joseph
Glanvil and Thonur
Hobbes) strongly supported the witch-hunt.
'What
ended the witch-hunr
(as Brian
Easlea has convincingly shown) wes the annihilation of the world of the witches
ano
the imposition ofthe social discipline that the victorious cepitalist system requited.ln
othet words, the witch-hunt came to an end, by the late 17th century because
the
rd-
ing class by this time enjoyed a growing sense of security concerning its power,
oot
because a more enlightcned view of the world had emerged.
The question that rcmairs is whether the rise of the modern scientific
methd
can be considered the cause ofthe witch-hunt.This view has been argued most
fotre
fully by Carolyn Merchant in The Death of Nature (198O) which roots the persecusor
of the witches in the paradigm shift the scientific revolution, and particularly
the
rlts
of Cartesian mechanistic philosophy, provoked. According to Merchanr,
thi5
sp'
202
enagonistic
to the project undertaken by rhe new science. Merchant 6nds a proof
r connection
between the persecution ofthe witches and the rise ofmodern sci-
127fi).The
woman-as-witch,Merchant
argues, was peEecuted as the embodiment
.'wild
side" ofnature, ofall that in nature seemed disorderly, unconrollable, and
in the work of Francis Bacon, one of the reputed fathers of the new scientific
showing that his concept ofthe scientific investigation ofnature was modeled
intcrrogation ofthe witches under tomrre, porFaing natute as a woman to be
unveiled, and raped (Merchant 1980: 168-72).
mothers,
with a mechanical
one that degraded them to the nnk of..standing
;cs,"
removing any ethical constraints to their exploitation (Merchant
Mcrchant's
account has the great metit ofchallenging the assumption that scien_
riooalisrn
was a vehicle ofprogres, and focuses our attention on the Drofound
an organic worldview
that had looked at nature, women, and the earth as nur-
drat modern science bas instituted between human being and nature. lt also
witch-hunt to the destruction ofthe envirorunent, and connects the caDitalist
on of rhe narural world with rhe exploitation ofwomen.
fremcworls.The Renaissance magicians were no less interested in these objec_
while Newtonian physics owed its discovery of gnvitational
attraction nor ro a
rtic but to a magical view of nature. Furthermore, when the vogue for philo_
nrechanign had run is course, by the beginning ofthe lgth cenar.y, rr.* phito_
I trcnds emerged that stressed the value of tyrnpathy,"..seruibiliry,"
and..passion,,,
w!rc easilf integrated in the project ofthe new science
@arnes
and Shapin 19Zl;.
Vc shou.ld also consider that the intellecrual scalfold rhar supported the persecu-
fthc witches was not directly taken from the pages ofphitosophical rationatism.
wrs a hansitional phenomenon, a sort of ideolog4cd bricolage that evolved under
rc of dre ask it had to accomplish.Within
it, elements taken from the fanas_
of medieval Christianity, rationalistic arguments, and modern bureaucrahc
ccdures combined, in the sane way as in the forging of Nazism the cult ofsci-
technology combined with a scenario pretending to restore an archaic, myth_
grH
ofblood bonds and pre-moneury allegiances.
This point is suggested by Parineao who observes that the witch_hunt was a clas_
(udomrnately,
not the last) ofhow, in the history of capitalism,,,going back,.
ofstepping forward, ftom the viewpoint of esablishinq the .o"rrditi-o^ fo.
umulation,
For in conjuring the devil, the inquisitors disposed ofpopular ani_
pantheism,
redeEning in a more centralized fahion the Lcation anj distribu_
!o*:. T
,h: cosmos and sociery. Thus, paradoxically
@arinetto writes), in the
tlnt
the devil functioned as the true senant ofGod; he was th. op"ra,o. ,h",
-or,
to paving the way to the new science. Like a bafifi or God's secret agent, the
rt order into the world, emptying it liom competing inlluences, and .easse.t_
the exclusive ruler. He so well consolidated Godl command over human afain
however, overlooks the fact that the
,,organic
worldview" which the
in pre-scientifc Europe, left room for slavery and the cxtermirution of
We also know drat the aspiration to the technological domination ofnature
appropriation of women's creative powers has accommodated di(Grent cosmo_
203
ll
nte dkhahkt\ "desirc to drytopiate the
Jurction
of fidkrnity" is u'ell-
rcfte.ted ii thk pic le oJ Hetmes Tiismegistus (alchetry\ nrythital
Jounder)
holding a
Jaus
in hh rwmb dnd sullestittg "the inseminaling role of the
that, within a century with the advent of Newtonian physics, Cod would be able to restl
from the world, content to guard is clock-like opentions ftorn afar.
Rationalism and mechanism, then, wete not the btnediate cause of the persecl-
tions,although they contributed to create a world committed to thc exploiation
ofnatur'
Morc imporant, in instigating the witch-hunt, was the need of the European
elites
@
eradicate an entire mode of existence which, by the late Middle Ages, was thratetrn5
their political and economic power.When this task was accomplished - when
social
de
cipline was restored and the ruling class saw its hegemony consolidated -
wirch
o1atl
came to en end.The bcliefin witchcraft could even become an obiect ofridicule,
decdd
as a supentition, and soon put out ofmemory.
;,";:*'J.:*:"'.".-J!:ff"*T.T:i**:::,i?:*.'li::il##
20.t
205
the
witch-hunt was the fact that the nrling class was beginning to lose connol
6oming
under the 6re ofits own rcpressive machine, with denunciations target-
fts own members. Midelfort writes that in Germany:
as the flames licked closer to the narnes ofpeople who enjoyed high
nnk and power, thejudges lost confdence in the confessions and the
panic ceased... (Midelfort 797 2: 206)
-
ln France,
too, the 6nal wave ofrials brought widespread socid disorder: servans
their masters, children accused their parents, husbands accused theit wives. Under
circurnstances,
the King decided to intervene, and Colbert extended Paris'juris-
to the whole of France to end the persecution. A new legal code was promul-
which witchcnft was not cven mentioned (Mandrou 1968: 443).
as the state had started the witch-hunt, so too, one by one, various govern-
took the initiative in ending it. From the mid- 17th century on, efforts were made
judicid and inquisitorial zeal. One immediate consequence was that, in dre
"common crimes" suddenly multiplied (ibid.: 437). k England, between
1712, as dre witch-hunt died down, arrcss for &mage to property (burning
houses, and hay stacks in particular) and assauls rose enormously (Kittredge
while new crimes entered the statute books. Blasphemy began to be treated
offense - in France, it was decreed that after the sixth conviction the
would have their tongues cut out - and so was sacrilege (the profanation
rnd dre theft ofhosts). New limits were dso pur on the sale ofpoisons;their
use was forbidden, their sale was made conditional upon the acquisition of a
end the death penalty was extended to poisonets.All this suggests that the new
w"as bv now sufficiendv consolidated for crimes to be identi6ed and oun-
such. without anv recourse to the suDernatural. In the words ofa French oar-
. Witches and sorceren are no longer condemned,6ndy because it is
dificult to establish p.oof of witchcnft, and secondly because such
condemnatiorx have been used to do harm. One has ceased drerefore
to accuse them ofthe uncenain in onder to accuse them ofthe cer-
tein
(Mandrou
1968: 361).
the subversive potential ofwitchcraft was destroyed, the practice of magic
be dlowed to continue.After the witch-hunt came to an end. manv women
to support themselves by forctelling the future, selling charms and practic-
forms of magic. As Pierre Bayle reported in 1704, "in many provinces of
Savoy, in the canton ofBerne and many othet places ofEurope... there is no
or bamlet. no nutter how small. where someone is not considered a witch"
1963:30).
[n 18dr-cenrury Fnnce, an interest for witchcraft developed also
urban nobiliry who -being excluded from economic production and sens-
thcit privileges were coming under anack - satisfied their desire for power by
to the magicd ars (i!i/.:31-32). But now the authorities were no longer inter-
ested in prosecuting these practices,being inclined, instead, to view witchcraft as x p-,
uct of ignorance or a disorder ofthe imagrnation (Mandmu lSe8:519). By the
rei
century the European intelligentsia even began to take pride in is acquired enl;g1.,.i-
ment, and confdendy prcceeded to rewrite the history ofthe witch-hunt,
disr6,r1[
it as a product ofmedievd superstition.
Yet the specter ofthe witches continued to haunt the imagination ofthe
ruliho
class. In 1871, the Parisian bourgeoisie instinctively returned to it to demonize
1ll
female Communatds, accusing them of wanting to set Paris aflame.The.. .an b" lit i.
doubt, in fact, that the models for the lurid tales and images used by the borrrgs;:
press to create tlre myth of rhe petroleuses were drawn from the repertoire ofthe
witch_
hunt. As described by Edith Thomas, the enemies ofthe Commune claimed that
thou_
sands ofprolearian women roamed (like witche$ the ciry day and night, with pots
64
ofkerosene and sricken with the notation "B.PB." ("bon pour bnrler,""good f61 1o,"1'-
ing"), presumably following insmrctions given to them, as part ofa great conspincy
tq
rcduce Paris to ashes in front ofthe troops advancing ftomVesailles.Thomas wdte5
{p1
"pettoleuses were to be found everywhere. In the areas occupied by theVersailles army
it
was enough that a woman be poor and ill-dresed, and that she be carrying a basket,
lq".
or milk-botde" to be suspected"(Thomas 1966:166-671. Hundreds ofwomen werc thu3
summarily executed, while the press vilfied them in the papen. Like the witch, the
petrolewe was deplcted as an older woman with a wild, savage look and uncombed hair.
In her hands was the container for t}re liquid she used to perPetrate her crimes.41
l Endnot eg
1. As Erik Midelfort has pointed out "With a few notable exceptions, the study of
witch-hunts has remained impressionistic.... It is indeed sriking how few decent
surveys ofwitchcraft exist for Europe, surveys that aftempt to list all the witch tri-
als in a given town or region" (Ivlidelfoft 1972t7).
An expression of this identification was tJre creation of WITCH, a nerwork
of
autonomous feminist groups that played an important role in the initial phase ofthc
women's liberation movement in the United States. As Robin Morg'an reporu.
in
Sistethood is Powful (1970),WITCH was born on Halloween 1968 in NewYo*'
but"covens"soon were formed in several cities.What the figure of the witch
melnt
to these activirs is shown in a flyer wdtten by the New York coven which,
aftcr
recalling that witches were the first practitionen of birth control and abortion'
stated:
'Witches
have always been women who dared to be coumgeous,
aggressive, intelligent, non-conformists, curious, independent,
sexually liberated, rcvolutionary...WITCH lives and lauglx in
every woman. She is the free part ofeach ofus...You are a
Witch by being female, untemed, angry, joyous and immortd.
(Morgen 1970:605-6).
Among North American feminist writen, those who have most conscioudy
idn-
tified the history of the witches with the struggle for women\ liberanon
are
Md
206
Abouc: "Petrcleuses,"
alot lithogtaph Iry
&rull teproduced in
LEs CoMMltNDAUx,
n. 20.
Nght: "T\rc Women
d
kis." Wood
agtadng reproduttd
irr THE CRAutrc,
Apt ; | 29, 1871.
207
3.
Daly (1978), Starhawk (1982), and Barbara Ehrenreich and Deidre English,
w5o,u
Wixhes, Midtt,ires and Nurses:A Hisnry ollVomen Heaiers (1973) was for many
6.a-
iniss, myselfincluded, the 6rst introducrion to the history ofthe witch-hunt.
How many witches were burned? This has been a controvenial question
in
Ue
scholarship on the witch-hunt and a difficult one to answer, since many trials q,.i
not reconded or, ifthey were, the number ofwomen executed was not specified.
I;
addition, many documents in which we may 6nd references to witchcraft trials
6.ui
not yet been shrdied or have been destroyed. In the 1970s, E.W Monter noted,6ei
instance, that it was impossible to calculate the number of secular witch-trials
6u;
had taken place in Switzerland because these werc often mentioned only in
frsqal
records and these records had not yet have not been analyzed (1976:21).Tlurry
yea13
later, accounts still widely difer.
While some feminist scholan argue tlnt the number of witches executed
equajh
dut of the
Jews
killed in Nazi Germany, according to Anne L. Bantow, on the basb
ofthe present state ofarchival work, we are justified ifwe asume drat apptoximately
200,000 women were accused ofwitchcraft over a space of*uee centuries and a leser
numbet ofthem were killed. Bantow adrnis, however, that it is very diffcult to estab-
lish how many women were executed or died due to the tornrres inflicted upon thern.
Many recolds
[she
writes] do no list tle verdicts ofthe trials ...
[or]
do not include those who died in prison... Others driven
to despair by torture killed themselves themselves in prison ...
Many accused witches were murdered in prison.,. Others died
in prison frorn the tortures inflicted on them (Balstow: 22-3)..
Thking into account also those who were lynched, Bantow concludes that at least
100,000 women were killed, but she ad& that those who escaped were "ruined for
liG," for once accused, "suspicion and ill will followed them to their graves" (ibid.)
Wlile the controvery concerning the size ofthe witch-hunt continues, regiond
estimates have been ptovided by Midelfort and Larner. Midelfort (1972) hu found
that in Southwestern Germany at least 3,200 witches were burned
just between
1560 and 1670, a period when "tley no longer burnt one or two witches, they
burned twenties and hundrcds" pea 1922:549). Christina Larner (1981) places the
number ofwomen executed in Scotland between 1590 and 1650 at 4,500;but
she
too aglees that the number may be much higher, since the prerogtive of conduct-
ing witch-huns was granted also to local notables, who had a free hand not only
with arresting "witches" but with record keeping.
Two feminist writers - Starhawk and Maria Mies - have placed the witch-hu
in the context of primitive accumulation, reaching conclusions very similar
to
those presented in this volume. ln Dreauing the Daft (1982\ Starhawk has
cotr.
nected the witch-hunt with the dispossession ofthe European peasant.y from
the
cornmons, the social effects ofthe price inflation caused by the arriva.l in EuroPe
ofthe American gold and silver, and the rise ofprofessional medicine. She
has
abo
noted that:
The
[witch]
is gone now ...
[but]
Her fears, and the forces
she struggled against in her lifetime,live on.
Ve can open our newspapers, and read tlle same charges
204 209
against
the idle poor...The
expropriators
move into the
ThirdWorld, destroying cultures... plundering the
resources
ofland and people...Ifwe turn on the tadio,
we cen hear the crackle of0ames... But the
sruggle
also lives on (Starhawk 1997:214-9).
Starhawk examines the witch-hunt mosdy in the context ofthe rise ofa mar-
economy
in Europe, Maria Mies' Pattiarchy and Accumulation on a Wotld Scdle
connects it to the colonization process and the increasing domination of
which have characterized the capitalist ascendency. She argues that the witch-
wa5 part ofthe attempt by the emerging capitalist class to establish its control
the productive capaciry ofwomen, and first and foremost over their generenve
in the context ofa new sexual and international division oflabor built uool
exploitation
ofwonen, the colonies, and nature (Mies 1986: 69-70;78-88).
dre late Roman Empire. magic had been held in suspicion by t}te ruling classes
part of the ideology of the daves and an instrument of insubondination. Pierre
qvotes De rc sticaw Columella, a Roman agronornist of the Late Republic,
himself quoted Cato, to the effect that familiarity with astrologers, soodrayers
sorceren was to be kept in check, because it had a dangerous influence on the
Columella recommended that the r.,illlrar "shdl make no sacrifices without
from his master. He shdl receive neither soothsayen nor magiciars, who take
of men! supentititions to lead thern into crime. . . . He shall shun famil-
with haruspices and sorcerers. two sors ofpeople who infect ignorant souJs
the poison of baseless supentititions" (Quoted by Dockes 1,982: 273) .
quotes the following excerpt fiomJean Bodtn's Izs Six Lines de la Republique
might ofche Arabs gew only in this way
[by
giving or promising &ee-
to the slaves] . For as soon as capain Homar, one ofMehemet's lieutenants, prom-
to the slaves who followed him, he anracted so many ofthem tlat within
yean they made themselves lords of all the East. Rumors offreedom and the
made by che slaves inllamed the hears ofslaves in Europe. whereupon they
up arms, first in Spain in 781, and later in this kingdorn in the time of
and oflouis the Piteous. as mav be seen in the edicts issued at the time
sworn conspiracies among the slaves....All at once this blaze broke out in
where slaves, having taken up arms, shook the estates ofprinces and cities,
even Louis, king of the Germans, was forced to assemble all his forces to tout
Litde by litde this forced the Christians to rlax servitude and to free the davcs,
only cerain arutes..." (quoted in Dockes 1982:237).
most important text documenting the tolerance of the Church toward rnag-
belie6 is considered tobe the Canon Epktopi (tenth century), which labelled
" those who believed in demons and night flights, arguing that such "illu-
weie products ofthe devi.l (Russell 1972: 76-7). However, in his study ofthe
in Southwestern Germanv. Eri& Midelfot has disouted the idea that
Church in the Middle Ages was skeptica.l and tolennt with regard to witch-
He has been oarticularlv critical of the use that has been ma de of the Canor
arguing that it states the opposite ofwhat it has been made to say.That is,
we should not conclude that the Church condoned magical practices becau5s
tlh
author ofthe Canon atacked the beliefin magic.According to lvlidelfort, the
pqsi
tion of the Canon was the same that the Church held until the 18th
Church condemned the belief that magical deeds are p"*ibl., b""""::ll.?*l:
ered it a Manicheian heresy to attribute divinc powen to witches and deyfl5.y.,
it maintained that those who practiced rnagic were rightly punished, because
4l
harbored an evil will and allied themselves with the devil (Midelfort 1975: 16-19i
Midelfort stresses that even in 16rh-century Germany, the clergy insisted
^'.
the need not to believe in the powen ofthe devil. But he points out that (a1
6jii
ofthe nials were instigated and managed by secular authorities who were not
6so.
cerned with theological disquisitions;
(b) among thc clergy as well, the distincliql
between "cvil will" and "evil doing" had litde pnctical efect, for in the final analv-
sis many clergymen rccommended that the witches should be punished with deatil
8. Monter (1976),18.The Sabbat fint appeared in Mcdievel literature to$erd the mid-
dle ofthe 15rh century Rossell Hope Robbins writes that:
To the ear! demonologistJohannes Nieder (1435) the Sabbat
was unknown, but the anonymous French tact Enotes Gazatiarum
(1459) has a detailed account of the 'synagogue" NicholasJaquier
about 1458 used the actual word'sabbat,' although his account was
sketchy; 'sabbat' dso appeated in a repon of the witch persecution
at Lyons in 1460... by the 16th century the sabbat was an established
part ofwitchcraft (1959: 415).
9. The witch aials were expensive, as tley could continue for months and they becamc
a sourcc ofemployment for rnany people (Robbirs 1959:111). Paymens for the "sct-
vices" and the people involved - thejudge, the surgeon, the tomuer, the scribe, drc
guards - including their meals and wine, arc shamelesssly included in the records of
the trials, in addition to tJre cost ofthe executions and the cost ofkeeping fie witcha
in prison.The following is the bill for a trid in the Scottish town ofKirkcaldy in 1636:
Pounds
For ten loads ofcoal,
to burn them
6ve marla or 3
For a tar barrcl
For huden
ftemp
fabric)
to be jumps (shon coas)
for them 3
For making ofthern
For one to go to Firunouth
for the laird to sit upon
their assize as judge
For the executioner
for his pains 8
For his expenses here
Shilling
6
14
10
8
6
14
16
2LO ztl
i6il.). On this subject, see Robert Mandrou (1968: 112); and Cbristina
(1983: 115), among othen.
R. Trevor-Roper writes: "[The witch-hunt] was forwarded by the cultir,ated
of the Renaissance, by the great Protestant Reformen, by the Saints of the
by the scholars,lawyen and churchmen.... Ifthese two cen-
wele an age of light, we have to adrnit that in one respect at least the dark
werc more civilized...." (Trevor-Ropet
1967:. !22fr\.
[ai 1989: 1]-6; Prosperi 1989: 2174 Martin 1989: 32. As Ruth Martin wrrtes
the work ofthe Inquisition inVenice:"A comparison by
[pEl
Grendler
ile number of death sentences awarded by the Inquisition and by civilian trr_
costs for a witch-hial
were peid by the victirnt relatives, but "where the vrc-
wss penniless" they wete born by the citizeos of the town or the landlord
bas led him to conclude that 'Italian Inquisitions exercised great rcstraint
ad to civil ttibunals,' and that 'light punishrnent and commuation, rrther
severiry marked the Venetian lnquisition,' a condusion more recentlv con_
by E.W Monter in his study of the Mediteranean Inquisition. ... As far as
Venetian nials were concerned, neither execution nor mutilation was
given
as
nce and galley service was rare, Long prison sentences were also rire, and
these or banishments were issued, they were often commuted after a com_
short space oftime,. , . Pleas from those in prison that they may be allowed
'to house errest on grounds of ill-health were also treated with sympa_
Pence
is also evidence ofsignficant shifts in the weight attributed to specfic accu_
, the nature ofthe ctimes comrnonly associated with witchcraft. and the socral
qition
ofthe accusers and accused.The most signifcant shift, perhaps, is that
cady phase ofthe persecution (during the 15th-century nials) witclrcnft was
predominandy as a collective crime, relying on mass gatherinp and orgaruza_
wbile by the 17th century it was seen as a crime ofan individual ,r"ture,-"r,
".,i1
in which isolated witches specialized
- this being a sign of the brcakdown
ommunal bonds brcught about by dre increasing privitization of land tenure
tlre expansion of commercia.l relations in this oeriod.
(Martin 1989: 32-33).
rs an exception to this pattern, since the witch_hunt here affected
analysis of the relation berween changes in land tenure, above all land
ation, and witch-hunting, is still missing. Alan Macfarlane, who first sus_
a signifcant connecrion berween rhe Essex enclosures and the witch_huit
lc same area, later recanted (Macfarlane 1978). But the relation between the
phenomena
is unqucstionable.As we have seen (in Chapter 2),land privatiza-
members of the bourgeoisie, including town councillors. Arguably, in
tny the confiscation ofproperry was a major reason behind the persecu_
0, accounting fot the fact that it reached there proportions unrnatched in any
Fr-country, except for Scodand. However, acconding to Midelfort the legal_
of con6scation was controversial; and even in the iase of rich families, no
t.9":n.
third of the propcrty was taken. Midelfort adds that in Gerrnany
'it_ is beyond qucstion that most of the people executed were poor,,
la./fott
1972: 1964-169\.
ilil
ti
ill
1,6.
17.
tion was a signiGcant factor - direcdy and indirecdy - in the pauperization
11O,
women suffered in the period in which the witch-hunt assumed mas proportiqq"
As soon as land was privatized and a land market developed, women becamq yul
ner.able to a double process of expropriation: by well-to-do lend-buyers
and
by
their own male relations.
As the witch-hunt expanded, however, the distinctions between the profesionq
witch and those who turned to her for help or engaged in magical practices
wirh_
out any specid claim to expertise were blurred.
Midelfort, too, sees a connection between the Price Revolution and the penqcu-
tion of the witches. Commenting upon the escalation of witch-trials
i1
Southwestern Germany after 1620, he writes:
The yean 1622-23 stw the total disruption of coinage. Money
became so depreciated that prices soarcd out of sight. Food prices,
moreover, did not need monetary poLicy to rise.The year 1625 had a
cold spring and bad harvests fromVurzburg across'Wuttemberg to the
whole Rhine valley.The next year found famine along thc Rhine val-
ley. . . .These conditions ofthemselves drove prices beyond what many
laborers could a$ord (1972: 123-24).
Writes Le Roy Ladurie: "Between these frcnzied uprisings (si)
[the
witch-huno]
and authentic popular revols which also reached their climax in the sarne moun-
tains about 1580-1600, there existed a series of geographical, chronological, and
sometimes farnily coincidences" (Le Roy Ladurie 1987: 208).
In the obsession with the Sabbat or Synagogue, as the mythical witches' gathering
was ca.lled, we find a proofofthe continuity between the persecution ofthe witches
and the penecution oftheJews.As hetetics and propagators ofArabic wisdom,Jewr
were regarded as sorcercn, poisoners and devil worshippers.To the portrait ofJew:
as devilish beings connibuted tlre tales surrounding the pnctice of circumcision,
which claimed that
Jews
ritually murdered childre n. "Time and again the
Jews
werc
described
[in
the miracle plays as well as in sketches] as 'devils ftom Hell, enemies
ofthe human race"' (Inchtenberg 1944: 23). On the connection between the per-
secution oftheJews and the witch-hunt, see also Carlo Ginzburg!
-&stasies
(1991)'
Chapters 1 and 2.
The reference here is to the conspirators of the "Bundschuh"
- the German
peas'
ant union, whose sy.rnbol was the clog - which in the 1490s, in Alsace, ploned
to
rise against church and castle, Ofthem Fdedtick Engels wrote that they were
wonl
to hold their meetings at night on the loncsome Hunher Hill (Engels 1977:66)'
The ltalian historian Luciano Parinetto has suggested that the theme ofcanrubal'
ism may be an irnport from tlle New Worldll cannibalism and devil-woohrP
merged in the reports about the "Indiaru" made by the conquistadors and
thclt
clerical accomplices. In support of this thesis Parinetto cites Francesco
Marl'
Gutzzo's Comjexdium Malefcarum (1608) which, in his vieq demonstrates
thd
demonologisti in Europe were influenced, in their portrayal of witches as ceno-
bals, by the reports coming from the NewWorld, However, witches in Europe
l'cs
accused ofsacrifcing children to the devil long before the conquest and colonl-
tion of the Americas,
18.
19.
20.
2t2 213
thc 14$ and 15th centuries, the Inquisition accused women, heretics, andJews of
witchcralt.
It was in the coune ofnials hel ditt 1419-1420 irrLucerne and Interlaken
the word Hexetei (witchcraft") was 6rst used (Russell 1972: 203).
thesis has been revived in recent
yea$, in the midst ofa renewed interest
eco-ferniniss for the woman-nature relation in early matrifocal societies.
,Among
those who have read the witches as the deGnden ofan aucient female-cen-
rcligion that wonhipped women's reproductive powers is Mary Condrcn. In
Thc
Sdpent and the Goddess (1989),C,ondren argues that the witch-hunt was part of
long
proces whereby Christianity displaced the priestesses of the older religion,
by rsening fiat they used their powen for evil purposes and later by denying
6cy
hrd such powers(Condren 1989:80-86). One of the most interesting claims
ma.kes in this context concerns the connection between the oersecution
of thc witches and the attempt by the Christian priests to apprcpriate women's
powen. Condren shows how the priests engaged in a true competi-
with the "wise women," performing reproductive miracles, making barren
len prcgnant, changing the sex of infans, performing supetnaturel aboruorx
hst but not least, fostering abandoned cbildren (Condren 1989: 84-85).
the rriddle ofthe 16th century most European countries began to gathet rcgu-
demographic statistics. In 1560 the ltalian historian Francesco Guicciandini
surprise upon learning that in Antwerp and generally in the Netherlands
authorities did not gather demographic data except in case of"urgent neces-
(Helleneft 1958: 1-2). By the 17th century dl the states where the witch-hunt
taking place were also prcmoting population growth (i6id.: 46).
Green, howevet, has challenged the idca that in the Middle Ages there
a rigid sexual division of medicd labor, such that men were excluded from
carc ofwomen and particularly ftom gynecology and obstetics. She dso argues
women were present, although in smaller numbeq throughout the medical
not just
as midwives but as physicians, apothecaties, barber-sutgeons.
questions the comrnon claim that midwives were especially targeted by the
and that we can trace a connection between the witch-hunt and the
ofwomen ftom the medical profession starting in the 14th and 15th cen-
Shc claims that the restriction: placed on precticing resulted from many social
(in Spain, e.g., from thc conflict between Christians and Mudims) and,
the increasing limitations placed on women's practice can be documented,
rcasons behind drem cannot. She admits that the prevailing concerns behind
limitations werc of'moral" origin; that is, they related to consideratioru about
\t/ornan's character (Green 1989: 435fi).
writes that "the state and church traditionally distrusted this woman whosc
often remained secret, and steeped in magic ifnot witchcraft, and who could
count on the support ofthe runl commu ry:' (" I:ttdt et l'&lke se mejent
iotlcllement de cette
kmme
dofit lo pntiqre rcste sorl)ent seeTate, eftprcinte de fiagie,
de sorcelleie et qui dispose au sein ile Ia communautl rutale d'tne audience certaine.")
dds that it was above all necesary to break the compliciry oue or imagined, of
uges
femmes
in such crines as abortion, infanticide, child abandonment (Gelis
:927ft).
In Fraace thc fust edict regulating the activity ofthe ra3es
Jemmes
wes
26.
prcmulgated in Strrsbourg at the end of the 16th century. By the end ofthe
17{
century the sages
femmes
wete completely under the conttol of the state, and ,4,66
used by the state as a rcactionary force in is campaign ofmoral reform (Gelis
1971
This may explain why contraceptives, which had been widely used in the lr4i64ii
Ages, disappeared in the 1 7th century surviving only in the milieu of prcstitutioq
and when they reappeared on the scene they were placed in malc hands,
so
ttrai
women wer not allowed to use then except with male permission. For a long
tirnc.
in fact, the only contraceptive ofered by bourgeois medicine was to be the
cq1-
dom.The "sheath" begins to appear in England in the 18th century one of the
6t!t
mentions of it is in
Janes
Boswell's Diary (quoted by Helleiner 1958:94).
In 1556, Henry II in Francc passed a law punishing as murdercus any woman
who
hid her pregnancy and whose child was born dead. A sinilar law was passed
in
Scotland in 1563. Until the 18rh century in Eutope infanticide was punished
with
the death penalty.In England, during the Protectorate, the deadr penalty was intre-
duced for adultery
To the attack on women's reproductive rights, and the introduction ofnew laws
sanctioning the subordination ofthe wife to the husband within dre family, we nult
add the criminalization ofprcstitution, starting in the mid-16th century.As we have
sccn (in Chapter 2), prcstitutes were subjected to atrocious punishrncns such as dnt
of ttre acabussade.ln England, they were branded on the forehead with hot irons ia
a manner reminiscent ofthe "devilt mark," and they were whipped and shaved litc
witches. In Germany, the prostitute could be drowned, burned or buried alive Herc,
too, she was shaved - hair was viewed as a favorite seat of the devil' At times her
nose was crrt o6, a practice ofArab origin, used to punish "cdmes of honor" and
inllicted dso on women charged with adultery,
Like the witch, the prcstitute was prcsumably recognized by her "evil eye " k
was assumed that sexuat trersgession was diabolicd and gave women rnagical pow-
en. On the relation betwcen eros and magic in tlte Renaissance, see Ioan P Couliano
0e87).
28. ihe ;cbate on the naturc of the sexes began in the late Middle Ages and then
reopened in the 17th cenrury.
29. "Tir non pensavi ch'io loico fosi!" ("You didnt think I was a logicianl") chuckles
the Devil in Dante! I4farq while snatching the soul ofBonifa"tih"vnl,
*ho h"d
cunningly thought of escaping the cternal fire by rcpenting in the very act ofper-
petrating his crimes (Divine Conedy,InJeno, canto XXVII, verse 123)'
,.-rr
lO. itt" sab-oage ofthe conjugal act was a major theme abo in contemporary
jud'cur
ppceedingi regarding matrimony and separation, especially in Frrnce As Robcd
Mandrou observes, m"r, *"r. ,o
"foid
of ieing madc irnpotent by women'
that
vil'
lage priests often forbade women who wete suspected ofbeing experts in the "ryrtg
oiknos"
1an
"llegsd
device fot causing male irnpotence) ftom attending weddrF
(Mandrou 1968: 81-82, 391ff.; Le Roy La dvie 197 4:2O4-2Q5; Lcky 1886:
lw
3t. ihis ale appears in several demonologies, lt always ends with the man discoverif,9
the injury inflicted on him and forciig the witcir to rcturo his pcnis to hirn'
Shc
accorip"nies him to the top ofa tlee Jhere shc has many hidden in a nest; the
rn'n
chooses one but the witch objects:"No, drat one bclongs to the Bishop"
27.
2t4
zla
Merchant atgues tlut the intcrtogations and tortures ofthe witches pro-
the model for the methodology of the New Science, as defined by Francis
Much ofthc imagery
[Bacon]
used in delineating his scientifc
objectives and methods derives from the courftooms, and
bccause it treats nature as a female to be tortured through
mechanicd inventions, strongly suggests the interrogations of
the witch-trids and thc mechanical devices used to torture witches.
In a relevant passage, Bacon stated that the method by which
nature's secrets might be discovered consisted in investigating
the secrcts of witchcraft by inquisition...." (Merchant 1980: 168).
drc atack against animals, see Chapter 2, pp. 60 and 70n.
in this context, that witches were often accused by children. Norman
to appear as a source of indiscipline, The familiarity that had existed
rrasters and serr/rnts in thc Middle Ages wnished with the rise ofthe bour_
I true-to-life Sabbat, in which sexual elements and themes evoking class revolt
facton need to be considered. Fint, it is plausible tlut the clirnate offear cre_
by thc witch-hunt over the yean was responsible for the large presence ofchil_
n mong the accusen, which began to materialize in the 17rh century. It is also
to notice that those charged as witches were mostly prolearian women,
has interpreted this phenomcnon as a revolt ofthe young against the elderly,
particulat aginst parental authority (N. Cobn 1975;Trevor Roper 2000). But
ilc thc children who accused them were often the children of their employen.
[sr we can prcsune that children were nunipulated by their parens ro make
gr' which they themselves were reluctant to punue, as it was undoubtedly t}te
in the Sdem witch-trials.We must also considet that, in the 16th and lTth ccn-
there was a growing preoccupation among the well-to-do with the physical
ry
between their children and their serr"ants, above all their nunes. w*ch was
ic, who formally irutituted more egalitarian relations between employen and
subordinates (for instance, by levelling clothing stytes), but in realiry increased
physical and psychological distance between them. In the bourgeois household,
master would no longer undress in fiont ofhis senents, nor would he sleep in
gerne
rcom with drem.
e, see
Julian
Cornr*zllt description of the rebcl camp that peasants set up
the Norfolk uprising of 1549. The camp caused much scandal amonq the
who apparendy looked at it as a veriable Sabbat.Writes Corn*ell:
[Tlhe
conduct of the rebels was misrepresented in every way. It
w:s alleged that the camp became the Mecca for every dissolute per-
lon in the county.... Bands ofrebels foraged for supplies and money.
3'000 bullocls and 20,000 sheep, to say nothing of pigs, fowl, deeq
:uans and thousands ofbushels ofcorn, were dtiven in and consumed,
it was sai4 in a few days. Men whose ondinary diet was too often sparse
i|nd monotonous revelled in t}te abundance of flesh, and there war
tEckless
waste. It tasted dl the sweeter for coming ftom the beass
which
werc the root ofso much resentrnent (Cornwall
1977:147\.
36.
The "beass" were the much prized wool-producing sheep, which were indesd,,a
Thomas Moore put it in his Utopid, 'eating humans' , as arable lands and cory1on
fields were being enclosed and turned to pasture in order to raise them.
Thorndi ke 1923-58v:69; Hol mes 1974: 85-86: Monter 1969: 57-58.
Kurt
Seligman writes that from the middle of dre 14th cenhrry to the 16th cqntuw
alchemy was univenally accepted, but with the rise ofcapitalism the attitude
of1{
monarchs changed. In Protestant countries, alchemy became an object of ridiculs.
The dchemist was depicted as a smoke-seller, who prcmised to change metals
in1.
gold,but failed in his performancc (Seligrnan 1948: 126ff). He was often represenls4
at work in his study, surrounded by strange vases and instruments, oblivious to every-
thing around him, while acrcss the street his wife and children would be knockinp
at the poor house. BenJonson's satirical portrait ofthe alchemist reflects this
new
attitude.
Astrology, too, was precticed into the 17th century kL tns Denonotogy (159n.
James
I maintained tbat it was legitimate, above all when conlfined to the study
of
scasons and $/eather forecasts. A deailed description of the life of an English
astrologer at the end ofthe 16th century is found in A. L. Rowse\ Sex and Society
in
Shakespeare's Age (1974). Here we learn that in the same period when the witch-
hunt was peaking, a male magician could continue to carry on his work, although
with some dificulty and teking some risks at times,
With reference to the West Indies, Anthony Barker writes that no aspect ofthe unfa-
vonble image of the Negro built by the dave owners had wider or deeper rco6
than the allegation of insatiable sexual appetite. Missionaries repotted that the
Negros refused to be monogarnous, were excessively libidinous, and told stories of
Negroes having intercourse with apes (pp. 121-23),The fondnes of Africans for
music was also held agarnst them,as
Proofoftheir
instinctud, irrrtional nature (irtd:
11s).
In the Middle Ages when a child took over the family proPcrty, s/he would auto
matically assume the care ofthe aging patents, while in the 16th century the parens
began to be abandoned and prioriry was given to investrnent into one's childrcn
(Macfarlane 197 0 : 2O5).
The statute which
James
I passed in 1604, imposed the death
Penalty
for all who
"used spitits and magic" regardless of whether they had done any harm
Ths
statut. 1"t.. beca-e the basis upon which the penecution ofwitches was carried
on in the American colonies.
In "OutrunningAdanta: Feminine Destiny in A.lchemic Transmutations,"
Allen and Hubbs write that:
The recurtent s)tnbolism in dchemical works suggests an obses-
sion with revening or perhaps even arresting, the feminine hegemony
over the process ofbiological creation, . .. This desired mastery is dso
depicted in such imageries as that ofZeus giving birth to Athena frorn
his head...or Adam being delivered of Eve from his chest. The
alchemist who exemplfies the pdmordial striving for conttol ovcr the
natural wodd seeks nodring les than the magic ofmaternity....Thus
the great dchemist Paracelsus gives an affirmative answer to the ques-
38.
39.
40.
2t6
217
A witth ides a goat thrcugh the slcy, ausing a min ofire.
Woodal jom
Frantzsto -Mtlria Cuaz zo, CoMENDtuM
MAEncltRLtM (1610.
tion'Whether it was posible for art and nature that a uran should be
born ouside a womani body and a naturat mother!'(A.llen end Hubbs
1980: 213).
On the image of the perroleare see A.lbert B oine\ Art and the Frcrch Commune (1995:
109-11;196-99),
and Rupert Christiansen's Paris Babylon: The Srory of rhe
pais
Commune
,1994
352-53\.
Aneigo Vespwd landin! ofl the Soulh Ameli&n .tast in 1497, BeJorc hin,
sedudivcly lying on a hammock, is "America." Behind het some unnibals dte
/oaslitlg humdtt rc/haitt. Design Iry
Jan
wn du Sttuet, dtd etgal'ed bl
Thlodore Calle (1589).
Colonization and
Christianization
Caliban and Witches in the New World
"...and so they s4y that ue haue ome to this eafih to destroy the world.
The! say that the wiflds uin the housa, and ut the trees, and thz
jrc
burns
them,but that uE deww etetythitg,tue cottsurne thc earth,we redirect the iuets,
we 6e netet
Eaiet,
euet at rcst,but dlways tun herc and thoe, seeleing gold ond
silva, nevu satisfred, and then we gauble with it, mahe vari kill euh othet, rcl1
sunat, nevet say the tuth, oxd. have depriued than of their ueata oJ livelihood.
And jnally
they urce the sea whkh has put ott tfu earth suth edl and harsh
ehildrcn." (Gioluno Benzont, Historia del Monlo Nuoto,1565).
" . . .ovucome by totture and pah,
[tfu
twnen] une oqiged to co4fest that they
did adore htacas.... They hmented,'Now in thk life we rwmen...ate
Cfuistian; pethaps ther the priat k to blame
if
un unmen adorc the nout-
taifls,
fun|lee
to the hilb and ptna, sirce thae is no justice
Jor
us hua "
(Felipe
Guaman Poma de A1'al4 Nueru Chroxita y Bucn Cobiemo,1615)
I nt r odr r ct i or r
ofthe body and the witch-hunt drat I have presented is based on an assump-
is summed up by rhe reference to "Caliban and the Witch," the characters of
symbolizing the American Indians' resistance to colonization.l The assump-
continuity between the subjugation ofthe populations ofthe NewWorld and
People in Eulope, women in particular, in the transition to capitalism. In both
have the forcible removal of entire cornnunities frora their land, large-scale
the launching of 'Cbristianizing"campaigns destroying people's auron-
communal relatioru.We also have a corstant cros-fertfization whereby forms
that had been developed in the Old World were trrnsported to the New
re-imported into Europe.
2t9
The diferences should not be underestirnated. By the 18th cenhrry, due to
the
flow ofgold, silver and other resources coming from the Americas into Europe, an in1..-
national division of labor had aken shape that divided the new global proletariat
bv
means ofdiferent class relations and systems ofdiscipline, marking the beginning ofo6.i
conflicting histories within the working class. But the similarities in t}re treatnents
to
which the populations of Europe and the Americas were subjected are sufficieql
1o
demonstrate the existence of one single logic governing the development of capitalisnr
and the structural charrcter ofthe atrocities perpetnted in dris process.An outstan4inn
example is the extension ofthe witch-hunt to the American colonies.
The persecution of women and men tlrough the charge of witchcraft is a phe-
nomenon that, in the past, was largely considered by historians to be lirnited to Europe,
The only exception admitted to this rule were t}le Salem witch rials, which remain gs
focus ofthe scholanhip on witch-hunting in the NewWorld. It is now recognized,
hqw-
ever, that the charge ofdevil-wonhipping played a key function also in the colonization
of tlte American aboriginal population. On this subject, two te13, in particular, must
!s
mentioned that form the basis for my discussion in this chapter. The first is lrene
Silverblatt's Mooa, Sut andWithes (1987), a study of witch hunting and the redefinition
ofgender relations in Inca sociery and colonial Peru, which (to my knowledge) is the 6nt
in English to reconstruct the history of the Andean women persecuted as witches.The
otlrer is Luciano Painetto\ Steghe e Potere (1998), a series of essays that document the
impact ofwitch-hunting in America on the witch trials in Europe, marred, however, by
the author's insistence tlat the persecution of tle witches was gender-neutnl.
Both tlese works demorxtrate that also in the New Wodd witch-hunting was o
deliberak sfiategy xsed by the autho ties to instill teftoL destroy collective resistance, silence
entire communities, and turn their members against each othet lt was also a stfitegy oJ
erclosure wbich, depending on the context, could be enclosure ofland, bodies or social
relations.Above all, as in Europe, witch-hunting was a means ofdehumanization and as
such the paradigmatic form of repression, serving to justify enslavement and genocide'
'Witch-hunting
did not desuoy the resistance ofthe colonized. Due
Primarily
to
t}le struggle ofwomen, the connection ofthe American Indians with the land, the local
religions and nature survived beyond the persecution providing, for mor than five hu[-
dred years, a source ofanti-colonial and anti-capialist resisance.This is extremely tmpor-
tant for us, at a time when a renewed assault is being made on the resources and mode
ofexistence ofindigenous populations across the planet;for we need to rethink how
the
conquistadors ,,-u! to ,uid,r. those whom they colonized, and what enabled
the lar-
ter t; subvert this plan and, against the destruction of their socid and physical universe'
create a new historical reality.
I
I
r he ei r t h of t he Canni bal s
When Columbus sailed to "Indies" the witch-hunt in EuroPe was not yet a mass Phe-
nomenon. Nevertheless, the use ofdevil-wonhip as a weapon to strike at polidcal
ff
mies and vili$ entire populations
Qike
Muslims andJews) was already common-am"'i
the elite. More than tlat, as Seltnour Phillips writes, a "persecuting society" had
os"''
220
within
medierel Europe," fed by mfiarism and Christian intolerance, that looked
"Other" as mainly an object of agresiou (Phillips 1994).Thus, it is not surpris-
cannibal,""infdel,""barbarian,""mon5trous races," and devil worshipper were the
ic models" with which the Europeans "entered the new age ofexpansion"
62),
providing the lilter through which missionaries and conquistadors interpreted
religions, and sexud customs ofthe peoples they encountered.2 Other cuJ-
marls
contributed to the invention of the "Indians". Most stigrnatizing and per-
projecting
the Spaniards' labor needs were "nakedness" and "sodomy," that quati-
the Amerindians as beings living in an animal state (thus capable ofbeing turned
ofburden), though some reporti also srfessed, as a sign oftheir bestiality, their
to share and "give evetything they have in rturn for things of little value"
1994:198).
Defning the aboriginal American populations as cannibds, devil-worshippen, and
supported the fiction that the Conquest was not an unabashed quest for gold
but was a converting mission, a clairn that, in 1508, helped the Spanish Crown
it the blessing of the Pope and complete authoriry over the Church in the
It also removed, in the eyes ofthe world and possibly ofthe colonizers them-
sanction agairxt the atrocities which they would commit against the.,Indians,"
ing as a license to kill regardless of what the intended victims mieht do.
"The whip, gibbet, and stock, irnprisonment, torrure, iape, and occasional
became standard weapons for enforcing labor discipline" in the New World
1990:19).
In a 6rst phase, however, the image of the colonized as devil-worshippen could
with a more positive, even idyllic one, picturing the "Indians" as innocent, and
beinp,living a life "free of toil and
ryranny,"
recalling the mythical,,Golden
ot an earthly paradise
@randon
1986: 6-8; Sale 1991: 100-101).
Thir characterization may have been a litenry stereotype or, as Roberto Reramar,
others, has suggested, the rhetorical counterpart of the image of the
,,savage,"
the Europeans' inability to see the people they met as real human beings.3
optimistic view also corresponded to a period in the conquest (from 1520 to
in which the Spaniards still believed drat the aboriginal populatioru would be
converted and subjugated (Cerrantes 1994).This was the time ofmass bapusms,
much zeal was deployed in convincing the "Indians" to change their names and
their gods and sexual custorns, especially polygamy and homosexuality.
[B]are-
women were forced to cover themselves, men in loincloths had to
pur
on
(Cockcroft:
1983:21). But at this tirne, the struggle agarnsr the devil consisted
ofbonfires oflocal "idols," even though many political and religious leaders from
Mexico were put on trial and burned at the stake by the Franciscan fatherJuan
in the years between 1536 (when the Inquisition was introduced in South
and 1543.
the Conquest proceeded, however, no space was left fot any accommodatioru.
one's power over other people is not possible without denigreting them to the
the posibility ofidentfication is precluded.Thus, despite the earlier homi-
the gende Tlinos, an ideologica.l machine was set in motion, complemenung
one, drat portreyed the colonized as "filtly" and demonic beings practicing
all kinds of abominations, while the sarne crimes that previously had been atttibuted
to
lack of religious education - sodomy, cannibalism, incest, cross drcssing - were
now
treated as signs that the "lndians" were under the dominion ofthe devil and they
cqu.l6
be justifiably deprived oftheir lands and their lives (Williams 1986: 136-137). ln refe.
ence to this irnage-shift, Fernando Cervantes writes in The Devil inThe Newworld (1994\.
before 1530 it would have been difficult to predict which one ofthese
views would emerge as the dominent one. By the niddle ofthe sx-
teenth century, however,
[a]
negative demonic view of Amerindian
cultures had tiumphed, and is inlluence was seen to descend like a
thick fog on every statement officially and unofficially made on the
subject (1994: 8).
It could be surmised, on the basis of the contemporiry histories ofthe "lndies',
- such as De Gomara's (1556) and Acosta's (1590) - that this change of penpectivc
was prompted by the Europeans' encounter with imperialistic states like the Aztec
and
Inca, whose represive machinery included the practice ofhuman sacrifices (Martinez
6
al 1 976) . In the Histo ia NaturalY Monl de lzs ftdias, published in Sevilla, in 1 590, by thq
JesuitJoseph
de Acosta, tttere ale descriptions that give us a vivid sense ofthe repulsion
generated, among the Spanianrls, by the mass sacrifices carried out, particularly by thc
Aztecs, which involved tlousands of youths (war captives or purchased children and
slaves).4 Yet, when we read Bartolem6 De Las Casas'account ofthe destruction of thc
Indies or any other account ofthe Conquest,we wonder why should the Spaniands have
been shocked by this prrctice when they thenselves had no qualms committing unspeak-
able atrocities for the sake of God and gold and, acconding to Cortez, in 1521, they had
slaughtercd 100,000 people,just to conquerTenochtidan (Cockroft 1983: 19).
Similarly, the cannibdistic rituals they discovered in America, which figure promi-
nently in the records ofthe Conquest, must not have been too different from the med-
ica.l practices tlat wete popular in Eurcpe at the time. In the 16'h,17'h and even 18'h cen-
turies, the &inking of human blood (especially the blood of those who had died ofr
violent death) and mummy water, obtained by soaking human flesh in various spiris'
was a co[unon cure for epilepsy and other illnesses in many Eu.opean counlri6
Furthermore, this type of cannibalism, "involving human flesh, blood, heart, skull, bonc
marrow, and other body parts was not limited to fringe groups ofsociery but was prac-
ticed in the most respectable circles" (Gordon-Grube 1988: 406-407).s Thus, the oew
horror that the Spaniartls Glt for the aboriginal populations, after the 1550s, cannot
bc
easily attributed m a cultural shock, but must be seen as a rcsponse inherent to the lo9c
ofcolonization that inevitably must dehumanize and fear those it wants to enslave.
,-
How succesfirl was this strrtegy can be seen ftom the ease with which the Spaniatd5
rationalized the high
-onality
"at".
.".,red by the epidemics that swept the regon-
in
d'
rake ofthe Conquest,which they interpreted as God's punishment for the lndians
beasdy
conduct.6 Also the debate that took place in 1550, at Valladolid, in Spain,
betwed
Bartolom6 de las Casas and the Spanish jurist
Juan
Gines de Sepulveda, on whether
v'
not the "Indians" were to be considered as human beings, would have been unrtT
nlrblc
without an ideological campaign representing the laner as animals and demons
T
222
Tiavel IW illustated with honijt imaga of auibab stuffng thetselvu
with hunun euais ptoliJented h Ewolx in the ajemrath oJ drc on4uaL
A cannibal banquet in Bahia (Brazil), arcordin2 to the desoiption o.f the
Cemnn
J,
C. Aldenbwg.
The spread ofillusrntions portreyng Life in the New World, that began to circu-
Europe after the 1550s, completed this work ofdegradation, with their multitudes
d bodies and cannibalistic banqueL!, reminiscent of witches' Sabbars, fearuring
lreads
and limbs as the main coune. A late example ofthis genre oflicereture is
tbs Antipodes (1630), compiled by
Johann
Ludwig Gotdried, which displays a
ofhorrific images: women and children stuftng themselves with human entrails,
cannibal
community gathered around a grill, feasting on legs and arms while
og thc roasting ofhuman rcmairs. Prior conributions to the cultural ptoducuon
Amerindians
as bestial beinp are the illustrations in Its Singula tlz'de la Fruwe
lle
(Paris
1557) by the French Franciscan Andr6 Thevet, alreadv centered on the
ofthe
human quartering, cooking, and banquet; and Hans Sta,.den's Wahrhafiige
(Marburg
1557), in which the author describes his captiviry among rhe canru_
)s
ofBrazil (parinetto
799a:428\.
223
CaMibah in Bahia.fedstin! on hufldn ft t1ifls. nlunntio/ts dispktfing
the Atuelinilidn @flmtunity rcasting atd
Jeeding
on human rcmains
completzd the degradation oJ the abori4iwl Ameinfl poqulatiotls
begun by the m& oJ the missioruies.
2211
225
I
I
Expl oi t at i on, Resi st ar r ce, 4! r d Der noni zat i ol r
point, in the anti-lndian propagaada and anti-idolatry campaign that accompa-
the colonization
process, was dre decision by the Spanish Crcwn, in the 1550s, to inno-
in the Amedcan colonies a far morc severe system ofexploitation.The decision was
by the crisis of the "plunder economy" that had been introduced after the
whereby the accumulation ofwea.lth continued to depend on the expropriation
.'Indians"'surplus
goods more than on the direct exploitation oftheir labor (Spalding
SteveJ.
Stem 1982). Until dre 1550s, despite the massacres and the exploitation asso-
with the system of the encofiienda, the SpanianCs had not completely disrupted the
economies which they had found in the areas thev colonized. Instead. thev had
for the wealth they accumulated, on the tribute systems put into place by the Aztecs
whereby desigruted chie& (ucfuuez in Mexjco, burocas in Pent) delivered them
ofgoods and labor supposedly compacible with the survival ofthe local economies.
which the Spaniards exacted was much hieher than that the Aztecs and Incas
demanded ofthose they conquered; but it was still not suftcient to satisfy their
By the 1550s, they were finding it dilfcult to obtain enough labor for the both the
(manufacturing workshops where goods were produced for the interrutional mar-
the exploitation of the newly discovered silver arrd mercury rnines,like the leg-
one at Potosi.8
The need to squeeze more work ftorn the aborignal populations largely derived
the situation at home where the Spanish Crown was literally floating on the Arnencan
which bought food and goods no longer produced in Spain. ln addition, the plun-
wealth financed the Crown! Eurcpean territorial expansion.This was so dependent
continuous arrival of masses of silver and gold 6om the New World that, by the
the Crown was ready to undermine the powet ofthe entomenduos in order to appro-
the bulk ofthe Indiars'labor for the extraction ofsilver to be shipped to Spain.g But
to colonization was mounting (Spalding 1984: 134-135; Stern 1982).10 It w"5
to dris challenge tbat, both in Mexico and Peru, a war was declarcd on indige-
cufturcs paving the way to a draconian intensifcation ofcolonial nrle.
In Medco, this turn occurred in 1562 when, by the initiative of the Provincia.l
de Landa, an anti-idolatry campaign was launched in theYucatan peninsula, in the
ofwhich more than 4,500 people were rounded up and brutally tortured under
of practicing human sacrifices.They were then subjected to a well-orches-
public punishment which finished destroying their bodies and their morale
1987:71-92). So cruel were the penalties in{icted (floggings so severe that
the blood flow, yean ofenslavement in the rnines) that many people died or
unft for work; others fled their homes or committed suicide, so that work
to an end and the regional economy was disrupted. However, the persecution that
mounted was the foundation ofa new colonial economy, since it signaled to the
population
that the Spaniards were there to stay and that the rule ofthe old gods
trr
(i&/.: 190).
' In Peru, as well, the 6lst large-scale attack on diabolism occurred in the 1560s,
with the rise of the Taki Onqoy movement,ll a native millenarian move-
lil\
i"
I
Col oni zat i on
and cml sl qn
Lzt ' 1 1 Lw | '
lil::,l'
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'f'*t
tn t"fttt" the tribute
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and labor dr1f1'
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227
virion ofa local representativc ofthe Crown (rorregidore) rvith the porver to arrest andadrrrin-
irtcr otler forms of punisluncnt in ca;e of failure to conrply. Furthcr, a resetdenrent pro-
grrol;r (reduaione) was rntroduced rc'nroving much of the rural populirtion into designated
vilhgeq so as to place it r.rnder a rnore direct control.Thc dcstruction ofthc /ruaras and the
prsecrrtion ofthe ancestor religron :xsociated with thenr rvas instrurrre'rrtal to both, since
the rcdlcrbnes gained strcngth fnln the dernonizatiotr ofthe locrl worshipping sires.
It was soon clear, howe.ver, that, under the cover of Christianization, people con
ttnued to worship their gods, irr the same way es they continuccl to rcturn to their nll-
pcs (6elds)
after being rerloved fronr their homes.Thus, insteacl ofdiruinishing, the attack
on the local gods intcnsified with tirne, clirna-xingJ between 1619 and 1660 when the
dcsfruction
ofthe idols wls acconrpanicd by true witch hunrs, this tirrre trrgcrrng women
rlr patticular.
Karen Spllding has described one of these rvitch-hunrs conducted in thc
taPorlimiento
of H\erochiri', in 1(r(r0, by the priest-inquisitor L)onJuan Sitrnric'nto.As she
IPo"tt,
th" investig.rrion rvls conducted according to thc slrrrc
1'rirttr'rrr
ofthe rvitch
tuns
in Europe. It beg.ur wirh rlre rc'ading ofthe edict ag'arnst iclohtry and the preach-
&8
ofa
sermon against this sirr. This rvas follorved by sc'crer de'nurrcilrions supplied b,v
rnonymous
infornralts, thcn crnre the questiorung ofthe suspccts, the use oftorture to
clGact
confessions,
and then the sentencing and punisluncut, iu this casc corrsisting of
Nbt.
whippirrg,
"*ile,
and various other forurs of humiliation:
A tar wonnn
lirtri
to u,ork nt
rhL obr,ycs. nnmulin ritry work-
Jkvt y'duci,t.q.lfu tht inlerna-
tivt,tl tt,rrktt. Sants by Ftlipt
(;un,
,i l\' t,t d( Aynld.
The people sentcttul tuete bntulht into the publk squarc....'l hcy utcrc platctl
upon nulcs !1nd donkt'y!, uitlt uooder./o.tJ.J .rrort.!/.r iwhcs lLtnq antuurl
their necks.Tfuy ucrc onlercl tt) tu? th.$ uarls of hwniliation
.lion
that
Se',es.fnn Felipc Cuanan Poma de,4yala rcptese ling the oldeal oJ Anded'|
rwmen and the
Jollourrs
oJ the anestors' religion
*ene 1: Public humiliation dwing an anti-idolatry .amPabn. 9.ene 2:Wottt'n
"as spoils oJ con4uaL" Sa,te i:The huaas, rcpraented as the devil, spettt
thnugh a dram, Sene 4:A nenkr oJ the Tiki Onqof dot'otunt ttilh
t1
dnnkm Indian ulro is seized by a huoa rcpesentcd a the dwil' (Frcn
Stttt
J.
Sten, 1982.)
224
229
day
founrd'
Ot thei heads, the rclipious
4,athotities
put a mediewl cotoza'
a cone shaped hood made oJ pattzboad, thdt tus the Eutopean Catholic mark
oJ inJonyind disgtdce. tuiath these hoods the hah ums cut of- an Atdean
naik of hunitaiior.ttrose who uerc onilemned to taeive lahes had theit
ba*s iarcd, Ropes uerc pttt around theh necbs'They rt'ae parcded dowly
thrcugh the sheeu oJ the-towtt with a ctier ahead oi them leadifig out thei
oimi... a1u, this speaacle the people wre btought bacle, some with their
baths bleedingfon the 20, 40 ot 1 00 lashes with the ut-o'-rine-tails uielded
by the village executionet
(Spalding 1984:256)'
Spdding
concludes that :
The idolatry umpaigns were exemplary rituals, didactic theatrc pieces dirccted
,o the audie ce 4s mu.h as to the pd icipants, much libe a pullic hatgittg itt
nedieval EwoPe (ibid. : 265
)
Their objective was to intimidate the population' to creete a "space ofdeath"l3
ootentii rebels would be so paralyzed with fear that they would accept anything
tlun having to face the same ordeal of those publicly beaten and hrrmilieted' In
Soaniards werc in part successful. Faced with torture' anonymous denunciations
lii hu ilations,
-any
alliances and friendships broke down; people's faith in the
How dceply the socid fabric was afected by these terlor campargns can be
arL ecconrlini to Spalding, ftom the changes that over time took place in the nature
"h"rget.Whil"
in the t550s people could openly acknowledge drein and their
Lrniwis attachment to the traditional religion, by the 1650s the crirnes of which
oftheir gods weakened, and wonhip turned into a secret individual pnc-
than a collective one, as it had been in pre-conquest America'
accused revolved around
"witchcmft," a prrctice now presuming a secretrve
defended the old mode ofexistence and opposed the new power structure'
; end they increasingly resembled the accusations made against witches rn
In the campaign launched in 1660, in the Huarochiri area, for instance,
"the
uncove.ed by the authorities.
'.
dedt with curing, finding lost goods, and other
of what might be generally called village 'witchcnft"" Yet, the same campargn
that despite the persecution, in the elcs ofthe communities,"the ancestors and
z.dr) continued to be essential to their surviral" (Spalding 1984:261)'
l *o. . "t
and wi i chea i n Ar ner i ca
a coincidence tlpt "[m]ost ofthe people convicted in the investigtion of
'1660
rhiri'wete women (28 out of32)"
(Spdding 1984 :258), in the same way as
hed been the main
prcsence in the Taki Onqoy movement' lt was women who
tly because they were also the ones who were most negatively afected by it'
*omcn t"d hda a powerfirl position in pre-Colurnbian societies, as reflected by
ofmanv imporant fernale deities in their religions' Reaching an idand off
the coast oftheYucatan peninsula, in 1517, Hernandez de Cordoba named it Isla Muie*_
"because the temples they visited there contained numerous female idoh" (Baudez'l-',-
Picasso 1992: 17). Pre-conquest American women had their orgenizations, their soci-jl
recognized spheres ofactivity and, while not equal to men,14 tt
"y
-.r.
.o*ld.*a
foll
plementary to them in their contribution to the family and sociery
In addition to being farmers, house-wotkers and weavers, in charge ofprcducing
the colorfirl clotlu worn in everyday life and during the ceremonies, they were pottsh
herbaliss, healen (curanduas), and priestesses (saterdotkas) at rhe service
"r
r,"rr.iori
gods. In Southern Mexico, in the region ofOaxaca, they were connected with the
fio]
duction of pulque-maguey, a sacred substance believed to have been invented
by
ths
gods and associated with Mayahuel, an earth-mother goddes that was '.the
lb."l
;.;
of peasant religion" (Taylor 1970: 37-32).
But with the Spaniancls' arrival everything cbanged, as they brought their baggag
of rnisogynous belie6 and restructured the economy and political po*.. ir, *"yi
-tlij
favored men.Women sufered also at the hands ofthe traditional chie6 whq in order
to
maintain their powet, began to take over t}le communal lands and expropriate the fernall
memben of the corununity ftom land use and watet righs. Thus, within the colonia.l
economy, women wcre reduced to the condition of senants working as maids (for
the
encomenduos, the priests, the coftegidoret) ot as weavers in tlre orl4Jes. Women were also forced
to follow their husband whcn they would have to do da work in the mines - a fat!
that people recognized to be wone dran death - for, in 1528, the authorities estabLished
that spouses could not be separated, so dlat women and cbildren,6om then on, could bc
compelled to do mine labor in addition to preparing food for the rnale workers.
Another source ofdegradation for women was the new Spanish legislarion which
declared polygamy illcgal, so that, overnight, men had to cither separete Gorn their wirts
or reclassify them as maids (Mayer 1981), while the children issued &om these unions
were labeled according to five different types ofillegitimary (Nash 1980: 143). Ironically,
while polygamous unions wete disolved, with the arrival ofthe Spaniards, no aborigind
woman was safe 6om npe or appropriation, so tlnt many men, instead ofmarrying, begn
to turn to public prostitutes (Heruning 1970). In the European fantasy, America itselfwu
a rcclining naked woman seductively inviting the approachiog white stranger At dmes, it
was the "Indian" men themselves who delivered their fema.le kin to the priess or
euomenderos in exchange for some economic reward or a public post.
Fot all these reasons, women became the main enemies of colonial !ule, refusing
to go to Mass, to baptize their children or ro coopcrate in any way with the colonid
authorities and priests. In the Andes, some comnitted suicide and killed their male
chil-
dren, presumably to prevent them ftom going to the mines and also out ofdisgusr, apper-
endy, for the mistreatrnent inllicted upon them by their mde relatives (Silverblan 1987)
Othen organized their communities and, in ftont of the defection ofmany local
chid
who were co-opted by the colonid structure, became priess,leaden, and guardians ofthc
ir.racas, taking on functions which they had never previously e)crcised.This explains
why
women were the backbone of the Taki Onqoy movement. In Peru, they aljo held
cotr
fessions to preparc pcople fot when they would meet with the catholic priess, advisin9
them as to what it should be safe to tell them and what thev should not reveal.And
wH'
230
with the mountains and tlre other sites of the frlaras were not destroyed.
the Conquest women had been in charge exclusively ofthe ceremonies dedicated
deities, afterwatds, they became assistans or principal officians in culs dedi-
to the mde-ancestors-huacas
- sometlfng that before the Conquest had been for-
(Stern 1982).They also fought the colonial power by withdrawing to the higher
(penas) where they could prectice the old religion.As lrcne Silverblan writes:
While indigenous men often Oed the oppression ofthe mita and trib-
ute by abandoning their cornmunities and going to wotk
^s
ya&nas
(quasi-set6) in the merging haciendas, women fled to the paaas, iruc-
cessible and very distant ftom the relarciones oftheir native communi-
ties. Once in dre perar women rejected the forces and syrnbols oftheir
opprcssion, disobcying Spanish administntors, the clergy, as well as
their own community oftcials.They also vigooudy rcjected the colo-
nial idcology, which reinforced their oppression, refusing to go to Mass,
participate in Catholic confessions, or lcarn catholic dogma. More
important, women did not just reject Catholicismi they returned to
their netive rcligion and, to the best dut they could, to the quality of
socid relations which their religion expressed (1987: 197).
By persecuting women as witches, then, the Spaniards targeted both the practi-
ofthe old religion and the instigators ofanti-colonial revolt, while attempting ro
"the spheres of activiry in which indigenous women could paricipate"
1987: 160).As Silverblatt points out, the concept of witchcraft was alien to
society, In Peru as well, as in every pte-industrid society, many women wer
in mcdical knowledge," being famiLiar with the properties ofhcrbs and plans,
l^'erc also diviners. But the Christian notion of the devi.l was unknown to them.
by the 17d century, under the impact of torture, intense persecution, and
acclrlturation" the Andean women arrested, mosdy old and poor, were accusrng
of the same crimes with which women were being charged in the European
trials :pacts and copulation with the devil, prescribing herbal remedies, using oint-
Ilying through the ait, making wax irnages (Silverblatt 1987: 174).They also con-
to wonhipping stones, mounains, and spring, and feeding the ttarar.Worst ofall,
to bewitching the authoriries or other men of power and causing rhem
(irid. 1 87-88) .
As it was in Europe, torhrrc end terror were used to force the accused to deliver
nemes so that the circles of the oersecution became wider and wider But one of
of the witch-hunt, the isolation of the witches 6om the rest of the com-
was not achieved. The Andean witches were not turned into outcass. On the
"they were actively sought for as comadta and their presence was required in
village reunions, for in the consciousness ofthe colonized, witchcraft, the nain-
ofancient traditions, and conscious political resistance became increasingly inter-
(i6id.),
Indeed, it was largely due to women's resistance that the old religion was
Changes occurred in the meaning ofthe practices associated with it.Wontup
underground at the expense ofits collective nature in pre-conquest times. But
231
We find a similar siruation in Central and Southern Mexico where women, pris51_
esses above all, played an important role in the defense of their comrnunities and qul_
tures. In this region, according to Antonio Garcia de Leon's Resisteh.ia y tJtopia,from
th.
Conquest on, women"directed or counseled all the great anti-colonial revolts" (de
Leqn
1985,Vo1. 1:31). In Oaxaca, the presence ofwomen in popular rebellions continued
itrto
the 18,h century when, in one out offour cases, they led the attack against the aurhori_
ties "and were visibly more aggressive, insulting, and rebellious" (Taylor 1979: 116).
In
Chiapas too, they were the key actors in the preservation ofthe old religion and the
antl-
colonization struggle. Thus, when, in 1524, the Spaniards launched a war campaign
to
subjugate the rebellious Chiapanecos, it was a priestess who led the troops against
them.
Women also participated in the underground networks ofidol-wonhippen and resiste6
that periodicdly werc discovered by the clergy. In 1584, for instance, upon visitils
Chiapas, the bishop Pedro de Feria was told ttrat several among the locd Indian
chie6
were still practicing the old cults, and that thcy were being counseled by women,
with
whom they entertained filthy practices, such as (sabbaclike) ce.emonies during which
they mixed together and turned into gods and goddesses, the women being in charge
of
sending rain and giving wealth to those who asked for it" (de Leon 1985,Vo1. 1:76).
It is ironic, then, in view ofthis recond, that Caliban and not his mother Syco6x,
the witch, should be taken by Latin Amelican levolutionaries as a symbol ofthe resist-
ance to colonization. For Cdiban could only 6ght his master by cuning him in the lan-
guage he had learned from him, thus being dependent in his rebellion on his "rnaster!
tools." He could also be deceived into believing that his Liberetion could come through
a rape and through the initiative ofsome opportunistic white proletarians transplanted
in the New World whom he wonhipped as gods. Sycorax, instead, a witch "so strong
that she could control the moon, make flows and ebbs" (Tfte ??rapest, Act V, Scene 1)
might have taught her son to appreciate the locd powen - the land, the waters, the
trees,"nature's treasuries'- and those communal ties that, over centuries ofsuffering,
have continued to nourish the liberation struggle to this day, and that already haunted,
as a promise, Caliban's imagination:
Be not afeard, the isle is full ofnoises,
Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ean; and sometimes voices,
That ifthen had wak'd after long sleep.
Will make me sleep again and then dreaming,
The clouds methought would open, and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when wak'd
I cried to dream again (The Ttnpest, Act lll) .
l The
Eur opean wi t ched and t he "I ndt od"
232
the witch-huns in the Newvodd have arr impact on events in Europe? or were
of the heretics?
I ask these questions having in mind the thesis advanced by the ltalian historian
Parinetto, who argues that witch-hunting in the NewWorld had a major impact
the elaboration
ofthe witchcraft ideology in Europe, as well as the chronology ofthe
witch-hunt.
two
persecutiorx simply drewing &om the same pool ofrepressive strategies and tac-
which
th. E r-p""n ruling class had forged since the Middle Ages with the perse-
Brie8y
put, Parinetto! tlesis is tbat it was under the irnpact of dte American expe-
tbet the witch-hunt in Europe became a mass phenomenon in the second part of
16rh century. For in Anerica, the authorities and the clergy found *te confrmation for
views about devil-wonhip, coming to believe in the existence ofentire populatiors of
conviction which they dren applied in thei Christianization drive at home.Thus,
imoort fiom the NewVorld, described by missionaries as "the land of the devil"'
dr adoption by the European state oferfetminatiot a a politiul strct?gy which' presum-
inspired the massacre ofthe Huguenos and the massfication ofthe witch-hunt sart-
in the last decades ofthe 16tb century (Parinetto 1998: 417-35).ls
Evidence of a crucial connection between the two
Pelsecutions
is, in Parineno's
the use made by the demonologiss in Europe ofthe reports ftom the Indies Parinetto
onJean Bodin, but he also mentions Francesco Maria Cuazzo and cites, as an exen-
tlre "boomereng elfect" ptoduced by the transplanting ofthe witch-hunt in Amerrca,
car of the inquisitor Pierre l:ncre who, during a sevenl mondu' penecution in the
ofthe Labould (Basque Country), denounced is entirc population as witches. Not
hrinetto cites, as evidence of his thesis, a set of dremes that, in the second halfofthe
century, became prominent in the repettoi.e ofwitchcnft in Europe: cannibalism, the
ofchildren to the dwil, the reGrence to ointrnens and drugs, and the identifca-
ofhomosexuality (sodomy) with diabolisrn - all ofwhich, he argues, had their matrrx
NewWodd.
What to make ofthis theory and where to draw the line between what is account-
md what is speculative? This is a question that future scholarship will have to set-
I limit myself to a few obserrations.
Perinetto! thesis is irnportant since it helps us dispel the Eurocentrism that has
the study ofthe witch-hunt and can potentidly answer some ofthe ques-
nised by the persecution ofthe European witches. But its main contribution is thet
our awareness ofthe global char"acter ofcapitalist development and makes us
that, by the 16th century a ruling class had formed in EuroPe that was at all points
-
practicdly, politicdly, and ideologically - in the formation ofa world pro-
and therefore was continually openting with knowledge gathered on an inter-
level in the elabontion ofis models ofdomination.
As for its claims, we can observe that the history ofEurope before the Conquest
proofthat the Europeans did not have to cross the oceans to find the wi.ll to
those standing in their way. It is also possible to account for the chronologv
witch-hunt in Europe without resorting to the New World impact hypothesis,
the
decades between the 1560s and 1620s saw a widespread impoverishment and
dislocations
throughout most of western EuroPe.
233
lil
Top: Fnrcesto Marh Cudzzo, CoMPI:NDruM
MaE.'I(]/RUM (Mihn,l608). Cuazzo tr&ts one oI the
tlemonolo2ists tttost injuewed by the rcports
fron
the
Aneriits,This po toit of wikha surounilinX the teuains o.f
bodies ex.drated
fom
thc groutd ot takm.fion the galloux is
rchtifiiseht oJ lhe annibal bdnquet.
Botton: Cannibals prcp,trhq theh rcal. Hdns Staden's
WAHRH4t"tK;E HrsitrRLa (Mafuury 15 57).
231t 235
Top: htp,ttdtionJu thc Sabbat. Cennn engnvingJron the
t 6th e ury.
Bottot : hepdting d aurfiibal tedl. Hdns Sladefitt
WAHRHAFTTGE HIs toQtA (Mart q 1557).
More suggestive, in provoking a rethinking ofthe European witch-hunt liom
fia
viewpoint of witch-hunting in America, are the thernatic and the iconogrephic co1rc_
spondences between the two.The theme ofself-ointing is one of the most revealing,
^ the descriptions ofthe behavior ofthe Aztec or Incan priests on the occasion ofhurylxn
sacrifces evoke those found in some demonologies describing the preparations
ofthe
witches for the Sabbat. Coruider the following passage found in Acosta, which reads
the
American practice as a perversion of the Christian habit of consecrating priesrs
bv
anointing them:
The idol-priests in Mexico oint tlemselves in the following way.They
greased themselves fiom the feet to the head, including the hair.. . the
substance with which they stained themselves was ordinary tea,
because ftom antiquity it was always an offering to their gods and for
this much wonhipped.,. this was their ordinary greasing, . .except
when they went to sacrfice... ot went to the caves where they kept
their idols when they used a dilferent greasing to give themselves
courage, . ..This grease was made ofpoisonous substances. . . fiogs, sala-
manders, vipen... with tlis greasing they could turn into magicraru
(6zjos) and speak with the devil (Acosta,pp.26243l.
The same poisonous brew was presumably spread by the European witches on their
bodies (according to their accusen) in order to gain the power to fly to the Sabbat. But
it cannot be asumed that this theme was generated in the New World, as references to
women making oinbnents from the blood oftoads or cbil&ent bones are found already
in the 15th-century trials and demonologies.l6.What is plausible, instead, is that the rePorts
ftom America did revitalize tlese charges, adding new details and giving more authority
to tlem.
The same corxideration may serve to explain the iconographic correspondence
between the pictures ofthe Sabbat and the various represenations ofthe cannibal fam-
i.ly and clan that began to appear in Europe in the later 16th cennrry, and it can accouot
for many other"coincidences," such as the fact that both in Europe and America wirches
were accused ofsacrificing cbildren to the devil (see figures pp'234-5\.
I
I
wi t oh- r r t r r r *i ng and Gl obal i zat i on
Witch-hunting in America continued in waves through the end ofthe 17th century
when the persistence ofdernographic decline and increased pold.d
"nd
."otto-it
t"tu-
rity on the side ofthe colonial power-structure combined to
Put
an end to the Pene-
cution.Thus, in the same region that had witnessed the great anti-idolatry campergns
u'
the 16th and 17th centuries, by the 18th, the Inquisition had renounced any attemptr.
to
inlluence the moral and religious belieB of the population, apparendy estimating
lne'
they could no longer pose a danger to colonial rule. In the place ofthe penecution
a
paternalistic perspective emerged that looked at idolatry and magical pracdces
rs
u'-
foibles ofignonnt people not worthy ofbeing taken into corsideration by
"la gente
"]
razon"
@ehar
1987). From then on, the preoccupation with devil-worshipping
wot""
236
to the developing slave planatioos ofBrazil, the Caribbean, and North America
(santing with King Philipb Wars), the English setden justified their massacres of
native American Indians by labetng them as selvants of t}le devil (Williams and
Adelman 1978: 143).
The Salem trials were also explained by the local authorities on this ground, with
argument
that the New Englanders had settled in the land of the devil. As Cotton
wrote, yean later, recalling the events in Salem:
I have met with some strange things... which have made me think
that this inexplicable war
[i.e.,
the war made by *re spirits ofthe invis-
ible world against the people of Salem] might have is origins among
the Indians whose chief sagamores are well known unto some of our
captive to have been horrid sorcerers and hellish conjuren and such
as conversed with the demons (ibid. 145).
It is signifcant, in this context, that the Salem trials were sparked by the divina-
of aWest Indian slave - Tituba - who was amonq the 6nt to be arrested, and
the last execution of a witch, in an English-speaking tetritory. was that of a black
Sanh Bassen, killed in Bermuda in 1730 (Daty 1978: 179). By the 18th century in
the witch was becoming an African practitioner of obeah, a ritual thar the planters
and demonized as an incitement to rebellion.
'Witch
hunting did not disappear from the repertoire ofthe bourgeoisie wirh the
ofslavery. On the contrary, the global expansion of capitalism through colo-
and Christianization ensured tlat this persecution would be planted in t}le body
societies, and, in time, would be carried out by the subjugated communi-
in their own names and aereinst their own memben.
In the 1840s, for instance, a wave of witch-burning occurred in Western India.
women in this period were burned as witches than in the practice ofsari (Skada
: 1lO),These killing occurred in the context ofthe social crisis caused borh by the
authorities' attack on the communities living in the foress (among whom
had a far higher degree ofpower than in the caste societies that dwelled in the
and the colonial devaluation offemale power. resuJting in the decline ofthe wor-
of female goddesses (ibid. 139-40).
Vitch-huncing also cook hold in Africa, where it survives roday as a key irxtrument
in many countries especially those once implicated in the slave trade, like
and SouthernA&ica. Here, toq witch-hunting has accompanied the decline in the
ofwomen broughr about by the rise ofcapialism and the intensifiing struggle for
which, in recent years, has been agrarated by the imposition oftle neo-liberal
a consequence ofthe liG-and-death competition for lanishing iesources, scorcs
- generally old and poor - have been hunted down in the 1 990s in Northern
where sevenw were burned iust in dre fint four months of 7994
(Dia
o de
i 1994).Witch-hunts have also been reported in Ken1a, Nigeria, Camercon, in the
and 1990s, concomitant with the imposition by the International Monetary Fund
World Bank ofthe policy ofstructural adjusmrent which has led to a new round
and caused an unprecedented impoverishment among the population.lT
237
\
. \'ii
ri
\
I
Tlrc Afti.anizitiofi oJ the with k lelleded in thh catitante oJ
a "pe olerse," Note het unusual eadngs, cag and Afian
fea-
tes suggestin! a kinship betuxen theJemale com wt4tls lftil
the "wiv" Afitan wonefi uho ituslilled ifl the slalcs the
couftge to rcvoh,harntin! the imagifiation ofthe Ftuth borr
geoisie as an example oJ political uwgery
23A
if
not the hktory and culturc of Caliban? " (p. 1 4) .
239
In Nigeria, by the 1980s, innocent
girls were confessing to having killed dozens
people,
wbile in other A6ican countries
petitions
:v-ere
ad9:ss.ed^to g:Yl-"",:
them to persecute more strcngly the witches. Meanwhile, in South Africa and
Jd", *o-"n *"..
-urdered
by neighbors and kin under the charge of witch-
the same time, a new kind ofwitch-belieB
is presendy developing, resembling
documented
by MichaelTaussig in Bolivia, whereby poor people suspect the nor-
iches
of hling gined their wealth through illicit, supernatural means, and accuse
ofwanting
to transform their victims into zombies in order to put them to work
and Nyamnjoh t998: 7 3-7 4).
The witch hunts that ate presendy taking place in Africa or Latin Amerrca are
ofwitch-hunting in so many parts ofthe world in the '80s and
'90s is a clear
ia once-cohesive communities are again on the woild egenda. "lfthings continue
lv reported
in Europe and the United States, in the same way as the witch-hunts of
i6,l *4 17,t ..n1,r.ies. for a long time, were oflitde interest to historians. Even when
sre reported their signficance is generally rnissed, so widespread is the belief that
phenomena belong to a far-gone era and have nothing to do with "us "
But if we apply to the plesent the lessons of the past, we redize that the reap-
ofa process of"prirnitive accumulation," which means that the privatization ofland
othei comrnunal resources, mass impovelishment, plunder' and the sowing ofdivi-
way" - the elders in a Senegalese village commented to an American anthropolo-
cxoressine their fears for the future - "our children will eat each other."And indeed
what is accomplished by a witch-hunt, whether it is conducted 6om above, as a
to criminalize resistance to expropriation, or is conducted from below, as a means
diminishing resources, as seems to be the case in some pars ofAfrica today.
In some countries, this process still requires the mobilization ofwitches, spirits,
But we should not delude ourselves that this is not our concern.As Arthur
alreadv saw in his interpretation ofthe Salem trials, as soon as we strip the per-
ofwitches from its metaphysical rappings, we recognize in it phenomena that
close to home.
l Endnor e6
Actudly, Sycorax - the witch - has not entered the Latin American revolution-
imagination in the way Cdiban has; she is still invisible, in the sane way as the
of women against colonization has been for a long time. As for Caliban,
what he has come to stand for has been well expressed in an inlluentiel essay by the
Cuban writer Roberto Fernandez Retamar (1989:5-21).
"Our symbol is not Atiel.,, but rather Caliban.This is something that we, the mestizo
inhabitants oJ these safie isles uhere Caliban lived
'
see with pa icular darity. Prospero inuded
,hc isla s, killed ow auesto$, enslrled Calibdn and taqht him the language to nake him-
tef urdustood.What else car Caliban do but use the same language - today he hw no other
to curse him...? Ftom Tupac Amaru,.. mussdint-Iouvetturc, Simoxe Bolivar...
Jose
Iulafli..
. Fidel Casttu. . . Che Gueuan. , . Fruntz Faxott - what is ow history what is our
On tlis topic see also Matgarct PaulJoseph who,in Cdiban itr Etile (1992), write5.
"Prospero and Caliban thereby provide us with a por*erfirl meaphor for colonialisq.
An o6hoot ofthis interpretation is the abstract condition ofbeing Caliban, the vic-
tim of history frustrated by the knowledge ofutter powerlesness. In Iatin Americq
the name has been adopted in a more positive manner, for Calilan seems to represeni
the masses who are striving to rise
ainst
the opprcssion ofthe elite" (1992:2).
Reporting about the idand of Hispanola, in his Historia Cenenl de las Indids (1,551),
Francisco Lopez De Goman could declare with utter certainry dut "the main gqd
which they have in this island is the dcvil," and that the dcvil lived among worngl
(de Gomare: 49). Sinilarly, BookV of Acosta's Htttod4 (1590), in which Acosta
dis-
cusses the religion and customs ofthe inhabitants of Mexico and Peru, is dedicated
to the many forms they have ofdevil-wonhipping, including human sacrifices.
"The carib/cannibal image," Retamar writes, "contrasts with another one, of the
American man present in the writing of Colurnbus: that ofAruaco ofthe Grcater
Antilles - ourTaino primarily - whom he describes as peacef,.rl, meek, and even
timorous, and cowatdly. Both visions ofthe American aborigene will circulate ver-
tiginously through Europe....TheTiino will be tra$formed into the paradisiacal
inhabitant of e utopic world. . . . The Carib, on the other hand, will become a ca1-
nibd - an anthropophagus, a bestial man situated at the margin ofcivilization who
must be opposed to the very death. But there is less contradiction than might appeat
at first glance between the two visions."Each image corresponds to a colonial inter-
vention - assuming its tight to conuol the lives ofthe aborigene population ofthe
Caribbean - which Retarnar sees as continuing into the present. Proof ofthe kin-
ship between these two images, Rctamar poins out, is the fact ttut both the gendc
Tlinos and thc ferocious Caribs were exterminated
(ibid. 6-7).
Human sacrifices occupy a large place in Acostat account ofthe religlous customs
ofthe Incas andAztecs. He describes how, during some festivities in Peru, even thrce
offour hundred children, from two to four-years-old, were sacrificed - "duro c
inhumano spectaculo," in his words. He also describes, among others, the sacriEce
of seventy Spanish soldien captured in battle in Mexico and' like de Gomara,
he
.ttes, with ,rtter ce"ainry that these killing were the work ofthe devil (p' 250ff)'
In New England, medical prrctitioners administered remedies "made &om human
corpses."Among the most popular, univendly recommended as a
Panacea
for every
p-Ll"-, *o "fru*yi'a rcmedy prcpared with the remains of a corpse dried
or
embalmed.As for the consumption ofhuman blood, Gordon-Gruber writes that
"il
was the prerogative ofexecutionen to sell the blood ofdecapitated criminals
lt $at
given still warm, to epiteptics or other customers waiting in crowds at the spot
of
execution
'cup in hand'." (1988:407).
Walter L. Williams writes:
[T]he
Spanish did not realize why the Indians were wasting away ftom
disease but took it as an indication that it was part ofGodt plan to wipe
out the infdels, Oviedo concluded, "It is not widlout cause that God
permits them to be destroyed.And I have no doubs that for their sins
God! going to do away with them very soon." He further reasoned, in
a letter to the king condemning the Maya for accepting homosexual
3.
4.
5.
2ltO
behavior: "1 wish to mention it in older to declarc more strongly the
guilt for which God punishes the Indian and the reason why they have
not been gtanted his mercy" (Williams 1986: 138).
The theoretical foundation ofSepulveda's argument in favor ofthe enslavement of
the Indiars was Aristode's doctrine of"natural davery" (Hanke 1970: 16fi).
The mine was discovered in 1545, five years before the debate between Las Casas and
Sepulve&
took
Place.
By the 1550s, the Spanish Crown was so dependent on the American bullion fot
is survival - needing it to pay the merceruries that fought is wals - that it was
irryounding
the loads ofbullion that arrived with private rhips.These usua.lly car-
ried back the money that $"s set aside by those who had participated in the
Qonquest
and now were preparing to retire in Spain.Thus, for a number ofyean,
e condict exploded between the expatriates and the Crown which resulted in new
legislation limiting the formers' power to accurnulate.
A powerfrd description ofthis resistance is conained in Enrique Mryet's Tiibute to
ihc Howehold (1982), which desoibes the famous risr?as which the ercomerderos used
to pay to the villages to 6x the Eibute that each community owed to them and to
the Crown. In the mountain villages ofthe Andes, hours before is arrival, the pro-
ccsion ofhorsemcn was spottcd, upon which many youtbs fled the village, children
wre rearranged in different homes, and resources werc hidden,
r The name Tirki Onqoy decribes the dancing trance that possesed the panicipants
ia the movement.
Philippe Descola writes that among the Achuar, a population living in the upper
prrt ofAmazonia, "the necessary condition for efective gardening depends on
direct, harmonious, and constant commerce with Nunkui, the tutelary spirit ofgar-
"
t
. 192). This is what every woman does by singng secret songs "6om the
" and magical incantations to the plants and herbs in her garden, urging them
glow (ilid. 198). So intimate is the relation berween a woman and the spirit pro-
tecting her gatden that when she dies "her garden follows suit, for, with the excep-
of her unmarried daughter, no other woman would dare step into such rela-
tionship that she had not herselfinitiated."As for the men, they are "therefore totelly
incepablc of replacing their wives should the need arise....When a man no longer
any woman (mother. wife, sister or &ughter) to cultivate his galden and prcpare
his food, he has no choice but to kill hirnself' (Descola 1994:175\.
Itis is the expression used by MichaelTau sigin Shamaxism, Colonialism and theWild
(1991) to s*ess the function of tetror in the establishment of colonial hege-
in the Americas:
r "'Wlatever the conclusions we drew about how the hegemony was so speed-
efected, we would be unwise to ovetlook the role of terror.And by this I mean
to think-through-terror, which as well as being a physiologicd state is dso a social
whose special Gatures allow it to setve as a rnediator par
e*elleue of colonial
: the sparc of death where the lndian, African, and white gave birth to a
World" (p. 5) (italics mine).
Tirusig adds, however,that the space oJ dealr is also a "space oftransformation"
"through the experience of coming close to deeth there well may be a more
241
t 4.
16.
17.
vivid sense oflife; through fear there can come not only growth ofself-consciqqr-
ness but dso fragrnentation, and then loss ofselfconforming to authorig" (Oid.:7I
On the pocition ofwomen in pte-conquest Mexico and Peru, see respectivetyJune px.l.,
(1978, 1980),lrene Silverblatt (1987), and Maria Rostworo*rki (2001). Nuh discu5s.
the decline ofwornent power under the Aztecs in correspondence to their tnnsfoq"-
tion ftom a "kiruhip based sociery... ro e class-structued empire." She porns out
6pq
by the 15d' cennrry as *re Aztecs had evolved into a war-driven empire, a rigid
sexu4
division oflabor emerged; at the same time, women (ofdeGated enemies) became,,g6
booty to be shared by the victon" (Nash 1978:356,358). Simultaneously, Gmale deitics
were dilplaced by rnale gods - especia.lly the bloodthinty Huieilopochdi - althoudr
tley continued to be worshipped by the corunon people.Still,"[w]omen in Aztec soci-
ety had nuny specializatioru as independent craft prcducen ofpottery and textiles,
and
as priesteses, doctors, and merchans. Spanish development policy
[instead],
as carried
out by priest and crcwn administnton, diverted home production into rnale-operated
craft shops and mills" (i6id.).
Parineno writes drat dre connection between the extermiiation oftheAmerindian "sav-
ages" and that ofthe Huguenos was very clear in dre consciounes and litennrrc ofdre
French Protestants after the Night of San Bartholom6, indirecdy influencing
Monaigne's essays on the cannibals and, in a completely diferent wayJean Bodin's aso-
ciation ofthe European witches with the cannibalistic and sodomitic indios.
Quoting
Frcnch sources, Parinetto argues that this association (betwecn dre savage and the
Huguenot) climaxed in the last decades ofthe 16th centuries when the massacres per-
petnted by the Sparriards in America (including the daughter in Florida, in 1565, of
tlousan& ofFrench coloniss accused ofbeing Luthenns) became "a widely used polit-
ical weapon" in the strugle agirut Spanish dominance (Parinetto 199a:429-3O\.
I am refering in panicular to dre trials that werc conducted by the Inquisition in the
Dauphin6 in the 1 440s, during which a number ofpoor people (peasants oi shepherds)
were accused ofcooking children to make magic powders with their bodies (Russell
1972:217-18);and to the work ofthe Swabian DominicanJoseph Naider, Forfliratia,
(1 435) , in which we read dnt witches "cook tleir childrcn, boil therr\ eat their llesh and
drink the soup that is left in the pot.... From the solid matter they make a magical ulve
or oinmrent, the procurement ofwhich is the third rseson for child murrder" (rDid. : 240)'
Ruscll poins ou1 drat "tlis salve or ointrnent is one oftle most imporant elernens
of
witchcraft in the ffteenth century and later." (,bid.)
On "the renewed attention to witchcraft
[in
Afica,] conceptualizd explicitly in reh-
tion to modern changes," see the Decenber 1998 issue of he AJttan Studks Re1'teu
which is dedicated to this topic. In particular, see Diane Ciekawy and Peter Gescluere3
"ConainingVitchcrrft: Conflicting Scenarios in PostcolonialA.fric a" (ibid.:1-14\.
N*.
see Adam Astrforth, Wtlwaj,l4olewe and Demooaty in
guth
Afira (C;ttlcago Univ
ot
Chicago Ptess, 2005) and the video docunentary "Witches in Exile" produced
ano
dirccted by Allison Berg (California Newsreel, 2005) .
242 243
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