Do you think witchcraft really existed?

@Ynotisay Same in England: hanged not burned. The latter was reserved for heresy, a different offence entirely.

Not much difference? Hmmm, I am not sure of that. Hanging by strangulation might have taken quarter of an hour before unconsciousness, but all contemporary illustrations suggest burnings at the stake would have taken far longer, and been even more agonising. In the later years of its use, friends or relatives sometimes bribed the executioner to strangle the victim before lighting the fire, and eventually this was formally allowed as part of the sentence, before its complete abolition.

Noticeably, such illustrations all seem to not depict the full horror of burning, nor of the "hanging, drawing & quartering" sometimes used as the penalty for treason in England.

@ArishMell Interesting. But by "no difference" I meant the reason and the outcome. Innocent people dying over make believe.

@Ynotisay Oh, I see.Yes, of course, though I think the heresy was really more for maintaining institutional power than defending God.

@ArishMell Usually how that works, huh?

@Ynotisay That was its point, yes. Ultimately, it failed.

@ArishMell That failed. What's behind it still exists though. Just plays out in different ways.

@Ynotisay Good point.