t. From this belief in devil possession arose a veritable system
of Christian magic; charms, amulets, exorcisms, abounded; thus, white
magic was opposed to black magic.

But when the belief in witchcraft led to papal promulgations against
it and against all who dared entertain doubts upon the subject, and
when it led also to the appointment of tribunals for the trying of
"witches," there was placed in the hands of malice and ignorance
a power from which no woman, however exalted in rank or pure in
character, was secure, provided only she incurred the enmity of
someone bent upon effecting her ruin.

The genesis of the belief lies even back of the prevailing
superstitions of the times, and is to be found in the lower regard in
which the female sex was held. As we have said, chivalry did not cover
with its aegis all women, but only those of a certain class; in the
Middle Ages, the opinion held of women in general was not flattering
to the sex. The descriptions of witch trials and the processes for
the extortion of confessions; the indignities of many sorts to which
women were subjected; the horrors of a system which virtually made
one become an informer upon her neighbor, lest she be anticipated
by charges preferred against herself; the whole dreary round of the
subject and its literature: all these are too uninviting to permit
of detail. It is sufficient for our purpose to say that throughout
Europe--for the delusion was so widespread--certainly not less than
a million persons were burned, or otherwise put to death, as witches
during the Middle Ages. So great a holocaust had to be offered up by
women as a sin offering for their sex!

The state of education had much to do with the manners and opinions
of the Middle Ages. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries there
was a feeling of the necessity for extending and improving education.
There was spread abroad a degree of popular instruction. It was not
an uncommon thing for ladies to be able to read and write. Among the
amusements of their leisure hours, reading began to have a very
much larger place than formerly. Yet, popular literature--the tales,
ballads, and songs--was still communicated orally rather than in
writing, though books were more extensively circulated. Often persons
of wealth and culture had extensive libraries. Excepting in the case
of those who followed or desired to follow the career of scholars, the
women were less illiterate than the men.

In c